MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT : EDUCATION

UNIT TITLE : SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS

AND COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION

UNIT CODE : MET 5205

NAME : MUCOKA M IRENE

REGISTRATION NUMBER : MED/2018/40496

SEMESTER : MAY/AUGUST

NAME OF INSTRUCTOR : Ms. NJOROGE 

DATE OF SUBMISSION : 01/7/2022

1
Table of Contents
1. Examining the growth and development of self-instructional programmes in historical
perspective. (20 marks)....................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Growth and development of self-instructional program..................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6
Ways and means of utilizing computer-assisted instruction to facilitate teaching and learning.....7
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

2
1. Examining the growth and development of self-instructional programmes in historical

perspective. (20 marks)

Introduction

Programmed is a sequence of small steps of instructional material (called frames), most of which
require a response to be made by completing a blank space in a sentence. To ensure that expected
responses are given, a system of queuing is applied and each response is verified by the
provision of immediate knowledge of result. Such a sequence is intended to be worked at the
learners own pace as individualized self -instruction. Self-instructional programmes are
educational materials from which the students learn. These programmes can be used with many
types of students and subject matter, either by themselves, hence the name “self-instruction” or
in combination with other instructional techniques. Programmed Instruction or programmed
Learning is one of the most innovative, highly individualized, systematic and very recent type of
teaching -learning process. It is often referred as auto- instruction and is extremely useful for
self- learning and equally beneficial for class room instruction as well. This type of Instruction
actually started during the era of Aristotle and the process of Programmed Learning was for the
first time practiced by Plato but this kind of Instruction could not progress due to lack of
resources at that time. In 1954 James Howard and B F Skinner developed the Auto instruction
Method which fashioned the base for Programmed Learning. For the first time in 1963, NCERT
started the preparation of Material for programmed Instruction / Learning and sincere attempts
were made for the use of programmed instructions in the class room and in providing
programmed study material to the students of distance education. At present suitable self-
instructional programmed materials have been prepared for different subjects and grades which
are used by different students for self - instructional Purpose. Programmed learning is
extensively used in the teaching learning process of all those subjects which include practice and
drill work and require logical and systematic study.

3
Growth and development of self-instructional program

Programmed Instruction was an integral factor in the evolution of the instructional design
process, and serves as the foundation for the procedures in which instructional technology
professionals now engage for the development of effective learning environments. In fact, the
use of the term programming was applied to the production of learning materials long before it
was used to describe the design and creation of computerized outputs. Programmed Instruction
may not have fulfilled its early promise, “the influence of the Programmed Instruction movement
has gone much further and deeper than many in education care to admit” (p. 131). At the very
least, Programmed Instruction was the first empirically determined form of instruction and
played a prominent role in the convergence of science and education. Equally important is its
impact on the evolution of the instructional design and development.

Although attempts at processes resembling programmed instruction date back to the 1920s
(Pressey, 1926), the actual term is probably derived from B. F. Skinner’s (1954) paper, “The
Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching,” presented at the University of Pittsburgh’s
conference of Current Trends in Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences on March 12, 1954.
Skinner’s remarks reflected his reaction to a 1953 visit to his daughter’s fourth-grade arithmetic
class (Vargas and Vargas, 1992). Skinner (1954, pp. 90–91) argued that schools were unable to
accomplish the type of teaching that eventually leads to original thinking because: Schools relied
on aversive stimulation or control; as Skinner described it, children worked to “avoid or escape
punishment;” Schools did not pay attention to the contingencies of reinforcement; Schools
lacked a systematic plan for learning skills, or, in Skinner’s words, “a skillful program which
moves forward through a series of progressive approximations to the final complex behavior
desired” and Schools too infrequently provided reinforcement.

Skinner suggested a systematic plan—or programmed instruction—as the vehicle to accomplish

the changes that needed to occur in classrooms, and in his description of that plan he made two
statements that illustrate the importance of instructional design and its relationship to technology.
He stated that “education is perhaps the most important branch of scientific technology” (1954,
p. 93), and “in the present state of our knowledge of educational practices, scheduling [of

4
behaviors and consequences] appears to be most effectively arranged through the design of the
material to be learned” (p. 94, emphasis added). Skinner was at the forefront in articulating the
need to accomplish this scheduling of behaviors and consequences and a program for effective
and efficient learning through operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a form of
conditioning that reinforces desired behavior and it is this behaviorist theory that forms the basis
for programmed instruction.

