90 minute presentation on Just-in-Time Teaching, including motivation for change, evidence for effectiveness, the best tools to use, writing good questions and getting student buy-in.

1. Name
School
Department
JUST IN TIME TEACHING
A 21ST CENTURY LEARNING
TECHNIQUE
@ UNC CETL
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2015
DR. JEFF LOATS

2. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
Thinking about the college instructors you've had
experiences with (including yourself), where do you
think their methods and attitudes come from? Why
do you think they teach the way that they do?
~91% → “we teach the way we were taught”
~36% → Teacher comfort/style
~27% → Experiences while teaching
~27% → Books on education
~18% → Because we think it is effective
~9% → Education classes

3. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“I believe most people teach the way the were
taught following a modeling type system or the
teach the way that they best learn.”
“I think the instructors' methods and attitudes are
from their own teachers, their study experience
and the books they have read. Usually, they
choose the methods and attitudes that they llike
and they think approprite for the students.”

4. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“I believe most of my college instructors have
gained the majority of their methods and attitudes
from personal experiences (as students and as
instructors), strongly influenced by their own
comfort level. Being from the field of education,
I and many of the instructors I know also have
taken pedagogy classes and try to stay read-up on
current research and best practices...but personal
likes/dislikes and attitudes of "this is the way I
learned it" are hard to leave at the door.”

5. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“[…] They teach the way they do because (1)
they've found that approach to be effective in the
past and/or (2) because it's what fits into their
schedule at the time”
“I think their methods and attitudes are mainly
similar to the teachers when they were students
themselves. Probably they think this is an
effective way, or they are accustomed to such
teaching methods.”

6. ASIDE: LEARNING STYLES
“I think that many teachers teach in a way that
makes sense to them, according to their learning
style […]”
Best current evidence: Learning styles don’t exist
References:
• “The Myth of Learning Styles”
by Cedar Riener and Daniel Willingham
• YouTube: Learning Styles Don’t Exist
• Scholarly review: “Learning styles: Concepts
and evidence”, Pashler et al, 2008

7. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
Thinking about the college instructors you've had
experiences with (including yourself), where do you
think their methods and attitudes come from? Why
do you think they teach the way that they do?
~67% → Imitation of our mentors
~33% → Teacher comfort/style
~25% → Experiences while teaching
~8% → Education classes
~17% → Workshop/observation tidbits
~17% → Learning styles

8. THE EVIDENCE STANDARD
Teachers can feel bombarded…
I strive to be a scholarly teacher …
• Apply the rigor we bring to our academic
disciplines to the discipline of teaching.
• Choose teaching methods that are strongly
informed by the best empirical evidence
available.
Contrast teaching your subject with treating a
medical condition like diabetes

9. In your teaching do you have a method for holding
students accountable for preparing for class?
Previous anonymous poll results (compiled):
~17% → I don’t, but I ask/threaten really well
~50% → I use a paper method (quiz, journal…)
~11% → I use a digital method (clickers, etc.)
~5% → I use Just-in-Time Teaching
~17% → I have some other method
(N ~ 211)
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)

10. OVERVIEW
1. Motivation for change
2. Basics of Just-in-Time Teaching
3. Mock example
4. Choose our own adventure:
a) Evidence for effectiveness
b) Best tools for JiTT
c) Getting student “buy-in”
d) Writing good questions
5. Summaries

11. PHYSICS EDUCATION REVOLUTION
Eric Mazur, Physicist at Harvard:

12. “ALL SIMILARLY (IN)EFFECTIVE…”

13. University of
Washington
CU Boulder
University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign

14. TECHNIQUE & TECHNOLOGY
Technique:
Just-in-Time Teaching
Technology:
Online question & response tools
Learne
r
Teacher

15. JUST-IN-TIME TEACHING
Online pre-class assignments
called WarmUps
First half - Students
• Conceptual questions, answered in sentences
• Graded on thoughtful effort
Second half - Instructor
• Responses are read “just in time”
• Instructor modifies that day’s plan accordingly.
• Aggregate and individual (anonymous) responses
are displayed in class.
Learne
r
Teacher

16. Students have developed a robot dog
and a robot cat, both of which can
run at 8 mph and walk at 4 mph.
A the end of the term, there is a race!
The robot cat must run for half of its
racing time, then walk.
The robot dog must run for half the
race distance, then walk.
A) The cat wins B) The dog wins C) They tie
16

17. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
Predict which one will win the race, and explain
why you think so.
From last night:
~60% → Robocat!
~20% → Robodog!
~0% → They tie!
~20% → Can’t tell!
Alternate view:
~10% → Good math
~10% →Bad math
~20% → Good reasoning
~30% → Bad reasoning
~10% → Invalid arguments
~20% → No reasoning 

18. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
Invalid arguments:
“The robot dog because dogs are
better than cats! :) ”

19. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
“It will take the dog 1.5 hrs to complete an 8 mile race. The cat
will run 5.33 miles in 40 minutes and walk 2.33 miles in 40
minutes. Thus the cat covers 8 miles in 1.33 hours.”
“I think it depends on what the cat's racing time is. If the racing
time is set to, say, 1 hour, and the racing distance is only 2 miles
(15 mins at the run, 30 mins at the walk), the cat will completing
the entire race at the run (15 mins). In the meantime, the dog will
have run for 1 mile at the same rate as the cat, and completed the
final 1 mile at the walk (22.5 mins). The cat will win.
If, however, the cat is programmed with a racing time of 2
minutes, it will only run for just shy of 1/4 mile, and then walk the
remaining 1 3/4 miles 26.25 mins, for a total time of 28.25 mins,
thereby losing to the dogs 22.5 mins.”

20. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
“The robot cat will won. With the same distance,
cat would spend less time. With the same time,
the cat would run longer distance.”
“Cat will win because it runs more than half the
distance at the high rate of speed, while the dog
only runs half the distance at the high rate of
speed.”

21. Consider a typical day in your class. What fraction
of students did their preparatory work before
coming to class?
A) 0% - 20%
B) 20% - 40%
C) 40% - 60%
D) 60% - 80%
E) 80% - 100%
21
29%
32%
20%
14%
5%
(𝑁~238)

22. JITT STRUCTURE & RESPONSE
RATES
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
%Responsed
Class #
Response Rate by Day
College Physics I, N = 78
Worth 10% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days
College Physics I

23. WARMUP QUESTIONS
• Every-day language
• Occasional simple comprehension question
• Mostly “higher level” questions
• Any question is better than none (don’t be precious)
Connections to evidence:
–Pre-class work reduces working memory load
during class.
–Multimodal practice (not learning styles):
JiTT brings reading, writing and discussion as
modes of practice.

24. METACOGNITION
Two questions in every WarmUp:
First:“What aspect of the material did you find
the most difficult or interesting.”
Last: “How much time did you spend on the pre-
class work for tomorrow?”
Connections to evidence:
–Forced practice at metacognition:
Students regularly evaluate their own
interaction with the material.

25. THE JITT FEEDBACK LOOP
Student responses:
• Graded on thoughtful effort
• Sampled and categorized for display
• Quoted anonymously
Closing the loop:
• Respond to some students digitally
• Class time shifts to active engagement.

26. JUST-IN-TIME TEACHING
A different student role:
• Actively prepare for class
(not just reading/watching)
• Actively engage in class
• Compare your progress & plan accordingly
A different instructor role:
• Actively prepare for class with you
(not just going over last year’s notes )
• Modify class accordingly
• Create interactive engagement opportunities
Learne
r
Teacher

27. MAZUR AFTER 1 YEAR

28. ELSEWHERE?

29. WHAT MIGHT STOP YOU?
In terms of the technique:
Time, coverage, not doing your part, pushback…
In terms of the technology:
Learning curve, tech. failures, perfectionism…
In any reform of your teaching:
Reinventing, no support, too much at once…

30. Which topic would you like to spend our
remaining time on?
A) Evidence for effectiveness
B) Best tools for JiTT
C) Getting student “buy-in”
D) Writing good questions
30

31. Evidence For Effectiveness

32. STUDIED EFFECTIVENESS
Used at hundreds of institutions
Dozens of studies/articles, in many disciplines:
Bio, Art Hist., Econ., Math, Psych., Chem., etc.
–Increase in content knowledge
–Improved student preparation for class
–Improved use of out-of-class time
–Increased attendance & engagement in class
–Improvement in affective measures

33. JITT VS. FINAL GRADE
CORRELATIONS
College Physics I, Fall 2013
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
CumulativeScore(withoutwarm-ups)
WarmUp Score
WarmUps vs. Cumulative Score
Correlation r = 0.71

