Course Title: Shaping Workshop 209
Instructor: James O'Heare, CABC, CDBC, PABC
Course Description:
In this practical, mechanical skills development course students will apply the principles of behavior, and the techniques of animal training learned in previous courses to address a complex training task involving shaping, also known as differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a target behavior. The emphasis will be on capturing the approximations rather than prompting them. Shaping is an advanced skill that, if done well, can promote quick learning and acquisition of new behaviors, even ones not in the learner's repertoire already. It can also promote empowerment (persistence, emotional resilience and industriousness). If done poorly, it can cause frustration and disempowerment. There are many skills involved in shaping, and this course will provide you with the opportunity to practice them with your own companion animal with access via email to an instructor for guidance and for feedback on your training report.
The assignment will involve reporting on the training process to demonstrate insights and proper application of principles and techniques. The assignment is not graded based on whether you meet the specific training goal but rather the demonstration of learning new training behaviors in yourself from the experience and on understanding of concepts and terminology in learning and training.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completing this course, the student will be able to:
- Apply principles of learning and training techniques to actual training projects
- Develop and implement a formal training plan
- Describe what behaviors and training objectives shaping is most appropriate for
- When to prompt and when to capture behaviors
- Transfer stimulus control to a verbal cue
- Generalize performance to new environments
- Track behavior quantitatively
- Effectively deliver reinforcers
- Deliver reinforcers with effective timing
- Establish and maintain a conditioned reinforcer
- Improve flexibility in training
- Communicate about training tasks
Texts:
- Getting Started Clicker Training For Dogs by Karen Pryor (Recommended but not required)
Precluded Courses:
- This workshop is a portion of Animal Training Technology 105. If you take 105, you cannot be awarded credit for this workshop.
Course Evaluation:
This course will be evaluated by short essay assignments that will reflect and demonstrate mastery of the course topics and achievement of the learning objectives. The final grade will be the mean average of the assignment grades.
Enrollment Package Includes:
- Coursework document with assignments and course notes
- Student Handbook
- Access to Classroom, with transcripts from Guest Visits and handouts
- Free membership with AABP and to all issues of its journal JACAB
- Access to your Instructor for one-on-one guidance
Schedule:
The course begins as soon as your enrollment is complete and you receive your enrollment package. Although we allow 1 month for this course, you are free to complete the course sooner if you can, and we do allow extensions if need be.
Prerequisites:
- Principles of Behavior 104
CEUs: Continuing Education Credits Available. See Course Approvals page for credits.
Tuition:
The tuition is identified at the top of this page with the payment button. Tuition is in Canadian funds (Currency Converter). Textbooks not included in tuition. They may be purchased through http://www.dogwise.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.abebooks.com or http://www.half.com in most cases. Also check the Student Library. Canadian Residents 5% GST.
Notice:
Courses taken individually do not count toward program certificates or diplomas unless you are enrolled in the program as a whole.