Just in Time Teaching

Chautauqua Short Courses for College Teachers

(to be held at JMU from June 8-10, 2006) Just-In-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology
GREGOR NOVAK, EVELYN T. PATTERSON, United States Air Force Academy, JAMES BENEDICT, James Madison University, and KATHLEEN MARRS, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis http://www.chautauqua.pitt.edu/index.html

Just-in-Time Teaching is presently used in over 200 science and humanities courses at 100+ institutions. The JiTT pedagogy blends cutting edge active learning classroom methods with state-of-the art electronic communication technologies. In preparation for an interactive classroom experience students work with strategically constructed web- based assignments with due dates just before class time. Instructors base the daily classroom activities on the student submissions. The preparatory work creates a need-to- know atmosphere and gives students a sense of ownership of the learning process.

The JiTT community has been awarded several NSF grants, including substantial funding for a three year project to develop a digital library of JiTT resources. For more on JiTTDL please visit www.jittdl.org. The workshop will be a hands-on event with participants actively engaged in the pedagogy discussions and in the authoring activities. Working from templates provided by the workshop presenters, the participants are expected to leave the workshop with a start-up portfolio of resources, enabling them to get started with JiTT immediately. The workshop will include a substantial assessment component and an introduction to scholarly activity based on JiTT in the classroom. Examples of research projects and scholarly publications by JiTT faculty will be discussed.

Likely beneficiaries of this workshop are faculty teams who have explored alternatives to traditional passive teaching and learning and are ready to explore alternative methods. They will need to commit themselves to the active learner approach. They will also need institutional technical support to be able to utilize the underlying web technology.

For more information about JiTT please visit the JiTT website http://www.jitt.org. The workshop homepage will be at http://134.68.135.1/chautauqua2006/.

For college teachers of: natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Prerequisites: none.

Dr. Novak (gnovak@iupui.edu) is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the United States Air Force Academy. His home institution is Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI.) where he is Professor of Physics. His primary scholarly interest is the application of multimedia technology to improve undergraduate physics teaching. Over his tenure on the faculty at IUPUI, Dr. Novak has been at the heart of numerous successful innovations for undergraduate physics teaching and learning. He has extensive leadership experience with faculty workshops having given several hundred invited workshops and presentations on technology in the physics classroom over the past twelve years. He is the co-author of the JiTT book: Just-in-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Pedagogy, Prentice Hall (1999.) Dr. Novak has received several teaching awards, including the 2005 New York Academy of Sciences Willard Jacobson Education Award and the 1998 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at IUPUI.

Dr. Benedict is a Professor of Psychology at James Madison University where he has taught for over 20 years. He received his PhD and MS degrees in biopsychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his BA degree at Oberlin College. Computers have been part of his teaching for many years. He has written several computer packages for use in instruction including a simple data analysis and problem solver for use in statistics, and a widely-used computer simulation of Pavlovian Conditioning. He is interested in the scholarship of teaching and is studying two related topics: understanding how master teachers teach, and understanding how the internet can facilitate student learning and involvement in traditional classrooms.

Dr. Middendorf (middendo@indiana.edu) is co-director of the Freshman Learning Project and Associate Director of Campus Instructional Consulting at Indiana University. She has led workshops on teaching in the United States, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, and published numerous books and articles on teaching and learning, most recently "Decoding the Disciplines: Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking," which she co-edited with David Pace. Her current efforts focus getting faculty started on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and in particular assessing the results of the Just-in-Time Teaching approach.

Dr. Patterson (Evelyn.Patterson@usafa.af.mil ) is Professor of Physics and Assistant Dean at the US Air Force Academy. She received her BS degree from Bucknell University, where she majored in Physics and minored in Music, and her PhD in experimental cosmic ray physics from the University of Delaware. Dr. Patterson joined the faculty of the US Air Force Academy in 1993. At the Academy, she teaches cadets and is involved in a number of physics education projects, while continuing to do some cosmic ray physics research. Her educational interests broadly include the use of technology to improve teaching and learning. Dr. Patterson is a winner of the Air Force Academy Outstanding Educator Award.

Dr. Marrs is an Associate Professor at IUPUI, doing research in the area of Biology Education to advance the Department of Biology’s commitment to student learning. Her research focuses on investigating the use of technology in the classroom to improve active learning, and determining strategies for student success in college science.