BOB/BAIRD (PROPOSAL FOR PROGRAMMED LEARNING SURVEY)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06365A001000050020-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: December 29, 1965
• Content Type: MISC

66660 J+ J t P r .. c } A rt1 l~1 f e '/fr P6" r-
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I'm sure
will do a fine job .-a preparing
the proposal for the Programmed Learning (PL) Survey. But if you want me to
have someth n; to do with it, as you once said you did, I believe you'd like to
have my ideas on how the Survey should be conducted.
.As far ' .ck as 1958, 1 learned of the, then considered, miraculous ex-
VA.
p.e .i nts b :`. g carried In the Roanoke, -Weft-=Chwi i School system in the
rather than teachers seemed to be i i the vanguard of the experiments. I directed
teaching of A:;ebra. The results were almost unbelievable. Because psychc?ogists
C/A&E/OTR to do some in-house and external research on what
was then known as the "Teaching Mac-- ne. "
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spent part time for six months in an attempt
to devise a machine and a "program" for the teaching of "tradecra ;t. " OTR
let a 3 year contract with o do the same thing
rrais~ r y fea:, that the "machines" and P. L. will put them out of bu;iaess.
"machines" aa4 P. L. Only Commo and TSD s owe. any interest. Teachers
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Over the -ears since then, OTR. and the Agency have used P. L. in several
instances wit'_. ceess enough to warn.-want further research and validation studies.
OTR c soro. a series of Agency briefings y outside experts on both the
for the teachL of Mandarin Chinese.
poppycock. of course, but the suspicion lingers.
\r
Buii and another to the DCI's Sta::_' at Langley. . triecl to interest
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C"i4CI;1AL CL BY 461790 29 December 1965
1 gave a 40 minute briefing in 19x1 to the DDS and, his staff on. on. L. in :he
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Bob Amory of B. 0. B. in an interagency budget approach to the P. L. teaching
o english to foreigners, and sponsored an inter-agency briefing by N. Y. C.
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experts at Langley on the same subject. I appointed full tLme on
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P. L. and we contracted out two P. L. projects for OSI. _and I attended
several D. C. and out of town conferences on P. L. We were off at a limping
walk if not a run. Except among an enlightened few at the "indiant' level, the
concept of P. L. just didn't catch on.
There were several reasons for this:
1. I hadn't the ability and certainly not the time to sell P. L. to
the people who count.
3. The P. L. " industry" in the early days over sold their wares.
Fly-by-night outfits sprouted up which sold "teaching machines" of little
value and at exhorbitant prices. Irresponsible publishers in an attempt
to get in on the ground floor rushed "Programs" into print which were: _t
evaluated and which fell far short of the publishers' claims.
4. The above, intern, gave the skeptical and insecure orthodox
teachers opposition ammunition.
5. Inside the Agency budget and ceiling limitations gradually squeezed
out reseZ.rch funds and manpower which had been devoted to P. L. Don't
minimize the importance of this. It may not have applied to the DDS&T or
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but it most certainly did to QTR. was 25X1A9a
returned to the A & E Staff. went to NPIC. To meet
ever increasing requirements, OTR instructors who were working
part time on P. L. applications to OTR courses had to devote full time
to orthodox teaching. Outside O T R contracts for P. L. research and
Programs were one by one loppec off the budget.
6. The USAF picked up and ran with the government ball
which enabled the rest of us to rationalize a sit back and wait and see
poion.
So much for background. In spite of false starts, some admitted failures,
unva. dated claims and insufficient research, I ana convinced:
1. That P. L. principles are applicable to some QTR and
Agency t:;ainin_g pequirements.
Z. That where applicable, P. L. will very depreciably:
A. decrease the time studctr s need to be in tram -*ng
B. decrease the time instructors need in teaching
C. increase. the efficiency of the learning process and
retention of iniorznation
D. in the long run, decrease the cost of per capita
student training
E. afford flexible training means where classroom
space is not available and not needed.
What I do not know, and I don't think anybody else does, is the degree to which
i t 9/0 n$eg 06 4O
Pj?ffl5SqQ urge you not to pit
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the Agency to attempt to make up over night for the lost time of the last eight
cars. We quite frankly do not know enough about the state of the art and its
aw~p3icability to CIA to embark at this time on any. extensive P. L. ventures.
The Air 'raining Command of the US A1' in spite of its large outlay of money
and personnel on P. L. has validated only a small percent of its Programs; and
a w' .b !rnaller percent give evidence of applicability to CIA requirements.
Industry (Business) is ahead of the USAF, has spent mUlions (2 billion dollars
was a figure