Audio-Tutorial System of Instruction

Audio-Tutorial (A-T) System of instruction was originally designed as a strategy for remedial instruction, aiming for a multi-sensory approach to help develop students with low or average levels of aptitude for academic performance (Kulik, Kulik & Cohen, 1979). The key aspects of the design include using a combination of the following types of sessions:

• Independent study session
• General assembly session
• Small assembly session, including quizzes (Kozma, Belle, & Williams, 1978).

Kulik, Kulik & Cohen (1979) provide a very detailed meta-analysis of studies evaluating the effectiveness of the A-T system, looking at three measures. (At the risk of over-simplifying their analysis) their main findings may be briefly summarized in this way:

Students using the A-T system of instruction,

• sometimes did slightly better on exam scores;
• withdrew from courses at a moderately higher rate; and
• rated their satisfaction not much differently than students using the conventional system.

When reading about this model, the first thing that came to mind was iTunesU. Although podcasts have been around for a while, I think the relatively recent launch of iTunesU as a separate space for educational institutions to contribute their content has made a big difference, and the concept as a whole is only now reaching some kind of maturity. Aside from listening to course lectures that I’d never found time to as an undergraduate, I've been listening to courses in financial markets, economics and business writing to supplement my grounding in these subject areas for my work as a subject specialist librarian. I am hesitant to take full courses in these subjects because I am not training to become an economist or executive; rather what I need to know are the conventions of discourse and ways of sharing knowledge in stored and ephemeral forms by and within this community of practitioners and academics. I also find the video/audio lectures more engaging than the prospect of reading an introductory textbook on the same topics. For one, you learn how to pronounce things properly, and how practitioners or experts talk about the topic instead of absorbing abstract information. On the other hand, if there is something about the lecture that I find confusing, it does help to have a text to go back to.

The A-T system sounds like a good way to help develop good study habits for students who may not have had the opportunity otherwise to develop them – regardless of their aptitude for school. During my freshman year I had some very nerdy and hard working college mates, from whom I learned these good habits, but I can see how not all students do develop such habits at appropriate times to find them beneficial. One of the weaknesses of the PSI/Keller method was that it seemed to implicitly rely on individual learners being highly self-motivated to complete the course. I wonder if the small group aspect of the A-T system helps motivate individual learners to keep up, or learn from others. I'm not sure if I’m clear on what the key difference is between the A-T System and the PSI/Keller model – maybe only that a stronger emphasis on small group interactions part of the former, and individualized testing for mastery of a skill in the latter?

Would or could I use this approach for library instruction? In a sense the one-shot in-person library workshops map to this model. Often these sessions will begin with a small lecture/presentation to provide new information, context, and a demonstration (general assembly session). If there is time, there is usually a chance to do some kind of break out activity in small groups (small assembly session) to apply or build on the presentation. Usually there is no quiz but information may be shared and evaluated as a larger group to conclude the session. Although beyond the scope of the workshop itself, presumably participants will continue to build on those skills individually using the parameters of their specific assignment or topic (independent study session).

I’m not sure how this would work in an online environment. A virtual classroom like Elluminate Live! could accommodate a similar process for synchronous engagement. For asynchronous arrangments, I guess a combination of recorded presentation, take home assignments and a forum might be used instead for the various session types.

References

Kulik, J. A., Kulik, C. C., & Cohen, P.A. (1979). Research on audio-tutorial instruction: A meta-analysis of comparative studies. Research in Higher Education, 11(4), 321-341.

Kozma, R.B., Belle, L.W. & Williams, G.W. (1978). Instructional techniques in higher education. New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.

PSI / Keller Plan and Libraries

Davis and Ragsdell (2000) offer a good summary of the key elements of the Keller Plan (aka, Self-Paced Instruction, or the Personalized System of Instruction):

• Clear educational objectives
• Small learning modules with associated achievement tests and immediate feedback
• Student self-pacing
• Positive reinforcement
• Student emphasis on doing rather than listening (p. 2.)

In many ways, traditional bibliographic instruction (aka library or user instruction) fits the model of the Keller plan. Traditional bibliographic instruction has focused on how to find information using the library and associated tools - skills that are not too difficult to master, yet regardless are necessary and not always intuitive. Modular pieces may include clear objectives such as, "finding books on a topic using the library catalog"; or "finding a peer-reviewed article on a topic using a citation database"; etc. Students learn these skills best by being shown first, then trying out the tasks for themselves. They receive immediate feedback in the sense that if they are able to find the information they need, they know that they have mastered the skill at least at the basic level; if they cannot find the information they need, they may need further practice or more advanced training.

Today the scope of user instruction has broadened - depending on the values and goals of a given library, user instruction can encompass both the traditional skills of 'how to do' type activities, but also may address strategies for selecting and refining a topic; formulating search strategies using keywords or thesauri terms; issues such as evaluating sources and types of information generally found online beyond the libraries' collections and tools; or using information in ethical ways, or according to the conventions of their academic discipline. These skills as a whole may be described as information literacy, though there are more formal definitions out there, including that from the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Any of the above topics could be approached using the Keller Plan. Many libraries now provide fairly good screen-capture tutorials that provide guidance on how to use many of the information finding tools (e.g., Library Catalog Basics; Article Databases in 5 Minutes; etc.) If users run into problems, they can get feedback fairly quickly using any one of the various contact points with library staff that is available through the AskUs service - including chat. What seems more difficult to do well, and something I'd like to work on for our libraries, is designing good tests for measuring achievement. Often there is no right answer, or the right answer changes since the information landscape is constantly in-flux. Also, because information literacy is in a sense a meta-skill, assessment of these skills often falls outside of the Libraries' role in a sense - in other words, information literacy is often a piece that may not be assessed individually since it is a smaller piece or sub-skill couched within broader learning objectives of a semester-long course.

I still would like to create some tests to help users gauge their competency levels in finding, using, and critically thinking about information and their sources - sometimes helping to identify gaps in understanding or learning is really the first step to learning something new. Hopefully there will be a chance to do it as part of this course. In terms of technology, I'd like to try using the e-learning course authoring tool Udutu.

Reference

Davis, R. L. & Ragsdell, K. M. (2000). Design of an effective, web-based, global learning environment using the Keller Plan. ICEE, Taipei, Taiwan, August 14 - 16. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from http://www.ineer.org/Events/ICEE2000/Proceedings/papers/WB5-1.pdf