«Just in time» online teaching

Different globally recognized approaches help structure the learning environment for students as beneficial as possible. All of us have come across methodologies like TPR (Total Physical Response), TTT (Test, Teach, Test), IBL (Inquiry-based learning), PBL (Project-based learning), etc. All of them have their advantages and downsides depending on the age group, the cultural and linguistic background of the learners, the learning environment, etc. All of us favour some of the above mentioned approaches and feel a bit unsure about the rest.

Today we’ll talk about a different learning method — JiTT (Just in time teaching) and will focus on the online component of it which has become so practical nowadays.

What is Just in time teaching?

JiTT reminds me of the approach “Flipped classroom”, a type of learning when the students do the classwork at home and then dive deeper into the main topic during the class time to put it roughly. Hence, JiTT is a type of learning that encourages the learners to take more responsibility for their learning and promotes a more active learning strategy. This approach was developed by Gregor Novak and colleagues and is based upon web based learning materials and the classroom.

There are two types of activities that students need to work with — WarmUps and Puzzles. In both cases, students focus on a number of activities outside the classroom (reading based on the topic of the class, research work, etc.) and submit their homework to the teacher a couple of hours before the session, so that the latter has a chance to look through them and come up with a lesson plan that will cover the needs of the students the best, judging from their submitted work.

This is all done via an educational management platform which the school can choose to use (Moodle, Coursera, Schoology, etc.)

The goal of Just in time teaching is to maximize the output of each session as the students have more chance to be exposed to what they need to learn/polish through discussions, Q&A sessions rather than sit through long lectures with minimum benefit. It encourages the learners to be more active during the sessions, to challenge themselves and to cover more relevant aspects in the topic under discussion.

Another benefit of this strategy is that the learners practically get immediate feedback on their learning instead of wasting weeks on waiting for instructor feedback. It is more efficient and more target-oriented.

Moreover, in the current world of the “new normal” with almost all the activities shifted to online mode, this approach has become even more effective considering the parallel development of educational management platforms. It has also made us reconsider our teaching styles and make use of online resources as much as possible. Hence, video based materials, instructions, and digital ways of learning have become an inseparable part of modern education.

Are there any drawbacks? Well, sure!

1. It takes a lot more time from the instructors to compile a lesson plan.
2. There is more pressure on managing to come up with the right plan and find the right resources.
3. Not all the learners will be ready all the time.

Despite these pitfalls, however, the massive amount of good that this approach brings with itself, it definitely worths the try:

1. More target oriented learning.
2. More involved and motivated learners.
3. More independent work.
4. More active classroom work.
5. Focus on learning rather than completing a curriculum.

Let us know if you try this way of teaching/learning out and share your feedback with us.