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Changing Patterns: Programmed Instruction
CHANGING PATTERNS: PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION William A . Borrie Literally thousands of people are working exclusively in the field of programmed instruction (referred to hereafter as PI). However, as a group, operating room nurses seem primarily interested in the application of PI as an educational effort. What is PI? This is not easy to answer as it is still in the formulation stage as a tool to promote learning. Perhaps you recall the tremendous flurry in the educational field about teaching machines some seven or eight years ago. Articles appeared in many magazines. The Wall Street Journal carried several articles. The American Management Association ran several seminars which were over-subscribed. Everyone wanted an easy way to learn. Even my daughter, on hearing of it, wanted a teaching machine to fit her so that she wouldn’t have to bother with school. Because it was pushed too much, the teaching machine fell into disrepute within a year or two. By now, however, it has somewhat regrouped its forces and seems to have a brillant future. When the excitement about the teaching device died, what did we have? It appeared that educational effort had gone full cycle. That which seemed so new was a return to the early Socratic method of teaching wherein the teacher provides some information, poses
a question, and upon proper response from
the student rewards him for his astuteness. This is the essence of PI. Yesteryear’s elementary textbooks used the same principle. At the end of each chapter, three or four questions tested the student’s knowledge. This is PI in its rudimentary form. It is interesting to note that Pavlov and researchers proved the reward system as successful with animals as educators have proved the validity of Socratic practice with humans. Today the most prolific use of PI is in the simple, written booklet form. The student is rewarded for correctly answering wellstructured questions that have been built upon a well thought through educational method. One of the greatest achievements PI has accomplished is to reawaken the educator’s need to look at the fundamentals of how people learn. Many of you are aware of the differences between the doctrines of Dr. Skinner and Dr. Crowder, two well-known researchers in this field. Dr. Skinner prefers linear type programming which takes the learner, step-by-step, through small units to the ultimate goal. He believes the learner should not advance to a further step until he has made no mistakes. On the other hand, Dr. Norman Crowder expounds the intrinsic approach, applying the idea that people can William A. Borrie is director of management develop. learn through mistakes. His method employs ment, Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, N. J. He graduated an erfrom the University of Penn., Wharton School and the technique of branching-allowing has done graduate work at Harvard Graduate Busi- ror to lead to exploration of why they were ness School and Rutgers University. Mr. Borrie was wrong and what was right. former director of management services and director Although it is not my intention to delve of public affairs for Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical into the various philosophies involved, I Corporation and has been on the teaching staff of Rutgers Extension School and the New Jersey In- think the fact that they have, through PI, stitute of Labor Relations. He also served as supply been brought once again to the fore is to the officer in WW I1 aboard the USS Borie. This paper credit of PI. was presented at the 1%8 AORN Congress in Boston.
42
AORN Journal
What else is good about PI? A long list can be devised, but perhaps the most significant aspects are that: 1) The student can take the course at his own pace, his own convenience, and is unburdened by outside pressures or competition.
2) The PI, having been pre-tested and carefully reworked, represents the very essence of excellent instruction; the weaknesses of poor teaching and misconceptions are eliminated. 3) If the PI is well done, learning can be a stimulating and challenging experience to the learner. A good PI course does not replace the teacher. It should give the student not only a good understanding of the desired body of knowledge, but should also prod him toward greater interest, and depth study.
THREE METHODS Three essentially different approaches can put PI into practical use. With the first you can prepare your own PI course. In the hospital field, Arbrook did this and found it beneficial for their salesmen as well as for nurses, although admittedly rather time consuming and expensive. Programmed Instruction In Asepsis is a PI course designed to give sales and management personnel a better understanding of the asepsis field. This booklet was written when the company first marketed a new cold sterilizing agent. Preparing a booklet of this sort for a management-salesmen group may be a bit of a luxury. However, its use expanded into nursing education, and the time and cost of the project were then justified. You should not consider moving into the area of writing your own PI unless you have a large student body. There are many side benefits, of course. For example, I am told of a large New York City bank which, several years ago, started to program a course on how a bank teller operates. After considerable investigation into bank tellers’ functions,
August 1968
it was realized that the job was so “bollixed up” and complicated that it should not be taught. They had to go back and restructure the job. The second method of entering the PI field is to employ an outside firm to prepare your course. A number of good, reputable firms are in this business and you may want to consider employing one of them. This method still requires considerable time for you and your people to provide the technical knowledge as well as the personnel for testing and retesting. The third method-and perhaps the most widely used-utilizes previously prepared PI courses. These are known as “shelf items,” and can be purchased from many sources. Obviously the more shelf items which come on the market the greater selection you have to meet your needs. Over 400 PI companies publish thousands of courses covering an incredibly wide number of subjects. If you are interested in exploring available courses, many guides list them. Your local library undoubtedly has such guides. Also, they may be purchased from various companies. You should be cautious in the use of outside PI. Just like books, some are good and some are poor. Many people have jumped on the bandwagon and produced courses which would have been better left unwritten. Also, courses must be tailored to fit a specific audience. You must be certain that the program you plan to use is intended for the type of learner you wish to teach. As you know, history books are written for fifth graders and for college students. It would be impossible to interchange the two books for these groups. This is also true with any PI course.
