An introductory physics course may be run like a video game, where students have an almost unlimited number of attempts to demonstrate their competencies through a sequence of zero-penalty assessments until the end of a semester. Each checkpoint is conducted as a 10-minute, one-on-one oral interview with the instructor, and students are not…

Consequent to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, pedagogic changes were introduced in postgraduate courses in Physiology, where face-to-face teaching was replaced with synchronous virtual mode for leader-centered (seminar, symposium) and participant-centered (journal club, group discussion) academic activities. We hypothesized that the…

Today's global educational environment includes the emergence of adult learners participating in formal and informal educational encounters for the purposes of professional development or personal enrichment. These learners must possess the conceptual and attitudinal idea of self-directed learning in order to be skilled workers and fulfilled human…

Student performance in a self-paced personalized system of instruction course is varied in rates and patterns of work. Using 118 students in a college level introductory psychology course the investigators found 1) students worked at a variety of rates and patterns; 2) students who started to work early had a much greater chance of finishing the…

A group of eight gifted junior high students was presented programed units of psychology instruction based on Fred Keller's model of personalized instruction. Compared to a control group which received traditional lecture-format instruction, subjects completed the material in less time and scored significantly higher on the final test. (Author/JDD)

Describes innovative methods of learning that sometimes bring a new set of problems to deal with. Describes how faculty compromise to facilitate the best education methods possible. (JOW)

The possible difference in the performance on a mid-term and final exam between students taking a quasi-individualized mastery method of instruction and students having traditional lecture-discussion instruction was studied. A second issue examined was the difference between the proportion of students expressing a preference for one method of…

This study, conducted at the University of Memphis (Tennessee), compared the effects of a self-paced method of instruction on the attitudes and perceptions of students enrolled in an undergraduate statistics course with those of a comparable group of students taking statistics in a traditional lecture setting. The non-traditional course used a…

The new diversity of foreign language students' motivations and learning paths requires a new, more learner-centered approach to instruction. Alternative ways of organizing the learning experience include modular curricula, individualized instruction, and guided independent study. This implies a more culturally oriented approach to language…

A study investigated the relationship of 46 college students' preferred teaching method (conventional lecture versus independent study package) and their own approaches to study (surface, deep, achieving). Results indicated that while students preferred the conventional lecture method, preference did not correlate with their study approach and…

Students (N=78) enrolled in either the Fall, 1989 or Spring, 1990 semester of an urban university campus were studied to determine their preference for either the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI or Keller Plan) or the traditional lecture class in an undergraduate self-paced statistics class. (This was also the first self-paced course that…

A self-paced introductory French course sequence offered at Francis Marion College (South Carolina) was begun in response to nontraditional students' difficult study schedules and varied language backgrounds and knowledge levels. This program of individualized instruction has objectives identical to that of standard French instruction at the same…

This study compares self-instructional mastery and nonmastery treatments of a specially developed geography unit to determine if there were differences in learning, retention, and time-to-testing of high, middle, and low aptitude students. Mastery learning is an alternative which gives lower performing students the necessary additional time to…

Completion and cost data for six courses delivered in two different modes--home study and paced package--through Athabasca University were analyzed. Students in a home study course received tutorial support via the telephone and progress through the course was at the discretion of each individual learner. Students in a paced package course…

The design, implementation, and evaluation of a self-paced course in first-year college French are described, focusing on student choice in deciding which of four language skills (listening/speaking, writing, reading, or culture) they would concentrate on. Considered are course organization, use of assistants and student tutors, and course…