====== The Keller Plan ======


===== General =====

The Keller Plan (also called //The Personalized System of Instruction//) is an instructional method introduced by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_S._Keller|Fred Keller]], J. Gilmour Sherman, and several other researchers in the 1960s.(([[http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~mm/s96/cs4984Format/subsection3_2_1.html|Fox, Edward A. Keller Plan.]])) This individualized learning method was oriented on improvement of high school learning.

===== What is the Keller plan? =====

Keller's idea was to make higher education teaching more adjusted to individual needs. His method was first introduced in 1962 in order to help establishing a Department of Psychology at the University of Brasilia and design a course for the students. After additional modifications, the key aspects of his method can be described as follows:(([[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1310979/|Keller, Fred S. ‘Good-bye, teacher...’ Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 1, no. 1: 79-89. 1968.]]))

  * **Go-at-your-own-pace**. A student can move through the course content at his own pace, independently of other students.
  * Detailed definitions of **learning objectives**.
  * **Unit-perfection requirement**. In order to advance to the next unit, a student needs to demonstrate mastery of the preceding unit.
  * Emphasis on **written materials**. The emphasis is on learning from written materials. Lectures and demonstrations //will be provided only when you have demonstrated your readiness to appreciate them; no examination will be based upon them: and you need not attend them if you do not wish.//(([[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1310979/|Keller, Fred S. ‘Good-bye, teacher...’ Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 1, no. 1: 79-89. 1968.]]))
  * The use of **proctors**. Proctors enhance the social aspect of educational process, enable repeated testing with immediate scoring and tutoring.

Still, as this a behaviorist learning model and Keller is a reinforcement theorist himself, he also notes that the teacher himself decides on the content that is being taught and reinforcement means he employs. Modularization separating the content into a number of slammer units can also be considered to be a form of shaping, or forming desired behavior bit by bit.


===== What is the practical meaning of the Keller plan? =====

The practical meaning of Keller's model consists of implementing the above identified measures in practice. An example of this is a [[chunks:hand-out describing Keller's teaching methods]] applied to the first-semester course in General Psychology in 1967.


===== Criticisms =====

Criticisms of Keller's method include(([[http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2085/Individualized-Instruction.html|Individualized Instruction - Pace, Method, Content, Examples of Individualized Instruction, Final Issues.]]))(([[http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~mm/s96/cs4984Format/subsection3_2_1.html|Fox, Edward A. Keller Plan.]])):

  * limited instructional methods,
  * extra efforts by teacher and tutors,
  * high dropout rates, and
  * decreased human interaction.

===== Keywords and most important names =====

  * **The Keller Plan**, **Individualized System of Instruction**, **self-paced instruction**
  * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_S._Keller|Fred Keller]], Gilmour Sherman


===== Bibliography =====

[[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1310979/|Keller, Fred S. ‘Good-bye, teacher...’ Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 1, no. 1: 79-89. 1968.]]

[[http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~mm/s96/cs4984Format/subsection3_2_1.html|Fox, Edward A. Keller Plan.]] Retrieved July 7, 2011.


===== Read more =====

[[http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=ED211099|Daly, D. W., and S. M. Robertson. Keller Plan in the Classroom, 1978.]]

[[http://books.google.hr/books?id=6ppbAAAAMAAJ|Keller, Fred Simmons, and John Gilmour Sherman. PSI, the Keller plan handbook: essays on a personalized system of instruction. W. A. Benjamin, 1974.]]

[[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8535.1993.tb00640.x/abstract|Rae, Andrew. Self‐paced learning with video for undergraduates: a multimedia Keller Plan. British Journal of Educational Technology 24, no. 1: 43-51. January 1993.]]

[[http://books.google.hr/books?id=NR4zexzw8wIC|Burton, J. K., Moore, D. M., & Magliaro, S. G. Behaviorism and instructional technology. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology (pp. 46-73). New York: Macmillan, 1996.]]