NameSchoolDepartment

JUST IN TIME TEACHINGKEYS TO SUCCESS

@ USAFA BROWN BAG, AUGUST 2014

DR. JEFF LOATSDEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

THE EVIDENCE STANDARD

Teachers can feel bombarded…

I strive to be a scholarly teacher …

• Apply the rigor we bring to the discipline of physics to the discipline of teaching.

• Choose teaching methods that are strongly informed by the best empirical evidence available.

Contrast teaching your subject with treating diabetes

OVERVIEW

1. Why JiTT

2. The “Sales Pitch”

3. Demonstrating value

4. Consistency

5. Summaries

Please jump in with questions anytime…

Consider a typical day in your class. What fraction of students did their preparatory work before coming to class?

Previous anonymous poll results (compiled):

0-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

28%33%

21%

14%

5%

N = 206

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

Learner

Teacher

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.

• Forced practice at metacognition: Students regularly evaluate their own interaction with the material.

THE SALES PITCH

The way we talk to our students impacts

• How they approach the assignments

• How they feel about the work they do

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.

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."

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.”

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.”

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!”)

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.

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.

STUDENTS: BUSY-WORK DETECTORSK-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?

DEMONSTRATING VALUE IN JITTIdeas 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!

CONSISTENCY

Be consistent with:

• Assignment releases

• Assignment due dates/times

• Follow-up in class

• Exam questions that build on WarmUps

JITT STRUCTURE & RESPONSE RATES

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Response Rate by Day

Class #

% R

esp

on

sed

College Physics I, N = 78

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Response Rate by Day

Class #

% R

esp

on

sed

Intro. Sociology, N = 23

Worth 10% of final gradeDue 10 PM the night before classAssignments available for prior 2-3 days

College Physics I Intro. to SociologyWorth 5% of final gradeDue 10 PM the night before classAssignments available for prior 2-3 days

JITT VS. FINAL GRADE CORRELATIONS

College Physics I Intro. to Sociology

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

20

40

60

80

100

WarmUps vs. Cumulative Score

WarmUp Score

Cum

ulati

ve S

core

(with

out w

arm

-ups

)

Correlation r = 0.71

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

20

40

60

80

100

WarmUps vs. Cumulative Score

Warmup Score

Cum

ulati

ve S

core

(with

out W

arm

Ups)

Correlation r = 0.50

PROGRESSIVE EXAM CORRELATIONSCollege Physics I:

Important disclosure: This was not a hypothesis we were testing, it appeared as we analyzed the data. Could be spurious.

Mini Exam(week 4)

Exam 1(week 7)

Exam 2(week 11)

Final Exam(week 16)

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.18

0.33

0.43

0.54

Non

eW

eak

Stro

ngM

oder

ate

Correlations between Total WarmUp Score

and Sequence of Exams

Mean on 1-5 scalePreparation for class 4.06

Engagement during class 3.93

Learning the material 3.79

STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS

Harmful Neutral Helpful0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

9% 10%

81%

10%18%

73%

10%22%

68%

How did WarmUps af-fect your...

Preparation Engagement LearningN = 781

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%”

MY SUMMARY

Being in a department that explicitly supports innovative pedagogy, like JiTT, is rare and valuable.

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.

YOUR SUMMARY

What is the most important “nugget” you want to remember from the discussion?

What part of is the fuzziest for you after this discussion?

Email: Jeff.Loats@gmail.comTwitter: @JeffLoatsSlides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats

Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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 AssociationStable 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

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