1. I am an educator. Completing homework practice can sometimes be a problem even though it is necessary to improve performance. I feel one of the most important non instructional solutions to this problem is motivation. Students are motivated when they have incentives. In my class, students have to record their reading on a reading log each night. They receive positive praise and a sticker for doing their homework. They also have an additional chart for extra reading. They can complete the chart and return it for a treasure. It is amazing to see how many students return it when there is an incentive for them. Another time during the year when I see an increase in student reading at home is when we do the Six Flag's Reading Program in the Spring. Students have to read a certain amount of minutes and they receive a free Six Flag's ticket. Students are very excited and motivated to do additional reading for this program. Motivation is a great way to improve student performance.
2. Electronic Performance Support Systems were inititally viewed as a system that would provide the following: information, advice, learning experiences and tools to help people do new tasks as independent as possible.
E Learning is another example of an EPSS. It is learning that is transferred from computers and networks. An example of this is our online class. We can instantly learn from each other and get questions answered to help us learn. I prefer this type of EPSS. The most important is convenience. It gives the learner an opportunity to learn from home. For some, this may be their only opportunity to take classes. They may live too far from a University. Another positive factor is the flexibility. One can fit their learning into a hectic schedule and work any time of the day. This class would not be possible for me take otherwise. I have three active children and work full time. This type of learning makes it possible for me to learn and gain professional growth when I can.
Another example of an EPSS can be used to run a small business. I had a family member who sold products for a company. She was able to learn how and run her business independently from her home computer.
I believe EPSS has not been widely used due to the unknown cost and employer's resisting change. I do believe that more will become more prevalent in the future as employers learn the benefits of EPSS. One benefit is that workers can get instant answers on how to perform a task. This will help them be more time efficient. It also gives the employee instant support and doesn't leave them second guessing themselves. I believe more use EPSS is in our near future.
3. Sometimes in any job, there can be an abundance of information to keep up with. Today more than ever, it is important to have a grasp of knowledge management. Technology is a great way to help with this. As an educator, we have a lot of information to manage. Managing our job includes planning instruction, assessing students, communicating with parents. One important aspect of our job is assessment and organizing it. We have all kinds of assessment but one dilemma can be organizing and using it. We assess our students using the TPRI (Texas Reading Primary Inventory) three times a year. We use this data to drive the instruction for our students. We could use a blended learning approach to learn how to better use our reading data to teach. The district could do a computer based training to address the entire district to review how they would like us to use the data (see video below for example). Then we could still meet with our campus testing coordinator in person to answer/clarify any campus questions. This would be a blended approach. We could use a database to store our information. This would help us to better use our assessments to guide instruction.
4. Informal learning is learning that naturally occurs. One experience that comes to my mind is parenting. I am the type of person that likes to be prepared. When doing something new, I like to know exactly what to expect and have a plan. Well every first time parent knows that there is no way to formally learn how to be a parent. You can read books but it just doesn't cover it all. :) When I was a young mother, I used to do a lot of informal learning about parenting. I did it in social settings with other young mothers and I also seeked information from experienced mothers as information was needed. It was very engaging because I was very interested. As a parent, you want to be the very best parent you can be so the information is very important to you.
I also engage in informal learning every day at work. Lunch is a time that I collaborate with my peers and gain knowledge. Sometimes it is a new way to teach a lesson. Other times I learn how to do a new procedure or my colleagues show me how to do something with technology. Recently, I was shown how an interactive white board is used. I will be receiving one in the spring so I was very eager to see how to use it. Informal learning is where most of my knowledge has come from. I think that we tend to remember our informal learning more because we are usually interested and engaged in it since it is in an informal environment. It is usually hands on which is the best way to learn!
E Learning is another example of an EPSS. It is learning that is transferred from computers and networks. An example of this is our online class. We can instantly learn from each other and get questions answered to help us learn. I prefer this type of EPSS. The most important is convenience. It gives the learner an opportunity to learn from home. For some, this may be their only opportunity to take classes. They may live too far from a University. Another positive factor is the flexibility. One can fit their learning into a hectic schedule and work any time of the day. This class would not be possible for me take otherwise. I have three active children and work full time. This type of learning makes it possible for me to learn and gain professional growth when I can.
Another example of an EPSS can be used to run a small business. I had a family member who sold products for a company. She was able to learn how and run her business independently from her home computer.
I believe EPSS has not been widely used due to the unknown cost and employer's resisting change. I do believe that more will become more prevalent in the future as employers learn the benefits of EPSS. One benefit is that workers can get instant answers on how to perform a task. This will help them be more time efficient. It also gives the employee instant support and doesn't leave them second guessing themselves. I believe more use EPSS is in our near future.
3. Sometimes in any job, there can be an abundance of information to keep up with. Today more than ever, it is important to have a grasp of knowledge management. Technology is a great way to help with this. As an educator, we have a lot of information to manage. Managing our job includes planning instruction, assessing students, communicating with parents. One important aspect of our job is assessment and organizing it. We have all kinds of assessment but one dilemma can be organizing and using it. We assess our students using the TPRI (Texas Reading Primary Inventory) three times a year. We use this data to drive the instruction for our students. We could use a blended learning approach to learn how to better use our reading data to teach. The district could do a computer based training to address the entire district to review how they would like us to use the data (see video below for example). Then we could still meet with our campus testing coordinator in person to answer/clarify any campus questions. This would be a blended approach. We could use a database to store our information. This would help us to better use our assessments to guide instruction.
4. Informal learning is learning that naturally occurs. One experience that comes to my mind is parenting. I am the type of person that likes to be prepared. When doing something new, I like to know exactly what to expect and have a plan. Well every first time parent knows that there is no way to formally learn how to be a parent. You can read books but it just doesn't cover it all. :) When I was a young mother, I used to do a lot of informal learning about parenting. I did it in social settings with other young mothers and I also seeked information from experienced mothers as information was needed. It was very engaging because I was very interested. As a parent, you want to be the very best parent you can be so the information is very important to you.
I also engage in informal learning every day at work. Lunch is a time that I collaborate with my peers and gain knowledge. Sometimes it is a new way to teach a lesson. Other times I learn how to do a new procedure or my colleagues show me how to do something with technology. Recently, I was shown how an interactive white board is used. I will be receiving one in the spring so I was very eager to see how to use it. Informal learning is where most of my knowledge has come from. I think that we tend to remember our informal learning more because we are usually interested and engaged in it since it is in an informal environment. It is usually hands on which is the best way to learn!
Parenting is a great example to me of informal learning. There definitely is no real formal training in parenting. It is through trial and error and God's grace that I have learned to be a parent. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteYour posting made me think more as well about whether we (and our students) learn more and retain more when we learn formally or informally. You raise a valid point in your discussion of blended learning. We're in a age of abundance of information readily available. Managing that information for access at a later time is challenging...one answer social bookmarking such as Delicious. Good post, Heather!
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