Review of Behavior on a Disk from CMS Academic Software: instructional programs for teaching teachers.
A 1992 review says Behavior on a Disk gives cheap, fast ABA drills for college kids; later studies add data and tweaks but keep the same recipe.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hall (1992) wrote a short review of Behavior on a Disk. The software runs on classroom computers.
It gives college students interactive drills on shaping, reinforcement, and basic ABA terms.
What they found
The review says the disk works well and is cheap. Students like the quick feedback.
No data or class size is given. The paper simply praises the tool.
How this fits with other research
Griffith et al. (2020) later showed a self-instruction packet plus brief group feedback can teach undergraduates to run trial-based FAs with near-perfect accuracy. Their study adds hard data to the same idea: give students a clear script and fast feedback.
Kranak et al. (2022) surveyed newer tech tools for teaching graphing skills. They list many apps but still call for better training packages. The gap BOAD tried to fill in 1992 is still open.
Alba et al. (1972) already proved that fill-in-only drills beat lectures for college learning. BOAD simply moved those drills from paper to floppy disk.
Why it matters
If you teach ABA basics, you can copy the BOAD recipe: short exercises, instant feedback, low cost. Pair the software (or a modern clone) with brief live coaching, just like Griffith et al. (2020) did. The mix keeps prep time low and skill gains high.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The programs on BOAD represent a set of useful simulations and demonstrations of learning phenomena that successfully convey important practical and theoretical information to students. The most successful modules deal with shaping and the selective effect of positive reinforcement on behavior. The range of examples is sufficiently broad to convey the generality of these learning phenomena, but the graphics and particular examples are better suited to the college classroom (for which they were developed and in which they have received extensive field testing) than to the general public, where some users might be distracted by working with simulated animal "subjects" or bored by the simple graphics. There is a separate application on the disk that drills students on behavioral vocabulary, a useful resource for helping to assure that behavioral issues are discussed using consistent terminology. Although a single disk is initialized for a single user so that individual progress can be tracked accurately in printed reports, the cost of a disk is so low that no student who needs to learn about teaching would be discouraged from purchasing it. In truth, this is the best deal in instructional software I have seen yet.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1992 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(92)90031-z