SGER Proposal: Building an Evaluative Foundation for Just-in-Time Teaching

United States Air Force Academy, U S A F Academy CO

Investigators

Abstract

This is a proposal for a small grant to take advantage of an instructional innovation (Just-in-Time-Teaching or JiTT) that is widely spread but where implementation has rapidly outpaced theoretical specification, systematic evaluation, and validation of principles to guide optimal use in different contexts. The innovation is having JiTT students respond electronically to carefully constructed web-based assignments due shortly before class (Warm Ups) that the instructor reviews "just-in-time" to adjust the classroom teaching/learning to diagnosed student needs. The result of the instructor's review of this information is the planning and implementation of feedback-rich interactive classroom sessions built around these student responses replacing the traditional lecture. The major project goals are: 1) to consolidate, organize, and analyze the currently available evidence on JiTT's effectiveness, in a theoretically coherent way; 2) to produce design principles for summative and formative evaluation of individual JiTT projects; and 3) to build a community-wide (i.e., JiTT community of projects) culture of shared expectations for embedding evaluation in projects.