34. PROGRESSIVE EXAMS
CORRELATIONS
College Physics I:
Important disclosure: This was not a hypothesis we were
testing, it appeared as we analyzed the data. Could be
0.18
0.33
0.43
0.54
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Mini Exam
(week 4)
Exam 1
(week 7)
Exam 2
(week 11)
Final Exam
(week 16)
NoneWeakStrongModerate
Correlations between Total WarmUp Score
and Sequence of Exams

35. Mean on 1-5 scale
Preparation for class 4.06
Engagement during
class 3.93
STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS
9% 10%
81%
10%
18%
73%
10%
22%
68%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Harmful Neutral Helpful
How did WarmUps affect your...
Preparation Engagement Learning
N = 781

36. STUDENT SURVEY QUOTES
Physics:
“Initially, it was hard for me to get used to the
warm-ups. It seemed like along with the
homework assignments there was a lot of things
to do. Eventually I got used to it and ultimately
the warmups really helped me to learn the
material and stay caught up with the class.”
“If it weren't for warm ups, the amount of time I
spent reading the book would have dropped by
75%”

37. Best Tools for JiTT

38. WHAT TOOLS TO USE?
The crucial part:
Daily reading, grading & using responses
• Automatic full credit for any response
• View all responses to a question together
• Grade responses on the same page with
minimal clicks
Wishlist:
Easy (quick!) individual feedback

39. SMALL ASIDE: TEXT EXPANDER
39
Every professor should have this!
You define a snippet like “ttyl” which instantly
gets replaced by “Talk to you later!”
Windows:
– Texter, PhraseExpres
(FREE, some advanced features, some flaws)
– Breevey ($40, worth it if you hit problems)
– AutoHotKey (free advanced automation tool)
Mac:
– TypeIt4Me, TextExpander, Typinator
(All cost $20-$30. Generally worth it!)

40. WHAT TOOLS TO USE?
• CMS/LMS (Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, etc.)
Ready to use, tools… imperfect  awful
• Free service from JiTTDL.org.
Designed just for JiTT. Additional website, not
very “shiny” by 2015 standards.
• Students email responses
Easy… also overwhelming and awful
• Blogging tools (WordPress)?
• New tools (TopHat? Learning Catalytics?)

41. Getting Student Buy-In
(a.k.a. “the sales pitch”)

42. THE SALES PITCH
The way we talk to our students impacts
• How they approach the assignments
• How they feel about the work they do

43. OVERARCHING MESSAGE
Communicating with your students (humans)
• Message (explicit statements)
• Attitude (subtext, body language, etc.)
Consistent subtext:
"I am here to help you learn, and I have thought
about your learning trajectory carefully."
Consistent attitude:
I am comfortable and relaxed about my part of
this partnership.

44. DAY 1 – GENERAL
Describe components of the course
• How each one is graded, and why.
• How each one is important for learning and/or
assessment.
Keep justifications short and succinct
Be honest:
"This is my first time using this method, and
there is a lot of data on how and why this is
effective and what the best practices are."

45. DAY 1 – JITT
When discussing JiTT:
“Today is going to feel pretty ‘normal.’You’ll get
to see how this works starting next time, after
you’ve done your first warm-up.”
It isn’t “more assignments = more work,” but
rather “working in smaller chunks is more
effective and more efficient.”

46. ALLOW TIME
They (probably) won’t “buy it all” on Day 1
Emphasize that you will be consistent and they
will get to see its value over time
“This class is different, and I will say that to you,
but it really is something you will get to
see/experience every day.”

47. DAY 2 – JITT
Discuss their first experience with warm-ups
Share how many did them
Remind them of structure:
Release/due times, course value, grading
Remind them of the purpose of warm-ups:
–Student preparation
–Instructor preparation
(“Which I’ll show you now!”)

48. DAY 3 – JITT BITS
A different role for you:
• Actively prepare for class by engaging and
being reflective.
(not just reading/watching)
• Be ready to actively engage with the material
in class.
• Take regular “readings” on your experience
with the material compared to classmates.
Make plans accordingly.

49. DAY 3 – JITT BITS
A different role for me:
• I will actively prepare for class by engaging
and focusing on you.
(not just going over last year’s notes )
• I will modify the class plan based on what I
see in your preparatory work.
• I will consciously create chances for you to
grapple with the material in an active way.

50. STUDENTS: BUSY-WORK
DETECTORS
K-12 represents more than 13,000 hours of class
Students are experts at detecting what really
matters to an instructor:
• What does the instructor do with class time?
• What does the instructor talk about?
• Does the instructor push against the usual
“invisible contract” of the classroom?

