Higher Education & Teaching Technology

Higher Education &Teaching Technology Unit 4 PSY 4600 Schedule: R & T, Lecture R, 02/20, Exam

Announcement • I will be away from campus from Wed., 2/19 – Friday, 2/21 attending BAAM (Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan) • Have no fear, however, your exam will still be given on 2/20 • I may not, however, be able to return your E4s on 2/25; If not, I’ll return them Thursday, 2/27 BAAM 2014 Convention Thursday and Friday February 20-21, 2014 Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti

Make-up Exam 1 • ME1: Tuesday, 2/25 • Units 1-3 (not 4) • ME1 study objectives: Tuesday, 2/18 • Instructional assistance hours for ME1: Monday, 2/24, 6:00-7:30 PM Michael will be there

About ME1 • If you have missed an exam— you need to take ME1 or your missing exam score will turn into a zero • If you have taken all the exams to date— and want to replace the lowest score you got on exams 1-3, you should take ME1 • If you have taken all the exams and are satisfied with your scores — you get the day off!

College Teaching and Teaching Technology:Evidence-Based Practices • Behavioral analysis of college teaching and student study behavior • Direct Instruction used primarily in elementary and secondary schools • Precision Teaching • MimioSprout and MimioReading: web-based reading and reading comprehension programs for children created by behavior analysts (formerly Headsprout)

College Teaching • Behavioral analysis of college teaching and student studying behavior • Article by Dr. Jack Michael, helps explain • Why PSY professors administer more exams and require more assignments than professors in other departments typically do • Why I structure PSY 4600 the way I do with study objectives, frequent essay examinations and grade sheets • Why, from a behavioral perspective, your study behavior may differ in this class vs. other classes • Why some (most of us) procrastinate - when studying for exams, writing papers, preparing conference presentations, etc.

Introduction/Overview to the Michael article • The teaching technology discussed in the article is relevant for the “typical” college class with a course enrollment of 35-40 or more and a clear “factual content.” • It is not relevant for fine arts (dance, sculpting, painting, writing) or other skill training such as public speaking, mechanics, etc. • While this technology can be used with small classes (15 or fewer students), there are also methods that can be equally effective • Most university classes at colleges and universities are the type discussed in the article

Overview, cont. • Begins by discussing student motivation to study. That is, what factors motivate students to study hard? • He discusses a number of things that are often mentioned by individuals (intrinsic interest in the subject matter, approval/disapproval of others, short-term payoffs, long-range payoffs of learning the material, etc.) • He argues against each one, concluding that the course gradeis the only effective motivational variable and the only one over which the instructor has control.

Overview, cont. • However, even the grade will not be an effective motivator if the grade is not important to the student • He further states that if the grade is not important to the student, then there is nothing an instructor can do to motivate students to study

Overview,cont. • Fortunately, grades are important to most students, thus, while • Many say that grades should not be emphasized - Michael disagrees with that • The grade is the only motivative factor that the instructor has under his/her control and thus should be emphasized

How to structure a course • Next, he describes how to structure a course so that the course grade is an effective motivator • Three features that must be present in order for students to study hard (SO 11, but stated positively): • The grade must be important to the student • Studying must be closely (and explicitly) linked to the exam/assignment grades • The exam/assignmentgrades must be closely (and explicitly) linked to the course grade (how many I didn’t study at all, aced the test; I studied very hard and didn’t have a clue? 2 exams - chapter 4 - graduate course - didn’t know passed/failed; how many, assignment/quiz, have no idea how it relates to final grade - 10%, 20%, maybe checkmark)

SO1: Creativity? • This type of course structure is very controversial and has been criticized for a number of reasons • The first criticism: This type of course does not teach creativity or new knowledge, but only teaches studentshow to parrot back old knowledge. • Michael’s response?

SO1: Creativity? • Creativity requires an extensive familiarity with what is already known - an extensive knowledge base about which one can be creative. For example, If you don’t understand reinforcement, punishment, shaping, etc., you cannot create an effective instructional system or develop an effective training program for individuals with developmental disabilities or design a treatment program for individuals with chronic pain. (need to know the basics so you can effectively use them to create something new)

SO2: What are two main problems with intrinsic interest in the subject as a motivational factor? • 1.While the subject matter may indeed be interesting to students, it is usually not sufficiently interesting to maintain the amount of study required to master the material • A student may be passionate about behavior analysis, love 4600, but that is not likely to maintain 8 or more hours of studying each week

SO2, cont. 2.Competing activities that can’t bepostponed Friend stops by – Waldos! Basketball game, play Baby/child gets sick You can always study tomorrow, but sometimes, tomorrow never comes… (in general, 2nd reason, include not postponable)

