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The First Way of Learning
LEARNING NEW SKILLS
Behavioral Learning

SOMETIMES WHEN WE ARE LEARNING A NEW SKILL we want to say, “Slow down, I need to take this a step at a time.” Not a bad instinct! The step-by-step approach is the essence of behavioral learning.

Most jobs require skills. Some skills involve physical movements and are what psychologists call psychomotor skills. Other skills involve the ability to make routine calculations or follow procedures. They are called cognitive skills because they require mental effort. Sometimes psychomotor and cognitive skills are combined. Skills can be simple or complex. A skill is a patterned set of operations requiring routine—though not necessarily easy—physical activity, mental activity, or both.

MOVING FROM RAW BEHAVIOR TO SKILLS
Shaping

Psychologists first learned about behavioral learning through a series of clever experiments performed on animals in laboratory settings. Just as new medicines are first tested on animals, so also were some of the earliest theories of learning. The pioneer in this field was B.F. Skinner (1953¹, 1974²) who picked up on an idea from E.L. Thorndike—behavior is affected by consequences—and elaborated it into one of the first learning theories. It is still valuable and is used widely in training designed to build skills. If you understand the theory, you can learn more from trainers who use it. You can also use it to learn new skills on your own.

There is no better way of understanding behavioral learning than to return to those early laboratory experiments (Keller, 1969).³ Suppose that the objective is to train a pigeon to turn clockwise in a complete circle. First the trainer must describe the learning outcome in terms of observable behavior. In this instance, turning circles is comparable to the skills to be learned in training, such as learning how to check in passengers accurately and efficiently. Next, the pigeon is put into a specially designed box and observed to see what it can do. (Maybe it already knows how to turn circles.) Trainers call this step measuring present performance level. If you are working alone, this step involves asking yourself what part of the skill, if any, you can do now. Assume that the pigeon does not turn circles, but only walks around randomly poking its beak into every nook and cranny of the box. How does the trainer move the pigeon from raw behavior to skills?

The answer is to break the objective into a series of small steps called tasks. Thus when the pigeon makes its first move—it may simply shift its weight to the right foot—it is reinforced with food dropped into the box at just the right moment through a device controlled by the trainer. Next the pigeon steps to the right and leans to the right. Accidental? No problem. More food appears. Then the pigeon takes two steps to the right and twists its neck back and to the right. Food drops into the tray again. The whole process is called shaping, and it continues one step building on another until the objective is attained.

SETTING GOALS
Behavioral Objectives

When behavioral learning is being used for teaching skills it is necessary, first of all, to get very specific about outcomes, often called behavioral objectives. Most trainers who use behavioral learning have these objectives spelled out, usually in writing, and usually trainers will share these with the participants. If not, you should ask for the behavioral objectives. These will help you to get a clear picture of what you should be able to do as a result of the training. Behavioral objectives should use very specific language, such as to construct, to list, to arrange, as opposed to vague words such as to understand or to appreciate (Mager, 1962).⁴ If you are using behavioral learning to teach yourself a new set of skills—and you can do this—the first step is to become very clear about what you will be able to do when you have learned what you want to learn.

BEGINNING IN THE BEGINNING
Present Performance Level

Sometimes trainers will give you a part of the task to try, just to see how well you can do it before you are given any training. This is done to establish your learning baseline. In its written form this is often called a pretest. Trainers might start you in the beginning or in the middle of the task, just to get a feel for what you can do. This raises an interesting question: Where is the beginning? If you can breeze through the first five steps perfectly, the chances are good that for you, step one is not the beginning. On the other hand, if step one is posing problems for you, that is not the beginning either. You may need to develop some prerequisite skills.

If you start a task and realize you do not have the “right stuff” for success, just back up a bit and find out what prerequisite skills you need before proceeding with the plan for training. You should have no embarrassment about lacking prerequisite skills; the embarrassment comes only if you don’t develop them.

STEP BY STEP
Task Analysis

Knowing your destination is one thing; getting there is another. An objective is seldom achieved in one leap: jumping barrels on a motorcycle has its perils. Behavioral learning proceeds in steps. Most trainers using behavioral learning put considerable effort into breaking the training into small steps, a process known as task analysis (Davis, et. al., 1974).⁵ By analyzing the skill very carefully, by watching it performed, and by breaking it into its component parts and then sequencing these parts as tasks and subtasks, trainers are able to make learning more efficient and effective. This is no easy job. It requires a special eye and is a skill in itself. Trainers may or may not be good performers of the task—some figure skating coaches do not skate well themselves—but they must be proficient in analyzing the skill so that it can be taught systematically.

