Exploring the Effects of Daily, Timed, and Typed Technical Term Definition Practice on Indicators of Fluency

Say All Fast Minute Every Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS) is one behaviorally based teaching tactic. Like flash cards, SAFMEDS helps build familiarity with course objectives and can be used to promote fluency in the corresponding verbal repertoire. However, SAFMEDS differs from flash cards in that it follows specific design features and the acronym specifies how to practice flash cards. Students might practice in the traditional see-say learning channel used with SAFMEDS, or they could practice in a see-type learning channel (i.e., Type All Fast Minute Every Day Shuffled [TAFMEDS]), as the precision teaching community has sought to bring digital technology to their teaching, using computerized standard celeration charts and programs that present flash cards in a digital format. The present study explored the use of computerized charting and a see-type learning channel program developed for TAFMEDS in several sections of an undergraduate Introduction to Behavior Principles course. Course instructors explored the correlations between daily TAFMEDS practice with behavior-analytic terminology and student performance. After 3 weeks of daily practice, the study concluded with a culmination of 4 checkouts that examined endurance, application, stability, retention (when possible), and performance in different learning channels. Results indicated a correlation between daily practice and higher daily performance frequencies and longer term outcomes, including maintenance, endurance, stability, application, and generativity. The findings are discussed in terms of bringing frequency-building activities to university settings and the advantages and disadvantages of bringing technological advancements into frequency-based instruction.