SO3: Why is it that short-term advantages from the newly acquired material do not motivate studying? • 3A: Unlike some courses, like automobile mechanics, many content courses do not have many short-term advantages; rather • 3B: They are important for further learning • You can’t run before you can walk • You can’t master the material in 4600 until you have mastered the material in 3600 • You can’t master algebra unless you master arithmetic

SO4: Describe the weakness of long-range payoffs related to the details of the study assignment.Note: Delay is not the main issue • It is easy to believe that you can contribute to the human condition - that is, be a successful behavior analyst - without understanding the specific details of the study assignment • It is easy to believe that you can be an effective human service worker, OBM practitioner, clinical psychologist, etc. without knowing SOs 5, 14, 20 and 26 from Unit 4 in Dickinson’s PSY 4600.

SO 5 NFE: So why are grades the best motivational factor to motivate student studying? • It is the one motivational factor over which the instructor has control - the only one (we can’t control intrinsic interest, we can’t control whether others in the environment support scholarly performance, etc.) • It can be easily related to the details of the study assignment (we can make SOs 3, 14, & 20 from U4 important by relating them to the exam/assignment) • It is a factor of considerable strength - that is, it is important to most students as evidenced by the intensity of study/work right before an exam or right before an assignment is due (Three points)

SO 6: Vicious vs. Friendly Competition and their relationship to norm-referenced vs. criterion- referenced grading practices. • Many criticize emphasizing grades because it generates “competition” and competition is bad. • Michael distinguishes between “vicious” and “friendly” competition, and agrees that “vicious” competition is, indeed, bad, but “friendly” competition is not. • He then describes grading practices that produce “vicious” competition and those that produce “friendly” competition. • Norm-referenced grading practices produce vicious competition and hence should not be adopted, while criterion-referenced grading practices produce “friendly” competition which is OK.

SO 6A: Norm-referenced grading produces vicious competition • Why? The grade you receive depends not only on your grade but the grades of other students in the class; if one student does well, it decreases the opportunity for another student to do well (learn the name - next slide as well)

SO 6A, cont. • Grading on a curve: 10% of the students get As, 20% get Bs, 50% or so get Cs, etc. • If one student gets an A, it decreases the opportunity for another student to get an A • This produces vicious competition between students; you are likely to be happy when someone doesn’t get an A or a B; you are not as likely to help someone - if you do, that person may get an A, which decreases your chances to get an A • In fact, some students may actually engage in behaviors that will harm another’s student chance to get an A (steal relevant books from the library) (physio course, comp exams)

SO 6B:Criterion-referenced grading does not produce vicious competition although it may produce friendly competition • Why? The grade you get depends only on your grade, not on the grades other students get; thus when one student performs well it does not decrease the opportunity for another student to do well (Learn the name)

SO 6B: Criterion-referenced grading • Dickinson’s PSY 4600 grading practices; any student who gets 92% of the points, gets an A. • Friendly competition: Student wants to have the highest point score in the class or a student wants to “beat out” another student. • But this does not produce the type of competition that makes a student rejoice in the misfortune of other students or refuse to help another student because it might decrease his/her own grade. (Learn the name)

SO 7: Study procrastination scallop • Many people maintain that an exam or assignment is an example of a FI schedule of reinforcement, which produces the typical response “scallop.” (not much behavior in the beginning of the interval, more and more behavior as the interval progresses and reinforcement gets close). • Not so! And the reasons are the same as the reasons we examined last unit with respect to why a paycheck is not an example of a FI schedule. • So how do we explain the scallop in studying/working that occurs right before the exam? • How is that scallop behavior related to the exam grade and the course grade?

SO 7 Continued: Procrastination Scallop • To understand this, it helps to know that the analysis Michael presents is a molecular analysis. • Underlying position that if a consequence follows a behavior by more than 5 to 60 seconds, it is not a direct-acting contingency; that is, that consequence cannot directly affect the behavior as reinforcement, punishment, etc. • Rather the effect that the consequence has is due to other variables, such as verbal behavior. • Michael is a molecular behavior analyst (as most others in the department) and thus explains the procrastination scallop using a molecular analysis where the consequence of studying must occur within 5 to 60 seconds after the behavior of studying

SO 7: Procrastination Scallop, A molecular behavioral analysis • 7A: The relationship between two factors affects studying (Note carefully, not just one or the other!) • Task completion: how much of the task the student has completed • Time passage: the time left before the exam or assignment (be careful not to put this in your own words)

