Instructional Design

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Overview of the Design of Instruction Phase

A field of "Instructional Design" exists, has practitioners, issues publications, and holds meetings.  To some people "instructional design" represents all that one needs to know about in order to create materials and arrange conditions for learning to occur.  Most often and for many people, "instructional design" refers mainly to how information will be presented to learners.

In the view taken here, however, Instructional Design forms only part of the development of a larger Instructional System. Design typically forms the first step when developing a complete instructional system.  It also represents the first step in any subsequent redesign of a system.  Instructional Design results in a "blueprint" for a course of instruction, ready for development into a completed package.  The "blueprint" consists of the named course, lists of content resources, assumptions that limit the range and scope of the course, knowledge and skills to be taught, the set of pinpointed behaviors necessary and relevant to the knowledge and skills to be taught, and the set of named units and modules, with each module containing a set of one or more behavioral objectives, each objective tagged and classified by learning category.

Inputs to the Instructional Design Phase

Instructional design represents the first step in building a system of instruction.  

There has to be some reason to begin working on an instructional system, however. There must be some rationale for choosing to instruct people versus implementing other solutions to problems. Instead of opting for instruction, a problem may be solved by developing a performance management program or changing ergonomic variables.  Not all problems require teaching as a solution. However, the development of an instructional system assumes that some need for instruction has been determined.

The principal inputs to the design phase include either (1) a contract agreed upon with a client for whom the system will be produced, (2) an assignment or work order, or (3) a decision to create a course "on spec."  Without any of these decisions being made, little reason would exist to begin designing and developing courses.  Note that a course developed "on spec" typically means one developed for potential general use. In that case the end product becomes available "off the shelf."

Courses developed on a contract basis for clients should have some up-front agreement, and probably some up-front consideration, before work proceeds.  Note that the design phase can be used to determine cost estimates for development.  In point of fact, the end product of the design phase -- the so-called "blueprint" -- can itself represent a deliverable product.

Instructional Design Procedure

Instructional Design typically follows a sequence of steps.  While one does not have to adhere to a hard and fast ordering, the following list presents a useful, complete, and efficient sequence: (click on a choice or scroll down):

1. Naming the course.

2. Specifying available financial resources.

3. Determining content resources, references, and available human expertise.

4. Identifying knowledge and skills to be taught.

5. Specifying assumptions about the target audience and the prerequisite knowledge and skill levels.

6. Pinpointing the behaviors representative of fluent knowledge and skilled performance.

7. Stating behavioral pinpoints in terms of behavior channels or learning channels.

8. Defining the behavioral objectives.

9. Tagging and classifying the behavioral objectives.

10. Organizing the behavioral objectives into designated modules of instruction.

11. Assembling the final "blueprint" for instructional development.

Naming the Course

Naming a course gets matters up and going.  Sometimes an instructional designer might work with two or more names for the same course:  an internal course name, and the formal course name as specified by a client, or which will go on the final package.  Along with stating a name for a course, a designer should also assign a version number to it, and the starting date.  In some cases, a project name or number should likewise be assigned.  If the name of the course does not adequately or appropriately reflect the topic or topic area, the designer should designate the correct topic name as well (for in-house purposes).

In developing courses for a paying client, the naming phase also reflects the formal agreement to begin work on the remainder of the steps in the design phase.

In naming a course, a designer should also prepare manilla file folders with the course name, computer directories and files with the course name, diskettes and other computer storage media with the course name, and planning and progress tracking sheets replete with the course name as well.

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Specifying available financial resources

At approximately the same time as a decision has been made to proceed with designing a system, the designer should obtain or specify some figure, or range of figures, pertaining to how much financial resources are available.  One needs to cover costs and during development stay within budget. The financial resources available will determine the size, range, scope, and complexity of the course to be designed. The financial resources will also affect decisions about adding various special features to the course, such as graphics, animations, videos, computer-based modules, and so on. Thus, at this stage, the designer should have in hand a financial statement or estimate.  

Note that if a course is to be developed for a client who contracts for such work, that part or all of the design phase can become part of the negotiation phase for reaching a subsequent agreement regarding course development.

