Beberapa hari yang lalu ada beberapa dosen lagi membahas isu-isu Teaching Theory/Philosophy di Facebook. Saya sendiri tidak suka membahas Teaching Theories, saya anggap semua teori dapat digunakan dan sangat tergantung tujuan kita. Tujuan dosen-dosen kami di Australia adalah memperkenalkan kami dengan segala macam teori, "bukan untuk membentuk pikiran atau sikap kami", jadi mereka tidak pernah menyampaikan perasaan mereka sendiri terhadap teori-teori tertentu supaya kami dapat menilaikan dan membentuk perspektif masing-masing. Untuk mendalami pengertian kami, grup kuliah kami di bagi-bagi ke grup-sub lagi sesuai dengan beberapa macam filosofi (filsofat). Saya sendiri ikut grup "Humanists" (yang pada waktu itu saya paling suka) dan grup kami, seperti grup lain membuat les yang dapat exemplify proses pembelajaran teori masing-masing. Dari kegiatan ini kami dapat melihat bahwa semua teori mempunyai peran di dalam menyampaikan pembelajaran yang baik dan bermutu.

Tetapi kebanyakan calon guru jelas tidak setuju dengan "Behaviourism" sebagai filosophi dan kelihatannya merasa bahwa teorinya sangat bagus untuk mendidik tikus-tikus, tetapi tidak cocok untuk manusia karena tidak manusiawi dan tujuannya bukan untuk "mengembangkan orang", tetapi membentuk perilakunya. Saya kadang-kadang menggunakan aspek-aspek metodologi Behaviourism di dalam kelas, misalanya dalam mainan (game) diberikan permen, tetapi hanya untuk variasi (misalnya memberi reward/inducement - "but never punishment"), maupun tidak sebut bahwa jawaban pelajar adalah salah, hanya terus mencari tambahan informasi dari pelajar lain sampai kita ketemu jawaban yang benar, supaya suasana di kelas tetap nyaman. Saya tidak pernah membuat les yang berbasis-Behaviourism.

Mengapa? Karena Behaviourism adalah berbasis-respons-jawaban-perilaku-tertentu - yang gurunya memutuskan adalah benar, jelas tidak mengajak atau mendukung proses kreativitas atau inovasi. Tujuannya adalah membentuk behaviour (perilaku) orang (seperti robot). Di dalam kelas yang di laksanakan oleh guru, guru sendiri masih memberi kesempatan untuk menerima jawaban yang di luar ekspektasi guru (dan mungkin belajar sesuatu sendiri) dan membahas lanjut supaya mendalami pengertian. Harapan saya adalah pelajar-pelajar saya akan lebih kreatif dan inovatif daripada saya sendiri. Jadi Behaviourism tidak cocok.

Tetapi kalau Behaviourism dilaksanakan oleh teknologi, hanya jawaban tertentu dapat diterima, jadi pasti membunuh kesempatan untuk Kreativitas dan Inovasi. "Teaching Machine" (Teknologi Pembelajaran) yang pertama dibuat oleh Sydney L. Pressey pada tahun 1920an - bukan sesuatu baru, dan jangan salah, e-Learning sampai sekarang masih berbasis-Behaviourism (Programmed Learning).

Re (di paling bawah): "Internet and various learning platforms like learning management systems, one could implement Skinner’s theories and projects more economically"

Dari pengalaman di negara maju kita dapat melihat bahwa sistem E-Learning dan Pemiliharaannya adalah sangat mahal dan tidak terjangkau di kebanyakan sekolah di negara maju (bagaimana di Indonesia?), maupun dinilai kurang efektif di tingkat sekolah. Mengapa? Apakah Karena "Skinner’s theories" (Behaviourism) tidak mengajak pelajar kreatif dan inovatif, dan tidak dapat menilaikan isu-isu yang sangat penting seperti kreativitas dan Inovasi? - Pembelajaran Berbasis-Asal-Hafal-Saja!
(Mungkin "Skinner’s theories" adalah lebih cocok dengan zaman "Asal-Hafal-Saja")

P.S. Saya setuju dengan dosen-dosen kemarin yang jelas tidak suka behaviourism juga, dan saya bingung - mengapa lebih banyak pendidik di negara kita tidak protes mengenai konsep e-learning sebagai solusi pendidikan bangsa?

