Article DetailsLearning Units for Everyone |
| Date Added: March 17, 2009 01:16:51 AM |
| Author: Brandy Beardsley |
| Category: Education |
I found this article quite interesting to read when dealing with newer teachers. While there is not a lot of “instructional technology” in use, there is a system that I believe would work with not only newer teachers, but also students within the classroom. As Brady, et al (2008) write in their study, it is of great significance that teachers are guided in their teaching (207). “Research on teacher interactions consistently demonstrates improvements in student learning when teachers deliver clear instructional antecedents, increase their rates of questioning, and provide increased opportunities to respond” (Brady, et al, 2008, p. 207). Instead of providing feedback days or weeks later, the authors suggest that immediate, in-class feedback is more likely to pose a quicker response from teachers within the classroom so that the ineffective ways of instruction are disposed of quicker (2008, pp. 207-208).
Brady, et al (2008) point out that “learning is shaped by interactions between the teachers and students” (p. 208). A learning unit, or LU, is a design used to have effective interactions between the teachers and teachers, which consists of antecedent (teacher question), student behavior (question answer) and consequence (reinforcement or consequence of student’s answer) (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 208). According to Brady, et. al (2008), LUs are measurable and observable units in the sense of the rate and accuracy of delivery within the naturalistic setting (p. 208). In their study, Brady, et. al focused and expanded upon past studies of the bug-in-ear (BIE) LU technology in coaching new teachers (p. 208).
Within Brady, et. al’s study, three teachers were studied. Each of the teachers met specific criteria: 1) degree or certification in special education, 2) three or less years teaching, 3) teaching in a resource or full-time self-contained classroom and 4) willingness to participate (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 208). The students of the three teachers had various disabilities including emotional disturbances, autism and ADHD (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 209). Motorola two-way radios were used with each of the three teachers and coaches, which assisted in increasing the teachers’ baseline teaching methods (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 209). Three components were the dependent variables looked at: 1) teacher antecedent, 2) student correct and incorrect responses and 3) teacher consequence (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 209). Brady, et. al (2008) defined the dependent variables by the following:
Finally, Brady, et. al (2008) noted that the independent variables included coach prompts, tally marks for the prompts, minutes delivered and the rate per minutes of prompts (p. 210).
Brady, et. al describes the procedure used, which included prebaseline visits and observer training, baseline, equipment familiarization and intervention activities and fading and maintenance (2008, pp. 211-212). The authors found during their study that both the rate and accuracy of complete LUs increased with BIEs were used (2008, p. 214). More importantly, Brady, et. al noted that each of the three teachers were able to reach 100% accuracy when using the intervention strategies suggested by the coaches (2008, p. 214). While the results were positive, the authors close their study by noting some of the barriers to this type of LU: no specific parameters, desensitizing teachers, restricting cues, predictable cues and using it for only targeted lessons (Brady, et. al, 2008, p. 214-215). And, of course, the authors note that more research needs done on the BIE LUs to effectively cover the concept.
Reference:
Goodman, J. I., Brady, M. P., Duffy, M. L., Scott, J., & Pollard, N. E. (2008). The effects of "Bug-in-ear" supervision on special education teachers' delivery of learning units. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disablities, 23(4) , 207-216. Retrieved November 23, 2008 from EBSCOhost.
© Beardsley, 2008 |
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