In cases where design proceeds because of assignment (as in a formal educational institution, or as an in-house "on spec" project) the statement of available resources may be a constant.  Given a fixed quantity of financial resources available will in any case likewise place limits on what can be done in the time available.

Note:  In the case of course development within an organization, for its own internal use, where a designer works as a salaried employee, the money available may consist largely of the designers own time.  That time has an attached cost. So, if no financial statement or monetary resource figure is otherwise available, a designer should estimate his or her own rate of pay and a ballpark estimate of the amount of time that design and/or development would take.  In any case, one should list available materials, media, and other resources.

The output of this step will consist of a financial statement that specifies the amount of money available, earmarked, or designated for designing and developing a course.  This amount represents the amount that will go to pay for salaries, subcontracts, consultants, computer software, materials, supplies, and other charges that will inevitably come up.

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Determining content resources, references, and available human expertise

Determining content resources, references, and available human expertise represents a research step in the design phase. A designer may or may not be a content expert.  If not, then the designer needs to begin research into the topic area(s) designated in the naming step (see the next step).

The content of a course represents the "raw material" for use in both design and development. In this step the designer should amass all necessary and appropriate books, articles, documents, manuals, photographs, drawings, flowcharts, graphs, computer files, meeting notes, telephone conversation notes, website URLs, and so on.

The content resources may come from a client, from in-house libraries, or otherwise be stipulated by the organization for whom the designer works. A designer may wish to conduct library research, as well.  This may reveal additional materials that could be put to use.

A designer should also draft a list of references.  This can be done as one studies and reviews available materials.  A list of published or otherwise available materials should be written in either APA (American Psychological Association) format, or according to the Chicago Manual of Style.  One may wish to go beyond these style conventions and add additional useful information, such as library card catalog call numbers, the name of the location the resource can be found (e.g., the name of the library, the website URL, and so on), what the source material looks like (e.g., hard-bound or soft-bound if a book), and any other pertinent information that would assist one in finding the resource.  The references list should also be tagged so that materials one has in hand are identified separately from resources that one needs to procure elsewhere.

Finally, a designer should either have in hand, or write up, a list of names of people who can be contacted as content experts.  If the designer him or herself rates as a content expert, he or she may still wish to draw up a list anyway.  If the work is being done under contract, then a list of content experts affiliated with the client organization will prove either necessary or beneficial.

The output of this step includes (1) assemblage and storage of content resource materials, (2) a references list or bibliography, and (3) a list of names of people who are available as content experts.

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Identifying knowledge and skills to be taught

After naming a course and getting prepared, one should identify knowledge topics and skills to be taught.  Note that this identification process represents an ongoing task all throughout the design process. It may even continue into the development phase, if necessary.  Often, an initial identification of topics or skills may miss out on certain topics and skills, which become identified later on.  Equally, an initial identification may include topics or skills that later on are deemed not needed for the particular course under consideration.  These can be dropped out later on.  To reduce costs, one should focus effort and attention on precisely identifying the pertinent knowledge and skills.

The process of identifying knowledge and skills to be taught can include (a) research by the instructional designer into the area of knowledge, (b) interaction and assistance from experts in the subject matter, and (c) in the situation where a client hires the designer, any up-front interaction and consultation with the client.  In the lattermost case, the client typically specifies the topics and skills.  However, a designer should always be on the lookout both for any "gaps" in what a client specifies, as well as possible irrelevancies (i.e., material suitable for a separate course, perhaps).

The designer should then study and review the assembled materials.  That means reading the materials, making notes, highlighting critical information, and other study behaviors. The designer should also categorize and store the content resources for easy and efficient retrieval.

Generally speaking, the word knowledge, as used here in the context of instructional design, means verbal behavior.  The word skill refers to nonverbal behavior by and large, or to verbal behavior that involves object manipulation.  The word skill also, often, alludes to a sequence of related behaviors that together produce a certain effect.  The combination of such behaviors can include both verbal and nonverbal behaviors.  For example, playing a musical instrument, such as a trumpet, represents a skill:  one must vary the quantity, duration, and force of air blown into the instrument, while simultaneously pushing one or more of the three buttons, adding or removing a mute, reading a sheet of music, and following a conductor's movements.