If the task analysis has been done carefully, and with sufficient detail, your learning should follow a smooth progression. Look for the tasks and subtasks. Also be alert for something missing. The tendency of teachers and trainers all over the world is to go too fast and to skip important steps. We learn to walk before we run, and we learn to walk with baby steps. Ask yourself: Did I miss something here? Some subtasks are more difficult and may require more practice before moving on. If you appear to be stuck, either a step is missing or you need more time to master a difficult subtask. The shaping process can break down at any step. Remember, shaping the learning through small steps is the key to behavioral learning.

If you are using behavioral theory to design your own learning, doing a task analysis is essential. Ask yourself what you need to learn first, then second, and so forth. Be careful not to skip steps and be sure to make the steps small.

Sometimes you will be given the steps as you go along through the training; at other times the whole process or several parts of the process will be demonstrated. These demonstrations are called modeling (Bandura, 1969).⁶ If the skill is demonstrated, you may find it valuable to watch closely and look for the steps and the progression of tasks. A novice watching an Olympic diver will not be able to perform a perfect dive by watching, but some overall understanding of the learning can be gained as well as an awareness of what the skill looks like when it is being performed well. The classic studies reported by Bandura on modeling, vicarious learning, and imitation suggest that learners who watch a task being performed actually benefit just from watching.

REWARDING YOURSELF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR
Feedback

The essence of behavioral learning, however, is action—having the opportunity to practice the skill under guidance. The learner tries something and the trainer provides feedback. Recall the pigeon learning to turn in clockwise circles in the laboratory. The pigeon tries something, actually many things, but only certain things bring food. The right moves bring positive consequences. It is at this crucial moment, when a specific action gets linked with a particular consequence, that learning occurs. The process of linking behavior to consequences is called reinforcement. In training this is usually called feedback.

Feedback is of two types: rewards and punishments. Behavior that immediately proceeds a reward is likely to be repeated; hence a reward is often referred to as a positive reinforcer. Positive reinforcers are anything an individual is willing to put forth effort to obtain. Punishments, on the other hand, are those things that an individual is willing to work hard to avoid. For a consequence to work as a positive reinforcer, it must be satisfying to that particular individual. Naturally, there will be considerable variation in tastes. What works for some doesn’t work for others.

Probably the most important feedback in learning a skill is the internal reward that comes from performing the skill correctly. Correct performance alone, therefore, will often establish the skill if you are given feedback on what correct performance is. This is called knowledge of results. Often you will get feedback from the equipment, process, or interaction taking place. But at other times some external reward is needed, particularly in the early phases of working through tasks and subtasks. Although it may appear childish, most of us like and will work hard for very simple forms of positive reinforcement, such as praise, attention, recognition, good scores or encouraging comments on tests, free time, various types of food, points, trophies, certificates, awards, and promotions or pay increases. Positive reinforcers are anything that might convey approval or generate satisfaction. In most training this involves well-timed knowledge of results coupled with praise.

Punishment usually takes on the form of negative reinforcement, the setting of conditions we will work hard to avoid. Like positive reinforcement it can be used intentionally or can occur naturally. Most of us will try to avoid such things as poor performance, required repetition of the task, working longer on the task, failing a test or checkpoint, critical remarks on papers or tests, reprimand or embarrassment, demotion, pay cut, or losing one’s job. All of these conditions serve as threats, and we will work hard to keep them from happening to us. Trainers usually like to stress positive reinforcement, but a lot of learning still occurs through avoidance of threats, spoken or unspoken. Punishment—the actual application of threats similar to these—is seldom used, except when you may be doing something that poses a risk to yourself or others.

Because feedback is so important to behavioral learning, it needs to be strong and well timed, which means as close as possible to the occurrence of a well-performed task. If you aren’t getting the feedback you need, if it isn’t clear enough or appropriately timed, you need to ask for it. You need feedback at each step, not just at the end. If you are trying to learn something on your own, you still need to get feedback, to ask yourself how you are doing and set little rewards for yourself for getting things right. It may seem like you are playing a game with yourself—getting a snack or giving yourself free time after completing an important task or subtask—but this is what makes behavioral learning work. From the pigeon’s point of view, no food, no circles.

