Comprehensive course management and delivery using POISE-CIS

At SUNY-Plattsburgh, we are using the POISE-CIS course management and delivery software to teach one section of introductory psychology each semester. Although this course uses a traditional textbook and covers the same material as most introductory psychology courses, it uses a self-paced mastery-based approach to learning and is managed and delivered over the Plattsburgh computer network. Students receive assignments, take on-line diagnostic assessments, receive feedback, and communicate with the instructor over the campus network. In a departmental laboratory facility, students also work with a computerized tutorial, complete computerized learning activities, take supervised on-line exams, and consult with teaching assistants. The present paper describes the overall design of the course as well as the specific characteristics of the course as it was offered in the spring of 1995, at which time data were collected on student attitudes toward computers.     

Evaluation of Interactive Computerized Training to Teach Paraprofessionals to Implement Errorless Discrete Trial Instruction

Efficient and effective training strategies for paraprofessionals in special education settings face many challenges. Interactive computerized training (ICT)—a self-paced program that incorporates audio narration, video models, interactive activities, and competency checks—is one potential solution. ICT has been successful in training college students and special education teachers to implement discrete trial instruction (DTI), but its effectiveness to train paraprofessionals is unknown. Using a multiple-baseline design, we evaluated the feasibility of ICT, to train six paraprofessionals to implement DTI with an errorless learning procedure. Following ICT, the fidelity of implementation of DTI increased for all participants when implemented with a student in their classroom; however, competency varied. We added additional training components that progressed from low to more intensive feedback delivered remotely in attempt to increase fidelity to 90% or higher implementation. We also evaluated generalization to novel instructional programs and maintenance of instruction in the absence of feedback.     

Computerized adaptive personality testing: a review and illustration with the MMPI-2 Computerized Adaptive Version

Computerized adaptive testing in personality assessment can improve efficiency by significantly reducing the number of items administered to answer an assessment question. Two approaches have been explored for adaptive testing in computerized personality assessment: item response theory and the countdown method. In this article, the authors review the literature on each and report the results of an investigation designed to explore the utility, in terms of item and time savings, and validity, in terms of correlations with external criterion measures, of an expanded countdown method-based research version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the MMPI-2 Computerized Adaptive Version (MMPI-2-CA). Participants were 433 undergraduate college students (170 men and 263 women). Results indicated considerable item savings and corresponding time savings for the adaptive testing modalities compared with a conventional computerized MMPI-2 administration. Furthermore, computerized adaptive administration yielded comparable results to computerized conventional administration of the MMPI-2 in terms of both test scores and their validity. Future directions for computerized adaptive personality testing are discussed.     

Measuring study time distributions: Implications for designing computer-based courses

In both traditional lecture-test courses and courses delivered over the World-Wide Web (WWW), both beginning and experienced college students reported studying almost exclusively just before exams. Automatic measures (computer records, WWW page hits, and electronic mail archives) confirmed the self-reported distributions of study times. Weekly deadlines produced weekly volleys of taking on-line quizzes, a pattern that was reflected in self-reports of study times. However, on-line study materials were used primarily for review for regularly scheduled in-class exams. Thus, regardless of course format, students engaged in massed practice and did not experience study aids at appropriate times. Computer technology provides new forms of learning for students, as well as opportunities for instructors to observe patterns of student study time. Management of instructional contingencies will be necessary to bring students into contact with the rich cognitive aids enabled by technology.     

Enhancing Multiplication Performance in Students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities Using Pegword Mnemonics Paired with a Picture Fading Technique

The present study examined the effectiveness of an instructional package that included an adapted version of pegword mnemonics paired with a picture fading technique in teaching two students with moderate intellectual disabilities to recall 28 single-digit multiplication facts between 2 and 9. The instructional package was assessed using a multiple baseline design across students. Results indicated that instruction produced substantial and immediate effects in that both students increased their accuracy at recalling basic multiplication facts, maintained the newly acquired skill, and were able to generalize it across material, format, and another trainer. These results have implications for teaching students with intellectual disabilities basic math facts that are considered important for gaining access to the general curriculum.     

