Evaluating the Efficacy of and Preference for Interactive Computer Training with Student-Generated Examples

Designing effective and preferred teaching practices for undergraduate students are common goals in behavior analytic training programs. A preliminary study by Nava et al. (2019) showed that undergraduate students generally rated peer-generated examples of the principles of behavior analysis as more preferred, relatable, and culturally responsive than traditional textbook examples. However, peer-generated examples did not result in any improvement in performance on concept knowledge assessments. The current study extended the study by Nava et al. by embedding peer-generated examples within interactive computer training (ICT) to provide opportunities for active responding, prompt fading, automated feedback, and practice with examples and nonexamples. Results showed that ICT did not produce reliable improvements in knowledge assessments but were preferred to video examples and textual examples. In addition, students reported that certain interactive features contributed to their preference for ICT. We discuss ways to further improve the efficacy of the preferred ICT package.