Programmed instruction

Definition

• Programmed instruction is a method of presenting new subject matters to students in a graded sequence of controlled steps. Students work through the programmed material by themselves at their own speed and after each step test their comprehension by answering an examination question or filling in a diagram. They are then immediately shown the correct answer or given additional information. Computers and other types of teaching machines are often used to present the material, although books may also be used. (cited from Encyclopedia.com).

See also: Mastery learning

Theory and history

• Programmed instruction is based on Skinner's "operant conditionning", a (behaviorist theory stating that learning is change in behavior, i.e. the individual's reponse to events (stimuli). Behvaior can be conditionned by rewarding the right stimulus-response patterns.

According to Greg Kearsley:

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective
2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced ("shaping")
3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli ("stimulus generalization") producing secondary conditioning

Skinner argued strongly against teaching that is based on punishement. According to Kristinsdóttir, “In a chapter of his book 1968 Why teachers fail he argued that formal education is usually based on 'aversive control'. Teaching rests on punishment and ridicule for unsuitable behaviour rather than showing a consideration for the shaping and reinforcement of responses to be learned. He also said that lessons and examinations are designed to show what pupils do not know and cannot do, rather than to expose and build upon what they do know and are able to learn. Therefore, he argued, teachers fail to shape their children's behaviour sufficiently, leading to inappropriate learning or to learned responses that are quickly forgotten (Skinner, 1968).” (Markle, S. (1969). Good Frames and Bad (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.)

History

The teaching machine

Programmed instruction consists of a network of statements and tests, which direct the student to new statements depending on his pattern of errors. (Cited from [Encyclopedia.com]). It is based on a particular tool which is called “teaching machine”.

The first teaching machine was invented by Sydney L. Pressey in 1934, but the practical methods of programmed instruction were not developed until the 1950s, thanks to Skinner who introduced the “teaching machine”. However, Skinner’s interpretation differed from Pressey’s in some ways. Skinner stated that the student should compose his response on his own, rather than choose it among a large range of possibilities, because the responses should not be recognized but recalled. Moreover, according to Skinner, the machine should present information in a designed sequence of steps. In programmed instruction, the subject is the student itself, the aim is his/her understanding of the material and the reinforcement or punishment refers to satisfaction or disappointment, resulting from the comparison of the student’s answers with the answers given by the computer.

Teaching machines did not allow students to proceed in their tasks unless they understood the materials. The machines helped students to give the correct answer by “a logical presentation of material” [1] and by "hinting, prompting, suggesting, and so on, derived from an analysis of verbal behaviour" ( Skinner, 1958).

The role of the teachers in Skinner's thoughts

Even if in a chapter of his book “Why teachers fail”, Skinner argued that teachers fail to shape their students’ behaviour sufficiently, he stated (1954) that: “If the teacher is to take advantage of recent advances in the study of learning, she must have the help of mechanical devices.” Concluding his analysis he also argued that mechanized instruction should be integrated into all schools, not as a replacement for, but as an adjunct to the teacher. By saying so, he did not deny the importance of the teacher in the learning process.

Many objections to Skinner’s programs have been raised during these years. The most important is that people think that the answers given by the machine are only “indicators of success” which do not constitute a complete learning program. However, students are obliged to determine on their own the success of their research and problem-solving efforts. All this is considered to be minimal and the starting point of any problem. So, maybe, the real benefit of programmed instruction is precisely the effort made by the student which can be seen as a sort of grounding for developing the ability to think and to learn on his own. Ability that will be achieved only thanks to the involvement of the teacher in class. At the beginning, programmed instruction was thought for students particularly gifted, in order to prevent them to waste their time by listening things they already knew, and that could be useless for their learning process. Those who think (and are still thinking) that programmed instruction isolate students, must consider that the machine brings them into contact with the people who composed the material and with a large number of other students. Besides, computers prevent students from repeating the same material and facilitate the review of previous lessons, so, each student can learn in accordance with his own level. But all this is only feasible in class, where the role of teachers is once more important for stimulating discussion and improving the quality of education itself. Moreover, the fact that the student is among his friends avoids the risk of socially isolating him as homeschooling does.

Technological progresses

It is important to bear in mind that “teaching machines” were much more similar to a mechanical tool than a computer as we know it. If education accepted with great interest Skinner’s suggestions, it was not like that for industry because companies thought that this machine could get out of production soon. For these reasons, the materials concerning programmed instructions were mainly books, detracting the value of Skinner as a forerunner of (behaviorist) e-learning.

