Human Performance Technology

Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model:

Currently our campus is wanting to increase our scores in  TPRI.  To achieve this, our school if encouraging teachers to go the extra distance for the students.  One way to enhance performance would be to use the Gilbert's Behavior Model...

Cell 1:  As a grade level look at the scores from the beginning of the year screening.  Based on the scores, teachers will identify what skills the students are struggling in.  The grade level will discuss their findings with the campus instructional leader.

Cell 2:  Together the teachers and instructional leader will locate, create, and/or borrow the appropriate materials needed to assist their students in learning the skills they are lacking.  

Cell 3:  Goals will be set for improvement.  If needed, staff development opportunities will be looked into.  

Cell 4:  At this stage we will begin to work with the students on the skills that they are needing to develop.  If any teacher is having difficulty with a students progress than we will meet again to assist him/her with strategies.  

Cell 5:  As the teaching continues, we will move students around in groups.  Some students may attend another teachers training, if there is a connection made or if the need arises.  

Cell 6:  The students will be assessed again and the scores will be reviewed.  Teachers and students will be recognized for their work and for any progress that was made.

Electronic Performance Support Systems:

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) has many definitions, below are a few that I found from Wikipedea:  

Electronic Performance Support Systems, published in 1991, Gloria Gery defined EPSS as:

an integrated electronic environment that is available to and easily accessible by each employee and is structured to provide immediate, individualized on-line access to the full range of information, software, guidance, advice and assistance, data, images, tools, and assessment and monitoring systems to permit job performance with minimal support and intervention by others.

Also in 1991, Barry Raybould gave a shorter definition:

a computer-based system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice, and learning experiences.

From a business perspective, a former Nortel Networks executive, William Bezanson (2002) provides a definition linked to application usability and organizational results:

A performance support system provides just-in-time, just enough training, information, tools, and help for users of a product or work environment, to enable optimum performance by those users when and where needed, thereby also enhancing the performance of the overall business.

When reading them all, I would agree most with Gloria Gery's definition.  I feel that EPSS is intended for us to use and learn from with minimal support.  I can not totally agree with the others because I do not believe that it always can improve productivity or that it provides just enough training.  Many times, I have a difficult time using EPSS.

Why has EPSS not been widely used?  

I believe this is the case for two reasons.  First, many people do not know about EPSS.  Many companies do not advertise or train their employers on it.  Second, it seems harder to look for the assistance that to ask someone for it.  I can quickly get assistance from a co-worker or from the technology department rather than trying to locate the help on my computer.  If I decide to use the EPSS, I have to make sure I know what exactly I need assistance with and the terminology I will need to use to locate it.  For these reasons, I do not believe EPSS will become more prevalent in the future.  

Blended Learning Approach and Knowledge Management:

Problem:  Communication with parents is down.  Many parents do not involved or knowledgeable about what is expected of their children.

Solution:  The teacher created a class website, blog, wiki, etc...  The site would include information for parents, assignments for students, upcoming information, and links for assistance.  The  parents can comment on information and get assistance when needed.  The teacher can also add online training for assistance on some learning skills.

Result:  Happy teachers, students, and parents (well, most of the time)

Informal Learning:

Informal Learning	Purpose	Experience	Engaging	Role I played	Role Instructor played
Online Instruction	To instruct me about what I was learning.	I have watched about 5 online instructions for my college courses.	It was not engaging.  I simply watched it.	I watched the online instruction, took notes, and then completed the assignment.	He created the online instructions, made it available to us, and then graded our work.
Video Conferencing	To interact with each other over a live video stream	I took an ESL certification class and the instructor taught us via live video stream.	Yes	I listened, took notes, and asked questions.	The instructor set up the video stream, taught the material, and was available for questions.
Electronic College	To take college classes online	My entire Master’s work has been completed from online classes.	Some classes have been more than others.	I have participated in discussions and the online community.  I have also completed the required work and submitted it online.	To set up the materials and resources.  To be available for questions and concerns. To create an online community.

Evaluating, Implementing, and Managing Instructional Programs

Evaluation Models:

Besides CIPP and Kirkpatrick evaluation models, there are also the Flashlight Model by Ehrmann and the Goals Oriented/Objective Based Evaluation model by Tyler.  Both of these models will assist teachers in evaluating the effectiveness of their instruction.  

Flashlight Model:

1.  Decide on what technology you will use.  

Ask: Are my students and I trained on this technology?

2.  Evaluate the technology.

Ask:  Did the technology enable the students to ...?

3.  Determine what steps you will follow.

4.  Interaction of actions and outcomes

Ask:  Did the activity help the students accomplish...?

5. Outcomes:

Ask students questions about the learning

Goals-Oriented/Objectives-Based:

This model has four steps:

1.  Objective

What am I wanting to teach?

2.  Choice

What do I know and what am I going to use to teach the objective?

3.  Organization

The teacher will organize the learning.

4.  Evaluation

How will we know our objective has been met?

With each of these models the key is knowing what I am teaching, know my students, have a plan, and evaluate what I have taught and what the students know.  Each model is similar and help the teacher remember to focus on the evaluation.  The key is finding one that suits you, your district, and your students learning.