Identifying knowledge and skills will involve note-taking and list-building.  Accordingly, a designer should organize notes by course name and by date, and do the same for lists of skills.  The end product of this phase consists of a list or outline of knowledge topics and relevant skills.  One should probably tag the listed topics and skills as verbal or nonverbal behavior, or a combination of both (one can use a simple coding system for doing this).

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Specifying assumptions about the target audience and prerequisite knowledge and skill levels

At either the same time, or immediately after one identifies the knowledge and skills, a designer should specify two sets of assumptions:  (1) assumptions about the people in the target audience for the course, and (2) assumptions about prerequisite knowledge and skills that most, if not all, learners should be expected to have upon encountering the course. Clearly defining these assumptions will help place needed limits on the course, and thus on the plan, range, and scope of subsequent course development.

Without assumed limits, a course could, conceivably, regress almost infinitely to earlier, more elementary knowledge and skills. Development can get out of control without these assumed limits.

Assumptions about the target audience also will help determine some of the principal modes by which learners will contact the course, and thus of what sorts of media and materials are developed.  Assumptions about the general reading level of the target audience will dictate the general reading level of the subsequent materials developed.  Assumptions about the computer skills (e.g., keyboarding skills) will help determine whether computer-based instruction will even be used, and if so, how. E.g., if one plans on developing computer based instruction, and if a target population generally has few typing skills, then the learning activities should be ones which have little or no typing.  Conversely, if a population has fluent typing skills, then the learning activities can capitalize on that.

Assumptions about the prerequisite skills provide a convenient cut-off point for adding on additional modules.  A course can accomplish only so much. These assumptions provide some "boundaries" to the course.  They designate what resides outside of the system.

An instructional designer should note and list all assumptions made, and list as many as needed.  If one works for a client, one should communicate the assumptions to the client as quickly as possible. A client may wish to amend the assumptions. Note that in all cases, within reason, assumptions can be expected to change.  The end product of this phase consists of a written list and descriptions of the various assumptions made.

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Pinpointing behaviors representative of fluent knowledge and skilled performance

Pinpointing represents a process of identifying and stating active verbs that describe behavior and performance, and which pass Lindsley's "Dead Man's Test ."

Pinpointing relevant behaviors that demonstrate skilled performance marks the last step before defining objectives.  In the pinpointing step, one should observe actual learners, or actual performers.  If watching the latter, one should look for and observe exemplary performers.  If actual learners are unavailable, and provided that the designer has some knowledge of what a learner may need to be able to do, the designer can use him or herself as a test subject.

As Yogi Berra once allegedly remarked, you can observe a lot just by watching.

Watch what current learners say and do, either after they have learned with another instructional system, or while they are working with another, current system.  Watch what exemplary performers do.  Take careful notes, and consider measuring behavior or recording it for further, subsequent study. Focus also on pinpointing behavior, using active behavior verbs.

For instance, instead of noting that a learner can "state" something, note whether the learner "says" something, or "writes" something, or "points to" something, and so on.  The more active and specific the action verb you select, the better your pinpointing becomes.

Also, note the context and conditions under which the behavior occurs, or under which it can occur.

Make a list with the skills you identified earlier on, and under each skill, list the pinpointed behavior(s). Note also whether certain behaviors comprising a skill must be done in a particular sequence, or whether the order can be variable.

The output of this step will be a list of active behavior verbs that align with the previously designated knowledge topics and skills.

Click here for a list of Active Behavior Verbs         

Click here to review Lindsley's "Dead Man Test"

Click here to see the Defining Properties of Active Behavior Pinpoints

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Stating behavioral pinpoints in terms of behavior channels or learning channels

As you observe skilled performance, or study the active behaviors of interest, make note of the antecedent conditions. The antecedents are those stimuli, cues, or other discriminable events that precede a behavior in time.  In some cases, these antecedents may simply provide context for the behavior. At other situations, however, they may form a critical and necessary condition for the behavior to occur.  They may even "prompt" or "occasion" behavior.  In that sense, they may in some way "cause" the behavior to happen (though, please note, they are not necessarily the actual or ultimate causes of the behavior!).

