Programmed Instruction

General

Although first ideas on instruction automation can be trackedto even earlier years1) McDonald, Jason K., Stephen C. Yanchar, and Russell T. Osguthorpe. Learning from programmed instruction: Examining implications for modern instructional technology. Educational Technology Research and Development 53, no. 2: 84-98. June 2005. , first notable steps in programmed instruction were taken by Sidney Pressey2) Pressey, S. L. A simple apparatus which gives tests and scores - and teaches. School and Society 23, no. 586: 373-376, 1926. and further developed by Burrhus Skinner in the mid-1950s. In Pressey's words, the teacher is

“... burdened by such routine of drill and information-fixing...”, but a mechanical device device could be used to “lift from her shoulders as much as possible of this burden and make her free for those inspirational and thought-stimulating activities which are, presumably, the real function of the teacher.”2)

What is programmed instruction?

Pressey's ideas were not so well received in the public and due to a lack of financial means he soon had to give up further research, yet in the 1950s his ideas were further developed by Skinner, who believed he can successfully apply operant conditioning not only to animal, but also to human learning.

A learning machine designed by Sidney Pressey and Burrhus Skinner in the 1960s. Image borrowed from: http://www.cognitivetechnologies.net./... Click on the picture to follow the link.

Skinner's ideas for improving the teaching/learning process were orientated mostly on two facts: first, that learners learn at different speeds, and second, that, in accordance with at the time dominant stimulus-response learning theories, the reinforcement must closely follow the displayed behavior.

This, however is not the case in school settings, where the learners are forced to follow the lecturers speed of information sharing and usually receive delayed reinforcement as the teacher usually needs at least a day to correct their assignments. According to Skinner, in order to achieve efficient mathematical behavior, during the first four years of education, about 50000 reinforcements would be necessary, but in a classroom situation a learner could only get a few thousands of them. In Skinner's words,

“The simple fact is that, as a mere reinforcing mechanism, the teacher is out of date.”3) Skinner, Burrhus Frederic. The technology of teaching. Meredith, 1968.

Since employing a teacher or tutor for every learner would solve the problem, but would be virtually impossible, Skinner suggested and worked on introducing learning machines, on which each learner could work at his own pace and receive direct reinforcement after solving a task correctly.

The basic principle of programmed instruction for Skinner, aside from reinforcement was behavior shaping - forming desired behavior through a number of small stimulus-response learning sessions.4) Note again that Skinner developed programmed instruction in context of operant conditioning and behaviorism

“By making each successive step as small as possible, the frequency of reinforcement can be raised to a maximum, while the possibly aversive consequences of being wrong are reduced to a minimum.”3)

What is the practical meaning of programmed instruction?

Learning from programmed instruction on a learning machine usually includes:

a carefully designed course with predefined sequence of units,

very small units delivering only a small amount of new information so it is easily understandable (shaping),

immediate answer after filling in the missing information (reinforcement)

moving on to the next unit based on the correctness of the given answer.

Criticisms

Various criticisms of programmed instruction proposed so far object programmed instruction method for5) McDonald, Jason K., Stephen C. Yanchar, and Russell T. Osguthorpe. Learning from programmed instruction: Examining implications for modern instructional technology. Educational Technology Research and Development 53, no. 2: 84-98. 2005. :

assigning the responsibility for learning to the learning materials and not to learners (ontological determinism),

forcing instructional problems to fit into observable behavior measuring and accepting only observable behaviors as proper learning outcomes (materialism),

presenting technology as the key factor for learning without addressing learner's needs (technological determinism)

rigidness and resistance to adaptation to fit individual learner's needs, and

ensuring that learners are correct as often as possible through shaping (overprompting).

Keywords and most important names

Bibliography

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