New Technological Innovation:

In my district, we have implemented an online Power Teacher Gradebook.  With this new program, teachers can enter grades, create reports, locate student information, and have the assurance that report cards are being calculated while you enter the grades.  Parents and students can go online and review grades, assignments, and teacher comments.  To help my campus learn this program, I took the lead position.  I attended training, issued training, and am available for questions or problems.  Let me say, before this program came everyone was very excited about the potentials and the "easiness" of it.  As I attended training, I was very impressed and felt very confident about training my peers and participating as well.  Then it came...the training went very well.  There are always "those teachers" who do not like any technology.  They were easy to ignore and assist when needed.  The problem was the glitches. Teachers would not be able to locate their class or the grades.  All of us also had to manually override some grades because the program was not working properly.  This created many questions for me, lots of phone calls to the technology help desk, and many frustrating conversations concerning it.  Good news, things have gotten better.  The system seems to be operating better and the users are getting familiar with the program.  The important things I learned...don't try to fool anyone (there is almost always glitches), be ready for the worst, and always keep a positive attitude (even when you want to hurt the one teacher who takes out his/her frustration on you).  

Situational Leadership:

 Let's pretend I am going to teach a professional development session about technology use in the classroom.  I am going to use the situational leadership style to develop my session.  Below is my outline for my session.

1.  I will learn my group.  

• If they do not know about technology, than I would be very detailed and give a lot of supervision.  
  
• If they do know some things about technology, than I would start where the majority is and build upon it.

2.  As my group learns more, I will make sure to offer support and rewards. 

• I want my group to "buy in" to what I am teaching.
  

3.  Now time for results.  This is when I would give a "homework" assignment.  

• The group takes what they learned and applies it in their classroom.
  
• I will make sure I am there for support
  

4.  I would take on the director or monitor role.

• I would check on them regularly and be there for support
  

Theories and Models of Learning and Instruction

The Schema Theory and Constructivism

Currently, there are many learning theories.  They are all similar to each other and can be very helpful for teachers to know.  By knowing each one, teachers have a variety of ways to teach their students.  Two learning theories that I will discuss today are the Schema theory and the Constructivism theory.  

When using the Schema theory the "knowledge is represented in long-term memory as packets of information called schemata."  The teacher presents the information in an organized and grouped way.  If I was teaching money, I would organize the learning into coins, dollars, where we spend money, and what we purchase with our money.  I would also provide experiences, such as, a classroom store.

When using the Constructivism theory, the learning goes from the "inside out."  If I was teaching money, I would first provide the foundation of what money is.  I would start with the experiences.  The students would participate in the classroom store, work together using money, discuss their experiences, make goals for what they want to spend and how they will spend it, and then reflect on their learning.  

When reflecting on these two theories, there is no right or wrong way to teach.  The most important thing to consider is...are my students learning?  The great thing about choices, is that if one does not work for you or your students, than you can go to another one!

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

http://ide.ed.psu.edu/idde/9events.htm is a reference on Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction.

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction *gain attention *taxanomy of learning outcomes:  cognitive, affective, and psychomotor *5 categories of learning: verbal, intellectual, cognitive, attitude, and motor skills *you can lose sight of the overall context while dealing with all the details of instruction

Both *recall information *demonstrate or elicit new knowledge *apply the learning *integrate or enhance learning *consistency *state the goal *practice and apply new learning *assessment *feedback

First Principles *4 phase cycle *real world problems *goals are not specific *relevance of learning *instructional media is used to enhance learning *collaboration encouraged *integrated

When using the first principles when teaching money I would follow the 4 phases of effective instruction:

1.  Activation-Bubble map what we know about money

2.  Demonstration-Sort coins, talk about their worth, and add up money

3.  Application-Students will purchase items from the classroom store using their coins

4.  Integration-Students will use real coins to purchase something from the lunchroom

Whole Task, Scaffolding, and mathemagenic methods:

When teaching time I can use whole task, scaffolding, and mathemagenic methods.

• Whole task-have students use the things they do during the day to tell time.  Determine what time we eat lunch, go to P.E.... use clocks to make the times.
• Scaffolding-extend the learning of time to what time they do things outside of school.  For example, go to practice, watch a T.V. show, go to bed.  Use the clocks to make the time and write the times
• Mathemagenic-talk about the parts of a clock.  Use the clock to make times that we do things.

Motivating learners to learn fractions

• Attention-bring in a pizza (not sliced) ask...How do I slice this pizza so that everyone can get a piece (perceptual and inquiry)
• Relevance-bring in cookies and talk about how to divide them between 2, 3, 4 and so on students (goal, motive, familiariety)
• Confidence-make sure I work with groups and partners to provide guidance and feedback.  Keep the lesson student led.
• Satisfaction-the food and feedback will keep the students engaged and positive about their work

The Benefits of Engaging in Design Research

• teacher training
• curriculum development
• used by teachers and students
• starts with a "thought experiment"
• support
• scaffolding
• succession of learning tasks
• independent class activities
• feedback
• real class setting
• learning related activities
• collects data

The Field

My definition of instructional technology - the use of any form of technology (hardware or software) that can be used to enhance the teaching and learning of either teachers or students.

The Dick, Carey and Carey model of instructional 

design is a very useful tool for everyone.  This model gives a clear step-by-step way of teaching instructional design.  Below I have added some details to clarify the steps and indicated how this design includes the six characteristics of Instructional Design.  Simply click on the image below to enlarge it.

Technology has come along way over time.  I remember being in school and the only technology we had was the T.V., our VCR, the overhead, and a tape player.  I also remember learning how to type on a typewriter when I was in high school.  Now that I am teaching, we use computers, the Internet, ELMO, projectors. and an array of software to enhance the learning of our students.  As technology improves, I see classrooms being virtual and teachers being mandated to use blogs, wikis, and websites so that the communication can be realtime for students and parents.  With the use of technology, our learning and teaching has endless opportunities and boundaries.  Students can stay engaged and can choose to work in a numerous of ways.