THE FUTURE What about the future? PI is undoubtedly here to stay. It is not a fad because it is basically sound. It is changing dramatically. In another five or ten years, it will probably be quite different. There is no question that
43
the use of hardware (or teaching machines, if you prefer) will play an increasing role. Even now we hear talk of Cai or C.A.I., meaning computer assisted instruction, which employs the highly complex technological advances of computers. Some companies are currently working on the increased use of closed-circuit TV in conjunction with forms of PI which will open up new and interesting horizons in the educational field. Change is so rapid that keeping current in the field of PI is a problem. The National Society of Programmed Instruction, which was founded in 1961, has the interchange of information in the PI field as one of its ob-
jectives. Their NSPI Journal is published ten times a year. Other channels are available for keeping current through the Training And Development Journal, the Technical Education News, and Training in Business And Industry, all of which are monthly publications. Although keeping abreast of developments is difficult, it is absolutely necessary, since the future of training and education is bound to be involved with programmed instruction. It may take on some new and more sophisticated form, but it is so basically sound that good teaching will not move far away from this fundamental concept.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Brethower, Dale M., Programmed Instructions: A Manud of Programing, Educational Methods, 1963. 2. Green, Edward J., The Learning Process and Programmed Instruction, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1962. 3. Hendershot, Carl H., Programmed Learning ( A bibliography of programs and presentation devices),
1964. 4. Hughes, J. L., Programmed Instruction for Schools and Industry, Science Research Assoc., 1%2. 5. Lumsdaine & Glaser, Teaching Muchines and Programmed Learning, A Source Book, National Education Assoc., 1%2. 6. Programmed Instruction in Asepsis, Arbrook, 1%6.
CHARLES B. MOORE AWARD, 1969 Do you know someone in your chapter or local hospital who has contributed outstandingly to OR nursing? Has she conceived a new idea, initiated a program, or stimulated other OR nurses into action? Did she help to increase the efficiency of the OR team? Perhaps she will be the next Charles B. Moore Award winner. You should be getting together your data and compiling a biographical sketch about the person your chapter feels most outstanding, to send to the Charles B. Moore Award Committee now. Send your nominee’s qualifications to: Mrs. Ruth Bramhall, Chairman Charles B. Moore Award Committee, Route 4, Box 4582A, Gig Harbor, Washington 98335.
44
AORN Journal
a question, and upon proper response from
the student rewards him for his astuteness. This is the essence of PI. Yesteryear’s elementary textbooks used the same principle. At the end of each chapter, three or four questions tested the student’s knowledge. This is PI in its rudimentary form. It is interesting to note that Pavlov and researchers proved the reward system as successful with animals as educators have proved the validity of Socratic practice with humans. Today the most prolific use of PI is in the simple, written booklet form. The student is rewarded for correctly answering wellstructured questions that have been built upon a well thought through educational method. One of the greatest achievements PI has accomplished is to reawaken the educator’s need to look at the fundamentals of how people learn. Many of you are aware of the differences between the doctrines of Dr. Skinner and Dr. Crowder, two well-known researchers in this field. Dr. Skinner prefers linear type programming which takes the learner, step-by-step, through small units to the ultimate goal. He believes the learner should not advance to a further step until he has made no mistakes. On the other hand, Dr. Norman Crowder expounds the intrinsic approach, applying the idea that people can William A. Borrie is director of management develop. learn through mistakes. His method employs ment, Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, N. J. He graduated an erfrom the University of Penn., Wharton School and the technique of branching-allowing has done graduate work at Harvard Graduate Busi- ror to lead to exploration of why they were ness School and Rutgers University. Mr. Borrie was wrong and what was right. former director of management services and director Although it is not my intention to delve of public affairs for Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical into the various philosophies involved, I Corporation and has been on the teaching staff of Rutgers Extension School and the New Jersey In- think the fact that they have, through PI, stitute of Labor Relations. He also served as supply been brought once again to the fore is to the officer in WW I1 aboard the USS Borie. This paper credit of PI. was presented at the 1%8 AORN Congress in Boston.
42
AORN Journal
What else is good about PI? A long list can be devised, but perhaps the most significant aspects are that: 1) The student can take the course at his own pace, his own convenience, and is unburdened by outside pressures or competition.
