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DOCUMENT RESUME JC 940 147 ED 367 395 Richards, Bevetiy AUTHOR Fred Keller and the Flex Lab. TITLE 94 PUB DATE 9p.; Workshop Six, Final Paper (Santa Fe, NM, March NOTE 1, 1994). Descriptive (141) Reports PUB TYPE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Instruction; Community Colleges; *Computer Assisted DESCRIPTORS Computer Centers; Curriculum Evaluation; *Individualized Instruction; Keyboarding (Data Entry); Learner Controlled Instruction; Learning Learning; Labcratories; Learning Modules; *Mastery Pacing; Program Descriptions; *Teaching Methods; Two Year Colleges *Personalized System of Instruction; Santa Fe IDENTIFIERS Community College NM ABSTRACT in New The Flex Lab at Santa Fe Community College, training center that Mexico, is a self-paced, computer-assisted credit courses into their allows students to accommodate college introductory computers, schedules. The Lab offers courses in emphasizes several keyboarding, and various computer programs and Instruction (PSI) developed by features of the Personalized System of curriculum which reflect the PSI Fred Keller. The aspects of the Lab reflected in the six include the following: (1) discrete modules, and Office Technology sequential modules of the one-credit Business in the (2) an emphasis on individual study, reflected course; curriculum; (3) the use of self-paced, independent nature of the orientations to the lab supplementary instruction, provided by group (4) the use of unit exams, which is at the start of each semester; environment of decreased very important in the Flex Lab proctors, who are instructor-student interaction; (5) the use of Lab is open to answer available for most of the hours that the expedite the completion of questions; (6) self-pacing, which helps in a traditional prerequisites, learn at a more flexible rate than family obligations; and (7) classroom setting, and negotiate work and return assignments for mastery, encouraged by instructors who research of the PSI method revision before final grading. Evaluative retain information indicate that students achieve better scores, traditional students. (ECC) longer, and show more interest than *********************************************************************** be made Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can from the original document. *********************************************************************** LAB FRED KELLER AND THE FLEX U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS O ffice 0r Educahonal Research and Improvement MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI R. Rirhards ThrS document has been reproduced as receniecl Iron, the person or organaatron ongmahng .1 C Mmor changes have been made to rmprove reproduCtron ouahly opinions Stated In thrs docu- Pornts of vrew TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ment do not neCessaray represent Whoa! INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).- OERI posthon or poIrcy by Beverly Richards EDU 540 Workshop Six Final Paper Santa Fe Community College March 1, 1994 0 $3 2 Beverly Richards EDU 540 Workshop Six Final Paper THE FLEX LAB AND FRED KELLER door. Cautiously The young man's gait slowed as he approached the open Stepping inside he looked his eyes read the sign and glanced through the opening. around, wrinkled his brow, and looked perplexed. "Can I help you?" I asked. I don't see any I mean, I thought this was a ... "Well, I, no, I guess not. Lab?" exercise mats or anything. What exactly is the Flex of new Santa Fe Community Coilege's Flex Lab is providing a series It is not, however, in Mexico. opportunities to students throughout Northern New Flexibility in scheduling is the source competition with the Physical Fitness Center. the needs of a world of students that of the name, and we're finding that it meets college offerings. Ormrod (1990) describes were otherwise excluded from our the same material when given Fred Keller's principal that "all students can master 83). Based on that theory, this self-paced adequate study time and assistance" (p. make college credit courses fit the computer-assisted training center is designed to environment. schedules of our students in a supportive and offers courses in This computer lab consists of 20 IBM computers dBase, Lotus, DOS, and Introductory Computers, Keyboarding, WordPerfect, and student Desktop Publishing. All courses use texts, computer programs, instructors and instructor assistants during guides. The Lab is staffed by college Instructors and assistants are available to work the 53 hours it is open each week. 3 small groups (Halsey, 1994). Enrollment with students on a one-to-one basis or in 31, and course work must all be for the Spring Semester is open until March January with 99 students enrolled and finished by May 6. We opened our doors in students as of February 28. are very close to 140 the opening of the Flex Lab before I was given the opportunity to coordinate Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). I read about Fred Keller's work and the I development, course materials, staffing decisions, am responsible for curriculum It was quite a relief to find that we had and general operations of the Lab. Fred Keller describes as important to stumbled onto the majority of the features describes seven main features of PSI in Human Learning success. Jeanne Ormrod apply to the creation of SFCC's latest (1990) which are described below as they endeavor in self-paced training. outlines, or student guides Discrete Modules. In preparing our course 1. Office broke our one credit Business and to the course work, we modules. Each one covers a Technology courses down into six assignments, hands-on applications, specific topic with reading from the instructor. Students must written quizzes, and notes ready to begin the next. complete one module before they are The Flex Lab is designed to be a place Emphasis on Individual Study. 2. independently. In fact, we find that many where students will work at home or at work. Our staff is of our students do their assignments questions, and most of the available to assist students and answer fairly well. On occasion, we have studen-s time we find this works the instructor to sit beside them for the duration come in who expect This has been a delicate situation in balancing a of their stay. It is supportive environment with a reasonable amount of assistance. interesting to observe that students who request a lot of help usually they do actual information. seem to need moral support more than Supplementary instruction techniques. We do provide group 3. We are orientations to the Flex Lab at the beginning of the semester. instruction at not currently offering any other type of traditional group Introduction this time. However, we have recently seen a trend in wir of ability to complete a to Computer students that reflects a lack have nearly beginning module on the DOS operating system. As we question 40 students enrolled in that class, we are