Section 4: Human Performance Technology

Chapter 14’s discussion of human performance improvement reminded me of the changes that have happened in my district and on my campus for the last few years.  A few years ago the district that I work for went from having one K-1 campus, one campus for second grade, and one 3-5 campus to having 3 K-5 campuses. This was a huge adjustment for anyone who had worked in the district very long.  Principals were shifted, many of us were separated from our favorite teaching partners or grade levels and most of us had to work in a new building! It was not an easy transition.  Many people were very unhappy with their new assignment.  It created a very cold almost hostile working environment; it was like it was every man for himself! Nobody wanted to work together to the point that there was even some backstabbing going on!  This continued the next year, when the district decided to make the three K-5 campuses K-6.  Once again many teachers were unhappy.  Last year our superintendent decided to retire and once again, many teachers were upset and worried about changes. All of the changes that our staff had been through seemed to really impact the motivation of the staff.   Things were getting done but it seemed that the passion that had once fueled them had faded.

This year our administration has implemented staff affirmations.  The staff members write a note when they want to recognize another staff member for something positive and can either place it in their teacher mailbox or in a treasure box in the office where the assistant principal can read it during the morning announcements.  We also have a superhero doll (our school theme is superheroes) that we pass around each Friday at the school assembly where the giver publicly affirms the receiver. This has been very touching to watch each Friday!  Before this year, wearing jeans was a very rare occurrence but each staff member received a jeans pass as a birthday gift before school started.  The administration also now gives out jeans passes to staff members as a reward for various activities that are not required but allow staff members to work together with others that they may not normally work with.  Some examples include helping with the campus float for the homecoming parade, working Chick-Fil-A night, helping with another grade’s evening musical, etc.  I really think that, although it may seem simple, the jeans passes and affirmations really helped the campus come together.  It is really beginning to feel like a family and the atmosphere is no longer hostile but very pleasant.

An electronic performance support system is a way that computers can help solve human performance problems.  Using a computer application, users can access several tools that will help them improve their performance.  The tools can provide help in many areas of performance from providing simulated experiences to step by step instructions on how to complete a task.  I do not think that an individual electronic performance support system would help my campus build the camaraderie that the affirmations and jeans passes has.  However, some sort of performance support system for work groups could have been beneficial.  When using a performance support system for work groups, the users are working together to perform an interdependent task.  This could be a way to help individuals work together on a specific project when they normally would not.  I could see this being helpful in bringing content specialist from each grade level together to work on some sort of vertical alignment of the TEKS for a specific content area. 

Knowledge management systems are a way of organizing information so that it is meaningful to the user and can help solve a problem. There are 4 types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, common knowledge and undiscovered knowledge.  There are 3 components to a good knowledge management system.  Codification is the component in which explicit knowledge is collected and organized for easy retrieval.  Collaboration is the component that focuses on the tacit knowledge, providing a platform for people to share what they know.  Collaboration and codification are very important and together can lead to new ideas and the certainty that everyone knows what they need to know.  Access is the third component and should provide a way for the knowledge seekers to easily access the knowledge gained from the collaboration and codification components of the knowledge management system.

Considering the problem of lack of motivation in my coworkers, I think a knowledge management system could have helped the administration arrive at a solution earlier than they were able to.  First, the administration would have to have enough information from the staff to identify what the problem was, maybe in the form of an anonymous survey.  Then, if they had access to a knowledge management system designed specifically for increasing motivation and cohesiveness among workers they would have been able to draw from others experiences in dealing with the same issue and had access to their problem solving solutions. 

I feel like my life is full of informal learning experiences! My coworkers and I are constantly discussing things we have tried, lessons that have been successful and we often work together to come up with new ideas about how to do something.  I use my computer for all sorts of research to find information about new activities, lessons or just general information.  If I want to know something, chances are I am going to try to find the answer myself.  We learn so much from our everyday experiences and that is also a form of informal learning.  I think that if done properly, informal learning and formal learning can easily be interconnected.  I love to read and I love to read “teacher books” as I learn so much from those types of things.  Our campus does a book study each year and because of the way it is conducted, it kind of takes the informal learning into formal learning.  Each month our grade levels meet and discuss the month’s reading assignment.  This is a chance for us share the new knowledge that we have gained and how it pertains to us.  This is also a great time to hear other’s perspectives and gain new insight.  While each grade level reads the same assignment each month and has a discussion, each grade level also chose a particular section or chapter to present, in detail, at a faculty meeting.  This is more of a formal type of learning as opposed to the informal learning that is taking place from individuals reading alone and discussing as a small group.