How to use JiTT in Economics

JiTT Quick Start Box

ou can begin to use Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) in your introductory-level course with a small investment of time and energy, and the payoff in student engagement and learning are well worth it. Here's how:

Getting Started

The first step is to make some decisions about http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/justintime/logistics.html

• What technology will you employ to post your questions and collect student responses?
• In what course will you start using JiTT?
• How often and when will you schedule your JiTT exercises?
• How much will JiTT exercises count toward overall course grades?

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/justintime/logistics.html about your options and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

A JiTT Toolkit for Writing Effective JiTT Questions in Economics

Maier and Simkins (2009) outline a variety of JiTT question-types that are particularly applicable to economics:

• Scaffolding learning (starting with basic concepts... build from there)
• Applying economics concepts to real life

BOX: Using JiTT to Generate Examples of Economic Concepts

JiTT questions are a great way to generate student examples of economic concepts... and also to get a window into student misunderstandings.
E.g. graphing JiTT question
correlation vs. causation
Using Prior Experience as the Basis for new Knowledge
Graphing (student examples)

• Interviewing someone
• Consider multiple perspectives on complex policy decisions
• Analyze public use of economic concepts
• Analyze/comment on a political cartoon
• Analyze an editorial or news story
• Tell a story using economic concepts
• Take on a role: Imagine that...

Box or sidebar at end of bullet list with an illustrative example

Link to specific examples in activities collection....

Using JiTT in Class with other Pedagogies

• Classroom Experiments (prediction ahead of experiments helps improve learning)
• Cooperative Learning (see KimMarie's module... JiTTs used to get students prepared for class -- see quote from Watts and Becker (2008) on latest economic survey - "cooperative learning almost never used in economics classrooms."
  
• Peer Instruction and Clickers - The idea of ConcepTests has been made most popular by Eric Mazur, a physicist at Harvard University. Now being used across many disciplines, especially in STEM disciplines.
  
• BOX INSERT: source for clicker questions to be used with peer instruction (see chapter by Mazur and Watkins, JiTT Across the Disciplines) and also Salemi working paper. ALSO: link to research on clicker use (Science Education Initiative, Carl Wieman, UBC and UC-Boulder; see also PHYSLRNR discussion from spring, 2009) and module to be developed on personal response systems...
• Case Studies (provide information to instructor on areas of confusion or misunderstanding - or to do first part of an interrupted case - see module on case use)
• Context-Rich Problems - can be used to help students sort out pertinent from extraneous information, structure thinking, etc. (see context-rich problem module)