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.
Performance Problems and Non Instructional Solution
A prevalent performance problem that I have encountered during my tenure as a math professor at Tyler Junior College, from semester to semester, is the overwhelming number of students that refuse to do the online homework. Having had the chance to observe the trend of the students not turning in homework, I believe that the best to address the problem would be the model for the International Society for Performance Improvement. This model is referred to as the Human Performance Technology Model (HPT). The objective is to have a homework completion rate of 95% of the total number of students that I teach. The current completion rate is currently in the 70 percentile range. Based upon the cause analysis, it is evident that the students do not see the value of doing the homework. They fail to understand that the best way to succeed in math is to develop a strong foundation and one of the best ways to accomplish that task is to ensure a method that I like to refer to as “quality time on task.”
The non instructional solutions I have implemented into my class involve dropping the lowest test grade and replacing it with the homework average. This means that the homework average will replace their lowest test grade. I have also offered customized Accu-Placer tutoring for those students that have been completing their homework in a timely fashion. Students increase their chances of testing out of college prep math altogether if they receive the tutoring. If they successfully test out of college preparatory math they will reach their graduation date much faster and they will save themselves a great deal of money. The final idea that I have implemented this semester involves allowing students ten to fifteen minutes each class period to work on homework and assist them with any questions that they might have concerning the homework. This has created a mini math lab within the class. During this time, I encourage students to work with each other and form study groups that meet after class. I think this process will have a profound impact upon the homework completion rate. All of my non instructional solutions are in place and have yielded higher test scores and homework completion rates.
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.
EPSS Definitions:
- Wikipedia: “An Electronic Performance Support System, is any computer software program or component that improves user performance.”
- LearnThat.com: (EPSS) A system that provides electronic task guidance and support to the user at the moment of need.
- PC Magazine 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.
- Gloria Gery: Coined the phrase "Electronic Performance Support System" in the late 1980s. Her thought provoking book by the same name (1991) sparked a movement that synthesizes user-centered design, usability, information architecture and more, toward a design for computer-mediated work environments that ensures business performance through human performance.
- Barry Raybould: "a computer-based system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice, and learning experiences" (Raybould, 1991).
Preference: I prefer the LearnThat.com definition of EPSS because it focuses on providing guidance at the moment of need. It doesn’t just focus on the providing guidance that helps improve performance. By offering the guidance at the moment the student needs it, the EPSS helps maximize the return on investment.
Current and Future Use of EPSS: I believe that EPSS is not in great demand because the results are varied and unpredictable. The price of the technology that is used in the EPSS systems are often expensive and the return on the investment is not guaranteed. EPSS programs will be used more in the future when cost of production and implementation are reduced and when management sees the use of EPSS as a viable investment that is just as important as investing in their employees.
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?
Knowledge Management and the Blended Learning Approach
The Problem
Our martial arts organization is currently trying to push a particular software application to help school owner manage their paperwork and student enrollment issues. By using this program, it is supposed to free up more time for the martial arts instructor to spend more time with students and allow more time for curriculum development. The program is still in early stages of deployment and there seems to be various problems with user interaction. This has led to a great deal of apprehension among school owners that have invested a great deal of money into the purchase of the software. The software has failed to make the life of the school owner easier by not delivering on the advertised promise of streamlining the records management process. Many records are having to be re-entered and various records have been to deleted causing records to have to be regenerated.
Our martial arts organization is currently trying to push a particular software application to help school owner manage their paperwork and student enrollment issues. By using this program, it is supposed to free up more time for the martial arts instructor to spend more time with students and allow more time for curriculum development. The program is still in early stages of deployment and there seems to be various problems with user interaction. This has led to a great deal of apprehension among school owners that have invested a great deal of money into the purchase of the software. The software has failed to make the life of the school owner easier by not delivering on the advertised promise of streamlining the records management process. Many records are having to be re-entered and various records have been to deleted causing records to have to be regenerated.
The Solution
Implementation of the MAPS management system has the potential of helping school owners become more efficient. I think that MAPS can become a successful tool if they offer a curriculum based instruction on the features of the software at national martial arts events. Incentives would be offered to school owners to take the structured learning sessions by offering a discount on the price of the software to those martial arts instructors that attend the MAPS training sessions. Additional support can be offered to those that have attended the instruction through blogs. Martial arts instructors will meet with the software instructors in a traditional setting and in an online forum. Software instructors will use the online components to keep in constant contact with their students. All of the experiences that the students have encountered, in using the MAPS software program will be loaded into a database for easy retrieval and assessment of the data collected.
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?
My Experience with Informal Learning
My informal learning experiences stretch far and wide throughout my lifetime. I have experienced this type of learning as young boy early in my childhood from my family, the vast amount of time that I have spent in dojos (martial arts schools), on the football field, and in the mountains of Seoul Korea at the Hae-In-Sa temple as an adolescent. I have also had my fair share of informal experience while in the military. I have taken part in the learning experiences as an student and as a teacher. In one way or another, it seems that I have always been part of the cycle of education, wether it is as a student, a teacher, or an observer. I have always possessed a strong desire to learn and I enjoy teaching.
I really enjoyed reading your post. You had excellent explanations and videos for each topic. Great job!
ReplyDeleteSeveral students in this course this semester have mentioned the difficulty of getting students to complete their homework. The reports are from teachers who teach students at different age levels. I realize that this has always been an issue, but it seems to be escalating. Thoughts on why?
ReplyDeleteI think the primary reason for students not doing their homework at the grade school level is primarily due to the fact that their parents don't take an active part in their child's educational development at home. I think many parents believe that learning is to take place at school and very few seem to understand that repetition and time on task of the objectives learned in school for various subjects, must take place outside of school. This being the case, the home is other place where most secondary school age children spend their time. This is where what was observed in school is committed to the long term memory. The lack of enforcement on behalf of the parents, due in part to a multitude of reasons -- single parent homes; both parents having to work two jobs; child being raised by their grandparents that might not understand how to help them study; lack of discipline in the home; the child having to work forty hours a week to help the family stay in the home and list goes on and on. The lack of emphasis that is place on the child to do homework outside of class leads that child to developing poor study habits for higher education and they suffer severely their first semester.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the arts music and theater are important in combating this stigma. Many music teachers and drama coaches expect to know the material when you arrive to rehearsal. This means that you must practice on your own at home (a.k.a. homework) and be ready to work on the minor changes needed to accomplish the objectives in class.