Section 4: Human Performance Technology
I would say that one of the problems that we are currently facing on our campus is that much of the staff are suffering from low morale. There are many new programs that are being put into place this year and the teachers are being stretched very thin. There are asked to work longer hours, find extra time for tutoring, meeting, lesson plans, grading, etc. With all of the new pressures that have been put onto the teachers and staff, you are starting to see some push back in certain areas. Teachers are having a diffucult time finding the time to complete all aspects of their job. When reading on performance improvement I was thinking that one of the best models to use was Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model. With the use of this model the principal would be able to set Environmental incentives that would motivate teachers or give out consequences for non performance. I believe that if the teachers were given some sort of outside motivation for all of the work that they put in that it might raise morale. Right now the teachers are told 100 different things to do, when to do it, how to do it and a deadline to do it. If the teachers were given some sort of incentive it might help with overall motivation. It would also let the teachers know that they are appreciated for all of the work that they do with the students in and out of school time. Teachers are required to put in alot of time during the day, after work and on weekends. So the appreciation of incentives would make all of the extra work a little easier.
A performance support system allows workers to have access to the tools and information they need to complete their jobs succesfully. One of the main aspects of the performance support system is to allow workers to more effectively complete their tasks. With this system it gives workers all the support that they need as related to information , tools, resources, and information. With all of these support systems in place the worker is given the opportunity to complete their job in the most effective and timely manner while also providing resources and help so that it may help with the training of non experienced and experienced personnel. I do believe that a performace support system might help with some of the morale problems that exist in our school. If there was a better way to put a system in place where teachers could more effectively complete some of the tasks at hand it might boost motivation and morale. One of the things that the text discusses is the use of customized tools such as templates and forms. Something along these lines might make some of the long time consuming tasks for teachers a little easier. One final thing that might help my specific school are the coaching tools. Part of the appeal to this type of system is that there would be someone there to hlep with the inexperienced workers. This is part of the problem at our campus not only because there are several new teachers who are struggling, but because of this it puts extra pressure on the other teachers to help them, which just adds more to their work load.
I would say that the knowledge needed to help with the problem I have listed above would be Tacit and Explicit knowledge. In order to aquire the Tacit knowledge you would need to have continous meeting with grade levels (with and without the principal present). In these meeting the teachers would be able to speak freely about how they foster student success and how they could work together to keep their morale up. They could work on strategies that work for them not only for their students, but also for themselves. This is also where the Explicit knowledge will come into play. The Explicit knowledge that we will need are programs that will help with the efficiency of completing the programs. There are training programs that might be able to help with such programs such as Accelerated Reader, Vocabulary in a Flash, IStation, and many other programs. The teachers could also be a support system for eachother when working on such things as lesson plans, grading, procedures, timing of day, etc. When working on activities as this the teachers will be able to use Tacit and Explicit knowledge to help complete tasks to help with the problem solving.
Informal Learning is where much of my knowledge is gained. I have participated in many informal conversations with teachers that help with many problems, questions, or concerns that I have had. There will be times where I have conversations with teachers who quickly come into the library to discuss a problem that they may be having with an individual student. They ask for generalized help with books, activities or lessons that may help the student. Much of the time those conversations will turn into a 45 minute discussion of a variety of modifications that could help the teachers, myself and many other teachers that I have spoken with on other occasions. Because of this I will then take the new strategies and skills that I have learned and share them with other teachers that it could benefit. I do believe that there is a way to share that knowledge with many people in a managed situation, such as a staff meeting. I think that in this way each teacher could take away little parts of the strategies discussed and see what might be helpful to them. I think that there is not always a reason to manage informal learning, because sometimes the topic that might be discussed with some would not be valuable to all. In this case it might be better to set up "expert teachers" where those are the people to go to, to discuss specific topics. Then when teachers get together to discuss problems/solutions then they can manage their own informal learning situations.
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