Millennial Learning: April 16-17, 2009
Laura Guertin
Just-in-Time Teaching: A Pedagogical Approach That Enhances Learning in the Complicated Lives of Our Students

Dr. Laura Guertin is an Associate Professor of Earth Science at Penn State Delaware County in Media, PA. She received her BA in geology from Bucknell University and her PhD in marine geology & geophysics from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. Her primary research focus is the effective integration of innovative technologies and pedagogies such as Just-in-Time Teaching to improve student learning in introductory-level geoscience courses. She has been awarded Penn State’s Commonwealth College teaching award and the university-wide George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2003, she was selected as one of Project Kaleidoscope’s Faculty for the 21st century network for emerging leaders in STEM education. She has presented her pedagogical innovations at local-to-international geoscience education conferences and published in journals such as the Journal of Geoscience Education, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, and the Journal of Science Education and Technology. She is currently a councilor with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and chair for the Geoscience Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research. She also serves as the program coordinator for her campus’ Jane Cooper and Schreyer Honors Programs and co-coordinator for the intercollege minor in civic and community engagement.

Just-in-Time Teaching: A Pedagogical Approach That Enhances Learning in the Complicated Lives of Our Students

The Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) technique allows students to be engaged in course material outside of the classroom by answering web-based questions. The responses are summarized and presented to students in class with a follow-up active learning exercise. This session will review strategies for developing JiTT questions and implementation. Assessment data will be presented that show students are able to reflect on their prior knowledge and construct new knowledge with weekly graded JiTT exercises. Despite increasing and competing pressures outside of the classroom, students report increased learning and engagement in a course with required weekly assignments.