Behavioral learning functions as a total system. All of the building blocks must be in place to make it work. Behavioral objectives are fine, but to achieve them you also need task analysis and well-timed feedback. Watch for missing pieces. For many things you want to learn you can probably do an adequate task analysis, but you still need to get feedback on how you are doing at each step for the shaping process to work.

FRAME BY FRAME
Computer-Assisted Instruction

In 1961, B.F. Skinner published an article in the Harvard Educational Review entitled “Why We Need Teaching Machines.”⁷ It took several years for the hardware, software, and learning technology to come together, but programs that draw on the behavioral way of learning are now readily available on computers. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI), sometimes known as drill-and-practice software, is built on behavioral learning theory although the connection is not always made.

Consider how it works. Learning outcomes are established as a basis for the software design (behavioral objectives). Information is displayed on the screen in sequential steps called frames (task analysis). On each screen, the information contains embedded prompts or clues along with questions that call for a response. When you respond, the computer reads your choice and replies with either confirmation of the right answer (knowledge of results) accompanied with appropriate praise (reinforcement), or with suggestions about how to get the right answer (feedback). Because a computer can be programmed, it can be ready for a range of responses from you and will make decisions about the reply. Several different replies are possible, including where to look for help, how to try again, or what to do to correct something that went wrong. Some CAI incorporates an expert system that catalogs and analyzes your responses and offers help based on that analysis (Graham, 1986).⁸ The expert system can direct you back for review or forward for more challenging material. It is even possible now to move beyond frame-oriented CAI to generative CAI (McCann, 1981).⁹ The computer generates questions as it goes, based on what it “knows” about the subject matter and you as a learner. By using sophisticated algorithmic descriptions of classes of problems, and rating your performance in solving them, it produces customized lesson material for you.

A more recent application of behavioral learning theory to computers is in the linking of visual materials to CAI. A CD-ROM can store thousands of frames of visual information including slides, sections of films, videotapes and graphics, as well as large libraries of text. Real images, not just computer graphics, appear on the screen. It is possible to jump forward and back through this information very rapidly and with precise control. For example, you can move in and out of the text or graphics to seek definitions, to review information previously presented, or to seek related visual material on a topic or subtopic. This puts you in charge and enables you to pace your learning at the speed that is best for you, and to take the time needed with various steps. Similar arrangements using the behavioral way of learning are also being made available on websites.

COURSES THAT USE BEHAVIORAL LEARNING
Instructional Design

The ultimate application of the behavioral way of learning is in large-scale instructional systems that control as many of the components of the learning process as possible: objectives, tasks, written materials, visuals reinforcement, and tests. The goal of such courses is to guide the learning process from beginning to end, using behavioral principles. Such efforts are sometimes referred to as instructional design.

A specific kind of instructional design known as Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) was developed at the University of Arizona by Fred Keller, one of B.F. Skinner’s graduate students (1968).¹⁰ A PSI course can have many variations, and the name is seldom used today, but you can look for courses that use the principles. These courses usually involve a precise set of objectives and a series of self-paced learning modules and materials—booklets, manuals, laboratory or workstation activities, presentations, demonstrations, software, films, videotapes, and audiotapes. Many organizations have developed systematically designed courses of instruction that they use in training and development. Some of these courses are available as software, some are on the Internet as Web-based courses, and others are distributed internally on the organization’s intranet. Many Web-based courses are also available commercially. Watch for courses that use instructional design and notice how they use the behavioral way of learning.

You can use the shaping process effectively to manage your learning of skills. You may or may not like the behavioral way of learning, but for building certain skills it may be the quickest and most effective way to learn. Give yourself a pat on the back for completing this chapter, and if you use this way of learning to learn new skills next week, give yourself a big hug.

LESSONS LEARNED

Ten Things You Can Do to Maximize Your Learning

1. Look for or ask for clearly stated behavioral objectives.

2. Take a pretest or establish a baseline of what you already know.

3. Look for steps—the tasks and subtasks that take you to the objective.

4. If necessary, do your own task analysis to break your learning into steps.

5. Request a demonstration by an expert at performing the skill.

6. Seek timely feedback to get knowledge of results.

7. Expect reinforcement or provide it for yourself.

8. Watch for behavioral principles in computer-assisted instruction and use what you know to learn from it efficiently.

9. Search for software that uses behavioral learning.

10. Find self-paced or Web-based courses that use instructional design principles.