A Study of Individualized Instruction at the College Level

Abstract

1. Recognition of the individual.-The use of aptitude and placement examinations, administered by the University and the Department, furnish an extensive diagnosis of each individual's innate abilities and the effects of his previous educational experiences. 2. Every student working at his best rate of speed and natural level of ability.-While superior students may find it unpleasant or exceedingly difficult to work on the dead level which is inevitable in any well-planned classroom aiming at steady progress, there is another group of students at the other extreme in ability who find the pace too swift and too difficult. Thus, in the typical classroom set-up the needs of about fifty per cent of the students are being adequately met, while those of the remainder are being unintentionally ignored. Under the plan of individualized instruction students are given wide latitude in determining the procedure best suited to their individual needs, preference, or living conditions. However, in order that capable students shall complete their work within a reasonable length of time, certain limits are set, requiring a minimum amount of work to be achieved each week or each month. 3. The responsibility for achievement rests on the individual.-When the student begins the course he becomes responsible for the mastery of a stated amount of work as defined in terms of a semester-course. Because unmethodical preparation is proscribed, the class-period is not taken up with the checking of lesson-preparation from day to day, but is left free for teacher-student conferences concerning individual problems and achievement.