1. education
2. graduate school

Re-discovering the Keller Plan
John Cross and John Tucker
Fisheries and Marine Institute,
Memorial University of Newfoundland
What is the Keller Plan
• Developed 1965 by Fred Keller.
• Asked to develop new course for new
university.
• Used his experience with military training to
create a Personalized System of Instruction or
Keller Plan
Distinguishing Factors of a Keller Plan.
• Self-pacing, student work on their own.
• Unit Mastery, students must demonstrate a
thorough understanding of the topic.
• The use of lectures as a motivational tool.
• A stress on the written word.
• The use of proctors which permits repeat
testing.
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Taveggia (1976) looked 350 studies.
– No demonstrable difference in any method
• Then compiled 14 studies that evaluated the
Keller Plan against traditional teaching
methods.
–All favoured the Keller Plan.
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Kulik (1990) choose 103 studies carried out on
college courses.
– Studies chosen based on sound methodology
– 96 of the studies reported that mastery based
learning had a positive effect on performance.
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Kulik (1990) further results
– Effect size was 0.52.
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Kulik (1990) further results
– Effect size was 0.52.
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Kulik (1990) further results.
– Looked at subsets that measured other features of
student success
– Student attitude towards instructional method
• Positive effect size of +0.63
– Student attitude toward subject
• Positive effect size of +0.40
– Completion rate
•
small negative effect size of -0.14
Is the Keller Plan Effective
• Buskist (1991) results:
– Format of the evaluation does not seem to
matter:
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•
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Multiple choice exams
Final Examinations
Essay Examinations
Examinations designed to measure recall
Follow up examinations.
Subjects Where Keller Plan Works
• Grant (2003) says:
– PSI achieved many of its initial successes in
physics, engineering and the sciences.
• Mackie (2012)
– Implemented a course in electrical engineering.
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Why Isn’t Keller Plan Adopted More
• Cost of Running a Keller Plan Course
– Up front cost to develop material, including having
multiple examinations.
– $ cost because you need proctors to run.
Why Isn’t Keller Plan Adopted More
• Cultural issue with marks being too high.
– Buskist “Many PSI instructors must also contend
with colleagues and administrators who complain
of too many A’s.”
– Tyree, issues with 80% of students earning a high
distinction when guidelines say that between 2%
and 8% should.
Why Isn’t Keller Plan Adopted More
• Cultural issue with marks being too high.
– Bloom “There is nothing sacred about the normal
curve. It is the distribution most appropriate to
chance and random activity. Education is a
purposeful activity and we seek to have the
students learn what we teach. If we are effective
in our instruction, the distribution of achievement
should be very different from the normal curve.
Why Isn’t Keller Plan Adopted More
• Cultural issues with format, Buskist “The lecture
format has a number of beneficial features. It
creates a structure and platform for an instructor to
discuss their topic of expertise. It also imposes a
convenient time frame for the institute which can
have all courses run the same length with precise
start and stop dates. In fact the only entity that the
lecture based course does not benefit is the student.
Why Isn’t Keller Plan Adopted More
• Student Withdrawal
– Students must drive the system not be driven by
it.
– If a student falls behind, almost impossible to
recover.
– Need some support elements in place.
– Not for everyone.
The Keller Plan at M.I.
• Implemented in a prep-course for applied
mechanics examination.
– Started by preparing material in units
– Units delivered with Captivate.
– Evaluations using Maple T.A.
The Keller Plan at M.I.
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Me in 5 years
• Mostly out of the “lecturing business”.
• All the way out of the marking business.
• Interacting with students one on one or in
small groups over specific issues.
• Becoming more of a manager of learning.
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Thank You
• Questions?
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