Exactly! I am as baffled as you are these techniques are not being used.
(That’s actually incorrect. These techniques are being used. Just not for teaching. Instead, they are being used by companies like Facebook. Positive reinforcement is the backbone of much of our current attention economy, and has generated trillions in wealth.)
I have been studying this topic quite extensively a few years back. There must be many pages of notes and highlights somewhere. But I am on my phone right now you cannot access them.
But your project instantly reminded me of Skinner and of Direct Instruction. Having a program. Going one step at a time. Validating that learning has indeed occurred. And that the responsibility lies never with the learner but always with the program.
I believe I did find sources where Engelmann explained these principles in a quite simple, understandable fashion. I have to do research on my computer to find those.
They are also some videos on YouTube of BF Skinner demonstrating his teaching machines in the 1960s. Just think what is possible today, where we have so much better devices, perpetual connectivity and programming tools that anyone can learn within a couple of weeks.
Another figure I stumbled upon during these studies was Michel Thomas. The guy was famous for teaching people a new language over a weekend. With no homework, that is. I believe he taught quite a few celebrities. Wikipedia will be able to tell you more. What Wikipedia doesn't tell you is that his system it's also very close relative to you direct instruction, i.e. another direct ancestor of Skinner's work on positive reinforcement.
Wow thank you for compiling this! You'll see from some of the other comments that I have quite a bit of work cut out for me in fixing bugs and issues with the NUX ;P - but I will take a look as soon as I can.
And you're absolutely right re Facebook & the rest of the world doing positive reinforcement well (casinos and game-designers are what immediately come to mind for me).
(That’s actually incorrect. These techniques are being used. Just not for teaching. Instead, they are being used by companies like Facebook. Positive reinforcement is the backbone of much of our current attention economy, and has generated trillions in wealth.)
I have been studying this topic quite extensively a few years back. There must be many pages of notes and highlights somewhere. But I am on my phone right now you cannot access them.
But your project instantly reminded me of Skinner and of Direct Instruction. Having a program. Going one step at a time. Validating that learning has indeed occurred. And that the responsibility lies never with the learner but always with the program.
I believe I did find sources where Engelmann explained these principles in a quite simple, understandable fashion. I have to do research on my computer to find those.
This is what I found now:
https://pastebin.com/raw/wWMkyzQ7
They are also some videos on YouTube of BF Skinner demonstrating his teaching machines in the 1960s. Just think what is possible today, where we have so much better devices, perpetual connectivity and programming tools that anyone can learn within a couple of weeks.
Another figure I stumbled upon during these studies was Michel Thomas. The guy was famous for teaching people a new language over a weekend. With no homework, that is. I believe he taught quite a few celebrities. Wikipedia will be able to tell you more. What Wikipedia doesn't tell you is that his system it's also very close relative to you direct instruction, i.e. another direct ancestor of Skinner's work on positive reinforcement.
Here are some of my notes:
https://pastebin.com/raw/6iQqe6rx