The MMPI-2 computerized adaptive version (MMPI-2-CA) in a Veterans Administration medical outpatient facility

The ability to screen quickly and thoroughly for psychological difficulties in existing and returning combat veterans who are seeking treatment for physical ailments would be of significant benefit. In the current study, item and time savings, as well as extratest correlations, associated with an audio-augmented version of the computerized adaptive Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2-CA) are examined in a group of 273 male veterans, ages 26-87 years. Results indicated an average item savings of approximately 103 items (18.6%), with a corresponding time savings of approximately 12 min (24.3%), for the MMPI-2-CA compared with conventional computerized administration of the test, as well as comparability in terms of test-retest coefficients and correlations with external measures. Future directions of adaptive personality testing are discussed.     

A behavioral systems approach to adaptive computerized instructional design

A computerized multimedia instructional system has been developed that adheres to behavioral systems principles for presenting both adaptive programmed instructional materials and laboratory simulations. This instructional software system, called MediaMatrix, is both an authoring environment and a presentation vehicle that adapts the complexity of presentations in real time to changes in a student’s current rate of progress. It incorporates an automated knowledge-generation system that tracks all interactions between the user and any instructional objects within the system. Such knowledge is used both for a research database and for an artificial-intelligence engine that constructs an estimate ofconcept association networks (Verplanck, 1992a). Such networks reflect a learner’s developing knowledge and skill base, and may be used for tutorial advising during student use.     

Age and synchrony effects in visuospatial working memory

Younger and older adults were administered a computerized version of the Corsi Block visuospatial working memory (VSWM) span task at either their peak or off-peak time of day and in either a high-interference (ascending order of administration, starting with short lists first) or low-interference (descending order, starting with longest lists first) format. Young adults' span scores were highest in the ascending format. By contrast, older adults performed better in the low-interference format, replicating findings with verbal memory span studies. Although both age groups benefited from being tested at their peak time, the advantage was far greater for older adults, but only in the low-interference format; their scores on the high-interference format were not helped by peak-time testing. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that young adults' performance on span tasks is influenced by practice and strategies, but the performance of older adults is heavily influenced by interference—which is best controlled at peak times of day. Our findings suggest that both time of testing and interference play critical roles in determining age differences in VSWM span, and both a reduction in interference and peak-time testing may be necessary to optimize older adults' performance and to maximize the reduction in age differences.     

Modeling the Instructional Effectiveness of Responsible Conduct of Research Education: A Meta-Analytic Path-Analysis

Predictive modeling in education draws on data from past courses to forecast the effectiveness of future courses. The present effort sought to identify such a model of instructional effectiveness in scientific ethics. Drawing on data from 235 courses in the responsible conduct of research (RCR), structural equation modeling techniques were used to test a predictive model of RCR course effectiveness. Fit statistics indicated the model fit the data well, with the instructional characteristics included in the model explaining approximately 85% of the variance in RCR instructional effectiveness. Implications for using the model to develop and improve future RCR courses are discussed.     

A COMPARISON OF DISCRETE TRIAL TEACHING IMPLEMENTED IN A ONE‐TO‐ONE INSTRUCTIONAL FORMAT AND IN A GROUP INSTRUCTIONAL FORMAT

Discrete trial teaching (DTT) is a systematic form of intervention commonly implemented with children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Experimenters and clinicians have implemented DTT in both one‐to‐one instructional formats and group instructional formats to teach a wide variety of skills to children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this study was to compare DTT implemented in a one‐to‐one instructional format with DTT implemented in a group instructional format in order to determine which format was more effective, efficient, resulted in higher observational learning, and resulted in better maintenance when teaching a variety of expressive skills. The experimenters utilized a parallel treatment design, and the results indicated that both instructional formats were equally effective, there were mixed results in terms of maintenance and efficiency, and group instruction resulted in observational learning. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multimedia comprehension skill predicts differential outcomes of web-based and lecture courses

College students (134 women and 55 men) participated in introductory psychology courses that were offered largely online (on the World Wide Web) or in a lecture format. Student comprehension skills were inferred from their scores on a multimedia comprehension battery. The learning of content knowledge was affected interactively by comprehension skill level and course format. Differences between format increased with comprehension skill such that the Web-based course advantage became greater as comprehension skill increased. This same pattern was not seen when self-reports of comprehension ability were used as the predictor. Furthermore, comprehension skill did not predict course satisfaction. Generally, students of all skill levels preferred the lecture courses.     

