A COMPUTER,ATDED PER.SOI\üAI,IZED SYSTEM OF INSTR.UCTXON w Yiu-Man Leung A thesis presented to the University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 1n Electrical Engineering Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada August 1988 @ Yiu-Man Leung,1988 Pernnissíon has been Erant.ed T,uaut,ori.eat.íon a êtê accordêe to the Nat,i-onal f,ibrary of å 3-a tsibliothèque r¡at.ional-e Canada to mícrofilm t.hås du Canada de míarofålmer thesis and t.o Ì.end @r eel-l- cette Ë,hèse et de prêt,er ou copíes of the fílm. de vendre des exempl-aires du fíl-m" The author (copyríght. owner) l,'auteur ( eígul-aíre du droít has resenved other du auteur ) se réserve l-es publícation riEhtsu and autree droíts de publ-ícat,i.oni neit,?rer t.he thesis nor r¡I l-a thðse ní de X-ongs extensíve extracte from it. exÈraíts de cel-l-e-cí ne may be prínted clr otherwíse do1.vent.Â.O etre xmprlmeE ou reproduced wi.thout, hís/her autrement reprodult.s 6ans eon wrítt,er¡ perni ssi.on, aut,oníeat.lon êcríte s r sBN 0-315-48 057 -2 A COMPUTER-AIDED PERSONALIZED SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION by YIU-I'IAN LEUNG A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the university of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirenrerrts of the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE o 1988 Permissiorr has been granted to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- SITY OF MANITOBA to lend or sell copies of this thesis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilnr this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and UNIVERSITY IvIICROFILMS to publish an absrract of this thesis. The author reserves other publicatiorr rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or other- wise reproduced without the author's writte¡l pernrission. .AtsSTRACT Computer-Aided Personalized System of Instruction (CAPSI) is a new automated teaching and learning method rooted in the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) and the learning-reinforcement theory, involving highly systematic, interactive, student-participated teaching and evaluation through (L) structured course material with clear specification of objectives, (2) frequent and immediate reinforcement through instructor-student and student-student markings, (3) minimization of punishment, and (a) setf-pacing by the student. CAPSI ís a technological educational innovation with the combination of physical and behavioral technologies to produce an engineering approach to education. Unlike pSI, CAPSI adopts computer technology with a finite-state modelling implementation to free the instructor from administration, promote individualized learning, and provide tools for the analysis of the dynamical educational process and its optimization. Developed and extensively tested over the past five years at the university of Manitoba, CAPSI has gone through a natural evolution from a single terminal to multiple terminals, with direct. and remote links, and electronic mailing and messaging. CAPSI has been used successfully, effectively, and economically in short-distance (on campus) and longdistance (off campus) teaching, thus extending the fundamental concepts of education from a physical classroom to a virtual classroom and even to a virtual campus which eliminates the need for the instructor and the students to be at the sarne place and at the same time. -ll- ACKF{OWT,EDGEMENTS I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr. Witold Kinsnet, fry advisor, for his supervision, teaching, assistance, Perseverance, and patience during the course of my research and also for his suggestions of more than one research topics. special thanks to Dr. ]oseph Pear and Dr. Kinsner who have contributed the main research ideas to the development of the CAPSI system. Also thanks go to Frank Herzog for the initial coding of the Program. In addition, thanks to Dr. ]. Poltz for his comment on this thesis. I would like to thank the financial support from the Industrial Applications of Microelectronics Centre Inc., the University of Manitoba Academic Development Fund, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and private funds. The last but not least, I thank my parents and family for their financial and emotional support of my stay in Canada, and I finally acknowledge the Christian faith that carries me through difficulties and hardship. - 1r1- T^åBLE OF CO}üT'EF{T'S Pase ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF FIGTIRES v11r +Chanter I. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Keller's Personalized System of Instruction 2 1,.2 PSI and Reinforcement Theory 5 1.3 History of PSI 7 'J,.4 Research on PSI and its Superiority 11 1.5 PSI to CAPSI 14 1,.6 The Novelty of CAPSI 1,4 'l...7 Motivation 17 1.8 Thesis Objective 77 1,.9 Thesis Organization 79 tr. LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS AND TEACHING METHODS 20 2.1, Educational Learning Environments 20 2.2 Review of other teaching methods 21 2.2.1, Programmed Instruction (PI) 21, 2.2.2 Self-Paced Lrstruction (SPI) 27 2.2.3 Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) 21, 2:.2.4 Computer-Managed Instruction (CMI) 22 2.2.5 Self and Peer Marking 22 2.2.6 Guided Design (GD) 22 2.3 Other Technology-Oriented Techniques 22 2.3.1 Tutorials on Audio-Cassettes 23 -tv- 2.3.2 Tutorials with Discrete Visuals and Synchronized Audio 23 2.3.3 Tutorials on Film or Video Tape or Compact Disc 23 2.3.4 Audio and Video via Communication Satellite 24 2.4 Summary 24 trI. CAPSI: A GENERALTZED COMPUTER_AIDED TEACHING AND LEARNING METHOD 25 3.1 General Course Structure 25 Õ,¿ The Computer Program 26 3.2.1 Student-Computer Interaction 27 3.2.2 Main Confrol Menu 30 3.3 Examples in a Course 32 3.3.1 Instructional Objectives, Frames and Student Responds 32 3.3.2 Mastery Test 34 3.3.3 The Use of Electronic Mail 35 3.3.4 Marking Verification 37 3.4 Summary 38 IV. DESIGN OF CAPSI 39 4.1, Engineering concepts in CAPSI 39 4.1.1 Product Specification 39 4.1.2 Design 39 4.1.3 Utilization of Technology 40 4.1,.4 Qualify Control 40 !.1.5 Cost Effectiveness 40 4.1.6 Systems Analysis 41. 4.2 Problem Specification of CAPSI 41 4.3 Database Design 48 4.3.1 The Student Record File Design 48 4.3.2 The System Parameter File Design 50 4.3.3 The Question Bank File Desiøn 52 -v- 4.3.4 The Transaction Log File Design 54 4.3.5 Type of Transaction Design 55 4.4 Finite-State Machine Design 56 4.4.7 Test-State Transition Design 56 4.4.2 Proctor-State Transition Design 57 4.4.3 Formal Definition for the Test-State Transition 60 4.4.4 Formal Definition for the Proctor-State Transition 63 4.5 Summary 65 V. CAPSI Implementation 66 5.1 Hardware System 66 5.2 Software Implementation 67 5.2.1 Overview of the CAPSI Software Evolution 67 5.2.2 Program Structure of CAPSI with Classroom Setting 70 5.2.2.7 Initialization and Terminal Control 70 5.2.2.2 Student Session Control 7't 5.2.2.3 Student Edit Control 73 5.2.2.4 System Parameter Edit Control 75 5.2.2.5 Mark Student Control 75 5.2.2.6 Send Messages Control 76 5.2.2.7 Monitor Student Control n 5.2.3 Program Structure of CAPSI without Classroom Setting 88 5.2.3.1 Initialization and Session Control 88 5.2.3.2 Student Transaction Control 89 5.2.4 Programming Language Employed 90 5.2.4.1, Conventional Features 90 5.2.4.2 Condition-Handling Feature 93 5.2.4.3 File-Handling Feature 94 5.2.4.4 Multi-Tasking Feature 95 5.2.4.5 Debugging Feature 96 5.2.4.6 Interfacing with Assembler 97 Ê.n A n T-r^-f^^:..- rrAÈrrnrì n:r- J.L.=.t rIrlgrt4Lrl,rË -.-irl-wIu.l lvlftL\ I EJ -t'Ilg Y/ -vI - 5.2.4.8 Interfacing with the System Dynamic Allocation Routine 98 5.3 Summary 100 VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DiSCUSSIONS 101 6.7 Subject Taught 101 6.2 Selection of Stuclents for the Program 101 6.3 CAPSI for On-campus Learning 702 6.4 Experience and Evolution of CAPSI 702 6.5 CAPSI for Off-campus Learning 105 6.6 Inclusion of Electronic Mailing and Messaging into CAPSI 706 6.7 CAPSI for Virtual Classroom 707 6.8 Course Statistics 108 6.9 Data Logged by CAPSI 109 6.9.1 Student Performance 709 6.9.2 ÍN orkload Dynamics 772 6.10 Problem of Supervision 779 6.77 Student Reactions to the Method 779 6.12 Costs 722 6.13 Summary 723 VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOI\4MENDATIONS 724 REFERENCES 727 APPENICES 131 A: Source Code for CAPSI without Classroom Setting 131 B: Source Code for CAPSI with Classroom Setting 757 C: Examples of CAPSI in Classroom Setting 198 -vll- LIST'OF FXGUR.ES +Fisure Pase 3.1 Student Terminai Prompt Summary 29 3.2 Main Program Menu Summary 31 4.7 The Hierarchical Tree Structure of euestion Bank File 53 4.2 Test-State Transition Diagram of CApSI 58 4.3 Proctor-State Transition Diagram of CAPSI 59 4.4 Finite-State Machine of Test-State Transition Diagram 62 4.5 Finite-State Machine of Proctor-State Transition Diagram 64 5.1.a-g Structured Chart for CAPSI with Classroom Setting 79 5.1.a Initialization and Terminal Control Modules 79 5.1.b Student Session Control Module 80 5.1.c Editing Student Module 81 s.1.d Editing System Parameter Module 82 5.1.e Mark Test Module 83 5.L.f Send Messages Module u 5.1.9 Monitoring Student Module 85 5.2.a-b Structured Chart for CAPSI without Classroom Setting 86 5.2.a Initialization and Session Control Modules 86 5.2.b Student Transaction Module 87 6.1, The university of Manitoba off-campus Instructional sites 1.04 6.2 Test & Proctoring Performance of Student #AN .