SO 7B: Procrastination Scallop • Task completion and time passage together determine the aversiveness of the situation at any point in time before the exam or the assignment is due • To have a good deal of time left is “safe” or “nonaversive” • But to have completed very little of the task and have very little time left is a condition that is dangerous or “aversive” • It is the aversiveness that generates escape behavior (closer the exam gets with no or little work done, the more aversive it becomes; I don’t have to explain that – I would bet most of you have experienced this at one time or another)

SO 7B Continued • Usually, the only relevant form of escape (that is, the only way to reduce the aversiveness) is to study • Studying immediately decreases the existing aversiveness • The decrease in the aversiveness negatively reinforces studying • Escape contingency (diagram next, then I will explain why studying increases as the exam gets closer)

SO 7C: Diagram of the Escape Contingency MO (aversiveness):R (studying)-->Sr- (decrease in aversiveness) • Pre-existing aversiveness is an MO • Studying is the escape behavior • Reinforcement is the decrease in the pre-existing aversiveness which negatively reinforces studying *Note that the term is “aversive,” not “adversive”

SO 7B: So, what produces the scallop in studying behavior? That is, why do (most) students study more and more as the exam gets closer? • Because the aversiveness increases as the exam gets closer and you have not completed the study assignment • That is, the pre-existing aversiveness, the MO becomes stronger and stronger the closer the exam if you have not completed the assignment • Just like the colder you are, the more “motivated” you will be to emit behaviors that will make you warmer (i.e., put on a coat, turn up the heat in the car, etc.) (Note carefully, the studying does not become aversive, the situation becomes aversive; or the hungrier you are, or the more tired you are)

SO 7D: Again, what reinforces studying? • To repeat: The reinforcement for studying is the decrease in the pre-existing aversive condition; immediate negative reinforcement (escape) • As soon as you study, there is a decrease in the aversiveness • The more you study, the greater the decrease • The reinforcement for studying is NOT the avoidance of a bad grade on the exam/assignment • The grade is too delayed, it does not occur within 5 - 60 seconds after studying (many students get this wrong; last slide on this topic)

SO 8: End-of-Course Activity Why does an end-of-course activity (like a final exam or paper worth 50%-75% of the student’s grade) weaken the relation between the exam grades and the course grades? Students can quite correctly believe that a low score on an earlier exam or assignment can be compensated for by a high score on the final exam or paper. But what often happens? You run out of time because all of your courses “kick in at the end.” So no final exam in Dickinson’s PSY 4600: Each exam is worth the same number of points

SO 9: Reasons professors give for their unwillingness to clearly specify what is going to be on the exam Many professors are highly critical of study objectives on the grounds that we are “spoon feeding” students. • Professors often give two reasons for not wanting to specify what is going to be on the exam • You will only learn what the professor tells you to learn; without specification you will learn all of the other things you wouldn’t learn if you didn’t know what was going to be on the exam • Really? If you are examined over 4-5 chapters, do you really learn everything in those 4-5 chapters? • Part of the scholar’s repertoire consists of bringing order out of chaos and dealing with the instructor’s vague assignments is a good opportunity to learn this skill • Really, again!!! (read material out of “interest”)

SO 10: In large enrollment classes what controls attendance and what does NOT control attendance? • What does? How essential the lecture material is for doing wellon the exam/assignments (note material in red!) • What does NOT? How interesting or inspirational the lectures are Faculty do not have to do “dog and pony shows” to get students to attend class. Of course, all things being equal, interesting is better than boring! (shy)

SO 11: The three conditions under which the threat of a low grade will NOT motivate studying • If the grade is not important to the student • The relation between studying for the exam and the grade on the exam is not clear • The relation between the exam grade and the course grade is not clear

SO 13: Exam frequency and motivation to study Provide two reasons why exams that are given once every three weeks (let alone two exams per semester) will not have the same motivational effect as exams that are given weekly. 1. The procrastination scallop: most students will wait to study until the week of the exam I require 6 or more hours of outside studying for each exam (for a C), if I gave an exam every three weeks instead of every 1 1/2 weeks, it would require 12 or more hours of study. If I gave just a mid-term and final, that would be about 7 weeks, which would require 27 hours or more of studying. It is absurd to think that students will spend 27 hours studying for the exam during that one week. (one reason why professors use norm-referenced grading - no one does well)

SO 13: Second reason why exams that are givenonce every three weeks (let alone twice a semester)will not have the same motivational effect as weekly exams. 2. I have 1 1/2 hours for the exam, regardless of how often I give the exams. If I gave an exam only once every three weeks, I could not sample as much material from the study objectives - that is I could not ask questions over as many of the study objectives • Why and how does this affect student studying? Students know that I cannot test over all of the study objectives, hence they will begin to try to guess which ones I will ask and not study all of the objectives. They will “gamble” about which items I will have test questions over (faculty who give out 70 or more SOs for the exam and then only ask questions on very small Proportion; Sos but not used for the exam)

SO 14: Why learning can’t be fun and easy* Many argue that learning should be fun and easy. Not so, says Michael. He says it can’t be fun and easy for two reasons. • Intensity: there is too much to learn in too little time • Assessment: there is a chance that the student will not get the grade he/she wants on the exams and assignments Note carefully, it is NOT simply that the exams and assignments are given - if every student got an A on every exam/assignment, then assessment would not cause students a problem *Learn each factor and be able to explain them.

