The Keller Plan

Initial Reactions:

• Having taken several online courses during undergrad, I generally preferred those courses that were taught based on the Keller Plan. I am an independent learner and enjoy learning at my own pace. I am easily bored sitting in lecture classes where I feel that I am not gaining from the material. Having started taking online courses in 2003 I had a hard time even relating to the development process that Davis and Ragsdell went through to create online courses. As a student who has experienced courses based on the Keller Plan as well as a teacher who is trying to create online courses, I see several barriers to this method. Such barriers include lack of basic technological skills, lack of self-discipline (time management), difficulty measuring creativity, thought process, critical thinking, and assessment of age appropriate developmental progression. Those that overcome such barriers should benefit from the knowledge gained of course material in addition to mastery of new skills.
  

In My Classroom:

• I am already attempting to use this model with my students. I teach several middle school courses at a school that runs on the quarter system. I can teach up to twelve sections of a particular course. Right now my struggle is with my 6^th grade computer class. I get bored teaching computer basics over and over. It would take a lot of time upfront to set up an online module for a basic computer class but would be worth it in the end to ensure that I am delivering consistent content to my students. The North Carolina curriculum clearly defines objectives and outcomes in manageable "chunks" that could very easily fit into the Keller Plan. My biggest barrier would be providing feedback. During the middle school years we're taught to tune into our children, watch for changes (personality, body, mood, etc.), and constantly assess where the student stands developmentally. To use the Keller Plan in my classroom, I would need to create feedback that would allow me to know more about the student than just their knowledge of the subject or how easily they pass through the modules. In addition, I worry about frustration that I see in many of my students with learning disabilities. How would I accommodate all of those disabilities within each module? How do I keep students from becoming frustrated and giving up when they cannot pass a module? I also am concerned with how to incorporate a variety of learning styles in the modules?
  

Resources:

• The Keller Plan could be carried out through the use of several web-based tools including moodle, blackboard, quia (webquest feature), webassign, webct, even facebook.