Observing or knowing about the task at hand for the behaviors of interest will let you know what sort of stimuli the antecedents are. For instance, the stimuli could be visual or audio.  If visual, they could be text, line art, photographs, animations, or even video.  If the stimulus is visual, the learner needs to be able to see it in order to give a response. If it is audio, then the learner needs to be able to hear it.  If it is a physical object, the learner may need to be able to touch it, sniff it, or taste it, in order to give a response.

This brings us to the concept of "behavior channels" and "learning channels."  A "channel" describes an "input" behavior and a subsequent "output" behavior.  The "inputs" typically involve the five senses, which can be described behaviorally. These are seeing, hearing, touching, sniffing, and tasting. In some cases the "input" may have no particular sense and have the freedom to occur at any rate of response.  In those cases the "inputs" are "free."  The "outputs" are the active behavior pinpoint verbs you selected in the previous step.

The set of possible "learning channels" can be organized into a matrix, with the "inputs" across one side and the "outputs" down the adjacent side. A small, abbreviated "learning channels" matrix is included here.  A larger "learning channels" matrix appears on a separate page.

Modify the set of observed or noted pinpointed behaviors using the learning channels matrix.

The output of this step will be a list of pinpointed behaviors written using the learning channel input-output verbs.

Click here for a Matrix of the Learning Channels

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Defining the behavioral objectives

Defining objectives represents the heart of the instructional design process.  If you define the right objectives, and write them properly, subsequent design and development will proceed fairly smoothly. Otherwise, development may encounter various delays.  Please note that some people prefer to call objectives "performance objectives."  I prefer to call them by their original name, behavioral objectives.

To draft a set of behavioral objectives, gather together the products of the earlier steps, and make use of them. When writing an objective, ask (1) whether it belongs to the set of topics and skills you identified previously, (2) whether it matches the needs and capabilities of the target audience, and whether or not it falls into any prerequisite category, and (3) whether it matches and makes use of the pinpointed behaviors characteristic of skilled and knowledgeable performance.

Begin writing the objectives.  On a document that names the course, has the current date, and which lists the knowledge topic or skill, write out a list of objectives.  

Follow the rules for writing worthwhile objectives. First, state all objectives in terms of the learner.  While it may be redundant to put this on every objective, at least at the top of the page you should have a line that begins, "After instruction the student will be able to...."  If necessary, you can put this phrase at the front of each objective. (You may need to do this for clients, administrators, and others who do not know that objectives should be written in terms of the what the student does.)  Importantly, bear in mind always that the objectives are in terms of what the student will be able to do as a result of instruction.

In writing objectives, good practice involves stating the "givens."  A "given" consists of anything presented to the student. "Givens" can include an instruction, a direction, a question, a statement of text, a word, a symbol, a picture, an animation, a video, or a physical object.  "Given" usually means "upon presentation of," or "in the presence of," though it can mean something literally handed to a learner.

Next, write the active verb learning channel (from the list of behavioral pinpoints and learning channels listed previously). This represents what the student should be actively doing in respect to the objective. Actively doing denotes movement, and typically movement that has some effect on a person's immediate environment. There are many active verbs possible. The more active and specific you can make them, generally speaking, the better they become.  Avoid verbs that invoke states of being, conditions, have considerable ambiguity, or which otherwise do not involve some sort of movement.  The active verb denotes the behavior of the learner, i.e., what the learner will do.  Behavior means action, or movement, or what some people also refer to as a response.  If the task calls for a learner to write a definition, for example, put the active verb "write" in the objective.  If the task involves saying a definition, put "say" into the objective.  Note that both "to write" and "to say" are covered by the more general and less precise verb "to state."

Next, write the direct object for  the active verb.  The learner does what to what?  If the learner is supposed to define a word, for example, the direct object will be the definition.

Thus, some example objectives where a learner states or selects a definition:

Given a term, see-write its definition.  (The "given" is a visual text stimulus.)

Given a term, hear-write its definition.  (The "given" is an audio stimulus.)

Given a term, see-say its definition. (The "given" is a visual text stimulus.)

Given a term, hear-say its definition.  (The "given" is an audio stimulus.)

Given a term, see-point to its definition. (The "given" is a visual text stimulus.)

