Non-Instructional Solutions-CH. 14

When I taught middle school reading several years ago, the reading scores on the standardized test were not where we, the teachers and administrators, wanted them to be and improving reading habits was one of our strategies to increase test scores.  So, Accelerated Reader was introduced.  After the initial rise in reading habits due to the excitement over having tests on the computer (and not written) passed, we discovered that many students did not sustainably increase their reading habits.  This absence of increase was not from the fact that they lacked instruction, lacked access to computers and time to test, lacked immediate feedback, or lacked teacher support.  As with most middle school age kids, the students lacked an INCENTIVE which held meaning for them.  Increasing test scores were incentive enough for the faculty, but the kids needed something more tangible.  Hence, the AR store was born.  Students used accumulated points, gained by reading and sufficiently completing tests, to ‘buy’ candy, trinkets, free time, and other rewards.  This AR store worked wonders in increasing reading habits and test scores because it was filled with things that the students wanted and would work hard to gain.

A small video promoting Accelerated Reader is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy8GREdfXIk

                                                         

Electronic Performance Support Systems

1.  An Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) is any computer software program or component that improves user performance.

2.  In 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.

3.  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.

4.  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.

Above definition from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_performance_support_systems

5.  (EPSS) A system that provides electronic task guidance and support to the user at the moment of need. EPSS can provide application help, reference information, guided instructions and/or tutorials, subject matter expert advice and hints on how to perform a task more efficiently. An EPSS can combine various technologies to present the desired information. The information can be in the form of text, graphical displays, sound, and video presentations.
["Electronic Performance Support Systems: How and Why to Remake the Workplace Through the Strategic Application of Technology", Gloria Gerry, Weingarten Press].
(1997-10-24) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/electronic+performance+support+system

I prefer the first definition because it is the broadest and most general.  The way I understand EPSS is that it can be any computer component, however complex or simple, that improves a user’s performance.  I have in mind the example of my personal computer which has all of the software and links I need to be an efficient and productive student.  I have been able to use my laptop to do everything I have needed to do so far in my online courses.  I see myself as a main designer of my own EPSS because I have picked what software and hardware I needed to make my laptop an efficient performance station. 

Knowledge Management and Learning-Ch.16

            Earlier this school year I helped my husband, an assistant principal, assign high school students to a tutorial program.  We used the online information from the school’s KM system to retrieve student test scores, current class schedules, and the educational history of students.  Our problem was that, although we were awash in important and very useful information, the numbers and facts did not tell the complete story of each student.  To place the students in the best possible tutorial, we used the explicit online information PLUS my husband’s (and other teachers’) tacit knowledge of each individual student.  Although the online information is indispensable, my husband cannot determine his decisions based solely on online student information.  The information in the KM system cannot tell what a student is like or what is going on with the student at a particular time.  A principal’s decisions still need to take into account teacher observations, peer interviews, classroom participation, and direct interaction with the students.  This blended approach is much more effective in truly determining what is best for a student.

Informal Learning-Ch. 17

            Informal learning takes place just about every moment of every day (much to my dismay when it comes to my children and what they learn on the playground).  Much of informal learning is unplanned, but it can also be sought out and premeditated.  As an adult, I try to place myself in situations (especially within the school building) where I can learn from watching other teachers and administrators interact with one another and with students.  I fully believe that “learning is driven by the real-life situations that arise” (Reiser, 2007).  At home (on the computer), I assume a different role depending on the situation.  Sometimes I am the learner, either eagerly seeking information or randomly acquiring knowledge from surfing the internet.  Other times, I am the instructor imparting some knowledge I have (like farming) to someone else that needs it.

         Since I made a Facebook account, I have learned many things (besides gossip) informally from friends.  This learning was definitely engaging because it usually concerned something I was interested in.  There usually did not seem to be a learner/instructor relationship.  It was more of one where both parties were equal. 
          I stay in touch with several librarians via email to ask questions about my work in my graduate classes.  This type of informal learning is also quite useful though not quite as engaging.  I am usually seeking certain information that I could not locate in a textbook or supplemental reading so the instructor librarian is typically answering my pointed questions and then adding in any tacit knowledge that he/she thinks I might find useful.  In addition to the online librarians, I use several mentor librarians that I can see face-to-face regularly.  I watch, listen, and ask them a multitude of questions most of which have nothing to do with my specific coursework.  I feel I benefit from casual conversations with them just as much as I would if I was reading a textbook. 

Much of the knowledge I have acquired lately has been gleaned from my own online searches and random surfing.  In this aspect, I am more of the facilitator/instructor in that I determine what knowledge I might learn.  Normally I don’t set out to “learn” something every time I get online, but by following links to things that peak my interest, I have found all kinds of knowledge that helps me in many aspects of my life.