If you have ever heard us speak at conferences or workshops, I’m sure you will recognize this quote (and many variations) we often repeat over and over – “Technology without Strategy will lead to poor outcomes”. Though we will dive into this deeper in a later post, I wanted to share a foundational principle for meeting the needs of ALL learners. Before you select the technology, you must identify the strategy. Before you select the strategy, you have to know where you learners are in regards to the content/skill you are teaching! Knowing this will allow you to make the best instructional (including when, what, and how with technology) decision for each learner. Haring, et al., 1978 was one of the earliest to dive into these stages and it has moved forward with a few minor changes through the years. Here they are (drumroll please!): Acquisition, Fluency, Maintenance, and Generalization.
Here’s a scenario from when I was in the classroom. I was teaching multiplication facts to middle school students. I taught one of the fact families and gave a quiz. They got them all wrong, and I was frustrated because they were doing them successfully during the week! Where did I go wrong? Well, it was all about generalization.
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I taught this |
But tested this |
 |
 |
My students weren’t able to “generalize” the vertical presentation of the multiplication fact to the horizontal presentation. Read below for more information about each stage of learning along with a couple of examples.
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Stage of Learning |
Definition |
Multiplication Facts Example |
Communication Example |
|
Acquisition |
Student is not able to engage/complete/do the target skill, but is beginning to |
Chris does not know and is now learning multiplication facts for the number 3 (e.g., 3 X 1, 3 X 2, 3 X 3) |
Glenda does not know and is now learning how to request a restroom break using the communication device |
|
Fluency |
Student is able to engage/complete/do the target skill, but is not accurate or efficient |
Chris now knows the multiplication facts for the number 3, but works very slowly and makes errors when answering |
Glenda can now request a restroom break using the communication device, but works very slowly and makes many errors when requesting |
|
Maintenance |
Student is able to continue the skill successfully after teaching/training has been discontinued |
Chris still knows the multiplication facts for the number 3 accurately and quickly after teaching is discontinued |
Glenda continues to fluently request a restroom break using the communication device after the teaching this skill is discontinued |
|
Generalization |
Student is able to do the skill in new settings or ways that it is presented |
Chris knows the multiplication facts for the number 3 when it is presented in different forms (e.g., 3 x 3, 3(3), 3·3, 3*3, three times three) |
Glenda is able to fluently request a restroom break using the communication device at home, community, and other new environments |
Realize that your learners can be at different stages with different content and skills (at the acquisition stage with some content/skill and at the maintenance stage with something else). This is not a one-time assessment, but rather a systematic process that needs to be ingrained in your teaching.
I’m sure you are asking yourself what’s next after knowing where the learner is with a content/skill? In my multiplication fact teaching example, I should of “sampled the range” during the instructional process. We’ll be posting some strategies in the coming weeks for each stage. Until then, if you have any strategies that you have used and can connect it to a specific stage of learning, feel free to share in the comments section of this post.
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Using Time Trials Effectively » Universally Designed
March 21, 2012 at 9:55 am (UTC -4)
[...] Jason Gibson If you remember from our post about Stages of Learning, one of the stages is fluency. The goal in this stage is to increase the ability of the learner to [...]