The Behavior Engineering Model at Work on a Small Scale: Using Task Clarification,Self‐Monitoring,and Public Posting to Improve Customer Service

Gilbert's (1978/1996) Behavior Engineering Model (BEM) can enable the success of novice performance engineers by prompting appropriate front‐end analysis. This paper describes the third author's first performance improvement project conducted in the customer service department at an insurance agency. Front‐end performance analysis informed the design of an intervention package that addressed particular environment and person variables. This package included task clarification, employee self‐monitoring, and public posting of group performance. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to assess the effects of the intervention. The performance targets were: 1) the percentage of transactions where Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) used customer names, and 2) the percentage of transactions where CSRs suggested additional services available to customers. Average performance during intervention was more than 50% better than average baseline performance for both targets. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of the BEM as a front‐end analysis tool that can guide novice performance engineers to build simple and inexpensive, yet effective, performance improvement interventions.     

EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF ON‐TASK IN A BOX AS A CLASS‐WIDE INTERVENTION

The present study evaluated the effects of the On‐Task in a Box intervention on student on‐task behavior when used as a class‐wide intervention. The intervention package includes self‐monitoring, video modeling, and reinforcement contingency components. A multiple baseline design across three elementary classrooms was used to determine the effects of the intervention on student behavior. Results indicated immediate increases in on‐task behavior in all classrooms. Calculation of nonoverlap of all pairs’ effect sizes indicated strong intervention and maintenance effects on on‐task behavior of students in all classrooms. Social validity data were also collected, which indicated adequate validity of the intervention. Results of the study suggest that the intervention package may be effective for improving class‐wide levels of on‐task behavior.     

Do monkeys choose to choose?

Both empirical and anecdotal evidence supports the idea that choice is preferred by humans. Previous research has demonstrated that this preference extends to nonhuman animals, but it remains largely unknown whether animals will actively seek out or prefer opportunities to choose. Here we explored the issue of whether capuchin and rhesus monkeys choose to choose. We used a modified version of the SELECT task—a computer program in which monkeys can choose the order of completion of various psychomotor and cognitive tasks. In the present experiments, each trial began with a choice between two icons, one of which allowed the monkey to select the order of task completion, and the other of which led to the assignment of a task order by the computer. In either case, subjects still had to complete the same number of tasks and the same number of task trials. The tasks were relatively easy, and the monkeys responded correctly on most trials. Thus, global reinforcement rates were approximately equated across conditions. The only difference was whether the monkey chose the task order or it was assigned, thus isolating the act of choosing. Given sufficient experience with the task icons, all monkeys showed a significant preference for choice when the alternative was a randomly assigned order of tasks. To a lesser extent, some of the monkeys maintained a preference for choice over a preferred, but computer-assigned, task order that was yoked to their own previous choice selection. The results indicated that monkeys prefer to choose when all other aspects of the task are equated.     

Improving Direct‐Care Staff Consistency in a Residential Treatment Program through the Use of Self‐Recording and Feedback

A program for increasing staff effectiveness in implementing a group home behaviour management program was evaluated. The program consisted of self‐recording and supervisor feedback. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate staff consistency in four skill areas; implementing response cost for the occurrence of physical aggression, implementing response cost for the occurrence of verbal aggression, setting guidelines for successful task completion, and providing feedback to residents. Staff increased consistency in all four areas following intervention. A one week follow‐up demonstrated short‐term maintenance of intervention effects. Results are discussed with reference to future training procedures.     

The effects of recognition and recall study tasks with feedback in a computer-based vocabulary lesson

Should computer-based study tasks use multiple-choice or constructed-response question format? It was hypothesized that a constructucted-response study task (CR) with feedback would be superior to multiple-choice study tasks that allowed either single or multiple tries (STF and MTF). Two additional recognition study task treatments were included that required an overt constructed response after feedback (STF+OR and MTF+OR) in order to control for possible confounding caused by response form mismatch between the recognition study task and recall posttest. Graduate students (N=133) were randomly assigned to one of the five computer-delivered treatments. Relative to STF, posttest effect sizes were: STF 相似文献   

The effects of expectancy-incongruent feedback and self-affirmation on task performance of secondary school students

In the present study, the assumption was tested that expectancy-incongruent feedback in conjunction with explicit self-affirmation directs attention away from the task and to the self. As a result, performance should decrease in resource-sensitive text/picture comprehension tasks as compared to resource-insensitive tasks. Three hundred and thirty-seven fifth graders first completed either easy or difficult text/picture comprehension tasks and then rated their learning outcome. After that, they received bogus feedback that had been congruent or incongruent with their expectations. In addition, half of the participants were given the opportunity for self-affirmation before they completed additional easy or difficult text/picture tasks. As predicted, feedback better than expected or worse than expected impaired performance in the resource-sensitive tasks but only in the self-affirmation condition. The results are discussed with regard to central assumptions of the feedback intervention theory (Kluger and DeNisi, Psychological Bulletin, 119: 254–284, 1996) and practical implications for the provision of feedback.     

