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| International Paper Session - Behavioral Approaches to Educational Technology |
| Monday, May 28, 2007 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| America's Cup D |
| Area: EDC |
| Chair: Douglas A. Johnson (Western Michigan University) |
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| An Evaluation of the Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Feasibility of Live On-line Tutoring for Remediating Students’ Skill Deficits. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| ELEAZAR VASQUEZ, III (Utah State University), David E. Forbush (Utah State University) |
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| Abstract: In a technological society, demands for higher literacy are ever increasing, creating more grievous consequences for those who fall short (NRC, 1998). Meeting the needs of skill deficient students is problematic for teachers for a variety of reasons including, customizing instruction to meet individual student needs, lack of research proven curriculum, and insufficient preparation at the pre-service level. One way to overcome these obstacles is to supplement classroom instruction with live systematic, comprehensive, and explicit online reading tutoring. The purpose of this presentation is to describe and discuss a preliminary investigation of a live online reading tutoring system delivered from undergraduate tutors at Utah State University to 4th grade students in a high minority, high poverty school in Philadelphia, PA. Employing a multiple-baseline across participants design, evaluation data were collected on the affects of 1:1 online reading tutoring on reading fluency scores of students. Additionally, data on tutors’ face-to-face and online tutoring behaviors will be compared, and finally, data collected from parents, teachers, tutees, and tutors evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility of online tutoring for remediating students’ skill deficiencies will be discussed. |
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| Behavior Analysis in Educational Technology: Rise, Fall, and Possible Future. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| GEORGE H. BUCK (University of Alberta) |
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| Abstract: This paper will describe and discuss the applications of behavior analysis to various forms of educational technology beginning with the teaching machine and programmed instruction movement of the 1950s. Complex error analysis, elaborate branching, and reinforcement contingencies afforded by the application of mainframe computers and mini computers to education led to the zenith of applied behavior analysis by the early 1970s. With few exceptions, such as computer software in second language instruction, the deliberate application of behavior analysis to electronic forms of education has ebbed. The advent of the Internet as a common educational tool, coupled with the rise in popularity of constructivist theories of learning, have contributed to the eclipse of applied behavior analysis in the design of most technology-based education. Nevertheless, does web-based instruction, especially with its strong dependency upon navigational links that move the user to other locations, inadvertently embody aspects of behaviorism that actually interferes with the intended learning? This question will be answered by considering the results of an experimental study that examined progress through a web-based assignment, and by re-applying the principles of behavior analysis that have either been forgotten or trivialized by a majority of educators. |
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| Learning with Computer Based Instruction: A Review of Best Practices. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| DOUGLAS A. JOHNSON (Western Michigan University), Sophie Rubin (Western Michigan University) |
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| Abstract: The field of behavior analysis has long recognized the potential of automating instruction, dating back to Skinner's interest in teaching machines. Computer based instruction (CBI) can be viewed as a modern day equivalent of Skinner's teaching machines. CBI, while often popular, hasn't always met expectations, possibly because most computer programmers try to simply replicate the teaching methods of traditional education. However, this is a failure of those designing the instruction, not computer based instruction itself. Given the unique understanding behavior analysts have regarding how people learn, we should give more attention to the unique issues involved with CBI. This presentation will present a 10 year review of psychological research into various methods of applying interactive computer based instruction for adult learners in order to identify best practices and future research directions. |
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