Just-In-Time

Have you ever needed to learn how to do something you don't know how to do so you watched a "How-To" video on YouTube? There are thousands of these types of videos on the site used to instruct people how to change a tire, cook an omelette, tie a tie, etc.
The website eHow is a website dedicated to instructional steps on how to do various tasks.
The entire idea of an InfoGraphic stems from this idea of showing people a guide or a How-To on completing a task. These graphics designed to be visually appealing and easy to extract the information so the person can learn how to do the task in a quick efficient manner.

All of this "How-To" is an example of Just-In-Time learning, contrary to our typical Just-In-Case learning we see in the traditional American classroom. This is the idea of learning what you need to know when you need to know it.

In a traditional American classroom, the curriculum is set and focuses on a broad range of topics that have been deemed necessary for the students to learn and know while they're in school. This type of education focuses on remembering and memorization to test your ability in these topics given a summative, standardized test. This type of education has come under scrutiny and has much criticism due to its nature of teaching students things they don't actually need and the students miss out on things they would really need in everyday life. The following video depicts the views of one student who states they learning things unnecessary in school, but didn't learn how to do everyday things they would need to know to survive in the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xe6nLVXEC0

This video has gotten much praise for showing the need for changing curriculum to meet the needs of the world and teach students what they would need to know in their career and life after school.

At higher levels of education, you can see this idea of Just-In-Time learning in the form of vocational training or technical schools. This type of education focuses on teaching the students how to do things when they need them to be learned and learning things they will directly need to know.

This Just-In-Time model focuses on constructing nodes of information and connecting these nodes to prior knowledge. This model also focuses on the ability to learn and the capacity for knowledge and the ability to think critically about topics. We know that information is constantly changing and new discoveries are made all the time that make the information we currently know outdated.

Moving towards this model of Just-In-Time can be helpful to all students, as it teaches them things they would need to know in the future rather than things they MIGHT need to know eventually. This also helps to alleviate the stress and pressure that comes with test taking and having to memorize as much material as you possibly can.


Mr. Brandon Berk
Mt Spokane High School
Spokane Washington