Programmed Instruction, NSPI, and the Demise of PI

Regarding Programmed Instruction:

I wonder how many people who are Behavior Analysts here in
2002 know about the National Society of Programmed
Instruction.  This society was created back in 1962, some
40 years ago.  It has gone through various name changes
(e.g., National Society of Performance & Instruction, International
Society of Performance & Instruction, and most recently within
the past few years to International Society for Performance
Improvement -- ISPI).  Still, it started off as a society for
Programmed Instruction.

NSPI has had a number of behaviorists in it (as you might
expect, given its origins and history).  Some of these have
included Dale Brethower, Joe Harless, Ogden Lindsley, and
more recently Carl Binder (who is known in ISPI as "Dr.
Fluency" <grin>), and Guy Bruce, to name a few.

In terms of numbers of people who are dues-paying members,
ISPI today is BIGGER THAN ABA.  It has more people.
Moreover, ISPI has many large corporate sponsors.  It's
holding its 40th annual convention this month (April, 2002).

Its website is www.ispi.com

NSPI - ISPI has published a journal, a magazine, and a newsletter,
as well as other books and publications, since 1962.

Here's a possible dissertation or thesis topic:

One of the observations about Programmed Instruction is that
it underwent something of a demise (not totally). This demise,
possibly a collapse, occured starting in 1969-70.  Further,
one of the asserted explanations for this demise is that
the field of Programmed Instruction grew too rapidly; that
there were too many people in the field who may have lacked
the necessary foundational knowledge skills in behavior
analysis (then known as the experimental analysis of
behavior); that as a result of that deficit, too many programs
were created, bought, and uncritically evaluated; programs
that perhaps only superficially matched the behavioral
technology principles incorporated into the design of PI
by Skinner and his team.

Can this proposition be assessed in some way?

Well, superficially you can see that the very name of the
society changed over time; that the moniker Programmed
Instruction was dropped, first to Performance & Instruction,
and later to its current Performance Improvement.  First
Programmed dropped out, now Instruction is gone from the
name, though the acronym has basically stayed the same.
It's the same organization in terms of its continuity
as well as incorporated legal status.

The name change suggests the demise of Programmed
Instruction, and it may prove of some interest to determine
when the various name changes took place. It would be
of somewhat greater interest if any public discussion or
debate over the name changes, as when these were proposed,
could be found. But, the name changes represent at best
a superficial type of evidence.  Is there anything else?

Yes!  In all of the early issues of NSPI Journal, at least during
its first decade of existence, every issue contained a list
of New Members, organized by state and by country. For
instance, in the Vol. VII, No. 10 issue (December, 1968),
on page 8, the New Members list has 136 people listed.
These new members for that month were from 29 states
and 7 other countries (including Canada, Mexico, Netherlands
Antilles, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland, and Venezuela).
A couple of names for that month, as a matter of fact, are
those I recognize: Roy Moxley and Clay Starlin, both of
whom are longtime members of ABA.

Now then, an enterprising individual who wanted to track
the growth of Programmed Instruction over the years,
especially the 1960s, could go through the published
issues of NSPI Journal and obtain Counts per Year and
also Counts per Month.  These frequencies could be
put on Yearly and on Monthly Standard Celeration Charts
respectively.  A picture of the growth of the field, in terms
of numbers of people joining it, would then become possible.
Moreover, you would be able to determine not only any
acceleration of joining, but also any deceleration that may
have occurred as well, and also when that happened.

While these data would not prove conclusive as to what
happened, when gathered and laid out, they will most certainly
help fill the gap in our knowledge, and most likely will clarify
the assertion about the "bandwagon effect" as one of several
asserted causes of the burnout of Programmed Instruction
as a movement.

  -- JE

REFERENCE:

NSPI Journal, Vol. VII, No. 10 (December, 1968), p. 8.