What’s All the Fuss About Instructional Time?

David C. Berliner, Arizona State University

http://courses.ed.asu.edu/berliner/readings/fuss/fuss.htm

Great Vocabulary!

• Commonsensical• Zeitgeist: The general intellectual, moral and

cultural climate of an era. (Miriam- Webster, online)

Overview• Berliner believes that learning can best be

measured in units of time:– Allocated Time– Engaged Time– Time-on-Task– Academic Learning Time (ALT)– Transition Time– Waiting Time– Aptitude – Perseverance*Aptitude and perseverance are described in “time

terms” on the next slide.

Time-Based Definitions of Student Characteristics

• Aptitude: The time a student needs to learn something under optimum conditions. This turns student in “slow” or “quick” students as opposed to “stupid” students.

• Perseverance: The time a student is willing to invest in the learning.

Worst Quote

“The student with the least amount of ALT accrued over the five weeks is predicted to be at the 39th percentile on the smartest given to this sample, while the student that had accrued the largest amount of ALT is predicted to achieve on the posttest at the Ruth percentile.”

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