Association for Behavior Analysis International

The purpose of the paper is to describe a generative instruction model for teaching clinical decision-making skills to students seeking behavior analyst certification. In generative instruction, complex behavioral repertoires have been known to develop without explicit instruction when component skills are taught in the correct order and rehearsal is required (Street & Johnson, 2004). This paper describes the method for selecting the order of content delivery, the talk-aloud protocol used to evaluate student progress on decision making, and the BST steps used to teach students to make decisions. Finally, early data on the number of different training exemplars required for students to be able to make clinical decisions in novel situations will be shared. The majority of this work has been conducted via distance methods (e.g., Zoom). This adds to the available literature on training and supervision of aspiring behavior analysts by giving those who do train and supervise suggestions for teaching and measuring progress on acquisition of these more complex skills as well as information on a method of training that can be delivered in a distance model.

The evaluation of teaching practice in universities and its impact on the quality of the teaching-learning process is one of the most difficult skills to measure. In general terms, skills in methodology, evaluation and attitudes towards students define a good teacher. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the psychology students' opinions about the practice of their teachers. A descriptive non-experimental study was performed. The data were collected from a digital scale that evaluates the opinion of the teaching practice. This scale was applied to students who enrolled in the 2018-1 semester in a public university. The overall results of 900 tests show: a) high marks in the teaching practice that are related to behaviors based on the teaching methodology and the aspects of attitude. In other words, those skills that are related to the teaching-learning process, with didactic strategies, with the experience of knowledge and with the set of sources of attitude that promote students' motivation towards the class; b) low grades in the monitoring and fulfillment of the school program, this means the interaction between the activities carried out in the classroom by the teacher and those demanded by the institution in terms of delivering and following the program of studies of the specific subject; maintaining congruence with its content. This ability also refers to the establishment, maintenance and adjustment of the evaluation criteria and their congruence with the purposes of the subject. Specific teaching programs are proposed.

Gamification in education describes the process of enhancing motivational affordances by using technology to invoke appetitive experiences and achieve stronger behavioral outcomes (Hamari et al., 2014). Discrete trial training is pervasive within behavior analytic instruction due to the potential for a high rate of trials allowing for direct targeting of language skills. The format of discrete trial training is uniquely well situated for gamification by presenting clear discriminative stimuli, requiring a specific response, and rewarding the correct response through points, tokens, or more direct forms of reinforcement. We developed two algorithms for developing discrete trial training programming on Microsoft PowerPoint, a tool that is familiar and available to most practicing behavior analysts, allowing for delivery on a touchscreen device. The first presents a sample and array, where the sample is randomized along with the array stimuli and locations. The second presents a randomized sample stimulus followed by a customizable time delay and the randomized array. Both algorithms were pilot tested across three individuals with autism attending a specialized program. Pilot testing was successful in refining the algorithm and the participants acquired the target skills quickly following instruction delivered on the touchscreen device.