Given a term, see-click on its definition.  (The "given" is a visual text stimulus.)

Given an object, see-write its definition.  (The "given" is a physical object shown or handed to the learner.)

Given a term written in Braille, touch-point to its definition. (The "given" involves the sense of touch.)

Given a term written in Braille, touch-squeeze the object named. (The "given" involves the sense of touch.)

Sometimes, some instructional designers add on additional criteria to objectives. These additional criteria can refer to performance.  For instance, one may add a rate criterion, or an accuracy criterion, or a time done by criterion. I do not see adding such criteria as necessarily vital. And I do not believe that it needs to be done in the drafting of the first set of objectives.

The output of this step will be a list of behavioral objectives.

Click here to go to the Behavioral Objectives Page

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Tagging and classifying the behavioral objectives

After the objectives have been written, a designer should review each one.  After each written objective, the designer should append tags that classify the objective according to additional criteria.

Paired-Associate versus Concept Learning.  Based on the earlier identifications of knowledge and skills, pinpointed behaviors, and the stated objectives, a designer should tag and classify objectives according to whether they represent paired-associate learning, concept learning, or other major category.  The tags can consist of the acronyms PA for paired-associate, and CN for concept (or any other tags).

While the classification of paired-associate or concept learning may be construed from the objective itself, adding the tags increases the precision of the objective as the core element of the "blueprint."  Paired-associate learning concerns a situation where a fixed, limited number of relations exist to be learned.  The fixed number will likely fall within the 20 to 100 item range.  For instance, the alphabet consists of 26 letters.  If the objective concerned "see the letter, say its name" then the overall task would reduce to one of paired-associate.  Each relation in a paired-associate situation will need to be learned.

Concept learning deals with either open-ended sets of items, or very large sets of items.  With concept learning it is either impossible, not feasible, or not economic, to attempt to teach each and every itemized relation.  Rather, one determines the critical attributes that demarcate the concept from other concepts, and one also determines the properties of the concept that can vary without changing the concept.  For instance, "house" represents a concept.  There exists a rather large number of different houses in the world.  It would not prove feasible, worthwhile, or necessary, to attempt to present pictures, drawings, or other descriptions of all of the world's houses in a teaching program!  The set of houses is virtually infinite, for all practical purposes. Rather, the task at hand concerns identifying those features of a house that are unique to houses, and that are not shared with other structures.  These become the "critical attributes" of the concept house. Houses also vary according to other features, so these features become the "varying attributes."  To teach the concept requires teaching nonexamples, specifically "close-in" nonexamples of the concept.  Some nonexamples of house might include apartments, stores, office buildings, warehouses, and the like.  So, one would state or select 'house' given an example of a house, and not state or select 'house' given a nonexample.

Full research and development about the critical and varying attributes of a concept will occur during the development phase.  For the design phase one simply needs to indicate whether the set of relations to be learned is finite, discrete, and limited (paired associate), or whether it is indefinite, abstract, and virtually unlimited (concept learning).

Response Activity Category Tags.  Based on the learning channel specified in an objective, one may be able to tag objectives by the likely learning activity or response framework.  For instance, if the active behavior verb of the objective calls for the learner to say, write, print, type or draw something, these would all qualify as "to state" objectives.  Learning activities, accordingly, will likely consist of those where the learner states something.  If the learner is to write a response, that may call for a "fill-in-the-blank" instructional frame.  On the other hand, if the active behavior verb of the objective calls for the learner to mark, underline, circle, point to, click on, or press something, these would all qualify as "to select" objectives. The learning activities would thus be selection-based, and would include multiple choice question frames, true-false question frames, and similar activities.  

A designer therefore may anticipate the response categories by tagging the objectives according to whether they involve stating, selecting, or some other activity.  One might use such tags as FB for fill-in-the-blank, MC for multiple-choice, TF for true-false, SF for SAFMEDS cards, and so on.

Equivalence Relations Tags.  One may also tag objectives if their use follows what the experimental analysis of behavior has revealed about stimulus equivalence.  Again, this tagging would be based on the objectives.

