Section 4: Human Performance Technology
- Identify a performance problem in your area of work and provide a non-instructional solution to solve the problem.
In my office we have a new (though we have had it for almost a year) video camera and light kit. The plan is to add video pieces to the college’s website. Video on a website is becoming more and more expected by today’s and tomorrow’s users, so to remain competitive we want to add video to ours. At the end of the budget year, last year we had funds to purchase this equipment, but we do not have the personal expertise to use this equipment.
I would use Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering model as an example of how to go about solving the problem.
Cell 1: We need to start by defining what kinds of videos we want to produce, and finding examples and training to help us do the job.
Cell 2: We already have the tools, but need to identify a leader who can spear-head the learning process for the team.
Cell 3: There is no monetary incentive to learning this new process, but it does offer career development opportunities. With the current climate of financial cuts in education, there’s also incentives for being able to keep your job if you learn this new and valued skill.
Cell 4: We have to settle on a training program that offers all the key skills for producing videos. The skills needed include scripting and sketching the video, shooting the video with adequate lighting and sound, and editing the video.
Cell 5: Specific personnel need to be appointed or selected within the office. Time needs to be carved out from these people’s regular work schedules to allow for the training for video projects and for the shooting of videos.
Cell 6: Finding ways to motivate employees to take on these new responsibilities with no monetary compensation for the extra work will require a good system for communicating needs and providing feedback to motivate.
I think the biggest stumbling blocks to progressing with this task is in Cell 1. We do not have a clear definition or vision of what video projects are expected.
2. In addition to these definitions, locate a few more and indicate your preference explaining why you prefer it.
Definitions:
(Electronic Performance Support System) A computer system that provides quick assistance and information without requiring prior training to use it. It may incorporate all forms of multimedia delivery as well as AI techniques such as expert systems and natural language recognition.
I like this definition because it is very simple and user-friendly. Someone could understand this clearly without any understanding of HPI or HPT.
I also found this one that is much more geared to the HPI professional. It has specific and broad definition, but I especially liked that it included the fact that the information could be included in a variety of forms, and that it was a system a user could access at their moment of need.
Electronic Performance Support System - (EPSS) A system that provides electronic task guidance and support to the user at the moment of need. EPSS can provide application help, reference information, guided instructions and/or tutorials, subject matter expert advice and hints on how to perform a task more efficiently. An EPSS can combine various technologies to present the desired information. The information can be in the form of text, graphical displays, sound, and video presentations.
["Electronic Performance Support Systems: How and Why to Remake the Workplace Through the Strategic Application of Technology", Gloria Gery, Weingarten Press].
2. b. Additionally, describe why you believe EPSS have not been widely used and if they are more likely be become more prevalent in the future.
In reading this chapter, I thought back to my answer to last week’s questions. The trac system that we use for tracking web design jobs is an EPSS. The system allows for interaction by an automated system of e-mails when work is completed and reassigned to the other members of the project team. The system allows for documents to be shared, both within the system itself as wikis with fully interactive capabilities and within the individual tickets.
Anyone who is allowed access to the system can view all the tickets and the full wiki with all documentation. A password is required and the system administrator is the only one who can build a password for a user so secured information can be posted there. We give access to the wiki and ticket system to our new web employees from Day 1 so that they can review all the information it holds.
Google is another system that I use in different groups as an EPSS. The marketing offices at all the colleges have a Google site where the advertising calendars for the schools are shared. Resources such as advertising rate sheets, vendor information and more, also can be posted there for all offices to share. Meeting minutes and similar collaborative documents can also be posted. While this cannot be used to have a new employee start from a “Day 1” point, it can serve as a general resource for workers less familiar with advertising processes.
3. How might a blended learning approach, including the use of a knowledge management system, be use to solve the problem?
4. Describe the types of informal learning you have been exposed to in your adult life.
3. How might a blended learning approach, including the use of a knowledge management system, be use to solve the problem?
I’m trying to think of a problem where I could or would use a KM, but nothing is coming to mind at work. I’ll pick a hypothetical then and say that the problem is …
I’m taking a class in Reading Theory besides this course. As the focus of my seminar paper, I am focusing on how professors need to embrace new technology if they plan to engage tomorrow’s students as readers and writers. To encourage teachers to do this, I could use blended learning to show teachers ways that they could use new technologies to teach basic literacy as well as new literacies created by technology. I would have to build a knowledge management system that outlined a wide variety of software and online tools, rated them from novice to expert and contained details about the functionality of programs. It would be best served if there were also specific lesson plans associated with each of the different tools to offer examples of how they could be used. Part of the blended training would be in teaching the instructors how to use the technology once they had selected the ones that they wished to use.
I have learned almost all that I know about using Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator from informal learning. Trial and error was the biggest part of how I learned to use these programs, but I built on a basic knowledge of similar software I had used. When I could not find an answer, I sought the help of experts. I went to co-workers to find what menu or tool would accomplish what I needed to accomplish. I used informal learning to learn the things that I needed to learn as I needed them.
I’ve had on-the-job training to learn how to use phone systems for hotels and how to use database systems for sales systems. In each case where an informal training was part of my learning, the social aspect was just as beneficial as the training itself. In formal training, there is less of an opportunity to interact directly with classmates, but with informal training, especially that done on the job, you can directly interact with the instructor.
The interaction helps to build up a sense of sharing and community that formal training doesn’t allow. Because of the social aspect, most of the informal training was engaging when I was working with someone else, but when I have used trail and error to find answers or used resources like online tutorials it is less engaging. I have found a few online tutorial sites that use some pretty funny examples.
