Education Atlas

How Knowledge Is Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Pedagogical Approach

Keller Plan

Named Pedagogical Models and Movements

The Keller Plan, formally the Personalized System of Instruction, is a self-paced course format devised by psychologist Fred Keller in 1968, in which students work through a sequence of short units from written study guides, take a mastery test on each unit administered by a student proctor, and move to the next unit only after passing, with lectures used sparingly as a reward rather than as the primary means of instruction. It was widely adopted in North American college science courses in the 1970s as one operational implementation of mastery-learning principles, distinct from Benjamin Bloom's own classroom-paced version of mastery learning.

Facts
Central Question
How can course pace vary for each student so that everyone still reaches the same mastery of the material, instead of moving all students through content at one fixed pace 2
Most Effective For
Large higher-education courses, where it has mainly been used as a more personalized alternative to lecture-based instruction 2
Classification
Education Level
Bachelor or Equivalent (ISCED 6) 1
Keller Plan
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

Developed By

Source Keller Plan (Wikipedia)

Includes

Source Fred S. Keller (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Keller Plan (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Quote, Lead section
Gilmour Sherman, Carolina Bori, and Rodolpho Azzi in the middle 1960s as an innovative method of instruction for the then-new University of Brasília.
View the Source
2. Personalized System of Instruction - Wikipedia
  • Principles section
    While traditional teaching is 'same pace, different learning', a key distinguishing factor of PSI is that it instead advocates 'different pace, same learning'.
  • Application section
    The Keller Plan has mainly been used in higher education, particularly as a more personalized form of instruction in large classes
View the Source
Fred S. Keller (Wikipedia)
Includes: Fred S. Keller, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Fred S. Keller, Lead section
He taught at Columbia University for 26 years and gave his name to the Keller Plan, also known as Personalized System of Instruction, an individually paced, mastery-oriented teaching method that has had a significant impact on college-level science education system.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.