Open Educational Resources in Behavior Analysis.

Open educational resources (OERs) are materials that can be freely downloaded, edited, and shared to better serve all students. These resources are typically free of cost, reducing barriers to access for students and ensuring that all learners can have access to educational materials regardless of their financial status. OERs have been demonstrated to improve student performance and retention, especially for students traditionally underrepresented in higher education (e.g., first-generation, non-White students). Although there have been informal calls for additional OERs in behavior analysis, it is unclear whether behavior-analytic OERs exist. The aim of the current study was to use an OER aggregating metafinder to review what OERs are available on topics related to behavior analysis and whether sufficient resources exist to serve as primary course materials. Results indicate that OERs for behavior-analytic content exist but tend to be written by nonbehaviorists for use in survey courses in mainstream psychology. There also do not appear to be sufficient resources to support a course. Implications for promoting the development and dissemination of OERs, particularly with respect to increasing the recruitment and retention of diverse students in the field of behavior analysis, are discussed.

Training shelter volunteers to teach dog compliance.

This study examined the degree to which training procedures influenced the integrity of behaviorally based dog training implemented by volunteers of an animal shelter. Volunteers were taught to implement discrete-trial obedience training to teach 2 skills (sit and wait) to dogs. Procedural integrity during the baseline and written instructions conditions was low across all participants. Although performance increased with use of a video model, integrity did not reach criterion levels until performance feedback and modeling were provided. Moreover, the integrity of the discrete-trial training procedure was significantly and positively correlated with dog compliance to instructions for all dyads. Correct implementation and compliance were observed when participants were paired with a novel dog and trainer, respectively, although generalization of procedural integrity from the discrete-trial sit procedure to the discrete-trial wait procedure was not observed. Shelter consumers rated the behavior change in dogs and trainers as socially significant. Implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.