An objective designates a relation between a given, an action, and a direct object.  The given and direct object can sometimes be reversed.  Thus, if one objective runs, "given a term, see-click its definition," a reversal would run "given a definition, see-click its term."  In the first case you give the learner a term, and the learner needs to learn to recognize the definition of the term (presumably from a set of similar but incorrect definitions).  In the second case you give the learner a definition, and now the task reverses to one of selecting the correct term from a set of terms.  In the parlance of the research on stimulus equivalence, the first objective denotes an "A to B" relation and the second objective denotes a "B back to A" relation.

A designer can tag objectives with letters and arrows signifying relations ("A - B," "B - A," "A - C," "B - C," "C - A," etc.).  Or if only symmetrical relationships will likely be taught, then append a word such as "Reversal" after an objective that reverses a previously designated relation.

The output of this step will be an enhance set of objectives, replete with codes that may assist the selection and development of learning activities in the instructional development phase.

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Organizing the objectives into initial modules of instruction

As one writes objectives, one can begin to place them into modules.  A module comprises a separate unit of instruction, and contains a set of related objectives. The minimal number of objectives for a module is one.  Often a module can be specified by "natural fractures" in the topics or skills.

As course development proceeds, modules are subject to change.  Some modules might be dropped.  Others might get added. And the set of objectives within a module can change.  The size of the module can and will change as well.

Name and sequence the modules.  Also, assign a number to each one.  Often, modules should be done by the learner in a certain order, so at this stage the instructional designer should sequence the modules.  The sequence can always be changed later on.

The instructional designer should also prioritize modules by possible and likely difficulty of development.  Establish target date ranges for completing the rough drafts of each module.

The product of this step consists of a full outline of named modules, each containing a list of behavioral objectives.

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Assembling the final "blueprint" for instructional development

The final step of the instructional design phase consists of assembling together the outputs of the preceding steps into a discrete package.  Since one should type up the outputs of each of the preceding steps, this assembling phase will consist of gathering and editing the text files, and printing them out.

The resulting "blueprint" may prove rather extensive.  So, one may consider putting it into a three-ring binder, replete with dividers designating the different sections output from each of the preceding nine steps.

The output of this step will be a printed document consisting of the outputs of the steps leading up to this final step.

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Outputs

The principal output of the instructional design process, as defined here, is a "blueprint" for subsequent development of the course.  The "blueprint" consists of all of the outputs and materials produced and assembled in this phase, as listed above.

With an effective and useful "blueprint" at hand, one can proceed to the next major phase of creating an instructional system, development of the system.

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Notes:

What I refer to as development, many professionals collapse into the process of instructional design.  I believe that this represents a less effective way of building and running an instructional system.  Therefore, I adopt the metaphor of the architect. An architect designs structures, but does not build them.  An architect designs and creates a blueprint.  The blueprint then gets used as a guide for building a material structure.  Likewise, design for instruction should result in a guide that someone can use to develop a system.

In some cases, instructional design can result in a stand-alone product.  A contractor may hire an instructional expert to simply design an instructional system.  When that happens, the designer's deliverable consists of a "blueprint" for a course of instruction.  The contractor may then job out actual development of a course to another company or organization, or, with "blueprint" in hand, develop the course using in-house resources.

The blueprint metaphor becomes even more apt once the element of precision gets considered.  An architect's blueprint consists of precise drawings, precise angles, precise measures, precise designations, and so on.  Likewise, an instructional systems "blueprint" should be as precise as possible.  It should express and match the learning needs of the organization or group for whom it was designed.  It should consist of behavioral pinpoints specified to the most appropriate, relevant, and useful level.  It should have behavioral objectives written using both the specified pinpoints and the learning channels matrix.  And it should have a precise, discrete nomination of modules, units, and course(s).

Note:  Both the term "pinpointing," its definition and meaning, and the term "Dead Man Test," and its definition and meaning, have resided in the public domain instructional design and technology literature for approximately 30 years.  One of the fathers taking a course taught by Dr. Ogden R. Lindsley back in the 1960's coined the term "pinpointing."  Lindsley has promoted the concept of pinpointing behavior for over 30 years, and has incorporated it as a critical defining element of Precision Teaching. Lindsley also named and devised the so-called "Dead Man Test."

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