51. DEMONSTRATING VALUE IN JITT
Ideas for demonstrating that you value JiTT
• Thank those who do them for giving you
insight into their learning.
• Bring at least one “difficult/interesting” item
from WarmUp to class each day.
• Give non-verbal cues that you value
discussing WarmUps as much (more) than
other course components.
• Be consistent!

52. CONSISTENCY
Be consistent with:
• Assignment releases
• Assignment due dates/times
• Follow-up in class
• Summative assessments (e.g., exam questions)
that build on WarmUp questions.

53. Writing Good Questions

54. EXAMPLE: WHIRLING BUCKET
A bucket of water can be whirled in a
vertical circle without the water falling
out, even at the top of the circle when the
bucket is upside down. Explain…
~15% → An outward force holds it in
~30% → An inward force holds it in
~20% → Talked (correctly!) about
acceleration & velocity… but
didn't really answer.
~10% → Nailed it! (or close enough)

55. EXAMPLE: WHIRLING BUCKET
“The water doesn't come out because you
twirling the bucket is applying the force of
spinning, and the water just kind of counteracts
that motion.”
“Because the water naturally wants to keep
traveling in the same direction its being
whirled around in the water attempts to
continue going up in a straight line but the
bottom of the bucket forces it to stay in the
bucket, like when you are pushed by the door
of a car while making a turn.”

56. FEATURES OF A GOOD QUESTION
56
What would a “good” response look like?
– A paragraph? (too long)
– One word? (too short)
Make sure the reading is needed to respond (but a
sentence straight out of the book shouldn’t work).
Make sure a beginner can take a crack at the question
Be concrete:
– “Explain in 2-3 sentences.”
– “Give two brief examples.”
– “Explain how you got your estimate.”
“Game out” their responses a bit.

57. WRITE A QUESTION AND SHARE...
57
Consider an intro. course in your discipline.
Consider a topic you discuss early in that course.
Write one question… shoot for “higher level.”
Good starting words: apply, analyze, evaluate,
sketch, use, compare, estimate, etc.
Take 3 minutes… then trade questions with your
neighbor and do your best to answer theirs.

58. Summary Slides

59. A POSSIBLE PLAN
Choose one course you will teach next term.
A. Write two questions for each class meeting:
1. One lower-level (maybe multi-choice?).
One higher-level (sentences).
2. Give yourself 10 minutes to write each one
B. Write a standard (1st) metacognitive question
C. Discuss one question at the top of class, and
one in the middle. Use the metacognitive
responses as break points or highlights.

60. MY SUMMARY
JiTT may be among the easiest research-based
instructional strategies that you can consistently
integrate into your teaching.
From an evidence-based perspective, JiTT
addresses often-neglected areas.
Be prepared to find that students know less than
we might hope. (Perhaps freeing?)

61. YOUR SUMMARY
If you want to implement JiTT, what is your next
concrete action?
Email: jeff.loats@gmail.com
Twitter: @JeffLoats
Slides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats

62. JITT REFERENCES & RESOURCES
Simkins, Scott and Maier, Mark (Eds.) (2010) Just inTimeTeaching: Across the Disciplines, Across the
Academy, Stylus Publishing.
Gregor M. Novak, Andrew Gavrini, Wolfgang Christian, Evelyn Patterson (1999) Just-in-Time
Teaching: Blending Active Learning with WebTechnology. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River NJ.
K. A. Marrs, and G. Novak. (2004). Just-in-Time Teaching in Biology: Creating an Active Learner
Classroom Using the Internet. Cell Biology Education, v. 3, p. 49-61.
Jay R. Howard (2004). Just-in-Time Teaching in Sociology or How I Convinced My Students to
Actually Read the Assignment. Teaching Sociology,Vol. 32 (No. 4 ). pp. 385-390. Published by:
American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3649666
S. Linneman, T. Plake (2006). Searching for the Difference: A ControlledTest of Just-in-Time
Teaching for Large-Enrollment Introductory Geology Courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol.
54 (No. 1)
Stable URL:http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/jan06.html#v54p18
ON-DEMAND SLIDES

65. JITT STRUCTURE & RESPONSE RATES
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
%Responsed
Class #
Response Rate by Day
College Physics I, N =
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
%Responsed
Class #
Response Rate by Day
Intro. Sociology, N =
Worth 10% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days
College Physics I Intro. to Sociology
Worth 5%, due @10 PM, available for
2-3 days… but got inconsistent in 2nd
half of the term. Posted late, no follow-
up, etc.