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Michael Molenda
Editor’s Note: The following was originally published by Michael Molenda in TechTrends with the following citation:
Molenda, M. (2008). The Programmed Instruction Era: When effectiveness mattered. TechTrends, 52(2), 52-58.
Programmed instruction (PI) was devised to make the teaching-learning process more humane by making it more effective and customized to individual differences. B.F. Skinner’s original prescription, although it met with some success, had serious limitations. Later innovators improved upon the original notion by incorporating more human interaction, social reinforcers and other forms of feedback, larger and more flexible chunks of instruction, and more attention to learner appeal. Although PI itself has receded from the spotlight, technologies derived from PI, such as programmed tutoring, Direct Instruction, and Personalized System of Instruction have compiled an impressive track record of success when compared to so-called conventional instruction. They paved the way for computer-based instruction and distance learning. The success of the PI movement can be attributed largely to the commitment of its proponents to relentless, objective measurement of effectiveness.
Origins of the Programmed Instruction Movement
During the first half of the 20th century, research and theory in American psychology tended to revolve around the perspective of behaviorism, and Thorndike’s (1911) theorems—the law of recency, the law of effect, and the law of exercise—remained at the center of discussion for decades. In the 1920s Sidney Pressey, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, invented a mechanical device based on a typewriter drum, designed primarily to automate testing of simple informational material (1926). As he experimented with the device he realized that it could also provide control over drill-and-practice exercises, teaching as well as testing. In explaining why his device was successful he explicitly drew upon Thorndike’s laws of recency, effect, and exercise as theoretical rationales (Pressey, 1927). Unfortunately, despite the fact that Pressey continued to develop successful self-teaching devices, including punchboards, that had all the qualities of later “teaching machines,” his efforts were essentially a dead end in terms of a lasting effect on education. However, Pressey lived and worked long enough to participate in the discussions surrounding the new generation of teaching machines that came along in the 1950s.
The movement that had a more enduring impact on education and training was animated by a reframing of Thorndike’s behaviorist principles under the label of radical behaviorism. This school of thought proposed a more rigorous definition of the law of effect, adopting the term reinforcer to refer to any event that increases the frequency of a preceding behavior. Operant conditioning, the major operationalization of this theory, involves the relationships among stimuli, the responses, and the con