Week 2 Assignment: Behaviorism

Technology supports behaviorist learning theories by providing practice on skills and feedback of both effort and knowledge because behaviorism is based on the idea that learning results from being exposed to external stimuli and then receiving either reward or punishment based on the response (Lever-Duffy, J, & McDonald, J, 2008).  In the learning resources this week we were presented with the strategies of reinforcing effort and homework and practice which both provide the necessary components to support behaviorist strategies. In this blog post I will discuss both of these strategies and how technology can be used to enhance their effectiveness in the classroom.

In the book “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works” the authors mention that not every student understands the importance of effort and the correlation that effort has to success (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  Behaviorism helps students to manage their work and helps them to see the increase in productivity and academic success that effort promotes.  One strategy mentioned in our class text that has also been suggested in one of my recent committee meetings is the self-assessment spreadsheet of effort using Microsoft Excel.  The beauty of using Microsoft Excel for this type of monitoring is the ability to create charts and graphs from the data as well as to save the data.  Our course text (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenowski, 2007) these type of self-assessments can also be performed with online survey tools such as Survey Monkey.  Teachers can then recognize students for their effort and students can receive a grade for their effort as well.  The idea is that in time students will learn not only that effort commonly pays off but that honest effort is an expected behavior.

Homework and practice support behaviorist strategies because in completing homework and practice students receive feedback based on the skills that they exhibit.  According to Orey in the video segment “Behaviorist Learning Theory” online learning and surveys are behaviorist in nature because they provide feedback or correctives based on a correct or incorrect response (Laureate, 2010).  The “Behaviorism and Instructional Technology” cites research done by Pressley in the 1940s stating that giving immediate feedback in the way that these online surveys provide results in overall greater mean scores on assessments (Burton, Moore, & Magliaro, n.d.).  Behaviorists would say that it is because test takers received appropriate rewards or correctives based on answers.  In “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works” the authors discuss word processing, Excel, multimedia software, communication software and web resources as technology tools with practical homework as practice applications for technology tools in behaviorism  (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  Teachers can assign typed responses, graphing, online surveys, podcasts, blogs, or use wikis to allow students to get valuable practice.

Regardless of the type of technology used there are clearly many options to support behaviorist theories.  They key in behaviorist theory seems to be to make sure students practice so they can respond and get encouraging or corrective feedback to condition and shape their learning.

References

Burton, J., Moore, D. & Magliaro, S. (n.d.). Behaviorism and instructional technology. Retrieved from: http://www.aect.org/edtech/ed1/01.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Behaviorist Learning Theory. Baltimore: Laureate Media.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pittler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria: ACSD.