Just-in-time teaching to enhance in-class comprehension.

The technique of Just-In-Time teaching was used as a preparative activity to increase student engagement and comprehension during lecture periods in a small classrooms.  Activities involved the introduction of pre-class reading or video with an accompanying set of open-ended questions that were submitted via Dropbox before the relevant class meeting.  The reading/video covered foudnational materials that would introduce the student to the new topic.  The questions would serve to prove the students understanding of the initial concept.  The questions would quickly flesh out early misconceptions about the subject while giving "gems" of incite from other studetns.  Questions were introduced during the relevant class period with common answers, both good and bad, being used to drive discussions.  The technique has been used for two full years of the two semester Organic Chemistry sequence, along with one semester of Environmental Chemistry.  The fundamentals, example answers, logistics, and student feedback will be discussed.