Some time later, the programmed instruction movement presented the concept of interactive text and extended this kind of instruction to all school subjects. So, computer-assisted instruction could assist students, by allowing them to test their abilities and to mark their improvements, supplementing the activities in class and helping to develop new skills independently. But, it was still economically difficult to put a system like that into place. As a consequence, programmed instruction as a whole seemed to sink into oblivion. Of course, another reason was a change in the understanding of learning (not discussed here).

Nowadays, the situation has changed a lot: thanks to technological progresses, in particular Internet and various learning platforms like learning management systems, one could implement Skinner’s theories and projects more economically.

Crowder's intrinsic or branching program

“Norman Crowder, a contemporary of Skinner, was working independently for the armed services on programmed instruction. He felt that a program was a form of communication between a programmer and a user. Like any communication, the program must be directed to the individual. Unlike Skinner, Crowder was not working from a psychological perspective, but from a communications point of view. In an intrinsic or branching program, each frame presents more text than the average linear frame. After reading, the user responds to an adjunct question, usually in a multiple-option format. Unlike Pressey's auto-instructional approach, which provides only confirmation of the correctness or incorrectness of that response, branching style optional choices lead users to optional forms of feedback, most of which is corrective. If the user makes a correct response, the program asserts the reasons why she or he was correct and moves on to new material. If an incorrect response is made, the program, at the very least, informs the user that an error was made and then branches the user back to the previous frame for another try.” Martin (2001, retrieved 15:56, 14 August 2007 (MEST)).

Open-contents and programmed instructional texts

One could use the technology of wikis that succeeded in creating Wikipedia. Wikitechnology offers a great deal of opportunities based on the work of an increasing number of volunteers. In addition, the learning material can be translated in many languages in order to let people consult it for free and at home.

The success of wikis and other open source softwares gave rise to several communities of learning, made up of people who just want to share knowledge at all levels. The range of subjects has developed a lot, concerning spelling, reading, arithmetic, foreign languages, psychology, physics and much more. Some programs enable advancement only in a fixed order, others give additional information at the appropriate level whether a correct or incorrect answer is given, providing an immediate feedback.(See [2])

See open educational resources.

References and links

• B. F. Skinner, works and life. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [3]

• Crowder, Norman. "Automatic Tutoring by Intrinsic Programming. " In A. A. Lumsdaine and Robert Glaser, eds., Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning. Washington, D.C.: National Education Assn., 1960.

• Crowder, N. A. (1959): Automatic tutoring by means of intrinsic programming. In E. Galanter (Ed.), Automatic teaching: The state of the art, Wiley.

• Diaz-Martin, Portia (2001). Computer-Assisted Instruction/Programmed Instruction, ESL 519 Selection, Acquisition, and Management of Non-book Resources, HTML, retrieved 15:56, 14 August 2007 (MEST).

• Dodge, B. (1996). Distance Learning on the World Wide Web [Electronic Version]. In Computer Trainer’s Personal Trainer’s Guide (chapter 12). Author: Brandon, B. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [4]

• Hanna, Michael S.; Gibson, James W. (1983): Programmed Instruction in Communication Education: An Idea behind Its Time. Communication Education, 32, 1, 1-7.

• HighBeam Encyclopedia, & University of Columbia (2006). Programmed Instruction. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [5]

• Kashihara, A. (2003). Book review: The Knowledge Medium: Designing Effective Computer Based Learning Environments, Author: Berg, G. A. (2003), Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [6]

• Kay, Harry et al. (1968). Teaching Machines and Programmed Instruction, Penguin Books Inc.

• Kulhavy, R. W.; Wager, W. (1993): Feedback in programmed instruction: Historical context and implications for practice. In: J. V. Dempsey & G. C. Sales (Eds.), Interactive instruction and feedback, (pp. 3-20). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

• Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner) [7]

• Pearson Education, & University of Columbia (2006). Programmed Instruction. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [8]

• Phatidic in Culture (2004). Public Schools: Problems and Solutions. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [9]

• Pigeon, Robert F. (1964). Programmed Instruction for Biology , BioScience, Vol. 14, No. 8, pp. 21-24. doi:10.2307/1293173

• Skinner, B.F. (1968). The Technology of Teaching. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

• Sólrún B. Kristinsdóttir (2001). Programmed Instruction. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [10]

• University of Cyprus, & CBLIS Community. Sixth International Conference on Computer Based Learning in Science (2003). Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [11]

• University of Southampton. School of Education. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from [12]

• Programmed Instruction by Sólrún B. Kristinsdóttir.