During the 1950s, educators and psychologists became concerned that the mass schooling
precipitated by increasing demands on public education were not meeting an individual’s needs
for personal attention in the learning process, and they suggested that teaching machines could
restore the “important features of personal instruction” (Skinner, 1986, p. 103). Additional
teaching machines were introduced in the 1960s, largely as a result of the success of
programmed instruction. A variety of simple machines were introduced, including Skinner’s
teaching machine, the Porter device, the Bell device, the punchboard, the Subject Matter Trainer
by Briggs, the Arithmetic Machine by Skinner and Zeaman, and the Polymath by Rothkopf
(Ysewijn, 1993).

During the 1970s and 1980s, as the first computers were being placed in the classrooms of many
schools, behavioral theories became quite popular. Advances in programming and computer
technology also spurred the popularity of programmed instruction by making it possible to teach
a wide range of topics and skills. During this period programs for nearly every topic covered in a
traditional school curriculum (i.e., math, science, language arts, social studies) were written for a
variety of teaching machines (which eventually gave way to the personal computer) (Chen,
2006).

In 1943, Skinner and his two other colleagues started programming by teaching a pigeon to roll a
small bowling ball by operant conditioning. By 1954, Skinner and James G. Holland devised the
auto instructional methods which have served the present generation as basis for present work in
programmed instruction. In Skinnerian programmed instruction whether mechanized or
otherwise the learner is initially asked a question which he can easily answer correctly without
any previous study of the particular lesson. The learner is taught by the sequence of questions.
He is asked more and more as the lesson proceeds in very small steps.

5
Robert Mager (1958) gave a new concept known as “Learner Controlled instruction” which is a
kind of Socratic dialogue in reverse, in which the learner led the instructor. The instructor
remains silent until the learner himself stimulated the instructor with questions that suggested the
needed illustrations, demonstrations, practice or some other help.

In 1962, T F Gilbert gave formalized expression of his technology of education called Mathetics.
Latter a number of educational experts including Pennington further worked on Mathetics and
they devised the methods of preparing lessons on the methatics.

6
Conclusion

Education field is shifting from behaviorism to constructivism. The constructivism focuses on

the student centered learning process. Student centered learning process includes co-operative
learning, collaborative learning, programmed learning, active learning, e-learning, M-learning,
and also self-directed learning or self-instructional learning. Self-instruction can be defined as
the ability of one to cognitively plan, organize, direct, reinforce, and evaluate one’s own
independent learning without a teachers prompting. Self-instructional programme may also be
defined as, “a programmed developed in the form of computer multimedia, text based
multimedia, text based printed material which is the combination of Learning and modeling of
materials, Ability of verbalization, Self-regulation”

7
Reference

Chen, I. (2006). An electronic textbook on instructional technology. Retrieved 17:00, July 4,

2006 from http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/cover.htm.

Pressey, S. L. (1926). A simple apparatus which gives tests and scores – and teaches. School and
Society, 23 (586), 373-376.

Skinner, B. F. (1954). The science of learning and the art of teaching. Harvard educational
review 24, 86-97.

Vargas, J. S. (n.d.). Brief biography of B. F. Skinner. Retrieved August 15, 2007, from
http://www.bfskinner.org/brief_ biography.html

8
2. Exploring ways and means of utilizing computer-assisted instruction to facilitate
teaching and learning in times of crises and uncertainties such as COVID-19. (20 marks)

Computer-assisted education is often outlined as a scientific use of computers, digital products,

multimedia systems, and package applications as a central feature to show ideas or skills for the
great development of the scholars. By victimization the materials that area unit hold on in DVDs,
mobile phones, and alternative web-based resources, the training expertise becomes additional
enticing and dynamic, that offers the scholars pleasant ways to showcase their listening and
learning skills. The term ‘computer-assisted instruction’ or ‘computer-aided instruction’ refers to
the use of computer software to deliver instruction. Initially, computer-assisted instruction was
used to describe systems that consist of discrete hardware and software, which were targeted to
different teaching methodologies, and focussed upon a curriculum core; reading, language arts,
and mathematics (Poole & Sky-Mcllavin, 2009). The current use of computer-assisted
instruction embraces a range of instructional solutions, ranging from courseware applications to
web-based learning systems (Poole & Sky-Mcllavin, 2009). Computerbased training, computer-
assisted learning, web-based instruction, and web-based training are some of the terminologies
that are used interchangeably with computer-assisted instruction.

