Reinforcing+effort

= Reinforcing effort =

Overview
Reinforcing effort should be used often as an instructional strategy. Learners need to understand that the effort they put into a task directly correlates to their level of achievement. Teachers can use reinforcement in many ways in order to influence the beliefs and attitudes of their students. Reinforcement is the key to encourage better performance and maintenance of desired behaviors. It is important that students recognize when they are being successful, so that they may continue to achieve that success.


 * Praise
 * Rewards
 * Feedback
 * Recognition
 * Support

1) Classroom Performance System (CPS)
Image from @http://www.einstruction.com/products/assessment/cps/index.html


 * Form of Reinforcing Effort:**
 * Feedback

Rationale
CPS is a student response system that lets students answer questions and get immediate feedback and reinforcement from their responses. The system consists of small handheld remotes that instructors can use to measure their learners’ comprehension. This program allows students to immediately recognize when they have gotten the correct answer. CPS helps engage the students and motivate them to do better by increasing their interactivity levels. It also allows students to understand how and why they got certain answers right and wrong which in turn leads to a greater level of comprehension.

This hardware can be used for a class of up to 64 students. It is easy to transport, light, and plugs directly into a USB cable. It is easy to use and a recently added feature now contains question banks and helpful support tools for using the hardware. The program can be used to answer multiple choice and numeric questions verbally, visually on a screen, or on paper.

Requirements

 * 2 AA batteries per remote
 * Windows XP and Vista or Mac OSx 10.4.1 or higher

Cost
There are opportunities to apply for grants to recieve free or reduced cost CPS systems through the manufacturer eInstruction. If a school or district is not eligible for reduced costs, the sysytem can be purchased for $1975 for 16 remotes, $2965 for 24 remotes, and $3955 for 32 remotes. After original purchase, another 8 remotes can be bought at a reduced price of $500. Individual remotes can also be purchased for $39 each. 

=2) A+nywhere Learning System= == Form of reinforcement:
 * Image from** **http://204.97.228.57/als/images/index2.gif**
 * Recognition
 * Feedback
 * Support

Rationale
This software is a tool used for self paced content presentation. It is a form of programmed instruction, but is kid friendly and something that students can have positive interactions with. Students choose categories of subject matter and go through lessons on a specific state or national standard. Each lesson has different activites and strategies to get the learners to comprehend the material. There are four different parts to each lesson; the actually presentation of content, the study guide, the practice, and the test. As learners go through these different parts, they get continuous feedback for their progress. Learners also get positive pictures, videos, phrases, and audio when they complete tasks or answer questions correctly.

Many schools use this program as a method for content recovery. Students are able to complete lessons from A+ to gain back credit they missed throughout the quarter. This is an especially good way to reinforce effort. This method tells learners that if they try hard enough and master the concepts presented in the A+ lessons, then they will be able to get a better grade. This also teaches students that learning leads to success, which will reinforce their effort on daily assignments.

Requirements
 * Windows
 * Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or 7
 * 333 MHz or faster processor
 * 128 MB memory
 * Java 1.4.1
 * Mac
 * OS 10.4x
 * 1 GHz Macintosh G$ or Intel Mac processor
 * 256 MB memory
 * Java 1.4.2 or 1.4.5

Cost
Schools that have not met AYP can be eligible for a grant that will provide A+ to the district for free. Other schools that are not eligible for grants, can purchase a general license to be negotiated with the manufacturer. In addition, individual courses can be purchased for $1000-1200. = = =3) Moodle=

Image from @http://moodle.org/


 * Forms of Reinforcing Effort:**


 * Feedback
 * Support

Rationale
Moodle is a web environment, in which teachers can set up online courses, information, and web sites for their students. It is an open source Course Management System (CMS) which means that it is free of charge. Moodle is easy to use and easier to download and get set up. It can be used as a virtual learning environment or simply a place where students can go and receive content and feedback. Moodle links students to resources on the web, gives them access to content, stores assignments and grades, and allows them to be available anytime and anywhere.

Moodle can be used to reinforce effort because students can receive immediate feedback with this online system. Students can post discussions with other students in order to get peer feedback. Students can talk to hundreds of different students from across the world on features similar to wiki’s and forums. With over 200 hundred countries and 30 million users, Moodle helps build a community of learners who are constantly providing and giving feedback and support to each other.


 * Requirements**
 * Windows
 * 256 MB RAM (minimum), 512 MB RAM (recommended)
 * 160 MB free Fixed Disk (more space will be needed depending on user uploads)
 * Windows 98/ME (minimum)
 * Windows NT/2000/XP (recommended)
 * Mac
 * Intel Core Duo or PPC (g3, G4, G5) processor
 * 512 MB or better RAM
 * 500MB Hard drive space
 * OS X 10.4 or 10.5

**Cost** Free!

Education Challenge

 * Differentiated Instruction**

It is important to have strategies, lessons, and activities that meet all students' needs. Every student does not learn concepts the same way or the same pace. Instructors must find ways to engage every learner on their specific level. All of these strategies allow for differentiated instruction. Often times it is very difficult to instruct a room full of students who all need different things. The first step to increase the differentiation in the classroom is by simply knowing what the students have learned. While the three strategies above are very efficient for reinforcing effort, they are also tools to help teachers understand what is it that their students know. The CPS system allows an instructor to immediately know who knows what and if any kind of remidiation needs to be done. The A+ program works simiarly in which it quickly tells the instructor the level in which a students is operating. Moodle allows instructors to interact with every student in order to understand what each individual needs. A+ also allows for a guided learning environment where students can go at their own pace. This strategy works really well for all levels of students because the students can go as slow or as fast as they need to. This program also gives constant feedback and support which is essential to meeting learners needs. Moodle allows students to get the content a variety of ways which research shows is a great way to promote differentiation and engagement. Another key aspect of successful differentiation is the ability to use products that demonstrate the understanding of the student, which CPS does extremely well.