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7. Behaviorism: Vicarious reinforcement and teaching machines |
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> Programmed learning and teaching machines
◆Programmed learning and teaching machines◆Skinner rediscovered Programmed Learning as a method of utilizing directly the research outcome of behaviorist psychology at that time. When he observed his youngest daughter's open class of mathematics (fourth grade), he was surprised to see her teacher giving a one-way lecture monotonously and interminably, and to see his daughter listening to it passively. The open class was held on Father's Day, November 11, 1953. He thought "effective learning was impossible in such a class while the outcome of psychology research was not utilized at all." He was determined to create a learning environment where learners could respond more actively and gain immediate feedback. Such determination promoted programmed learning and utilization of a teaching machine for educational purpose. He claimed that people had to develop an environment where learners respond actively to the teacher's stimulus so that the research outcome of behaviorist psychology could be reflected onto learning activities. Programmed learning is a kind of instruction where questions for students are allocated or programmed according to their level so that a learning objective can be achieved. A teaching machine is a mechanical device which provides learning materials. It was used to control the program so that students cannot see the correct answer before solving the problem, or to branch it so that a subsequent question can be replaced according to a learner's answer. Such a machine was developed into PC-based software, which became a prototype of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI). Research on programmed learning and the subsequent CAI was later to develop into instructional technology. CAI was called Computer-Based Training (CBT) in the context of corporate training. At that time, the programmed learning was such a mainstream of instructional technology that many people associated instructional technology with programmed learning. *** *** *** *** *** ***
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