Ways and means of utilizing computer-assisted instruction to facilitate teaching and

learning in times of crises and uncertainties such as COVID-19 are;

1. Through the collaborative activities between students and teachers to accomplish the purpose
of teaching and learning. With the help of computer-aided teaching methods, for example the
physical education teachers can use audiovisual materials to put typical professional
competitions and action videos together on the computer to show students 360 degrees in an all-
around way, so that the students can better understand the relevant laws of sports. Physical
education teachers can use computer technology as the carrier, with the help of multimedia, as
well as to show students meaningful and interesting sports scenes, which is conducive to
improving students’ interest in learning. Physical education teachers can use computers and
networks to obtain the corresponding professional knowledge and teaching materials and prepare
lesson plans. Also, these advanced technology related to computers will help them to transfer and
share various teaching contents, information materials, and sports news and communicate easily
with students in the learning process.

9
2. Experimental demonstration

In the teaching courses, some teaching contents that are difficult to express clearly through
language can be shown to students through sound, light, color, and shape on the computer, such
as experimental demonstration and situation creation. For example, technical analysis of student
actions is an important part of physical education in colleges and universities, which is of great
help for students to effectively overcome the difficulties of technical movements. To describe
and analyze the physical actions, physical education teachers can highlight slow motion through
the computer and fully show the students the analysis of the main points of the physical actions.
Likewise, the students can make targeted improvements and practice, which will help them to
adopt the essentials of technical movements better and faster.

3. A network platform

Outside the teaching process to guide students’ after class learning can extend class to their spare
time and provide targeted teaching guidance for different students’ based on the different
requirements, as well as overcome the limitations of time and space which is very important for
students’ learning and lifelong e.g. sports awareness, in other words, in the process of physical
education teaching, computer assisted instruction can increase the capacity and consistency of
teaching content and knowledge, which is stimulating students’ interest and enthusiasm, as well
as improve the effectiveness of physical education teaching. the effective management of
physical education mainly includes the use of sports equipment, venue management, information
storage, sports teaching, and file management. A complete and inclusive online material library
is essential to be established, which will publish materials of students in their network so that
students can understand the rules for the use of sports equipment and venues, particularly for the
management of sports equipment

4. Through Tutorial: the tutorial activity includes the presentation of multimedia information,
such as text, audio, video, and audio-visual. Such information is presented in a unit by unit
format that is followed by questions. The students’ responses to questions are then analysed by a
computer software and appropriate feedback is given.

5. Through Gamification: it is defined as “the use of game design elements characteristic for
games (rather than play or playfulness) in non-game contexts” . Thus, gamification endeavours
to tap into the motivational power of games and apply it to real-world situations and problems

10
(Lee & Hammer, 2011, p.1). Game mode or gamification creates a contest between two or more
individuals or an individual versus a computer bot. Some of the common game design principles
are those of visible status, social engagement, goals and challenges, customisation, access to
unlock content, freedom of choice, freedom to fail, and rapid feedback (Dicheva et al., 2015).

6. Through Simulation: it is a technique to replace real-world experiences with an immersive

one. Simulation is often ‘immersive’ in nature (Gaba, 1999; 2004). It is immersive because it
emulates a physical world and a perception of being physically present in a non-physical world.
Simulation is utilised when it is not practical or feasible to provide the learning in a real-world
situation. For example, placing a student in a World War I simulation.

7. Through Problem-Solving: this focusses on the process of finding an answer to a problem

rather than the answer itself. Here, students use programs that can make them think about the
ways and means of solving a problem systematically. One of the most challenging techniques
used in CAI is problemsolving. Problem-solving CAI helps in developing logic and problem-
solving skills, as well as augmenting higher order thinking skills (USUN, 2003).

11
Reference

Lee, J. J. & Hammer, J. (2011). Gamification in Education: What, How, Why Bother? Academic
Exchange Quarterly, 15(2), 1-5.

12