Distance education in the light of Teaching Technology

Skinner, in the book Technology of Teaching (1968), presents guiding principles for a teaching programme that leads to a change in student behaviour towards the proposed objectives. With the purpose of analyzing how these principles, established in the late 1960s, and studied until today by behavior analysts, could contribute to distance education, the present book proposed the investigation of a teaching method used in an online discipline of a face-to-face undergraduate course based on the principles presented by Skinner in Technology of Teaching. From the results obtained, it is discussed that the application of the principles proposed by Skinner, about half a century ago, in distance education, shows their usefulness and relevance for the planning of teaching, and that they can be used effectively in this type of education. It is also discussed that the technological resources, commonly used in this modality, contribute to the application of what Skinner idealized in the late 1960s.