Determining the Effectiveness of Programmed Instruction-A Training Course Example.

Abstract The staff of the Air Force Accounting and Finance School decided to explore the use of programmed instruction in teaching certain basic accounting procedures to their young trainees. This school was interested in investigating programmed instruction in terms of its effectiveness and as a possible means of reducing the required training time while maintaining the desired quality of learning. The purpose of this article is to describe the study designed to evaluate the programmed materials developed. While this course was more technical in nature than the modern college accounting course, still as a rather well defined controlled experiment, the experiment should also be of interest to college instructors. This study was conducted at a Department of Air Force technical training school, which has the responsibility of training personnel in the area of governmental accounting procedures. A programmed textbook was developed specifically for the experimental unit of instruction and consisted of two volumes and an Answer Panel. It was written only after the objectives of the unit had been formulated in student behavioral terms and the criterion test developed.