Use of small group contingencies and special activity times to manage behavior in a first-grade classroom

Management procedures were succesfully employed to decrease the frequency with which first-grade children left small instructional centers. To decrease the out-of-center behavior, access to a 30-minute special activity time was made available to different groups as a function of everyone's remaining within his group instructional center. One occurrence of out-center behavior resulted in a cost of ten minutes of special activity time for the children in that center. The frequency of out-of-center behaviors quickly decreased from Baseline I to the Modification I condition, increased when the modification condition was removed, and decreased again in Modification II.Observations made on the percent of the children's appropriate social and academic behaviors showed increases during the modification conditions. Also, the time the teacher spent in responding to inappropriate behavior decreased and the time spent in instruction increased during the modification conditions.     

自定步调学习时间的习惯性反应：来自眼动的证据

习惯性反应指学习者根据自身阅读习惯来进行学习时间分配,它通常由词对位置这一外部线索激发。研究运用眼动记录技术,采用Metcalfe范式探讨词对位置和难度对学习时间分配的影响,以检验自定步调学习时间的习惯性反应。结果发现：（1）在自定步调总学习时间上,学习者倾向于对难度越大的项目分配越多的学习时间;（2）在前期自定步调学习进程上,当词对位置为易-中-难条件时,学习者倾向于优先在容易项目上分配较多的学习时间,接着是中等难度项目,最后是困难项目;当词对位置为难-中-易条件时,结果相反。这说明学习者的自定步调总学习时间受项目难度驱动,而前期自定步调学习时间受习惯性反应影响。     

An instructional package to teach communication behaviors in a classroom setting

An instructional package consisting of modeling, written and behavioral rehearsal, and feedback was used to teach communication behaviors (simple sentence responses, information responses, and eye contact) to 17 emotionally handicapped students, ages ranging between 11 and 17 years. A multiple baseline analysis indicated that the communication behaviors targeted for training increased significantly following implementation of the instructional package. These behaviors also generalized across settings and nontrained questions and were maintained across time. Finally, the average amount of training time required for each subject was 2 hours, indicating that the use of the instructional package in a classroom setting was economical. These results show that communication behaviors can be delivered effectively and economically in a classroom setting.     

The influence of forward and backward associative strength on false recognition

In an experiment, I examined the influence of 2 associative factors on false memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995): the strength of the association from studied items to unstudied lure items (backward associative strength, or BAS) and the strength of the association from unstudied lure items to studied items (forward associative strength, or FAS). BAS and FAS were manipulated, and participants were asked to respond rapidly at retrieval or were allowed to respond in a self-paced manner in order to examine the contributions of automatic and controlled memory processes to lure errors. The results of this study demonstrated that both BAS and FAS influenced lure errors under speeded retrieval conditions and under self-paced retrieval conditions, as well as that lure errors generally increased when retrieval time increased. These results favor the explanation of false memory offered by global-matching models over those of activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory.     

自控速度的平滑滚动引导式和RSVP的文本阅读

考察了在自控速度条件下 ,显示窗口、起始速度和文本显示方式等因素对视频显示终端 (videodisplayter minals,VDT)汉语文本阅读工效的影响。结果发现 :(1)在阅读正确率上 ,VDT文本的平滑滚动引导式优于快速系列视觉呈现 (rapidserialvisualpresentation ,RSVP)方式 ;(2 )阅读速度和阅读理解成绩相互代偿 ,若注重理解正确率 ,宜采用 15 0字 /分的起始速度 ;若兼顾阅读速度 ,宜采用 75 0字 /分的起始速度 ;(3)起始速度、显示窗口和文本显示方式三者共同影响了阅读绩效 ;(4 )机控速度方式的阅读效率优于自控速度方式。     