A classwide peer‐modeling intervention package to increase on‐task behavior

Evidence‐based classwide interventions have the potential to help a large number of students by preventing problem behaviors before they become a significant problem in the classroom. Results of a study examining the effectiveness of a classwide peer‐modeling intervention package to improve students' on‐task behavior in the classroom are presented. The classwide intervention took place in three mixed‐grade classrooms (third/fourth, fourth/fifth, and fifth/sixth) with 14–20 students each. Fifteen‐minute intervention sessions occurred approximately two times a week for a total of six to eight sessions. During each intervention session, students watched a 4‐minute videotape segment depicting a peer model demonstrating near 100% on‐task behavior, which was accompanied by verbal coaching and small tangible rewards. Results demonstrated large treatment effects across all three classrooms, which remained large in two of the classrooms at follow‐up 4–8 weeks later. Corresponding positive social validity by participating students and teachers was also documented. Results are discussed in terms of implications, limitations, and future research directions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Improving Coping Self-Efficacy Among Distressed Students After Exposure to University Mass Violence: A Pilot Online Intervention

Given the rise of incidents of mass violence affecting college campuses, interventions for students are gravely needed, especially ones with broader accessibility and reach. This pilot study examined two online narrative writing interventions for undergraduates experiencing distress a year after exposure to a mass murder at their university. Thirty-nine students completed online narrative writing tasks across 4 days. Coping self-efficacy (CSE) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) were assessed. The intervention was feasible and acceptable, as demonstrated by high levels of completion at two follow-ups (97% and 87% respectively). Both groups had significant increases in CSE from baseline to postintervention. Implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Group Projects: Student Perceptions of the Relationship Between Social Tasks and a Sense of Community in Online Group Work

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between specific social tasks and student perceptions of a sense of community during online group work. A survey instrument was developed, piloted, and deployed to 125 students in six different online classes. Results revealed few significant relationships between each of the five social tasks examined and student perceptions of a sense of community during online group work; however, students reported that some social tasks were important. Students seemed to focus more on completing a task for a grade than seeing group projects as part of developing community to enhance learning. This might reflect a lack of understanding by the students of the importance of social tasks to successful group project completion.     

Effects of Feedback on the Academic Engaged Time of Behaviour Disordered Learners

Abstract This study investigated the relative effects of different combinations of feedback on the behaviours of two subjects labelled ‘behaviour disordered’. In addition, the relationship between academic engaged behaviour and performance (assessed by measures of amount completed and accuracy) was also analysed. The results revealed that there was a positive relationship between the amount of time a subject spends on task and the number of tasks completed. In addition, the results showed that there was not a positive relationship between the amount of time a student spends on a task and accuracy on that task. The relative effectiveness of the feedback procedures was substantiated. The implications of these results were that the provision of feedback when a subject is off‐task will be most effective in terms of increasing the subject's on‐task behaviour and the amount of tasks that the subject completed. This research demonstrated that increased on‐task behaviour has positive effects on productivity.     

Task characteristics of faculty in medical school departments

Perceived characteristics of research, teaching, and patient care tasks of faculty members and administrators in five medical schools were found to differ significantly among departments representing different scientific and medical specialties. These differences correspond to state of development of the field and nature of the work done in the different departments. The basic science departments, which as a group represent a higher state of scientific development than the clinical departments, were more homogeneous in reported task characteristics than were the clinical departments. In light of these differences, it is argued that it is dysfunctional to apply the same set of organizational policies and practices, such as criteria for rewards and promotions, uniformly to all departments.     

Children's inquiry strategies in referential communication and in the game of twenty questions

Young listeners perform poorly on referential communication tasks because they respond to ambiguous messages by guessing rather than by seeking clarification. 2 experiments addressed the ability of 4-, 5-, and 7-year-old listeners to perform competently following training in the skill of asking categorical questions. Training was presented either in the context of a Listener task or a Twenty Questions task. As these tasks require common strategies of information seeking, it was predicted that training in one task context would lead to improved performance on that task and to generalization of skill to the untrained task. The hypothesis was supported, although there were age differences in the effectiveness of training and efficiency of strategy use. The implications of the results for children's developing communication abilities were discussed.     

