Interteaching (Boyce & Hineline, 2002) is a method of arranging classroom time that departs from the standard lecture format.  It is a type of peer-learning activity that involves more student engagement and responsibility for content than in traditional lecture courses. 

In these courses, your instructor develops a “prep-guide” that includes questions that guide students through a reading assignment.  These guides typically cover about 15 pages of the reading material.  The prep-guides are available for several days before class (on blackboard for my courses). 

(See an example prep-guide from B. Saville)

You and other students come to class with a completed prep-guide and earn participation points for doing so.  After a brief clarifying lecture (on material from a previous day’s reading), you work with another student to discuss and understand the material on the pre-guide thoroughly.  This involves talking about the main points of the reading, working to clarify any topics/questions that were confusing, and helping the other person learn the material.  Additional participation points are available for the discussions.  During this discussion time, your instructor and teaching assistants move around the room to help guide your discussions and answer questions. 

After the you complete the paired discussion, you complete a “record sheet.” These record sheets provide a place for you to reflect on what you have learned and point out areas of confusion.  These record sheets help your instructor develop the short clarifying lecture that takes place during the next class period.  (Record Sheet.doc).

In my interteaching class, there are short weekly on-line exams along with 5 or 6 tests during the semester. 

Hineline (1970) suggested that having a lecture-based course for a class in swimming or basket-weaving makes little sense as the learning outcomes of such courses have little to do with effectively listening to a lecture.  The same is true for many psychology classes.  The goal in my classes is to help students learn through interaction with both the material and others.  That is, I want students to learn to discuss and explain principles of learning and behavior.  To do so, I believe it is more effective for students to practice discussing and explaining than to try to listen to lectures and take notes. 

Interteaching has been shown to lead to higher exam grades and higher rates of satisfaction when compared with traditional lectures (see Saville, Lambert & Robertson 2011 for a review).

Scoboria (2007) noted that, “Interteaching shifts the responsibility for the initial presentation of material away from the instructor, and places the initial expectation for learning and discussion of material upon students.”   I think that interteaching allows students to learn to actively engage in their academic activities.  The skills learned in this class may help you learn more effectively in other more traditional lecture based courses.

Arntzen, E., & Hoium, K. (2011). On the effectiveness of interteaching. The Behavior Analyst Today, 11, 155–160.

Boyce, T. E., & Hineline, P. N. (2002). Interteaching: A strategy for enhancing the user-friendliness of behavioral arrangements in the college classroom, 25, 215–226.

Emurian, H. H., & Zheng, P. (2010). Programmed instruction and interteaching applications to teaching Java™: A systematic replication. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1166–1175. Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.026

Goto, K., & Schneider, J. (2009). Interteaching: An innovative approach to facilitate university student learning in the field of nutrition. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 41, 303–304. American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2009.02.003

Hineline, P. N. (1970). An experimental approach to learning: Introduction for students. In R. Ulrich, T. Stachnik, & J. Mabry (Eds.), Control of Human Behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 153–155). Glenville, Il: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Hineline, P. N. (1970). An experimental approach to learning: Introduction for teachers. In R. Ulrich, T. Stachnik, & J. Mabry (Eds.), Control of Human Behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 155–160). Glenville, Il: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Hineline, P. N. (2006, February 28). Interteaching Sample Materials. http://www.temple.edu/psychology/hineline/documents/Interteaching-SampleMaterials.pdf . Retrieved March 29, 2012

Saville, B. K. (2011). Interteaching: A behavior-analytic approach to promoting student engagement. Promoting Student Engagement, 1.

Saville, B. K., & Zinn, T. E. (2009). Interteaching: The effects of quality points on exam scores. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 369–374. doi:10.1901/jaba.2009.42-369

Saville, B. K., Cox, T., & O’Brien, S. (2011). Interteaching: The impact of lectures on student performance. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 44, 937–941.

Saville, B. K., Lambert, T., & Robertson, S. (2011). Interteaching: Bringing behavioral education into the 21st century. The Psychological Record, 61, 153–166.

Saville, B. K., Zinn, T. E., & Elliott, M. P. (2005). Interteaching versus traditional methods of instruction: A preliminary analysis. Teaching of Psychology, 32, 161–163.

Saville, B. K., Zinn, T. E., Neef, N. A., Van Norman, R., & Ferreri, S. J. (2006). A comparison of interteaching and lecture in the college classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39, 49–61. doi:10.1901/jaba.2006.42-05

Scoboria, A. (2007).  Improving learning outcomes: Interteaching as an alternative to lecture in undergraduate education.  The Online Magazine of the Centre for Teaching and Learning: University of Windsor.  http://apps.medialab.uwindsor.ca/cfl/reflexions/volume02/issue01/scoboria.htm

The instructor & TA’s:

Provide clear guidelines for what activities should be completed when

Prepare and make available prep guides to help you read the material

Check prep guides

Provide feedback and help for paired discussions

Give short clarifying lectures based on your feedback

Prepare and grade quizzes and tests

Prepare and grade a cumulative final exam

The students:

Read and complete the prep guide before class

Check understanding of previous material during clarifying lectures

Actively participate in paired discussions to learn and teach the material

Take short weekly on-line quizzes

Prepare for and take approximately 5 chapter tests

Prepare for and take a cumulative final exam