In a previous blog, Thank You for Playing PORTL!, I wrote about getting ready to use PORTL (Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab) in the classroom for the first time. I was deep in prep, reading, chatting with colleagues, watching videos, and knew practice would follow. Along the way, colleagues were incredibly generous with their resources and advice. Thank you all for your support and guidance (see Goodhoe et al., 2019 for a great resource on how to incorporate PORTL into undergradute courses). This spring, I finally went for it and used PORTL in two undergraduate courses.
Below are some takeaways from my first experience using PORTL (Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab) in the classroom. If you’re thinking about trying it out in your own courses, here are a few things to consider based on how it went for me.
How Many Students are Playing PORTL?
I used PORTL in two undergraduate courses this spring, one with 14 students and another with 28. The two courses were focused on learning principles, one was basic and the other one more applied. Unsurprisingly, playing the game with a larger group was more challenging. What this meant for me is that, it just took more time to circulate, check in on how things were going, and make sure the rules were being followed. With the smaller group, it was easier to track progress, and more students had a chance to speak up during the debrief. That said, both groups had valuable learning experiences, and the energy in the room was generally great (but also some frustration showed, I will share more below) in both cases.
How Much Time do you have per Session?
Most of my sessions were either 50 or 110 minutes long. The longer blocks definitely gave us more room for setup, switching roles, and running longer exercises. But don’t count out the shorter sessions—50 minutes was still enough time to introduce a training task or run a quick activity. Sometimes I had to pause a session to make time for a wrap-up discussion, and that worked out just fine.
Are the Sessions Back-to-Back?
In my case, most sessions weren’t consecutive, which meant we needed a little time to reset and remember where we left off. Sometimes I led the review, but often the students stepped up, especially those who had been consistently attending. They were quick to recall what we’d done and helped bring everyone else up to speed.
What about Attendance?
This part can be tricky. Students who missed a session or two usually needed more review, but the good news is that their classmates often helped fill in the gaps. I was pleasantly surprised by how eager some students were to explain the rules or recap past exercises for their peers.
Debriefing with Students
One of the most rewarding parts for me was the debrief after certain exercises. After the first extinction session, for example, we paused to talk through what had just happened. Watching the learners, especially the ones who didn’t know the rules, process what they experienced was fascinating. Their facial expressions alone were priceless.
These moments also gave me a chance to revisit key concepts like reinforcers, conditioned reinforcers, and more concepts I had introduced earlier in a short lecture, but that really came to life through the game.
Playing PORTL Is Fun and Sometimes Frustrating
Fun and frustration often go hand in hand when playing PORTL. Sometimes students feel both within the same session and instructors definitely aren’t immune either.
As Hunter and Rosales-Ruiz (2023) put it:
“Teaching behaviors using PORTL gives students more empathy and understanding when they work with learners in applied settings. While playing the role of the PORTL learner, individuals experience the thrill of learning a behavior effortlessly under the guidance of a well-thought-out teaching plan, as well as frustration and annoyance when they are not performing the correct behavior and reinforcement is not forthcoming. Experiencing good and not-so-good teaching from the perspective of both the teacher and learner helps students see the importance of well-designed teaching plans and being responsive to their learner’s behavior.” (p. 372)
This quote really captures what I saw in my own classrooms. I tried to notice signs of frustration in real time, and I also picked up on it through students’ responses to written prompts like “How did you feel?” between sessions. In the debriefs, some students spoke openly about their frustration—often tied to not knowing what they were supposed to do. Just like Hunter and Rosales-Ruiz described.
Is that frustration a teachable moment? Maybe not in the moment, but it definitely opened the door for some valuable discussions. For example, it helped us explore the difference between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior. It also gave students a reason to reflect on the experience of being a learner, the importance of clarity in instruction (and that sometimes what is clear for some, may not be for others), and the reciprocal nature of teaching.
More Insights and Moments
One thing I really appreciated about using PORTL: it demands presence. When the tabletop is cleared and the materials are set up, there’s no space for phones or other distractions. The structure of the game naturally supports focus and interaction. The rules are designed to help players pay attention to one another and stay engaged.
Of course, the rules weren’t always followed exactly. Rosales-Ruiz and Hunter (2019) recommend:
“The teacher should not talk to the learner, make gestures to prompt the learner, physically move the learner’s hand, or model the behavior. The teacher will communicate with the learner entirely through the operation of the clicker.” (p. 14)
In practice, I saw some eye contact, laughing, and yes, even talking. But the students were having fun, so I let some of that happen and gave gentle feedback to help everyone stay on track next time. It felt like the right balance between staying true to the protocol and keeping the learning experience positive and accessible.
Despite the challenges and the energy it takes to implement, I found using PORTL in class to be a truly valuable experience for me and the students. I’m definitely planning to do it again next semester.
Next Steps
Using some of the information collected in the data sheets used in class, I will spend some time analyzing responses from students to questions such as: “What are you doing to earn blocks?”, “How do you feel about what is being taught?”. I also want to build in some ways to measure what students are learning through the game. Now that I’ve seen how PORTL engages students and sparks rich conversations, I’m thinking about how to make their learning more visible. While the debriefs and in-class reflections were insightful, I’d like to include more structured ways to assess what students are actually taking away from the experience.
References
Goodhue, R. J., Liu, S. C., & Cihon, T. M. (2019). Incorporating the portable operant research and teaching laboratory into undergraduate introduction to behavior analysis courses. Journal of Behavioral Education, 28(4), 517–541. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-019-09323-y
Hunter, M. E., & Rosales-Ruiz, J. (2023). The PORTL Laboratory. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 46(2), 355–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-023-00369-y
Rosales-Ruiz, J. & Hunter, M. E. (2019). PORTL: The Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab.
Behavior Explorer.