Programmed Learning or Programmed Instruction is a learning methodology or technique first proposed by the behaviorist B. F. Skinner in 1958.[1] According to Skinner, the purpose of programmed learning is to "manage human learning under controlled conditions".[2] Programmed learning has three elements: (1) it delivers information in small bites, (2) it is self-paced by the learner, and (3) it provides immediate feedback, both positive and negative, to the learner.[3] It was popular in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, but pedagogical interest was lost in the early 1980s as it was difficult to implement and its limitations were not well understood by practitioners. It was revived in the 1990s in the computerized Integrated Learning System (ILS) approach,[2] primarily in the business and managerial context.[4] Programmed learning remains popular in self-teaching textbooks.

The methodology involves self-administered and self-paced learning, in which the student is presented with information in small steps often referred to as "frames".[2] Each frame contains a small segment of the information to be learned, and a question which the student must answer. After each frame the student uncovers, or is directed to, additional information based on an incorrect answer, or positive feedback for a correct answer.

Criticism
Programmed Instruction has been citicized for its inability to provide adequate feedback on incorrect answers and for its lack of student instigated conceptualization opportunities.[3] It works best in basic courses which introduce the vocabulary of a discipline, heavily fact-based courses and rule-based technical courses.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_learning

Although Skinners initial programmed instruction format has undergone many transformations, most adaptations retain three essential features: (1) an ordered sequence of items, either questions or statements to which the student is asked to respond; (2) the student's response, which may be in the form of filling in a blank, recalling the answer to a question, selecting from among a series of answers, or solving a problem; and (3) provision for immediate response confirmation, somtimes within the program frame itself but usually in a different location, as on the next page in a programmed textbook or in a separate window in the teaching machine. (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2000:332)

Programmed instruction is a method of presenting new subject matters to students in a graded sequence of controlled steps. Students work through the programmed material by themselves at their own speed and after each step test their comprehension by answering an examination question or filling in a diagram. They are then immediately shown the correct answer or given additional information. Computers and other types of teaching machines are often used to present the material, although books may also be used. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05, retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST)). Programmed instruction consists of a network of statements and tests, which direct the student to new statements depending on his pattern of errors. It is based on a particular tool which is called teaching machine. (Cited from Encyclopedia.com ???). Sometimes a distinction is made between programmed instructions and programmed learning. See also: Mastery learning

Theory and history
There are various origins and flavors of programmed instruction. The most important to subcategories are:

linear programs (in the Skinner tradition)
branched programs (in the Crowder tradition)
Skinner's operant conditioning
See behaviorism for the theory.

Programmed instruction is based on Skinner's "operant conditioning", a (behaviorist theory stating that learning is change in behavior, i.e. the individual's response to events (stimuli). Behavior can be conditioned by rewarding the right stimulus-response patterns. According to Greg Kearsley:

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective
2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced ("shaping")
3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli ("stimulus generalization") producing secondary conditioning

Skinner argued strongly against teaching that is based on punishment. According to Kristinsdóttir, “In a chapter of his book 1968 Why teachers fail he argued that formal education is usually based on 'aversive control'. Teaching rests on punishment and ridicule for unsuitable behavior rather than showing a consideration for the shaping and reinforcement of responses to be learned. He also said that lessons and examinations are designed to show what pupils do not know and cannot do, rather than to expose and build upon what they do know and are able to learn. Therefore, he argued, teachers fail to shape their children's behavior sufficiently, leading to inappropriate learning or to learned responses that are quickly forgotten (Skinner, 1968).”E. (Markle, S. (1969). Good Frames and Bad (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.)

