Self-paced Instruction Research Articles

The Problem of Map Illiteracy

I ntroductory history textbooks are usually well furnished with maps and most of us who teach history frequently bring maps to class and point to them often in our lectures. For many beginning college students these supposed aids to understanding history are, however, completely useless because these students suffer from a handicap I am calling map illiteracy. By this I do not mean that students are unable to state the location of countries, rivers or cities or to point them out at once on maps. Evidence of what may be termed a lack of this kind of elementary geographic knowledge has often been commented upon, as in the two major studies by the Educational Testing Service in 1979 and 1980.1 Instead, I am concerned with something even more basic, the inability to read and draw meaning from simple maps used in history texts and teaching. What follows is a story of my discovery of the phenomenon of map illiteracy and some discussion of rather simple steps which may and should be taken by history instructors to help students gain some basic skills in the use of maps. When the open admissions policy of the 1970s began to flood New York colleges with poorly prepared students, the CUNY system set up a grant program within City University to provide remediation to these new freshmen. I secured funding to create special slide-sound programs which would provide self-paced instruction in geography. Using these new audio-visual geography programs, the student would work in a carrel, viewing slide frames and listening to a taped narrative. The slides showed, element by element, how rivers,

Evaluation of a Self-Paced Bibliographic Instruction Course

Procedures utilisees pour l'evaluation de l'efficacite d'un cours de bibliotheconomie. Trois strategies d'evaluation ont ete utilisees. Des procedures d'evaluation automatisees ont ete appliquees

A self-paced CAI package for selecting statistical methods

TREELAB is a package of FORTRAN IV programs, files, work sheets, and assignments for self-paced instruction in selecting statistical methods for a broad variety of empirical research purposes. It complements traditional statistics course curricula by giving students extensive practice in evaluating data sets and selecting appropriate methods according to their theoretical needs.

Personalized System of Instruction: A Method for Quality Education

The idea behind proposing a basic sociology course for graduating seniors stemmed from two observations: (1) many students in graduate courses lack knowledge of sociological definitions and concepts; and (2) while such definitions and concepts have been introduced to the students in introductory courses, at that time they were not interested in the field and/or took the course to satisfy the general education requirements. Principles of Sociology, utilizing the Personalized System of Instruction, or PSI, is designed to meet the needs of four types of students: graduating seniors faced with the GRE as a requirement for graduation or entrance to a graduate program; those planning to teach sociology; sociology graduate students who have taken their BA in another discipline; and reentry students who feel the need to brush up. Method of Teaching: The PSI method emphasizes mastery of the material and self-paced instruction. In my course, a text is used that is designed specifically for PSI-Introductory Sociology by John Kinch. It is divided into 13 units, each covering a basic area. Students move through the units at their own pace,

A Self-Evaluation of the Individualized Instruction Program in German at the Ohio State University

Individualized instruction in foreign languages has realized increasing acceptance among American educators. As Chastain states: Since the early seventies, many leaders in second-language education, as well as in education in general, have been promoting individualized instruction as the solution to current problems in education.' During the seventies numerous professional publications contained material supportive of this teaching approach.2 A great impact on individualized instruction (I.I.) was caused by a substantial grant awarded to the College of Humanities at the Ohio State University (OSU) in 1976 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The purpose of the NEH grant was to develop and implement individualized instruction programs for Arabic, French, German, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.3 Some might criticize the OSU application of the term individualized instruction to its programs since teaching approaches are not truly individualized for each participating student.4 However, our concept of the term is considerably broader in scope; it encompasses teacher-assisted, mastery-based, and self-paced instruction.5

Individualized, Self-Paced Instruction: Alternative to the Traditional Classroom?

Individualized, Self-Paced Instruction: Alternative to the Traditional Classroom?

Mastery‐Based, Self‐Paced Instruction in Foreign Languages at Ohio State University

The Modern Language JournalVolume 65, Issue 1 p. 1-23 Mastery-Based, Self-Paced Instruction in Foreign Languages at Ohio State University A Report to the Profession on a Four Year Experiment in Individualized Instruction in Six Foreign Languages Leon I. Twarog, Leon I. TwarogSearch for more papers by this authorE. Garrison Walters, E. Garrison WaltersSearch for more papers by this author Leon I. Twarog, Leon I. TwarogSearch for more papers by this authorE. Garrison Walters, E. Garrison WaltersSearch for more papers by this author First published: Spring 1981 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1981.tb00947.xCitations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume65, Issue1Spring 1981Pages 1-23 RelatedInformation

Mastery-Based, Self-Paced Instruction in Foreign Languages at Ohio State University: A Report to the Profession on a Four Year Experiment in Individualized Instruction in Six Foreign Languages

Mastery-Based, Self-Paced Instruction in Foreign Languages at Ohio State University: A Report to the Profession on a Four Year Experiment in Individualized Instruction in Six Foreign Languages

Which students benefit from self-paced mastery instruction and why.

Which students benefit from self-paced mastery instruction and why.

Learner Characteristics and Performance Effects in Self-Paced Instruction for Community College Students

No differences in performance were found among a control and two treatment groups, but some interesting attitudinal differences emerged.

Carrels for self‐paced instruction

Carrels for self‐paced instruction

Self-Paced Instruction in History

Article published in Teaching History by Samponaro and Tillapaugh.

