Programmed instruction

Contents
Definitions
Theory and history
Skinner's operant conditioning
The teaching machine
Crowder's intrinsic or branching program
Mastery learning
The architectures of programmed instruction
Skinner variant
Questions only
Branching style
Mastery learning
Additional topics
The role of the teachers in Skinner's thoughts
Technological progress
Open-contents and programmed instructional texts
References and links
Bibliography and references
Various links
Online examples

Definitions
Although Skinners initial programmed instruction format has undergone many
transformations, most adaptations retain three essential features: (1) an ordered
sequence of items, either questions or statements to which the student is asked
to respond; (2) the student's response, which may be in the form of filling in a
blank, recalling the answer to a question, selecting from among a series of
answers, or solving a problem; and (3) provision for immediate response
confirmation, somtimes within the program frame itself but usually in a different
location, as on the next page in a programmed textbook or in a separate window
in the teaching machine. (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2000:332)
 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. (The Columbia
Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05 (http://bartleby.com/65/pr/progrins.html),
retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST)).

Programmed instruction consists of a network of statements and tests, which

direct the student to new statements depending on his pattern of errors. It is
based on a particular tool which is called teaching machine. (Cited from
Encyclopedia.com ???).

Sometimes a distinction is made between programmed instructions and

programmed learning. See also: Mastery learning

Theory and history

There are various origins and flavors of programmed instruction. The most
important to subcategories are:

linear programs (in the Skinner tradition)

branched programs (in the Crowder tradition)

Skinner's operant conditioning

See behaviorism for the theory.

Programmed instruction is based on Skinner's "operant conditioning", a

(behaviorist theory stating that learning is change in behavior, i.e. the individual's
response to events (stimuli). Behavior can be conditioned by rewarding the right
stimulus-response patterns.

According to Greg Kearsley (http://tip.psychology.org/skinner.html):

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 punishment.
According to Kristinsdóttir (http://starfsfolk.khi.is/solrunb/proginst.htm), “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 behavior 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
behavior sufficiently, leading to inappropriate learning or to learned
responses that are quickly forgotten (Skinner, 1968).”E. (Markle, S. (1969).
Good Frames and Bad (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.)

The teaching machine

The first teaching machine was invented by Sydney L. Pressey in the 1920's,
Skinner in the 1950's introduced a concept of "teaching machine" that
differed from Pressey's in some ways. “The teaching machine is composed of
mainly a program, which is a system of combined teaching and test items that
carries the student gradually through the material to be learned. The
"machine" is composed by a fill-in-the-blank method on either a workbook or
in a computer. If the subject is correct, he/she gets reinforcement and moves
on to the next question. If the answer is incorrect, the subject studies the
correct answer to increase the chance of getting reinforced next time.”
(learning technologies timeline (http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/projects/timeli
ne/), retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST))
Romiszowski (1997:16) cited by Kristinsdóttir defined the "core" of Skinner's
stimulus-response model as “that learning has occurred when a specific
response is elicited by specific situation or stimulus with a high degree of
probability. The more likely and predictable the response, the more efficient
the learning has been. These attempt to shape human behavior by presenting
a gradual progression of small units of information and related tasks to the
learner. At each stage the learner must actively participate by performing the
set task. He is then immediately supplied with feedback in the form of correct
answer”
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 E.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" (Skinner on
Programmed Instruction (http://skeptically.org/skinner/id1.html)) and by
"hinting, prompting, suggesting, and so on, derived from an analysis of verbal
behavior" (Skinner, 1958).

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.
The primary purpose of feedback" is to determine whether the
communication was successful, in order that corrective steps be taken."
(Crowder 288) Depending upon the complexity of the error committed,
the programE. may initiate a remedial sequence of instruction, a practice
designed to eliminate the learning deficiency. Branching instruction
adapts the sequence of the program to a limited degree to fit the prior
learning and processing capabilities of the user. The term intrinsic refers
to the fact that all program options are intrinsic to the program and,
therefore, not dependent on any external programming device. This
approach is especially adapted to machine presentation, which provides
for greater levels of adaptability. Branching texts tend to be large and
confusing, especially when users try to access them in a manual way.
The primary difference between Skinner's conception of programming
and Crowder's is in the function of the response. To Skinner, learning
results from making the correct response. Contrary to this response
orientation, Crowder believed that learning results from the realignment
of the user's knowledge structure, and that the response is simply a
 means for controlling the program or machine. The larger chunks of
information need to be assimilated and integrated with what the user
already knows. The response, he believed, tests the level of integration.
This type of programming benefits the higher-ability user, who is more
capable of higher-level integration of ideas, more than it does the lower-
ability user.