considering group minimize the extensive and answer sessions on a weekly basis to help this particular chapter. one-on-one assistance required on assignments that Unit Exams. Each module ends with a series of 4. lends itself to a module or need to be turned in. Some course material of the different course outlines unit exam. As I have observed the use instructors), I realized that we need more (all written by different knowledge of the concepts applications which truly test the student's testing may be taught in that module. Where the concept of vital in self- important in traditional classes as well, it appears more interaction a teacher has with her paced instruction due to the limited often alert the students. A furrowed brow and vacant stare understanding, even if the correct classroom instructor to a lack of 5 3 1 With self-paced instruction, careful testing answer has been given. the subject. plays an essential role in determining mastery of of instructor- Use of proctors. We currently have a high percentage 5. instructor hours, we staffed hours in our Flex Lab. Supplementing students. The have knowledgeable assistants to work with the It is, however, essential feedback on the proctors has been excellent. In order to subjects we offer. that entire staff is cross-trained on all and effort for cross achieve this, we must continually allow time toward expanding the training. This also is a concern as we strive Lab. At this point, we are working on course offerings of the Flex existing software packages, offering more advanced classes in the curriculum. rather than introducing new topics to the drawing cards the Flex Lab Self-pacing. This is one of the strongest 6. complete a course as a offers. We have students who need to with their ability to prerequisite or for work who are delighted (requiring intense study, but complete the course work in a few days students from traditional possible). Others come to us as transfer slowly. The classes that they felt were going to quickly or too schedule allows them additional benefit of being able to set their own issues, work schedules, family obligations, to work around child care school schedules. vacations, illness, and changes in their "mastery" as "passing a module Mastery. Ormrod (1990) defines 7. criterion, such as eighty percent to ninety percent exam at a certain When a student's exam performance does not correct responses. meet the criterion....the student must return again to take another exam on the same material before proceeding further in the course" (p. 83). Since some of our classes are graded on a pass/fail basis, we find this type of mastery is essential to success. Teachers often return work for further adjustments and corrections before accepting it as a final assignment. By working this way, each student succeeds in the class and is encouraged by his or her ability to meet the requirements. The dropout rate for students appears to be very low. I believe this is tied to their "engineered" success by allowing them as much time and opportunity as needed. One of the primary changes that I believe we will make in the future is to implement a stronger requirement for competency-based evaluation. This, along with a formal structure for the class, has been deemed a key element in the I was recently assisting a student who was taking a success of PSI (Gray, 1989). I was astonished at the level of traditional course which I have taught in the past. I realized how effective competency required for her to c omplete her homework. her teacher's methods were. They demanded a true understanding of the concepts as opposed to exercises that walked the student through the process. I also realized the value of assigning competency-based homework which required a student to work independently, rather than having all practice work done in class. By implementing the Keller Plan (PSI), which is designed to achieve "high efficiency" in learning, it is reasonable to expect a high level of skill as students master the topics (Naumes, *1977). 7 5 As we look forward to increased enrollment and an opportunity to measure the success of our students, I am encouraged that two extensive evaluations of PSi have indicated that PSI students achieve better scores, retain the information longer, and show more of an interest in further courses than students in traditional classes (McGaw, 1975). A study done at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio reflects the same type of success. PSI students do well and often better than students in traditional classes (Taber, 1974). Further support comes from a meta- analysis done in 1979 which used 75 comparative studies of Fred Keller's PSI and showed achievement is far above average with less difference between students in college classes (Kulik, 1979). In a paper presented at the Not everyone sees PSI as a gold-star solution. Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, Fred Keller's PSI solid methcds for evaluating it was criticized on the basis that there were no after (Powers, 1972). However, this paper was presented in 1972, only 8 years be accepted by the the introduction of the theory. More recent research seems to educational community, and it supports the overall success of the process. without its faults, I am impressed and Although no method of teaching Fe Community delighted with the progress we are seeing in our Flex Lab z..,t Santa imagine difficulties College. Although a variety of problems may arise, it is hard to would otherwise which would overrule the increase in opportunity for students we offerings and evaluate our be unable to serve. As we continue to expand our its effectiveness. Who knows? students' progress we will form our own opinion of Center! We may even expand to compete with the Fitness 8 6 References speed Gray, P. L. (1989). An alternative to PSI in the basic course in instruction communications: The structured model of competency-based Communication (SMCI). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Speech Association. El Aviso, $(2), 9. Halsey, D. (1994). New flex lab gives students flexible options. Keller's Kulik, J. A. (1979, April). A meta-analysis of outcome studies of 307-318. personalized system of instruction. American Psys_bpluisj, pp. McGaw, D. (1975). Personalized systems of instruction. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. responsibility of Naumes, M. (1977). The Keller plan: A method for putting the for Research learning upon the student. Cincinnati University, Ohio, Institute and Training in Higher Education. and educational Ormrod, J. (1990). Human learning: Theories, principles, applications. New York: Merrill. How Evaluate. Paper Powers, R. B. (1972). Personalized systems of instruction: Mountain Psychological presented at the Annual Meeting of the Rocky Association. individualized instruction and Taber, M. R. (1974). A comparison of using section of electric circuits 540- conventional lecture techniques in the lecture 126. Practicum presented to Nova University. 9