Skinner in the 1950's introduced a concept of "teaching machine" that differed from Pressey's in some ways. “The teaching machine is composed of mainly a program, which is a system of combined teaching and test items that carries the student gradually through the material to be learned. The "machine" is composed by a fill-in-the-blank method on either a workbook or in a computer. If the subject is correct, he/she gets reinforcement and moves on to the next question. If the answer is incorrect, the subject studies the correct answer to increase the chance of getting reinforced next time.” (learning technologies timeline, retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST))

Romiszowski (1997:16) cited by Kristinsdóttir defined the "core" of Skinner's stimulus-response model as “that learning has occurred when a specific response is elicited by specific situation or stimulus with a high degree of probability. The more likely and predictable the response, the more efficient the learning has been. These attempt to shape human behavior by presenting a gradual progression of small units of information and related tasks to the learner. At each stage the learner must actively participate by performing the set task. He is then immediately supplied with feedback in the form of correct answer”

Skinner stated that the student should compose his response on his own, rather than choose it among a large range of possibilities, because the responses should not be recognized but recalled. Moreover, according to Skinner, the machine should present information in a designed sequence of steps. In programmed instruction, the subject is the student itself, the aim is his/her understanding of the material and the reinforcement or punishment refers to satisfaction or disappointment, resulting from the comparison of the student's answers with the E.answers given by the computer.

Teaching machines did not allow students to proceed in their tasks unless they understood the materials. The machines helped students to give the correct answer by "a logical presentation of material" (Skinner on Programmed Instruction) and by "hinting, prompting, suggesting, and so on, derived from an analysis of verbal behavior" (Skinner, 1958).

Crowder's intrinsic or branching program
Norman Crowder, a contemporary of Skinner, was working independently for the armed services on programmed instruction. He felt that a program was a form of communication between a programmer and a user. Like any communication, the program must be directed to the individual. Unlike Skinner, Crowder was not working from a psychological perspective, but from a communications point of view. In an intrinsic or branching program, each frame presents more text than the average linear frame. After reading, the user responds to an adjunct question, usually in a multiple-option format. Unlike Pressey's auto-instructional approach, which provides only confirmation of the correctness or incorrectness of that response, branching style optional choices lead users to optional forms of feedback, most of which is corrective. If the user makes a correct response, the program asserts the reasons why she or he was correct and moves on to new material. If an incorrect response is made, the program, at the very least, informs the user that an error was made and then branches the user back to the previous frame for another try.

The primary purpose of feedback" is to determine whether the communication was successful, in order that corrective steps be taken." (Crowder 288) Depending upon the complexity of the error committed, the programE. may initiate a remedial sequence of instruction, a practice designed to eliminate the learning deficiency. Branching instruction adapts the sequence of the program to a limited degree to fit the prior learning and processing capabilities of the user. The term intrinsic refers to the fact that all program options are intrinsic to the program and, therefore, not dependent on any external programming device. This approach is especially adapted to machine presentation, which provides for greater levels of adaptability. Branching texts tend to be large and confusing, especially when users try to access them in a manual way.

The primary difference between Skinner's conception of programming and Crowder's is in the function of the response. To Skinner, learning results from making the correct response. Contrary to this response orientation, Crowder believed that learning results from the realignment of the user's knowledge structure, and that the response is simply a means for controlling the program or machine. The larger chunks of information need to be assimilated and integrated with what the user already knows. The response, he believed, tests the level of integration. This type of programming benefits the higher-ability user, who is more capable of higher-level integration of ideas, more than it does the lower-ability user.

Portia Diaz-Martin (2001, retrieved 15:56, 14 August 2007 (MEST)).

Mastery learning
According to Davis & Sorrel (1995), "The mastery learning concept was introduced in the American schools in the 1920's with the work of Washburne (1922, as cited in Block, 1971) and others in the format of the Winnetka Plan." It then was revived in the late 1950' with programmed instruction and brought to perfection by Caroll and Bloom's work.

The architectures of programmed instruction
Programmed instruction has the following core elements:
Contents are broken down into pieces of instructions called frames. A frame contains statements and questions. Learners then read the frame and immediately answer a question about the frame There is an immediate feedback about the correctness of the frame (usually in a different place) Instruction is self-paced and learners are active (in the sense of reactive)
Skinner variant
Contents are very small, i.e. simple statements plus a question or direct questions
Answers are usually filling in blanks
Feedback is in the form of the correct answer

“Programmed instruction (PI) involved breaking content down into small pieces of information called frames. A PI textbook might contain several thousand frames of information. Students would read a frame, then answer a question about the frame. Then they would check their answer (get "feedback") and proceed to the next frame. When PI was delivered by a "teaching machine" the possibilities for effective teaching seemed unlimited to many. PI-style software is linear. Skinner argued that PI was more effective than traditional teaching methods, ” (Programmed Instruction, retrieved 16:22, 16 August 2007 (MEST)) ... since learners have to receive thousands of reinforcements, something a teacher can do.