Portia Diaz-Martin (http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/Syllabi/519Co

mplete/formats/programmedinstr/program.html#crowder) (2001, retrieved
15:56, 14 August 2007 (MEST)).

Mastery learning

According to Davis & Sorrel (1995), "The mastery learning concept was
introduced in the American schools in the 1920's with the work of Washburne
(1922, as cited in Block, 1971) and others in the format of the Winnetka Plan."
It then was revived in the late 1950' with programmed instruction and
brought to perfection by Caroll and Bloom's work.

The architectures of programmed instruction

Programmed instruction has the following core elements:

Contents are broken down into pieces of instructions called frames. A frame
contains statements and questions.
Learners then read the frame and immediately answer a question about the
frame
There is an immediate feedback about the correctness of the frame (usually in a
different place)
Instruction is self-paced and learners are active (in the sense of reactive)

Skinner variant
Contents are very small, i.e. simple statements plus a question or direct
questions
Answers are usually filling in blanks
Feedback is in the form of the correct answer

“Programmed instruction (PI) involved breaking content down into small

pieces of information called frames. A PI textbook might contain several
thousand frames of information. Students would read a frame, then answer a
question about the frame. Then they would check their answer (get
"feedback") and proceed to the next frame. When PI was delivered by a
"teaching machine" the possibilities for effective teaching seemed unlimited
to many. PI-style software is linear. Skinner argued that PI was more effective
than traditional teaching methods,” (Programmed Instruction (http://viking.co
e.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/pi.htm), retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST)) ...
since learners have to receive thousands of reinforcements, something a
teacher can do.
Here is an example on programmed English (M.W Sullivan) presented by
Joyce, Weil & Calhoun (2000:333):

1. Words are divided into classes. We

call the largest class nouns. Nouns are
a class of ________________________. words

2. In English the class of words called

nouns is larger than all the other
__________________ of words combined classes

Questions only

Daniel K. Schneider doesn't know where this comes from, but I can show an
example. On my bookshelf I found a book (Daniel P. Friedman,Matthias
Felleisen, The Little LISPer, MIT Press ISBN 0-262-56099-2.) It teaches a
programming language and is only composed of questions in increasingly
difficult order.

Is it true that this is an atom? Yes,

atom because atom is a string of characters
beginning with the letter a.

Is it true that this is an atom? Yes,

turkey because turkey is a string of characters
beginning with a letter.

Is it true that this is an atom? Yes,

1942 because 1942 is a string of characters
beginning with a digit

This strategy looks very Skinnerian, since the learner is supposed to learn
from good answers.

Branching style
Branching is used with the idea that slower learners can be presented with
additional information if they can't respond well enough to a sequence of
frames and that more advanced students can be exposed to more challenging
materials.
 Each frame usually presents more text than the average linear frame.
After reading, the user responds to a question, usually in a multiple-option format
(since this allows for easy electronic treatment)
Feedback then, can be corrective i.e. branch the user into a sequence that
attempts to remediate the learner's misconceptions or gaps in understanding.

Some versions of this model (i.e. Crowder's original) are more based on a
(corrective) theory of communication than a behaviorist learning theory.
Special forms of this model are so-called drill and practise programs where
learners are supposed to develop basic skills like arithmetics and keyboard
operations by many repetitions. The program adjusts drill sequences
according to answers.

Mastery learning

Mastery learning refers to the idea that teaching should organize learning
through ordered steps. In order to move to the next step, students have to
master at least 80% of the prerequisite step.

Additional topics

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 progress

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 progress,
in particular Internet and various learning platforms like learning
management systems, one could implement Skinner’s theories and projects
more economically.

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
knowledgeE.' 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
[1] (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0840225.html))
See open educational resources.

References and links

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Various links
Programmed instruction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_instruction)
(Wikipedia, just a stup on 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST))

Programmed Instruction (http://starfsfolk.khi.is/solrunb/proginst.htm) by Sólrún

B. Kristinsdóttir.

Programmed instruction (http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/pi.htm)

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book/et-it/program.htm) (includes screendumps of earlier PC programs).
 Programmed Instruction (http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Programmed_instruct
ion) (WikiEd, CTER programme, Department of Educational Psychology,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign..

Online examples
An introduction to JavaScript (http://silentteacher.toxicode.fr/)

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