Just in Time Teaching

This material was originally created for Starting Point:Introductory Geology
and is replicated here as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service.

Students of Carol Ormand working on a Grand Canyon lab exercise

Created by Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University Brandywine and Carol Ormand, SERC.

"As you enter a classroom ask yourself this question: If there were no students in the room, could I do what I am planning to do? If your answer to the question is yes, don't do it." - Gen. Ruben Cubero, Dean of The Faculty, United States Air Force Academy

What is Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) - a combination of active learning and internet technology

Students in introductory courses read assigned material outside of class, respond to short questions online, then participate in discussion and collaborative exercises the following class period. The instructor's in-class use of student responses to questions draws the students in, engaging them with the course material both outside of and in the classroom. Read an interview with Gregor Novak, a JiTT pioneer; a detailed description of the JiTT cycle of learning; a geoscience example WarmUp exercise; JiTT learning goals; and a list of ways you could implement JiTT in your courses. learn more here

Why use Just-in-Time Teaching - students think about and work through course material outside of class

Students are engaged with course content outside of and before coming to class, leading to increased student learning and motivation to learn. The exercises also allow instructors to assess student understanding of the course material. And instructors who use JiTT also say they have more interesting conversations with students about the course material, both outside of and during class. learn more here

How to use Just-in-Time Teaching - WarmUp exercises with follow-up in-class discussions

Step-by-step guidance on implementing Just-in-Time Teaching in your classroom, from choosing the technology you'll use to post questions and collect student responses to finding or writing appropriate questions to incorporating your students' responses into your class. learn more here

Examples of JiTT WarmUps for introductory courses

Search a collection of geoscience examples by topic. go to search page

References on Just-in-Time Teaching

Consult the references used to construct this website, as well as additional resources for further reading on JiTT. go to reference page