Here is an example on programmed English (M.W Sullivan) presented by Joyce, Weil & Calhoun (2000:333):

1. Words are divided into classes. We call the largest class nouns. Nouns are a class of ________________________.	words
2. In English the class of words called nouns is larger than all the other __________________ of words combined	classes

This strategy looks very Skinnerian, since the learner is supposed to learn from good answers.

Branching style
Branching is used with the idea that slower learners can be presented with additional information if they can't respond well enough to a sequence of frames and that more advanced students can be exposed to more challenging materials.

Each frame usually presents more text than the average linear frame.
After reading, the user responds to a question, usually in a multiple-option format (since this allows for easy electronic treatment)
Feedback then, can be corrective i.e. branch the user into a sequence that attempts to remediate the learner's misconceptions or gaps in understanding.
Some versions of this model (i.e. Crowder's original) are more based on a (corrective) theory of communication than a behaviorist learning theory.

Special forms of this model are so-called drill and practise programs where learners are supposed to develop basic skills like arithmetics and keyboard operations by many repetitions. The program adjusts drill sequences according to answers.

Mastery learning
Mastery learning refers to the idea that teaching should organize learning through ordered steps. In order to move to the next step, students have to master at least 80% of the prerequisite step.

Additional topics
The role of the teachers in Skinner's thoughts Even if in a chapter of his book “Why teachers fail”, Skinner argued that teachers fail to shape their students’ behaviour sufficiently, he stated (1954) that: “If the teacher is to take advantage of recent advances in the study of learning, she must have the help of mechanical devices.” Concluding his analysis he also argued that mechanized instruction should be integrated into all schools, not as a replacement for, but as an adjunct to the teacher. By saying so, he did not deny the importance of the teacher in the learning process.

Many objections to Skinner’s programs have been raised during these years. The most important is that people think that the answers given by the machine are only “indicators of success” which do not constitute a complete learning program. However, students are obliged to determine on their own the success of their research and problem-solving efforts. All this is considered to be minimal and the starting point of any problem. So, maybe, the real benefit of programmed instruction is precisely the effort made by the student which can be seen as a sort of grounding for developing the ability to think and to learn on his own. Ability that will be achieved only thanks to the involvement of the teacher in class.

At the beginning, programmed instruction was thought for students particularly gifted, in order to prevent them to waste their time by listening things they already knew, and that could be useless for their learning process. Those who think (and are still thinking) that programmed instruction isolate students, must consider that the machine brings them into contact with the people who composed the material and with a large number of other students. Besides, computers prevent students from repeating the same material and facilitate the review of previous lessons, so, each student can learn in accordance with his own level. But all this is only feasible in class, where the role of teachers is once more important for stimulating discussion and improving the quality of education itself. Moreover, the fact that the student is among his friends avoids the risk of socially isolating him as homeschooling does.
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Programmed_instruction

Technological progress
It is important to bear in mind that "teaching machines" were much more similar to a mechanical tool than a computer as we know it. If education accepted with great interest Skinner’s suggestions, it was not like that for industry because companies thought that this machine could get out of production soon. For these reasons, the materials concerning programmed instructions were mainly books, detracting the value of Skinner as a forerunner of (behaviorist) e-learning.

Some time later, the programmed instruction movement presented the concept of interactive text and extended this kind of instruction to all school subjects. So, computer-assisted instruction could assist students, by allowing them to test their abilities and to mark their improvements, supplementing the activities in class and helping to develop new skills independently. But, it was still economically difficult to put a system like that into place. As a consequence, programmed instruction as a whole seemed to sink into oblivion. Of course, another reason was a change in the understanding of learning (not discussed here).

Nowadays, the situation has changed a lot: thanks to technological progress, in particular Internet and various learning platforms like learning management systems, one could implement Skinner’s theories and projects more economically.
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Programmed_instruction# The_role_of_the_teachers_in_Skinner.27s_thoughts

Phillip Rekdale (23-1-2010)