Section 4: Human Performance Technology

Not all problems in learning and/or performance require an instructional solution. Many times a non-instructional approach is a more appropriate solution. This week's reading and reflection focuses on human performance, performance support systems, knowledge management systems, and the concept of informal learning.

Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem. 

                        For the past four years, I have worked with the same teaching partner while the third teacher on our team changed every year.  I consider the revolving door of our co-workers to be a performance problem.  The third teacher always came down from middle school to take the 6^th grade science and social studies position on an elementary campus.  The expectations for elementary students differ from the expectations for middle school students.  Our co-workers seemed to have trouble making the transition and moved on to a different grade level or subject the following year.

                        I believe the expectations provided by the administration for the new teacher were not clear, there was not timely and specific feedback when the teacher had concerns or made improvements, and there was a lack of knowledge sharing among science and social studies teachers. 

                        One reason I loved teaching 6^th grade math was the collaboration among sixth grade math teachers.  The 6^th grade math teachers from each campus met monthly to discuss ideas and concerns.  This was not required but the rewards outweighed the cost.  We gained open communication, knowledge sharing, feedback, and support from the administration. 

                        The goal of Human Performance Improvement is to “achieve, through people, increasingly successful accomplishments that are valued by the organization,” Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (p. 135).  To improve the performance of the third teacher on our team the administration can partner her with a specialized experienced teacher.  In this case, the mentor teacher could be the social studies or science facilitator.  The facilitator is already familiar with the students, curriculum, and other teachers of the same subjects and grades.  The mentor will work closely with the struggling teacher, set clear expectations for her performance and ensure that the necessary supplies for teaching are readily available.  By bringing together other sixth grade science and social studies teachers, a sense of community will be formed.  Within this community, the struggling teacher will sense a culture change and will become a member of a team.  Positive feedback from the administration is also required to keep the teacher motivated. 

Chapter 15 presents performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above.

                        Performance support systems are relatively new, emerging in the early 90’s.  The earliest purpose of performance support was to provide users support during computer based tasks.  Throughout the years, the definition and capabilities of performance support has evolved.  The possible tasks to be supported can be found in a wide array of jobs including, education, government, industry, and medical.  The goal of performance support today is to provide tools that support the user at the moment of need and to provide support before and after the moment of need.  The support can be supplied electronically or by a mentor but the end desire is for the user to gain support through the available performance support and use other resources as secondary support. 

                        A more specific explanation of the above mentioned problem could be a lack of collaboration among sixth grade science and social studies teachers.  The struggling teacher was trained in the subject areas during college but she was not provided a team of teachers to collaborate with when issues and concerns arose.  The lack of collaboration and the lack of community can make a teacher feel alone and unsupported. 

                        A performance support system can be created to solve this problem.  After building a community among the teachers, the instructional facilitator mentioned above will create a blog to continue the teacher support electronically.  One major concern of teachers is the lack of time to meet during the work day with fellow teachers.  Creating an online community after the teachers have met and established relationships face to face will allow the community to continue.  The facilitator’s blog will include a discussion forum similar to the virtual office in our online classes.  This will allow the teachers to share ideas while the facilitator is able to answer questions.  The blog will also contain curriculum information, class discipline ideas, organizational tools, and links to online teaching tools.  The blog will allow the struggling teacher to ask for help throughout the day with almost instant feedback from the facilitator and her peers.   

Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving? 

                        The collection and management of knowledge can be done using a blog as mentioned above.  This knowledge management tool encourages collaboration and a sense of community.  The subject area facilitator will maintain the blog to ensure the information is accurate and up to date.  Explicit knowledge such as curriculum guides, district data on student performance, and training information will be stored on the blog for teacher reference.  The explicit data provided is actually common knowledge that everyone needs to know about.  This information will keep the group informed without needing to send out multiple emails. 

                       

                        The blog will also include threaded discussions.  The discussions will need to be maintained and organized by the facilitator to ensure information does not get lost.  When a topic changes, the discussion will need to be on a new titled thread.  This will allow teachers to quickly search the discussion titles to access information discussed in the past.  A chat room will allow real time conversations among teachers and the facilitator during conference, before, and after school.  The discussion thread and chat room will encourage the exchange of tacit knowledge.  As a teacher, I always admired certain teachers and wondered, “What is the trick?  What do they know that I don’t know?”  The exchange of tacit knowledge through an encouraging and unthreatening medium can give struggling teachers encouragement and add to their tool box of tricks for teaching. 

                        The facilitator has a major role in maintaining the blog and encouraging teachers to actually use it.  She must monitor discussions to ensure the mood is positive.  This is not a place to voice complaints.  She will also need to carefully correct misinformation without discouraging users from sharing.   

Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization?  Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others?  Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed?  And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened for others?

            After graduating from undergrad, the majority of my meaningful learning has been informal.  As teachers, we all must participate in staff developments but how much do we actually learn and apply after attending?  How much of the knowledge we apply actually comes from the formal instruction compared to the knowledge we gained during the lunch break with colleagues discussing the staff development?  I have informally gained classroom management techniques, lesson plan ideas, and a deeper understanding of curriculum during lunch, conference time, and after school while informally meeting with teachers of the same grade and subject area. 

I think my informal learning experiences can be shared with others but as a classroom teacher, it is difficult to find the time to share, codify, and manage the knowledge.  This is where the instructional facilitator comes in.  She must provide the opportunity through knowledge management to share the information.  It is her role to codify and manage the information so it can be accessed by others.  This can be accomplished through a blog set up and managed by the facilitator.  The teachers would need encouragement and reinforcement to use the blog but if maintained well, the blog could become a place to broaden other’s experiences.