Not for exam but why should grades be emphasized? Grades are the primary motivative variable, which means that current standing in the class and progress toward the final grade should always be clear and frequently brought to the student’s attention. Hence, the grade sheet.

Questions/Comments on the Michael article?

Unit 4: Teaching Technology Introduction In this part of the unit we are going to be looking at three evidence-based instructional technologies for primary and secondary schools: • Direct Instruction - Engelmann, Becker & Carnine • Precision Teaching - Lindsley • MimioSprout and MimioReading–web-based reading programs developed by a team of behavior analysts (2002) • Greg Stikeleather, Dept. alumni award (evidence-based, proven through research to be effective, Woods Edge?) Engelmann, BA in education. Becker & Carnine - behavioral psychologists; Oakland Academy, Arbor Academy, Forrest Academy - Foundation for behavioral resources)

Teaching Technology Intro • Educational crisis in this country • Our students rank about last in math/science of all industrialized countries in the world • Reports indicate that this generation of children will be the first in the history of our country that will be less well educated than their parents • 40% of our 4th-graders read below basic levels • This summer it was reported that only 17% of high school seniors in MI are academically prepared for college • Yet schools and educators have been very slow to adopt empirically-validated instructional technology • Probably the biggest disappointment of behavioranalysts (read some of the material in the course pack - not behavior analysts)

Direct Instruction Basics • Task analysis is completed for all instructional material • Material is presented in small steps so students will be successful the first time • Material is sequenced so if students master the prerequisite material they will be successful • Scripts are used to insure correct implementation and student success - based on research • Students are placed in small groups of 5 - 10 • Students respond aloud on cue • Immediate feedback, both reinforcement and corrective is provided

Precision Teaching Basics • Often use DI material/lessons • Adds a fluency component - accuracy plus speed of responding is assessed (# corrects per minute). Based on rate of response used in behavioral research • Timed practice, graph results - only 30% of time is spent on instruction, 70% on practice • Students work with each other during practice sessions • Students do not progress to the next lesson until fluency “aims” are met - all have the same aims which are based on research • Often combined with a token economy system in which students earn points for results and appropriate instructional behaviors (feet on floor, eye contact, etc.) • Often report cards are provided for parents daily (before SO16, show you some results of DI, PT: SOs a little out of order)

Ogden “Og” Lindsley:Precision Teaching

SO16: Introduction to Engelmann’s early study (1970) • Some maintain that 60-80% of “intelligence” is genetic and only 20-40% is a function of learning; that is you have it or you don’t and if your parents and grandparents didn’t have it, you won’t either (Bell Curve, Murray & Herrnstein) • They also maintain that a person’s IQ cannot be changed much after the first couple of years • Therefore, early educational programs (such as Head Start) and social programs are a waste of tax payer dollars. (What is intelligence? What is measured by IQ tests? Math, verbal, social situations and sequences)

SO16: Englemann’s early study (1970) • Participants were all 4 years old: • 15 disadvantaged children exposed to traditional teaching methods • 15 disadvantaged children exposed to DI • 15 middle class children exposed to DI • Independent variable: • DI for language concept, arithmetic, and reading • Three 20-min instructional sessions per day for two years • Total of 96 instructional hours • Dependent variable: • Stanford-Binet IQ test scores • Experimental design (Quasi-experimental design): • Between-group experimental design

SO16: Summary of Results • IQ scores after two years • Disadvantaged four-year olds exposed to DI increased their IQ scores by about 25 points (95.33 to 121.08) • Disadvantaged four-year olds exposed to traditional education increased their IQ scores by only about 5 points (94.50 to 99.61) • Disadvantaged and advantaged four-year olds exposed to DI had similar IQ scores (121.08 and 123.43, respectively)

SO16: Results of Engelmann’s Study: IQ Scores

SO16: Implications • IQ scores can be affected by instruction and changed after the very early stages of life (argues against heredity) • DI can eliminate differences in the IQ scores of disadvantaged and advantaged children, differences that are not eliminated by traditional educational methods

Higher Education & Teaching Technology