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Justin Houseknecht

June 5, 1:45 – 2:30 PM, EDT

Just-in-Time Teaching at Wittenberg University

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

Organic Education Resources

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Outline

  • JiTT overview

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  • Class preparation
    • Topic level learning outcome

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  • Class sessions

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  • Assessment

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  • ID common misconceptions

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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Just-in-Time Teaching

  • Developed by physicists in the mid-1990’s

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  • Structure class preparation so that students (and instructor) know what they need help with
    • Open prompts much better than closed

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  • Class sessions provide needed help “just-in-time”

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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My question is how a presentation on Bloom's taxonomy helped convince you to adopt JiTT…

  • Part of decision to use collaborative learning

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  • Spend class time doing the harder tasks

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  • JiTT supports students with the material they need to remember and understand

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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I am curious to hear more about the benefits of JiTT over other active/flipped-type classroom models…

  • Don’t have to make hours of videos

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  • Develops reading ability

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  • …it promotes metacognition

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  • Helps me design more effective class sessions

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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Is this less suitable for a less-selective university, wherein more groups may be considered weak?

  • Wittenberg is almost open enrollment

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  • Centre College is highly selective

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  • The amount of support needed varies

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

How do you address the students who claim that they are having to teach themselves and don’t like the approach, especially those averse to a textbook?

  • Preemptively discuss skills, Bloom’s taxonomy, and the zone of proximal development
    • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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  • Use a textbook (Klein) with accessible videos

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Class Preparation

  • Traditional JiTT
    • Several specific questions
    • Muddiest point

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  • My adaptation
    • Topic level LO
    • Perusall discussion
    • Bridge assignments on non-quiz days

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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How early in the morning were you up in order to get the lecture ready? Did you pre-select collaborative problems or did you make them up based on the muddiest point feedback?

  • Class prep < 1 hour

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  • Start with previous year’s slides

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  • Add quotes and edit as needed

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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Class Sessions

  • Based on misconceptions
    • Duis, J. M.; J. Chem. Educ., 2011, 88(3), 346-350
    • Experience
    • Perusall

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  • Collaborative problem solving
    • Teams of 3-4
    • Self-organized, but rearrange twice
    • 3 problems that target different misconceptions
    • Record AV solutions and store on LMS

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  • Review AV solutions

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

Mini lecture

Students work in teams

Review teamwork solutions

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With the use of whiteboards, are solutions from certain groups still discussed in class? How are these posted to the LMS? (Do students upload pictures?)

  • All teams post audio-visual solutions to LMS

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  • Discuss 2-3

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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What strategies have you employed to address students with executive function challenges... or social pragmatic challenges (which may be related to autism)?

  • Day 1 norming activity particularly important

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  • Preemptively discuss importance of collaboration
    • 93% of employers list as very important or important
    • Only 13% of college graduates report any training

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  • Focus on how they can contribute

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www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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Would this class format be more challenging in a 50-minute class vs a 90-minute?

  • Time management is the #1 challenge for active learning, yes it would be harder

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  • Nursing Chemistry is MWF

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www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

I have very small class sizes (1-14) and sometimes struggle to create effective teams.

  • My typical class size is 1-2 dozen

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  • Range has been 8 – 53

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  • Enrollments below 6 I would’nt split them into teams

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Assessment

  • Weekly online hw to reinforce understanding

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  • Specifications grading
    • Content (14), behavioral (6), and lab (10-12) LOs
    • Foundational LOs (12)
    • Quiz each Tuesday over previous week’s content LO
    • Must get > 79%
    • Retakes

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  • Final exam
    • Cumulative
    • Adjustment on course average from specs grading

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025

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Describe 2-3 expected misconceptions for your team’s learning outcome

  • Record on Learning Objectives, Misconceptions, Problems Google slide
    • Slide #2 lists team membership
    • Team #1 will use slides 3-5, but just slide 3 now

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  • In your teams
    • Discuss common misconceptions
    • Choose which 2-3 are most important and describe on slide
    • Repeat for another day’s content if time allows

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  • Be prepared to share out your misconceptions as time allows

www.organicers.org

JiTT @ Witt

ALOC Online Workshop 2025