Influences of Teaching Methods and Personality on Junior College Students in Macroeconomic Principles

The basic principles-of-economics course, whether offered in a junior or senior college, has traditionally been taught by the lecture approach, with heavy reliance on mathematical modeling. Many studies have been done on ways of improving students' understanding of economics by changing some of the traditional methods of teaching the principles course. Wentworth and Lewis, Walstad and Rock, Talafuse, and Emory and Enger did studies using simulations and games to test improvement of understanding of economics. Auten, Cox, and Freisen used practical economic problem solving in their research in the classroom. Craig and O'Neil, Soper and Thornton, and Allison used open student involvement in learning along with self-paced instruction in their research. Television lectures have been studied by McConnell. Dallenbach, Schoenberger, and Wehrs studied the use of computerassisted instruction in improving understanding of economic principles. Our research seemed to indicate that the studies that were most successful in increasing understanding in college economics were those that brought practical, real-life experiences into the classroom. Research also seemed to indicate that where students were allowed to be involved in class discussion, their economic understanding improved. The purpose of our study was to discover whether an teaching design based on the use of current events combined with classroom and small-group discussions could improve the level of understanding of macroeconomic principles and whether any discoverable improvement could be attributed to personality differences among students. Two different teaching methods were used in this study. Each method was carefully laid out on an hour-by-hour basis and the instructors involved in the study followed those outlines closely. Method One was the control. The procedure is called Method Two. We used these designations instead of and experimental so as to avoid what is commonly called the Hawthorne effect. Method One, the control method, was designed along traditional lines; the major emphasis was on lecture by the instructor. Method Two, the method, was also carefully designed and laid out in an hour-by-hour description for the instructors involved in teaching the sections. Method Two involved fewer lectures by the instructor, but more current event readings and more whole-class and small-group activities. The experiment was conducted using six sections of junior college students taking principles of economics. Three sections were taught by Saul Barr: one and one control at Robins Residence Center in Warner Robins, Georgia, and one control at Macon Junior College in Macon, Georgia. Another instructor at Macon Junior College taught one control and one section; and another section was taught by a third instructor at Kennesaw Junior College,

Self-Paced Instruction: An Innovation that Failed

(1979). Self-Paced Instruction: An Innovation that Failed. Teaching of Psychology: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 42-46.

Acquisition of psychomotor skills in tooth preparation using self‐paced instruction

Self-paced instruction whereby students are provided with learning resources and allowed to learn at their own rate--with or without assistance from instructors--is increasingly being used in dental education. The wide diversity of entering dental student experience with psychomotor tasks suggests that preclinical psychomotor skill development should adapt well to self-paced learning. This study compared self-paced instruction to traditional preclinical teaching of psychomotor skills in cavity preparation. Performance by the self-paced class was significantly better than that of the traditional class on two procedures. There were no significant differences among the other procedures tested.

The use of rate controlled speech to save time and increase learning in self‐paced instruction

The use of rate controlled speech to save time and increase learning in self‐paced instruction

Student Variables Related to Rates of Pacing in Self-Paced Instruction

Student Variables Related to Rates of Pacing in Self-Paced Instruction

A pedagogical palimpsest: Retracing some teaching methods

Curriculum and course-design theory suggests that there may exist a scientific method for the development of effective courses. Some of the important steps in their design include writing of instructional objectives, selection of instruction method, and others. The paper will deal primarily with one step in this sequence: selection of an instruction method. First seven currently deemed important concepts from learning theory, the psychological building in the construction of a course, are indentified and analyzed. Next we discuss identifiable educational processes which may be used in a course. We then describe some of the popular teaching methods and show how the building blocks and processes are used in them. The methods discussed include the traditional lecture, lecture discussion, discussion group, laboratory teaching, self-paced instruction, mastery learning, programmed instruction, audiotutorial instruction, and the open university. The paper culminates with the development of two matrices. The first of these defines the interaction between these teaching methods and their usual building blocks. The second, the utility matrix, attempts to summarize the effect of choice of method on learning, student acceptance, required faculty effort both in development and in long-term use, need for special equipment or personnel, and ultimately cost.

A chronicle of individualization

The Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center is committed to converting its foreign language training to a self-paced, individualized format. Since 1975, a training program has sought to familiarize all faculty and staff with the principles of individualized instruction. A series of workshops in instructional technology as they relate to the teaching of foreign languages through individualization has been attended by more than 600 participants. This process of faculty and staff retraining is described within the context of the literature of self-paced instruction and a brief methodological history of foreign language training at the Army Language School/Defense Language Institute. The content and scope of the Instructional Technology Workshop and the Criterion-Referenced Instruction Workshop are discussed.

Development of a Job-Based Diagnostic Test in an Individualized Instruction Program for Boiler Technicians

A criterion-referenced test keyed to an individualized, self-paced instruction program was developed as part of a diagnostic testing/shipboard training system. The job-based test described hypothetical situations that were based on known job requirements. Under each such situation, questions were asked that required the demonstration of skills and knowledges that supported the job and were covered in the various modules of the instruction program. High face and content validity were ensured by using cards, charts, diagrams, and illustrations in presenting each job situation; and by having job experts write test items. Items were selected that best discriminated between graduates and nongraduates of a shorebased program using the same instruction. The cutoff score for the set of items pertaining to each module was determined from the performance of graduates of the shorebased program and applied to a cross-validation sample. Test scores from two administrations were used to estimate the reliability of the diagnostic decision making.