Active learning with Web technology - just in time

This paper reports on the implementation of a just in time teaching (JiTT) approach at Humboldt State University (HSU) to teach introduction to environmental resources engineering and science. Just-in-time teaching (JiTT) is a Web-based classroom strategy that combines active learning classroom activities and World Wide Web resources that are used to enhance the classroom component. At HSU, students complete Blackboard/spl reg/ quizzes that are due by electronic transmission a short time before class begins. Instructors review the responses "just in time" and adjust and organize lessons based on those student responses. Feedback from the students after one semester indicated that 93% thought the JiTT approach improved their learning. The students come to class prepared and already engaged with the material. The instructor has already assessed the students' acquired knowledge, as well as misconceptions, and, can better judge how classroom time should be spent. This effort is funded by an NSF CCLI grant.