Teaching machines were originally

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

devices that presented educational materials and taught students. They were first invented by Sidney L. Pressey in the mid-1920s. His machine originally administered

multiple-choice Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format is m ...

questions. The machine could be set so it moved on only when the student got the right answer. Tests showed that learning had taken place. Reprinted in . This was an example of how knowledge of results causes learning. Much later,

Norman Crowder Norman Harry Crowder (20 October 1926 – 10 February 2013) was Archdeacon of Portsmouth from 1985 to 1993. Born in Nottingham on 20 October 1926, he was educated at Nottingham High School and St John's College, Cambridge. After National Service ...

developed the Pressey idea further. B. F. Skinner was responsible for a different type of machine called GLIDER, which used his ideas on how learning should be directed with positive

reinforcement In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...

. Skinner advocated the use of teaching machines for a broad range of students (e.g., preschool aged to adult) and instructional purposes (e.g., reading and music). The instructional potential of the teaching machine stemmed from several factors: it provided automatic, immediate and regular reinforcement without the use of aversive control; the material presented was coherent, yet varied and novel; the pace of learning could be adjusted to suit the individual. As a result, students were interested, attentive, and learned efficiently by producing the desired behavior, "learning by doing". There is extensive experience that both methods worked well, and so did

programmed learning Programmed learning (or programmed instruction) is a research-based system which helps learners work successfully. The method is guided by research done by a variety of applied psychologists and educators.Lumsdaine A.A. 1963. Instruments and media ...

in other forms, such as books. The ideas of teaching machines and programmed learning provided the basis for later ideas such as

open learning Open learning is an innovative movement in education that emerged in the 1970s and evolved into fields of practice and study. The term refers generally to activities that either enhance learning opportunities within formal education systems or b ...

and

computer-assisted instruction Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

. Illustrations of early teaching machines can be found in the 1960 sourcebook, ''Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning''. An "Autotutor" was demonstrated at the 1964 World's Fair.

Quotes

* Edward L. Thorndike in 1912: "If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires personal instruction could be managed by print". * Sidney L. Pressey in 1932: "Education was the one major activity in this country which has thus far not systematically applied ingenuity to the solution of its problems" (p. 668). He thought the machine he developed would lead to an "industrial revolution in education" (p. 672).

References

{{reflist Educational technology

Quotes

See also

References