This document summarizes a workshop on Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT). JiTT is a teaching method that uses online pre-class assignments, called WarmUps, to actively engage students with course material before class. WarmUps consist of conceptual questions that students answer in sentences. Instructors then modify their lesson plans based on student responses. Studies show JiTT increases student preparation, engagement, and learning compared to traditional lecturing. The workshop discussed the basics of JiTT, provided examples, and reviewed evidence of its effectiveness from multiple institutions and disciplines.

1. Name
School
Department
JUST IN TIME TEACHING
MDL WORKSHOP
JANUARY 17TH, 2015
JEFF LOATS
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

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?
~67% → Imitation of our mentors
~33% → Teacher comfort/style
~25% → Experiences while teaching
~8% → Education classes
~17% → Workshop/observation tidbits
~17% → Learning styles

3. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“We tend to teach the way we were taught,
assuming that what went well for us has to go
well for our students.”
“I believe that instructors acquire their
experience mainly through contact with the
students and seeing what is effective and what is
not.”

4. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“[…] Same progression now, we are trying to
move to student-centered learning, but when the
students don't respond (or we can't figure out how
to motivate them to study), it's just back to the
old lecture format. It's easier to keep talking than
to find ways to get THEM to talk! It's easiest to
re-teach those who didn't study. And such a
vicious circle!”

5. WARM-UP: TEACHING HERITAGE
“Most instructors probably teach in a way similar
to how they have been taught - unless they have
been subjected to intense professional
development eradicating habit.
Or they teach to how they learn themselves. If
they are visual learners they may prefer to teach
by visual learning principles.”

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
discipline 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?
8% →Stern threats and/or playful pleading.
58% →Paper method (quiz, journal, others?)
8% →Digital method (clickers, others?)
0% →Just in Time Teaching.
25% →Some other method.
9
18%
49%
10%
5%
17%
(𝑁 ≈ 180)

10. OVERVIEW
1. Motivation for change
2. Basics of Just-in-Time Teaching
3. Mock example
4. Evidence for effectiveness
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. 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%
16
28%
33%
21%
14%
5%
(𝑁 ≈ 206)

17. 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, Fall 2013, N = 78
Worth 10% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days
College Physics I

18. 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
18

19. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
Predict which one will win the race, and explain
why you think so.
~60% → Robocat!
~0% → Robodog!
~30% → They tie!
~10% → Depends!
2 people gave no response
~20% → Good math
~10% →Bad math
~10% → Good reasoning
~50% → Bad reasoning
~10% → Invalid arguments

20. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
“I was terrible at physics (my professor was a
really bad instructor and could never explain
difficult content well), so I checked out at 6th
grade :( I have a hunch that the cat may win
though.”
“The cat, if I program its racing time accordingly,
that is, a time shorter than the time it takes the
dog to get to the finish line.”

21. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
“Both have the same running and walking
speeds, so they will cover the same distance
while running, therefore at the time of switching
to walking, they will still be next to each other
and walk together till the finish line, no matter
the distance nor the time that it takes. The cat
might though stop for some Friskies at Pet Smart
and the dog might be interested in a tree on the
way. "Run for half the race distance" or "Run for
half of its racing time" means the same to me.
These were my "one sentence or two".”

22. WARM-UP: ROBODOG VS.
ROBOCAT
“I think the cat will win. If the cat runs over half
the distance in the time it's racing, then it'll be
further that the dog when the time comes to walk.
I also like cats more. Thank god I teach french.”
“The Cat will win. In an 8 mile race, the dog will
run 4 mi and walk 4 mi. This will take 1.5 hours.
In the same time frame (1.5 hours) the cat will
run 45 min and walk 45 minutes, so the cat can
cover 9 miles in the same time that the dog can
cover only 8 miles.”

23. WARMUP QUESTIONS
• Every-day language
• Occasional simple comprehension question
• Mostly higher level questions (a la Bloom)
• I suspect any question is better than none
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. 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

26. MAZUR AFTER 1 YEAR

27. ELSEWHERE?

28. 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

29. 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%”

30. 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…

31. In the time we have left, which topic would you
most like to discuss?
A) Writing good JiTT questions
B) The evidence base for JiTT
C) Choosing a good JiTT implementation tool
D) “The sales pitch” (getting student buy-in)
31

32. FEATURES OF A GOOD QUESTION
32
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.

33. WRITE A QUESTION AND SHARE...
33
Imagine an introductory course in your discipline.
Imagine a topic you discuss early in that course.
Pick one type, write one question:
– A “low level” question (remember, understand):
Terms: “Define, repeat” or “describe, explain”
– A “higher level” question (apply, analyze,
evaluate)
Terms: “Sketch, use” or “compare, estimate”
Write for a few minutes, then to trade and answer
your neighbor’s.

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days

38. FEATURES OF A GOOD JITT TOOL
38
All student responses on one webpage
Auto-grading: 2/2 for anything by default.
Click to email students from the response page.
“Frequently sent responses” a bit automated.
List of responses is either randomized or tracked
to distribute instructor attention.
Other “modern” web amenities, like autosave,
time warnings, etc.

39. SMALL ASIDE: TEXT EXPANDER
39
Every professor should have this!
You define a short text string, such as “ttyl”
When typed instantly replaced: “Talk to you later!”
Best FREE tools for Windows:
– Texter (simple with some advanced tools)
– AutoHotKey (advanced and can do much more)
Best tools for Mac:
– TypeIt4Me (30 days free, $5 after that. Worth it)

40. WHAT TOOLS TO USE?
40
• CMS/LMS (Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, etc.)
Ready to use, tools range from ok to awful
• Free service from JiTTDL.org.
Designed just for JiTT, but extra login, and the
site has not been improved in ~5 years
• Students email responses
Easy! Usually overwhelming and awful
• Blogging tools (WordPress)?
• New tools (TopHat, Learning Catalytics)?

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

42. 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.

43. 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."

44. 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.”

45. 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.”

46. 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!”)

47. 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.

48. 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.

49. 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?

50. 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!

51. CONSISTENCY
Be consistent with:
• Assignment releases
• Assignment due dates/times
• Follow-up in class
• Exam questions that build on WarmUps

52. 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.
The sales pitch, demonstrating value and consistency
can make the JiTT experience shine for both you and
the students.
MSU Denver is doing good work in supporting
innovative pedagogy, like JiTT. We have a solid
JiTT “User’s Group.”

53. YOUR SUMMARY
If you want to implement JiTT, what is the most
important next step?
Please… get in touch!
We have an MSU Denver user’s group.
Email: Jeff.Loats@gmail.com
Slides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats

54. JITT REFERENCES & RESOURCES
Simkins, Scott and Maier, Mark (Eds.) (2010) Just in Time Teaching: 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 Web Technology. 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 Controlled Test 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