Last website update: April 21st , 2008 PSY 3960: Behavioral Training and Teaching Strategies The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with various behavior-based training/teaching methods. What differentiates these methods from other teaching and training approaches is an explicit recognition that teaching and training means changing behavior. Thus, the focus is on measuring behavior, tying these observations to what the trainer/teacher does, and using improvements in performance as the only evidence for judging if learning took place. Stated differently, if there’s no change in behavior, then no training or teaching took place. Behavioral training and teaching strategies examine the best ways of presenting prompts, instructions, and examples (antecedents). They also involve how to analyze and judge observed behavior. In addition, they specify how the teacher/trainer should react to behavioral observations (consequences). The underlying key concept is how the relationship between these three variables (antecedents, behavior, consequences) impact learning over time. This course has relevance for anyone who plans on serving in an instructional capacity. This includes those planning on working with children in an educational setting (teachers and school psychologists), working with adults in an educational setting (professors and instructors), and/or working with adults in a business setting (OBM practitioners and performance consultants). Although many of these performance technologies have typically been applied in either just school or work settings, the lessons learned from them can be applied across settings. Thus I encourage you not to view any of these as a school-based application or business-based application, but see the general instructional value. Some of the topics covered in the course include: basic behavioral principles, Project Follow-Through, college teaching, SAFMEDS, Direct Instruction, Precision Teaching, Programmed Instruction, teaching machines, instructional design, computer-based instruction, Personalized System of Instruction (Keller Plan), and Performance-Based Instruction. Also covered will be the philosophical, political, and cultural opposition that has sometimes kept behavioral training and teaching solutions from being implemented. The course content is heavily influenced by the writings of Wesley Becker, Dale Brethower, Siegfried Engelmann, Fred Keller, Ogden Lindsley, Susan Meyer Markle, Jack Michael, J. Gilmour Sherman, B.F. Skinner, Karolyn Smalley, and Philip Tiemann. Course Grades (password protected)
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