Methods of Teaching - Individualised instruction

Individualised Instruction
By
Dr. I. Uma Maheswari
iuma_maheswari@yahoo.co.in

• The process of educating children in
evolving from teacher determined
instruction towards students; selected
procedures for achieving objectives based
bearing.
• Recently there has been awakening in
people that individual child learns in a
manner that is uniquely his own.

• Each child has his own learning
style.
• Individualisation is more than is
philosophy, more than an
instructional process, whereby both
the teacher and the student become
responsible, and co-operative.

– Meaning and definition
• Different people have given different
explanations for the term ‘individualised
instruction’.
• The yearbook of Association for
supervision and curriculum
Development.

• Individualisation of instruction can mean
that the teacher works on a personal one to
one basis with each student.
• Individualisation can also mean the tailoring
of instruction to the particular needs and
abilities of the learner .
• If learners are working alone at their own
place, we can say individualisation has
taken place.

• Individualisation of instruction is a
system of instruction where the
following factors were adopted.
• They are pace, medium of
presentation, study style and
evaluation techniques. Thus
individualisation instruction makes
it possible to cater to the needs of
the individual learner.

• In other words it permits a slow
learner to spend more time on a
particular lesson and a fast learner
to proceed fast complete the lesson
and go the next lesson.
• The faster learner need not wait for
the slow learner to progress along
with him as is seen in today’s
classrooms.

• The following are the different meanings
of the term, which have been given by
different educationists who have worked
in the field of individualizing instruction.
• Individualization of instruction can mean
that the teacher works on a personal,
one to one, basis with each student.
• This essentially means a tutorial
system, which is normally followed in
teacher-pupil relationship.

• Individualization can also mean the
tailoring of instruction to the
particular need and abilities of the
learner.
• Individualization is deemed to have
taken place if learners are working
alone at their own pace.

• In the last individualization may imply a
system of instruction in which any or all
of the following factors are adapted to the
needs of each individual student.
• The factors are adapted to the needs of
each individual student.
• The factors are, pace, medium of
presentation, study style, context and
evaluation technique.

• We can briefly summaries that
Individualized Instruction means an
arrangement that makes it possible at all
times for each student to be engaged in
learning those things that are most
appropriate for himself as an individual.
• An instructional system is individualized
when the characteristics of each learner
play a major part in the selection of
objectives, materials, procedures and
time.

• It is individualized instructions
when decisions about objectives
and how to achieve them are based
on the individual learner.

Objectives of individualisation
instruction
The following are the main objectives
of individualized instruction, which
have been identified by research
workers in the last two decades.

1. Maximum development of
potentialities:
The main objective is to provide
for the tremendous differences in
learner’s aptitude achievement
and interest so that the individual
may attain the maximum
development of his abilities.

2. Problem of quality and quantity:
There is a repeated complaint among the
people that quality of education has
gone down. This could be checked if we
could individualise instruction.
3. Universalisation:
This objective is to provide universal
education at least up to primary level in
a society, which is committed to the goal
of mass education.

4. Facilitation of new schemes:
This objective is to facilitate the
implementation of the schemes of non-
formal, correspondence and in-service
education and training of professional at
all levels.
5. Implementation of life-long education:
It enables to transmit the ever-increasing
knowledge to the learners due to explosion
of knowledge in recent years. It helps in
the process of life long education.

Characteristics of Individualized
Instructional programmes:
• For the last two decades or so,
continuous research on
individualization of instruction has
resulted in the development of a
great variety of instructional
methods which embody the
principles of operant learning
developed by Prof. Skinner of
Harvard University.

• All these techniques have some
common identifiable characteristics,
which will be described in
subsequent paragraphs.
• The traditional teacher if he is really
serious to improve his teaching
without making the use of
programmed text to improve his
efficiency in classroom instruction.

• The main common characteristics are
as follows:
1. Specification of instructional
objectives:
The outcome of instructional process or
the terminal behaviour, which we want
to achieve, is specified in operational
terms - that is behavioural changes can
be observed and measured in an
objective way

2. Repertoire assessment:
The initial behaviour of the learner is
measured prior to his entrance into a
given instructional sequence.
2. Individual prescription:
The instruction is tailored according to
the needs, capabilities and interests of
individual learners.

4. Learner selected objectives:
Objectives of an instruction is tailored
according to the needs, capabilities and
interests of individual learners.
4. Active responding:
It means that the learner actively
participates in the learning process by
making frequent observable responses to
or manipulation of materials employed in
the instructional sequence. In
traditional teaching the learner, most of
the times, remains passive in the class
except answering questions occasionally
asked by the teacher.

6. Explicit contingencies:
Reward or reinforcement is
systematically arranged to follow
precisely defined behaviours of the
learners.
6. Immediate feedback:
The learner is immediately informed of
the result of his performance on a task.
This information (KR) motivates the
learner for further learning and
sustains his interest in the learning
task.

8. Frequent feedback:
Frequent feedback is arranged to
maximize opportunities for the learner
to assess adequacy of his performance.
8. Successive approximation:
Arranging for each step in an
instructional sequence to require an
achievable increment in the learner's
performance toward the desired
outcome of the sequence. The learner
is led to the terminal behaviour
gradually step by step.

10.Self-pacing:
It means that learner works at his
own pace on the learning task.
He controls his progress through
an instructional sequence himself.
He is not forced to move with the
speed of other learners in the class
as is in the traditional method.

11.Mastery criterion:
It means requiring a high level
performance of the outcome specified
for a given step in an instructional
sequence as a condition for progress to
the next step in the sequence.
According to recent researches, it is
assumed that each child can attain
mastery level provided that he is given
time and properly sequenced
instructional material.

12. Use if proctors:
Providing repeated testing,
immediate scoring, unavoidable
tutoring and marked enhancement
of the personal social aspect of the
educational process by using
students who have already
mastered a step in an instructional
sequence to monitor, prompt and
praise the performance of students
at work on that step.

13.Critical information written:
Presenting skills, or concepts,
which a student will be required to
demonstrate at a later time, in a
form permitting the student to
recycle through the material until
a performance criterion has been
reached.

14.Multi-media presentation:
Individualized instructional programme
makes use of multi-media.
The presentation of media is selected
keeping into consideration the types of
objectives specified and the
characteristics of the Learners engaged
in instruction.

Methods of Individualized
instruction
• Though we know that individualisation of
instruction will definitely bring about
improvement in quality of education, in
our country steps had not been taken so
far to implement this.
• If we want to implement this we have to
think of methods of achieving this.

• The following methods could be
used.
1. Programmed instruction
2. Teaching machine
3. Computer Assisted Instruction
4. Personalised System of Instruction
5. Learner controlled instruction.

Conclusion
• All these method require proper
learning materials, use of
technology, and expertise on the
part of the teachers.
• Teachers should come forward to
have such innovative procedures.

• Another aspect is our class strength.
• For the successful conduct of
individualised instruction the teacher
pupil ratio should not be beyond 1: 20 or
1:25. These are all some of the problems
above.
• In the existing situation what could be
done has to be thought of.

• The teacher must observe and listen to
his students with increased care and
concern.
• He should permit students to come
forward well their ideas and there should
be good interaction between the teacher
and the learners.
• The teacher should recognise the
different modes of responding according
to the teacher’s individual needs and
styles. He should encourage the learners
to ask questions.

• They should be encouraged to
discover their own potentialities.
• All these are possible in any
situation by any teacher.
• Thus the spirit of individualisation
could be attempted.

Methods of Teaching - Individualised instruction

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