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| Contributions of the Basic, Applied, and Conceptual Analysis of Behavior to Headsprout Program Design |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| America's Cup AB |
| Area: EDC; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: T. V. Joe Layng (Headsprout) |
| CE Instructor: T. V. Joe Layng, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: This symposium will address how all aspects of the scientific study of behavior are utilized to build effective instructional programs. Though often thought of as applied work, designing effective instruction requires the application of experimentally derived principles from the laboratory, the application of useful techniques from applied settings, the direct experimental controlanalysis of behavior, and the interpretation and analysis of complex behavioral relations. Symposium participants will address a fundamental area important to Headsprout's success, and discuss the contribution of basic, applied, and conceptual analysis in each of the areas described. |
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| Basic, Applied, and Conceptual Behavior Analysis Contributions to Instructional Content Analysis. |
| MARTA LEON (Headsprout), T. V. Joe Layng (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: The conceptual treatment of language and other aspects of behavior, as provided by Skinner, Wittgenstein, & Goldiamond, are crucial to Headsprout’s discovery of what is needed to be taught and how one might approach teaching it: a content analysis. The process by which we analyze the repertoires, contingencies, etc. involved in programming the acquisition/development of an intellectual or affective repertoire will be described and the ramifications for a more thorough contingency analytic approach to instructional design discussed. |
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| Basic, Applied, and Conceptual Behavior Analysis Contributions to Instructional Design and Development. |
| MELINDA SOTA (Florida State University and Headsprout), T. V. Joe Layng (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: Instructional design at Headsprout draws directly from the literature of instructional design, with special emphasis on the contributions of Susan M. Markle and Philip W. Tiemann. Both their approaches to content analysis and instructional design inform the work done at Headsprout. Their foundation is in turn supplemented by a direct application of the laboratory investigation of errorless programing and transfer, selective attention, the analysis of alternative stimulus control topographies, psychophysics, instructional & abstractional control as described by Goldiamond (1966), and concept analysis, among others. How these coalesce to produce instructional strategies will be described and the implications for a comprehensive analysis of behavioral instruction discussed. |
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| Basic, Applied, and Conceptual Behavior Analysis Contributions to User Testing. |
| APRIL HEIMLICH (Headsprout), Hirofumi Shimizu (Headsprout), Janet S. Twyman (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: User testing, also known as formative evaluation, at Headsprout occurs with one student at a time for extended periods of time. The similarities to the conditions often found in the operant laboratory are not coincidental. The goal of user testing is to provide experimental control–analysis data as a basis for program revision in order to provide the targeted guidance of learner behavior. Not only are program elements tested, but also the results may provide insights in the relationship of behavior to its environment. This of course overlaps the laboratory. Where it diverges from the laboratory is in its goal of providing procedures that as rapidly and effectively as possible build a repertoire to a target. These similarities and differences provide the topic of discussion for this presentation. |
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| Basic, Applied, and Conceptual Behavior Analysis Contributions to Program Implementation. |
| JENNIFER D. CLAYTON (Headsprout), Brian Walton (Headsprout), Deborah Anne Haas (Headsprout), Janet S. Twyman (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: Careful program implementation is critical to the success of any instructional program. In the case of Headsprout's programs this includes the learner's behavior, the teacher (or parent's) behavior, and the behavior of those who may have an impact on the success of the program, including principals, reading coordinators, lab mangers, technical support staff, etc. No matter how well designed a program is, the role of these individuals cannot be overlooked if the the program is to be successful. This presentation will describe Headsprout's approach to encouraging the behaviors required to ensure a good implementation. This approach includes, a commitment to a simple easy-to-use program, carefully constructed job aids and user guides, proactive customer support, training & just-in-time professional development, and an ongoing contingency analysis that assumes that all stake-holder behaviors are sensible operants that are a function of the current alternative sets of contingencies operating to select those behaviors. Implementation strategies designed in accord with this approach will be discussed. |
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