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| Using Computers to Deliver Instruction |
| Sunday, May 30, 2004 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Gardner |
| Area: EDC |
| Chair: Michael A. Cohen (University of South Florida) |
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| Perfect Recall: A Computer-Aided Instruction Program Based on Behavioral Principles |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| WILLIAM VAUGHAN JR. (University of Southern Maine) |
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| Abstract: Standardized testing is becoming more prominent as many states move toward testing prior to graduation, but little systematic progress is being made in efficiently teaching those students who will be tested. Perfect Recall is a Windows-based computer-aided instruction program, which, as proficiency improves, gradually fades prompts and shapes longer intervals of retention. When a question is posed an answer is required of the user. Hints and mistakes detract from an item's score, which is used to determine when that item will be seen again.
A database of questions may be written by someone else and imported, or written by the user. The user can add, modify, or delete entries. Entries, which may be either slated for testing or not, can be accessed by means of a number of tree views, including publication date (for books and articles, for example), event dates (for entries referencing some event in time, such as when the Pleistocene era began), and categories. An entry may consist of text, figures, or both. The program can collect data on the uers's proficiency in a comma-delimited file, which can then be read into a spreadsheet. I report on data collected on myself, for illustrative purposes only. |
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| Comparison of Linear Sequenced versus Adaptive Programmed Instruction |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| MICHAEL A. COHEN (University of South Florida), Gudmundur T. Heimisson (University of South Florida), Darrel R. Davis (University of South Florida), Darrel E. Bostow (University of South Florida) |
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| Abstract: The development of Programmed Instruction enabled educators to maintain carefully constructed contingencies of reinforcement for many learners at once. Traditional linear sequenced PI however, is incapable of adjusting these contingencies for learners of varying ability. The program that is boring and trivial for one learner may be at the same time frustratingly difficult for another. Early branching, or adaptive, PI sought to correct for this. Adaptive programs are able to alter the moment-to-moment contingencies of instructional units based upon specific dimensions of learner responses. The precise relationships of verbal stimuli presented with each instructional frame and their control of the learner's behavior are not well understood. This presentation includes the experimental comparison of adaptive PI with traditional linear PI. Experimental differences resulting from an automatically adjusting program will be compared with fixed linear presentation. Reliability of data was not deemed to be an issue because all dimensions of student performance were measured by computers. |
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