Programmed Instruction Resources

Programmed Instruction (PI) has evolved from the rudimentary teaching machines of the 1920s to present- day computer programs and Internet activities that industry, military, and educational institutions use to teach everything from Hebrew to military law. Although PI was originally developed to teach basic academic skills, educators and trainers in business and industry have developed self-paced, independent PI modules that employees may use to learn a host of basic and advanced skills in fields as varied as medicine and military law. PI, one of the earliest teaching methods derived from behavior analysis, involves analyzing comprehensive concepts into small, sequential tasks that teach, test, and self-correct in units referred to as “frames”. A PI textbook often includes thousands of frames that require students to read a short statement, answer a question, and retrieve the correct answer before progressing to the next frame. Early PI lessons followed a linear sequence, however, the capabilities of the computer to “branch” based on correct and incorrect responses currently support non-linear PI. From the teaching machines of the 1920s to the modern information superhighway, PI has evolved while retaining its behavioral roots and approaches.