Section 4:Human Performance Technology

1. Chapter 14 discusses the concept of the 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 provide a non instructional solution to solve the problem.   

At the elementary school I taught at in Garland, Texas, the teachers are required to maintain a zero noise level of their students while in the hallway. To reach this requirement, the teachers discussed hallway behavior and we conducted practice drills to make sure students understood what was expected of them. Unfortunately, students seemed to only follow the rules because the teachers told them to. Students in the back of the hallway line talked when teachers were in the front of the line and vise versa. Students lacked an intrinsic motivation to cooperate with hallway rules and teachers were exhausted from constantly quieting students. The school principal asked for suggestions at a staff development meeting and a strategy was created to motivate students in this area. Teachers were given good behavior tickets to randomly pass out to any students they observed following hallway rules. Students placed their tickets in a box in the hallway for a drawing of prizes at the six week awards assembly. Not only did this positive method improve hallway behavior overall, but it was also improved in the classroom. Some students with in class behavior problems rarely experienced a teacher acknowledging their good behavior. Many teachers who were totally against giving prizes for good behavior came to realize that more tickets were given out than prizes. I was personally excited to see a positive change in students as well as a release of tension among our teachers.

2. Chapter 15 presents several definitions of electronic performance support systems. In addition to these definitions, locate a few more and indicate your preference explaining why you prefer it. 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 Chapter 15, definitions of electronic performance support systems were defined for individuals, work groups and organizations. I would prefer an EPSS for schools that would link and support teachers in helping students. I believe that EPSS have not been widely used, specifically in schools because every teacher has a different idea about what electronic support they need in their classrooms and districts may be hesitant to utilize school funds to develop and implement a system. I think schools are closer to using EPSS to improve the education of failing students. A model of EPSS is already being implemented in schools through school libraries. Teachers in Garland ISD can benefit from the library database as they can search books for their students from their desktops, view video tutorials and they can also correlate the library database with the Accelerated Reading programs in their classrooms. I think it would be great if teachers could have more resources at their fingertips through EPSS, instead being on their own to find needed resources.

3. Knowledge management is the way we manage information, share that information, and use it. Organizations, such as schools, are full of information/data and we must organize that data in a way that we can make sense of it. We use data to make decisions and good data=good decision making. Identify a real or hypothetical problem in your line of work. How might a blended learning approach, including the use of a knowledge management system, be use to solve the problem? 

Since I am a new teacher, my biggest challenge is finding innovative lessons that will be effective in a classroom. My first resource in this situation is looking for online help through lesson planning sites such as http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/. Another website and knowledge management system is http://www.teachertube.com/ for innovative videos that allow me to see a visual of how a lesson can be successfully taught. I believe it is very important to use a blended learning approach by discussing new ideas from online resources with experienced teachers.  I tend to talk to older teachers and when I tell them about a student’s problem, they seem to instinctively know what ideas would be helpful or not.

4. Describe the types of informal learning you have been exposed to in your adult life. What was the purpose? What was the experience like? Was it engaging? Social? What role did you play? What role did the instructor play? 

Last semester I was in an educational research class that I thought would be easier than an online format because an instructor would be present. However, the instructor took the role of a facilitator and I was emerged in learning about the subject through engaging in discussions with other teachers. The teacher basically started and ended the class and provided us with needed resources. I was initially puzzled because I couldn’t figure out how teachers, who came to a class to learn how to research, were going to teach each other anything. The face to face class meetings were also very limited because we were expected to submerge ourselves in research to solve problems in our classrooms. Even though we only met with each other twice a week, we developed relationships with each other through our common goals. We also had specific research groups that we communicated with online outside of the classroom. I eventually came to realize how intentionally necessary this format was. Educational research is a skill that teachers utilize in their classrooms on a daily basis, but on a smaller scale. An instructor is not present in these instances and teachers need the confidence to look for answers within their own classrooms, through collaborations with other teachers and relevant research literature.