2) The PI, having been pre-tested and carefully reworked, represents the very essence of excellent instruction; the weaknesses of poor teaching and misconceptions are eliminated. 3) If the PI is well done, learning can be a stimulating and challenging experience to the learner. A good PI course does not replace the teacher. It should give the student not only a good understanding of the desired body of knowledge, but should also prod him toward greater interest, and depth study.
THREE METHODS Three essentially different approaches can put PI into practical use. With the first you can prepare your own PI course. In the hospital field, Arbrook did this and found it beneficial for their salesmen as well as for nurses, although admittedly rather time consuming and expensive. Programmed Instruction In Asepsis is a PI course designed to give sales and management personnel a better understanding of the asepsis field. This booklet was written when the company first marketed a new cold sterilizing agent. Preparing a booklet of this sort for a management-salesmen group may be a bit of a luxury. However, its use expanded into nursing education, and the time and cost of the project were then justified. You should not consider moving into the area of writing your own PI unless you have a large student body. There are many side benefits, of course. For example, I am told of a large New York City bank which, several years ago, started to program a course on how a bank teller operates. After considerable investigation into bank tellers’ functions,
August 1968
it was realized that the job was so “bollixed up” and complicated that it should not be taught. They had to go back and restructure the job. The second method of entering the PI field is to employ an outside firm to prepare your course. A number of good, reputable firms are in this business and you may want to consider employing one of them. This method still requires considerable time for you and your people to provide the technical knowledge as well as the personnel for testing and retesting. The third method-and perhaps the most widely used-utilizes previously prepared PI courses. These are known as “shelf items,” and can be purchased from many sources. Obviously the more shelf items which come on the market the greater selection you have to meet your needs. Over 400 PI companies publish thousands of courses covering an incredibly wide number of subjects. If you are interested in exploring available courses, many guides list them. Your local library undoubtedly has such guides. Also, they may be purchased from various companies. You should be cautious in the use of outside PI. Just like books, some are good and some are poor. Many people have jumped on the bandwagon and produced courses which would have been better left unwritten. Also, courses must be tailored to fit a specific audience. You must be certain that the program you plan to use is intended for the type of learner you wish to teach. As you know, history books are written for fifth graders and for college students. It would be impossible to interchange the two books for these groups. This is also true with any PI course.
THE FUTURE What about the future? PI is undoubtedly here to stay. It is not a fad because it is basically sound. It is changing dramatically. In another five or ten years, it will probably be quite different. There is no question that
43
the use of hardware (or teaching machines, if you prefer) will play an increasing role. Even now we hear talk of Cai or C.A.I., meaning computer assisted instruction, which employs the highly complex technological advances of computers. Some companies are currently working on the increased use of closed-circuit TV in conjunction with forms of PI which will open up new and interesting horizons in the educational field. Change is so rapid that keeping current in the field of PI is a problem. The National Society of Programmed Instruction, which was founded in 1961, has the interchange of information in the PI field as one of its ob-
jectives. Their NSPI Journal is published ten times a year. Other channels are available for keeping current through the Training And Development Journal, the Technical Education News, and Training in Business And Industry, all of which are monthly publications. Although keeping abreast of developments is difficult, it is absolutely necessary, since the future of training and education is bound to be involved with programmed instruction. It may take on some new and more sophisticated form, but it is so basically sound that good teaching will not move far away from this fundamental concept.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Brethower, Dale M., Programmed Instructions: A Manud of Programing, Educational Methods, 1963. 2. Green, Edward J., The Learning Process and Programmed Instruction, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1962. 3. Hendershot, Carl H., Programmed Learning ( A bibliography of programs and presentation devices),
1964. 4. Hughes, J. L., Programmed Instruction for Schools and Industry, Science Research Assoc., 1%2. 5. Lumsdaine & Glaser, Teaching Muchines and Programmed Learning, A Source Book, National Education Assoc., 1%2. 6. Programmed Instruction in Asepsis, Arbrook, 1%6.
CHARLES B. MOORE AWARD, 1969 Do you know someone in your chapter or local hospital who has contributed outstandingly to OR nursing? Has she conceived a new idea, initiated a program, or stimulated other OR nurses into action? Did she help to increase the efficiency of the OR team? Perhaps she will be the next Charles B. Moore Award winner. You should be getting together your data and compiling a biographical sketch about the person your chapter feels most outstanding, to send to the Charles B. Moore Award Committee now. Send your nominee’s qualifications to: Mrs. Ruth Bramhall, Chairman Charles B. Moore Award Committee, Route 4, Box 4582A, Gig Harbor, Washington 98335.
44
AORN Journal