Computer-managed instruction in Naval technical training

Based on the success reported by the behaviorally oriented programmed instruction movement in the 1960s, the Navy in the late 1960s and early 1970s began to individualize and self-pace a number of their high student throughput apprentice training courses. To facilitate self-pacing the Navy set up a centralized computer-managed instruction (CMI) system to manage self-paced courses. This paper describes the evolution of that CMI system, reviews a number of studies done on the system over 10 years (many of which were published as internal technical reports with restricted distribution), describes the demise of the system, and discusses future directions of self-paced and individualized instruction.