Just-in-Time Teaching Warmups

What Just-in-Time Teaching Is

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) is a pedagogical strategy where students complete a short assignment before class — typically a few open-ended or conceptual questions about the upcoming topic. You review their responses before the lecture and adjust your teaching to address common misconceptions, gaps, or interesting ideas that come up. The goal is to meet students where they are rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all lecture.

How JiTT Warmups Work in Quizzibility

A JiTT warmup is simply an assignment (usually a quiz with open-ended questions) scheduled to close before class starts. There is no special assignment type — you create a regular quiz, add a few questions, and set the closes_at timestamp to an hour or two before your lecture.

The key is reviewing responses before class. Open the assignment results page and scan through the student answers. Quizzibility shows you aggregate response data for multiple-choice questions and a scrollable list of open-ended responses. Look for patterns: Are most students confused about the same concept? Did someone phrase an explanation particularly well that you could share (anonymously) during lecture?

Adjusting Your Lecture

The insights from warmup responses let you make targeted adjustments:

• Skip what they already know. If 90% of students correctly answered a concept check, you do not need to spend 15 minutes explaining it — give a brief recap and move on.
• Double down on gaps. If a common misconception appears in the open-ended responses, build an example or activity around it. This is far more effective than guessing what students might struggle with.
• Use student language. Quote (anonymously) a student's response that captures a key idea or a productive misconception. This validates students' thinking and makes the lecture feel responsive.

When to Use JiTT

JiTT warmups are most effective for conceptual topics where students have some prior knowledge — reading assignments, video pre-work, or topics that build on previous lectures. They are less useful for entirely new material where students have no foundation to respond from.

Keep warmups short — three to five questions, taking no more than 10-15 minutes. If warmups become burdensome, students will rush through them or skip them entirely, defeating the purpose.

A well-executed JiTT cycle creates a feedback loop: students prepare before class, you adapt in real time, and class time is spent on the things that actually need discussion.