基于社会认知效度框架的大学英语听说教材课堂听力测评任务效度评析

借鉴社会认知框架中的“认知效度”和“语境效度”框架,对《全新版大学英语听说教程》(第二版)全6册教材中听力测试任务的效度进行评价。研究发现,教材中的听力习题对不同层次的听力认知能力考查不够全面,对听力元认知策略的培养体现不够突出,对作答过程中的书写负担控制不够。此外,建构性作答方式听力任务的设计有待系统性改进,听力语篇真实性有待提升,听力和口语任务的衔接不够紧密。针对这些问题,建议听力任务设计遵从科学严谨的测试编写方法和原则,以提升听力习题的认知效度和语境效度,并在此基础上进一步考察其在实际教学中的使用效果及师生反馈。     

A Critique of Ali Shehadeh’s Non-native Speakers’Production of Modified Comprehensible Output and Second Language Learning

This study examined the NNSs’ ability of modifying their interlanguage utterances in modified comprehensible output to give response to other-initiation and self-initiation,which was studied in both NS-NNS and NNS-NNS interactions.It was the qualitative study by using two different tasks which were picture-dictation task and opinion-exchange task to collect the data.There were 32 participants whose age ranged of 22 to 37.The author proposed two hypotheses based on his expectation that NNS-NNS interactions would provide more opportunities for NNS participants to give comprehensible output for other-initiated clarification requests and self-initiated clarification attempts than NS-NNS interactions.The author was good at using numbers to illustrate and describe the data in his writing.     

Training preservice teachers to use evidence-based practices: Effects of coaching with performance feedback on teacher and child outcomes

Three-term contingency trials (TCTs) involve planned/naturally occurring antecedents, child's demonstration of target behaviors, and planned/naturally occurring consequences. Positive relationships between teachers' frequent use of TCTs and children's learning were noted in literature. This study aimed to investigate impact of an intervention package including training and coaching with performance feedback on experienced and novice special education preservice teachers' use of TCTs and relationship between teachers' implementation and child outcomes through two single-case experiments using multiple baseline across participants design. Three special education preservice teachers and three children with disabilities participated in each study. Results indicated intervention package was effective in increasing preservice teachers' use of TCTs. Preservice teachers generalized their use and sustained it during maintenance sessions conducted after intervention ended. Furthermore, as frequency and accuracy of preservice teachers' implementation increased, percentage of children's correct responses in relation to target skills improved. Implications for future practice and research are discussed.     

The Effect of Information Framing on Academic Task Completion

Information framing was investigated as a classroom management technique for academic task completion. Framing effect refers to the finding that people's choices are affected by how pre‐decisional information is framed (Tversky & Kahneman, 1984). In five 3rd and 4th Grade classrooms, teachers observed task completion rates of their students under five different framing conditions: unframed instruction; positively framed instruction with (a) group and (b) individual consequence; negatively framed instruction with (a) group and (b) individual consequence. Task completion rates were significantly greater under all framed instruction conditions than unframed, with effect sizes ranging from 0.21 to 0.32 and much greater at the class level. Improvement rates corresponding to effect sizes ranged from 20% to 70% at the class level, showing the usefulness of framing instructional directives.     

The Effect of the Kind of Test Announcement on Students Preparation

Abstract

Subjects were given intrasensory matching and intersensory transfer tasks of perceptions made in the aural and visual sensory modes at the first, third, and fifth grades. Subjects matched, as same or different, melodic phrases within the aural sensory mode (AA). In addition, they judged whether the shape of a stimulus (either contour-line graphs or melodic phrases) that was perceived initially in either of the sensory modes was the same or different from the stimulus paired in the opposite mode (AV or VA). The aural to aural intrasensory task (AA) was found to be significantly easier than either intersensory task at all grade levels. No significant differences were found between the AV and VA intersensory tasks at any grade level. The difference in mean-score gains for the AV task was found to be significant across grades three to five.     

Department-initiated change

This paper reports the activity of three secondary school mathematics departments in England in self-initiated states of change that led to overall improvements in students’ achievements when compared to previous cohorts. This took place without intervention and without their participation in external projects. They provide examples of departments that can work effectively on their own development, and hence, their work adds to our knowledge of the potential for development through collaboration. The departments were monitored over 3 years, and data were analysed using the lens of activity theory. In contrast to departments in many studies, these departments worked overtly on mathematics pedagogy through the shared production and discussion of resources, shared planning and task design. Also in contrast to several other studies, they developed distinct ways to handle differences of subject knowledge among the teachers in the department. Their focus changed during the study from developing resource banks to supporting students’ learning through hybrid teaching.     

ADHD Coaching With College Students: Exploring the Processes Involved in Motivation and Goal Completion

College students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience increased academic difficulties, which can negatively impact graduation rates, employment, self-esteem, and mental health. ADHD coaching assists students with ADHD to reduce such difficulties. The present study evaluated the processes involved in ADHD coaching by examining undergraduate and graduate level students (n = 23) who attended individualized ADHD coaching sessions for 8 weeks. Specifically, the study examined the types of goals established, the use of weekly objectives (tasks to be completed), barriers to task completion, the use of incentives and consequences to increase motivation, and the role of task enjoyment and therapeutic benefit on task completion. The most common goals involved time management and academic performance. Results showed a significant effect for use of incentives/consequences on weekly task completion. Therapist-coach ratings were predictive of task completion, while client ratings were not. The primary barriers to task completion were lack of motivation and poor time management.