Section 4: Human Performance Technology

1. This year our students received a grant that allowed them each to get an iPad (I teach 8^th grade math). A current human performance problem in on my campus this year is using the iPads that were distributed to our students productively in the classroom setting.  I too am guilty of not using them to their full potential.  I have found a few useful apps that allow my students to take notes directly onto pdf files.  I’ve also briefly tried nearpod, which is an app that will allow you to send lessons to students that allow them to respond to the teacher.  I gave up on it, because it would not work at first.  I will come back to it and try again.  We’ve been to a few trainings on how to use iPads in the classroom, but honestly none of the trainings really provided us with good apps that would match our content areas.  Most of the apps that I find are more geared towards elementary grades.  Also, students tend to want to use texting apps and contribute to social networking sites, rather than use the iPad for educational purposes.  They spend time playing games and the battery is low sometimes by the time they get to my class.  I think that instead of trying to instruct teachers on how to use the iPads, we need trainers to come in to our classrooms and actually use the iPads with our students.  Maybe our teachers would then feel more comfortable taking over.  I think that would provide for a better learning experience.  I would rather see how someone else uses them in a classroom setting.  I could then take those ideas and expand upon them.
2. Performance support systems are systems that provide what performers need, when they need it, and how they need it.  Performance support systems take the form of both on-line and off-line resources.  Some examples of performance support systems include printed resources, handbooks, and job aids. 
   
   I think that performance support might be helpful to solve the iPad problem. I believe that many of the teachers at my school do not implement the use of iPads into the classroom because they, themselves, do not know how to use iPads.  If someone were to come up with detailed instructions on how to use certain apps that would be useful in the classroom, then I think teachers would be less reluctant to use them.  Since not many resources have been provided, I think most teachers feel as it if takes too much time to search for apps that are meaningful to their content area.  Maybe even a data base could be created by the district providing us with quicker access to relevant tools, apps, or websites that could be used in conjunction with the iPads.  Also, as mentioned above, more training on how they can be implemented into classroom use without off task behaviors would be helpful.
3. Knowledge that would be helpful to solve the problem from above would be tacit knowledge because this type of knowledge includes what makes performers more productive, more insightful, and smarter than others. Tacit knowledge in the situation with the iPads would be knowledge that people know about educational apps by asking questions, attending trainings, and gathering information over time.  Explicit knowledge also might be helpful because, teachers need to know how to operate the iPads themselves.  This type of knowledge could come in the form of manuals or user guides.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Maybe the best way to collect tacit knowledge would be through social media, a blog, or web 2.0 tools that teachers could use to share thoughts or ideas.  I think that in order to collect what data teachers have to offer, the district or even a teacher would create a blog or thread that would allow teacher’s to communicate over the internet and share sites or apps that have been used in their classrooms.  This would allow for teachers to share their thoughts on their own time without having to worry about meeting with colleagues.  This would also allow for teachers to collaborate and tell what worked for them and what did not work.  Explicit knowledge has always been available.  It should be collected through searching databases on the web or even visiting apple’s website for information on how to use iPads in the classroom.
4. Within my job, I’ve been to conferences which have incorporated the use of communication by using websites that allow the participants to provide feedback or questions through texting their responses to a website that can be displayed for everyone to see.  That would be considered as web 2.0, which allows participants to be an ongoing part of the learning process.  I’ve also been to trainings that provide hands trainings, which included the speaker guiding us through how to create manipulatives for teaching certain mathematical concepts in the classroom.  I think that students sometimes need that visual or hands on experience to connect what is happening in math to why it happens.  These types of learning experiences could and have been shared with numerous others through conferences. 
   
   
   The knowledge gained though these experiences could be codified and managed online.  The sessions could be recorded and put online so that they could be easily shared through websites like Youtube.  Participants of the trainings could create a blog or Facebook posting sharing their ideas and thoughts on the learning that they participated in.  I think these types of learning experiences should be replicated so that others can learn and take ideas from them.  In my opinion, sometimes we have to break away for formal types of learning to better reach our audience. Sometimes a blog, a wiki, a museum, or anything that gets the learner outside of a classroom setting can help students or workers make connections if they apply knowledge to real life situations.