Cognitive load and the imagination effect

When presented with a procedure or concept to learn, imagining the procedure or concept may be an effective instructional technique compared to conventional studying, thus generating an imagination effect. However, it was hypothesized that the importance of learning through imagining as an instructional technique depends on modes of presentation. Experiment 1 tested adults studying or imagining contour maps as participants and was designed to verify the generality of the imagination effect. Imagination instructions were superior to study instructions on subsequent test questions. Experiment 2 further investigated the effect by comparing much younger students (Grade 4), studying or imagining temperature/time graphs presented in either a split‐attention (spatially separated diagram and text) or an integrated (spatially combined diagram and text) format. Results on a subsequent test indicated that the Grade 4 students found imagining beneficial to their learning, compared with studying the material but the effect was only obtained using an integrated rather than a split‐attention format. Experiment 3 was conducted to obtain verbal protocols from Grade 4 imagination and study groups using the same instructional materials to throw light on the cognitive mechanisms behind the imagination effect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Computerized adaptive personality assessment: an illustration with the Absorption scale

This article introduces the theory behind and applications of adaptive personality assessment based on the item response theory. Two adaptive testing strategies were compared: (a) fixed test length and (b) clinical decision. Real-data simulations, based on the item responses from 1,000 subjects who had previously taken the 34-item Absorption scale (Tellegen, 1982) by means of paper-and-pencil format, were used to illustrate these strategies. Results suggest that computerized adaptive personality assessment works impressively well. With the fixed-test-length strategy, a 50% savings in administered items was achieved with little loss of measurement precision. In the clinical-decision testing strategy, individuals who were extreme on the Absorption trait were identified with perfect accuracy using, on average, 25% of the available items. The implications of these results for personality research and assessment are discussed.     

MOMENTUM AND EXTINCTION EFFECTS ON SELF-INJURIOUS ESCAPE BEHAVIOR AND NONCOMPLIANCE

Previous research on applications of behavioral momentum has indicated that a high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence, in which a series of instructions for which there is a high probability of compliance is presented immediately before an instruction for which there is a low probability of compliance, is an effective method for increasing compliance. It is not dear, however, whether the procedure is effective when individuals actively attempt to escape from the instructional situation. In this study, we examined the effects of the high-p sequence, when implemented first alone and then later with an extinction component, as treatment for the self-injurious escape behavior of 2 individuals. Results showed that when the instructional sequence was implemented without extinction, rates of self-injury increased and percentage of compliance decreased. In addition, the percentage of trials occasioning escape behavior increased for both high- and low-probability instructions. When an extinction component was added to the high-p sequence, rates of self-injury and the percentage of trials containing self-injury decreased, and compliance increased. These findings suggest that extinction may be an important component of treatment when escape behavior such as self-injury accompanies noncompliance in instructional contexts and competes with compliant behavior.     

Making good use of online case study materials

Web-based access to engaging instructional materials for SEE instruction represents an increasingly viable and attractive opportunity for educators. This paper will review research findings that demonstrate important differences in more experienced and novice ethical responses to engaging online materials, including authentic cases, codes, and commentaries. Results demonstrate that experienced ethical thinkers are more likely than novices to appeal to middle level principles that identify professional role-specific obligations (RSO); to make greater use of professional knowledge in order to recognize moral issues and relevant facts; and to employ more 'contextually sensitive' reasoning strategies when crafting resolutions to moral problems--e.g., identify alternative moral issues, assess the moral implications of actions, and provide alternative practical resolutions to conflicts. These findings suggest that when effectively integrated into SEE courses, authentic instructional materials have the potential to effectively challenge students and enhance student learning. However, there is evidence that the uses and benefits of these materials are not well understood. In the second part of this paper, five research-based instructional principles will be identified and discussed that can help SEE instructors better understand how to effectively integrate these materials into their courses.