THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CURRENTLY ENROLLED STUDENT PROCTORS IN AN UNDERGRADUATE SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSE1

Abstract

Potential users of Keller's personalized college classroom method might find it impractical to provide student proctors from the ranks of those who had previously mastered the course material. An alternative is to let currently enrolled students proctor and tutor each other. Such a method imposes the burden of showing that its effectiveness is not a function of (1) student collaboration or (2) the effects of “practice” received by students who listen to the performance of others before their own performance. The present study compared students proctored by previously trained students (Control) with students who received proctoring from classmates (Experimental). Experimental group performance was superior to Control group performance. The effects of “practice” and collaboration were ruled out as determinants of the difference between groups. It is hypothesized that the superior performance of the Experimental students was related to their activities as proctors.