Human Performance Technology

1. In my place of work as a stay-at-home mom, problems in performance often present themselves in the form of less-than-desirable 3 year old behavior. As she is our only child, my husband and I are constantly learning as we go along when it comes to handling various situations involving our daughter and teaching her the lessons, values and manners that we expect her to learn. The most recent 'performance problem' we have faced goes back to the bedtime routine fiasco that I wrote about in my first blog posting. Our daughter had suddenly decided that she was no longer going to go to bed with ease, but instead she wanted to drag the process out for as long as she could before her dad and I reached our breaking points. She would continuously come out of her bedroom once she'd been tucked in for the night, tried to come sleep with us long before we felt it appropriate, etc. After sitting down together to discuss our options, my husband and I decided that the problem we were facing with our child was not something that was the result of poor teaching on our part so much as it was a lack of the all-powerful incentive. Our daughter simply didn't see the benefit to her if she did as we asked and stayed in her bed the entire night through. Silly us!! So...rather than sitting down and explaining in great length why she should go to bed with little fight in support of the sanity of her dear parents, we provided her with new reasons to WANT to stay in her bed to sleep. She got a new "big girl" bed and got to select her very own bedding---this was a HUGE DEAL to her. We also began the sleep chart reward sticker program where she could earn two stickers a night for making good decisions concerning our nightly expectations of her. She has since completely filled her first sticker chart and has been taken to the toy store to select her reward for making such great decisions (she chose an obnoxiously loud Disney princess "CD" player that plays music at a level I can only describe as "ear-splitting", but it was her choice, and I am proud of her recent accomplishments so I don't complain too often).


2. Of the definitions I read concerning electronic performance support systems (EPSS), I prefer the definition by Barry Raybould--a computer-based system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice, and learning experiences. This definition is concise and easy to understand, whereas a definition I read by Gloria Gery required that I read it a few times over in order to better understand it. These definitions are quite similar, but I appreciate Raybould's shorter version myself.

Until reading this chapter, I had never heard of EPSS before. It sounds like a great way to provide support to both novice and veteran employees by placing training, help and references right at their fingertips. I figure that the reason EPSS is not more widely used could be because of the lack of knowledge about EPSS and its many uses. Others, like me, may not even be aware that EPSS exists. As for the future of EPSS, like the textbook states, as technology becomes more and more prevelant in the daily workings of our lives, EPSS will probably become more widely used. The implementation of EPSS has the potential to save companies money that is being spent on employee training, which will be a huge benefit to those who choose to use EPSS.


3. I spent quite a bit of time trying to think of a hypothetical problem in my line of work that could use the blended learning approach to solve the problem, and I came up with nothing. What did keep floating through my mind was my driver's education experience (my 3 year old will be 16 someday ::sob:: so this will technically become a problem in my line of work as a parent...13 years after I complete this course☺). Student drivers get classroom instruction where the rules of the road are taught--the appropriate distance between vehicles while driving, when to use high-beam headlights, road signs and their meanings, etc.--and then these students get the opportunity to practice driving on the road with driving instructors (those brave souls). Another type of instruction that would benefit the students and those they might come in contact with while driving would be a simulated driving experience where the students use a program that allows them to "drive" and react in various driving situations. Not only would this allow the students a little more practice before unleashing them on the roads, but it would help to identify any areas that might need to be revisited to master a particular skill.

4. Recently I received some informal training in preparation for our church's annual Lord's Acre auction. The person who once was in charge of tracking the sales of the auction items and making sure people paid in full before going home at the end of the evening stepped down from her post and turned the responsiblity over to the next generation. That lucky person is now your's truly. I got a quick training session in using the Excel spreadsheet that is used to assign auction paddle numbers and track the purchases of each individual. I also learned how to run credit card purchases through an online company called Vanco. Others were present for this same training session so that I was not the only guru who knew how to run the show. The training itself consisted of the instructor walking us through the process of filling in the various cells in the spreadsheet, as well as logging in to the Vanco system and completing a credit card transaction. Then I went home to practice on my own. I made a couple of $1 donations to the church on my credit card so that I could make sure I knew how to successfully complete a credit card sale. I also practiced using the spreadsheet and found a few problems with some of the formulas used in calculating the totals. I figured out how to fix this problem by myself. Yea, me! The auction night was a success with few snags. I am glad I had the training and know that next year will go even more smoothly.