Programmed Instruction

Programmed instruction, also called programmed learning, is a research-based system intended to help learners work through material successfully, guided by research from applied psychologists and educators. The learning material is presented in a textbook, teaching machine or computer that presents the material in a logical, tested sequence, broken into small steps or larger chunks; after each step the learner answers a question testing their comprehension and is then immediately shown the correct answer, so the learner is always making responses and receiving immediate knowledge of the results. Edward L. Thorndike anticipated the idea in 1912, imagining a book arranged so that a later page only became visible to a learner who had correctly completed what an earlier page directed, though he did nothing further with it; the first such system was built by Sidney L. Pressey in 1926, originally as a self-scoring machine that went on to demonstrate an ability to actually teach.