How to Develop Self Paced Continuing Education Classes

Designing a Self-Paced Learning Program: A Primer

Self-paced learning has received the most attention in instructional design. As the principles of learning indicate, much evidence supports the belief that optimum learning takes place when a student works at his or her own pace, is actively involved in performing specific learning tasks, and experiences success in learning. Self-paced learning methods are also called individualized learning or self-instruction.

Although these terms may have different meanings, the important features for the learner are responsibility, pacing, and successful learning based on specific learning objectives and a variety of activities with accompanying resources. Most frequently, the instructor selects the learning objectives and sets the requirements learners must follow. A "true" individualized learning, or learner-controlled, program would require the design of separate objectives and learning activities for each learner according to that individual's own characteristics, preparation, needs, and interests. Implementation of such a system usually requires a computer-managed instructional system to track the progress of each student and to select the appropriate objectives.

What Constitutes a High-Quality Self-Paced Learning Program?

A high-quality self-paced learning program includes the following specific features:

• Learning activities are carefully designed to address specific objectives. A typical self-paced unit is organized into comparatively small, discrete steps, each one treating a single concept or segment of content. The size of the steps can vary, but it is essential that they be carefully sequenced.
• Activities and resources are carefully selected in terms of the required instructional objectives.
• The learner's mastery of each step is checked before he or she proceeds to the next step. Therefore, it is necessary to require the learner to demonstrate mastery of the content.
• The learner then must receive immediate confirmation of mastery of the objectives. With each success, the learner confidently advances to the next step.
• When the learner has difficulty understanding the material or fails to master the objectives for a unit, further study may be necessary, or the learner may ask the instructor for help. Thus, the learner is continually engaged in active learning and receives immediate feedback.

What Are the Strengths of a Self-Paced Learning Program?

Evidence suggests that, in many situations, learners participating in self-paced learning programs work harder, learn more, and retain more of what is learned than do learners in conventional classes. Self-paced learning offers a number of unique advantages as an instructional method:

• Both slow and advanced learners can complete the instruction according to their own abilities and under appropriate learning conditions.
• The self-reliance and personal responsibility required of learners by a self-paced learning program may carry over as habits to other educational activities, job responsibilities, and personal behavior.
• The instructor can give increased attention to the individual learner.
• The activities and responsibilities of an instructor involved in a self-paced learning program change because less time is spent in making presentations and more time is devoted to addressing learners in group sessions, consulting with individuals, and managing the learning environment.
• Although major approaches to self-paced learning are not always immediately cost-effective, as the lessons and resources are employed over time with additional classes, the cost of a program can be reduced appreciably.

The information presented to each learner remains consistent (i.e., each learner receives the same basic ideas) over time, which reduces variations caused by lectures presented on different days. In addition, self-paced adaptive instruction varies the content according to individual needs.

What Are the Limitations of a Self-Paced Learning Program?

There are also some limitations to self-paced learning that make it less suitable for some environments:

• There may be a lack of interaction between instructor and learners or among learners if a self-paced program is the sole method of instruction in a course. Therefore, it is important to plan for periodic instructor–learner and small-group activities as appropriate.
• If a single-path, lockstep method is followed, learning can become monotonous and uninteresting. On the other hand, open-ended (discovery-type) projects may allow for too much divergence in what learners experience and accomplish.
• Lack of self-discipline combined with procrastination can result in delaying the completion of required study by some learners. Many learners must develop new habits and patterns of behavior before they are successful in self-paced learning. Setting deadlines (weekly or monthly) within which learners can adjust to their own study pace is often required and beneficial for some learners.
• The self-paced method often requires cooperation and detailed team planning among the faculty involved in the course. Also, coordination with other support services of the organization (e.g., facilities, media, reproduction) may become necessary or even critical.
• More preparation and expense is typically involved in developing self-paced units compared with lecture presentations.

A Self-Paced Learning Program Design Checklist

If you are developing a self-paced program, the following checklist of questions for evaluating your planning may prove useful:

1. Is the program adaptable to the characteristics of learners who have different cultural and ethnic backgrounds?
2. Are learners who need remedial help identified before they start on a unit or module?
3. Are learners allowed to skip ahead if they already show competencies in part of the topic being treated?
4. Are low-level cognitive knowledge and psychomotor skills mastered before requiring higher level learning experiences and practical applications of subject content?
5. Is adequate attention given to affective objectives? That is, are learners developing positive attitudes toward the subject or its applications?
6. Are options provided so that a learner may select learning experiences and resources?
7. Are learners permitted or encouraged to progress at their own rates?
8. Do learners have opportunities for checking their progress as they proceed through a program?
9. Do learners have opportunities to share their learning or otherwise interact among themselves and with the instructor?
10. Do instructors consult with or assist individual learners and small groups?
11. How will self-pacing for a particular unit affect other activities in the course?

Changing Roles

Finally, as the team designs a self-paced learning program, the instructors involved should recognize that they are not only changing their methods of instruction; they also must change their own roles in working with learners. These changes can become both stimulating and more demanding. Some of the changes that can be anticipated are the following:

• Freedom from routine teaching of basic facts and skills
• More time spent with individual learners in diagnosing their difficulties, giving help, and monitoring their progress
• More opportunities to interact with learners on higher intellectual levels concerning their problems, interests, and uses of the subject content
• More time required for preparing, gathering, and organizing materials for use by learners
• More time required to orient and supervise aides, tutors, proctors, and other assistants.

---

Excerpted and adapted from Designing Effective Instruction, 8^thedition by Gary R. Morrison, Steven J. Ross, Jennifer R. Morrison, Howard K. Kalman. Copyright ©, 2019, Wiley. All rights reserved.

lollistakinquanded1938.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.wiley.com/network/instructors-students/teaching-strategies/designing-a-self-paced-learning-program-a-primer

Share this post