Acceptability of Just-in-Time Teaching amongst medical students: A pilot study

Introduction: Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) is a novel method of teaching-learning used in various disciplines of science and humanities. It is a technique that scaffolds the students learning process by reducing the cognitive load involved in the traditional lectures. It promotes active interaction between the learner and teacher thereby motivating enhanced learning.Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the acceptability of JiTT over traditional lecture teaching among the medical students.Method: In a cross sectional pilot study, three hundred thirty five students participated in a questionnaire based study that grades the various aspects of the traditional lecture series. After the implementation of JiTT method for a period of four months, three hundred two students completed the questionnaire, grading the same variables for JiTT. The analysis was done by using SPSS version 11 applying Paired t test and McNemar’s Test.Result: The results of our study highlighted that JiTT technique was superior to traditional teaching with statistically significant outcomes in the clarity of the topic (p=0.003,) duration of the session (p=0.002), knowledge gained and orientation for exams (p=0.044). The students perceived JiTT method as less monotonous (p=0.005) increasing their alertness during these sessions (p=0.002).Conclusion: We therefore propose that Just-in-Time Teaching method is a more interactive and acceptable teaching-learning tool shifting the nature of teaching to a more student-centric approach as perceived by the medical students. This is the first pioneer study on JiTT to be performed on undergraduate medical students so far.