Years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time as a classroom instructor. In the early days, I used transparencies on an overhead projector to teach people how to perform tasks in complex engineering software applications, as crazy and inefficient as that sounds to us today. When the digital projector made its debut, it was a significant innovation because one could actually demo a software application to new users while they followed along on their own systems. It wasn’t easy or especially efficient, but it was better than other alternatives at the time. Surpisingly, this methodology is still widely used today.
In the 90’s, a rather dramatic shift toward a new learning concept called “e-learning” occurred. Companies started to explore new and more innovative ways to teach some of the same concepts that were traditionally taught in the classroom environment, but in a new medium that allowed someone to access the information directly from their desktop.
Organizations rushed to embrace this new methodology. Results, however, were mixed. Many e-learning initiatives failed because the materials were nothing more than static, reformulated classroom resources that didn’t fully leverage the power of this newly discovered online medium. By many standards, the promises of e-learning were not fully realized in terms of measurably-improved worker productivity. Some became rather disillusioned by e-learning due to disappointing and unrealized ROI.
The “e” revolution eventually got legs, however, and new technologies, such as software simulations have emerged over the course of the last few years that have demonstrated even greater promise from an IT skills development perspective. However, the core issue—preventing someone from having to memorize countless procedures in software applications in order to complete job tasks—is still not addressed, even by these newest forms of learning. As a result, companies and organizations have continued to look toward the next learning innovation, the one that will finally help them to fully realize the promise of e-learning.
So what is on the horizon for the industry? What new innovations have emerged or will emerge that will significantly change the way we transfer knowledge? As I look ahead, I truly believe we are on the verge of another revolution. Performance Support (EPSS), a process by which learning is embedded directly in the workflow, has emerged rather dramatically in recent years as companies and organizations have started to realize the substantial and measurable benefits that can be gained by providing workers with on-the-job, task-embedded learning resources.
Performance Support is not traditional e-learning. It is a new and improved form of “e” in which emphasis is placed on delivery of content that helps someone complete job tasks by providing the right information to the right user at the right time. It’s learning at the moment of need—and it’s revolutionary in the way that it addresses the market need.
Our SHO technology takes all ambiguity and guesswork out of complex procedures that involve the use of software. It provides the capacity for even novice users of an application to be immediately productive in completing job tasks by providing step-by-step instructions to the user that interact directly with the graphical user interface of the application. There is nothing quite like it on the market today.
I would like to invite you to contact us to learn more about how SHO technology can change your thinking about the importance of the on-the-job component of your overall learning strategy. Visit us at http://www.transcensus.com/ for more information about our exciting Performance Support technology. I guarantee that you’ll be impressed and amazed by what you’ll see.
Showing posts with label epss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label epss. Show all posts
Friday, June 6, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Learning at the Moment of Need
Knowledge workers today are required to adapt to ever changing systems and procedures, and the relevancy of this knowledge is often fleeting because of rapid changes in the way companies are doing business in order to remain viable and competitive. From a business standpoint, more important than attaining knowledge for knowledge’s sake is application of knowledge to help workers carry out their job tasks with greater efficiency. As Roger Schank, Director of the Institute of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University puts it, "What you know is trivial. The real issue is what do you know how to do?"
In this short statement, Schank accurately summarizes one of the greatest challenges faced by most organizations today—what do our workers really know how to do? With the substantial technological requirements now associated with most job descriptions, how much knowledge should we realistically expect them to retain? What is the best way to ensure that they are able to gain access to relevant information when they need it to assist them in developing and maintaining their job-related competencies? How do we retain our knowledge pool when there is so much employee attrition, and, therefore, so much need for ongoing training?
An often cited study developed by Dr. Robert Kelley, Adjunct Professor of Business at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University, puts the knowledge retention dilemma into perspective. Dr. Kelly concluded that in 1986, workers could retain in memory as much as 75% of what they needed to know to perform their job tasks. By 1997, knowledge retention dropped dramatically to 15%-20%. In 2006, it was estimated that as little as 8%-10% of what one needed to know to perform their job tasks could, on average, be retained in memory.
Why the dramatic shift in knowledge retention? One could argue that the primary reason is that there is simply too much to know. We are bombarded with the need for application and procedural knowledge to the point that in many cases, we don’t really want to know more. However, an equally compelling argument for the decline in worker knowledge retention is that workers are no longer really required to know everything related to their job tasks because of all the knowledge access tools that are now available to help them find information.
Search engine Google is a prime example. Although the company is only nine years old, many would be hard pressed to imagine life without Google or other search engine tools, like Yahoo and Live Search. Why? Because they have opened the floodgates to nearly instantaneous fingertip knowledge on a massive scale and in ways that were simply unimaginable and unattainable only a decade ago.
Exciting innovation that is specifically tailored to learning and that is designed to address complex knowledge access and retention challenges head on is emerging very rapidly. In some respects, we are witnessing a new frontier in learning, one that will dramatically shift how organizations develop and maintain their knowledge assets. For more than a decade, significant discussion has been centered on a concept called "process-embedded learning," more commonly referred to as "performance support.." Technologies that surround this concept, commonly referred to as Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), have advanced, in quite dramatic fashion, to the point at which effective performance support, once unattainable for most organizations, is now an affordable alternative to traditional instructor-led training and e-learning. The purpose of this paper is to explain the concept of performance support while outlining reasons why a process-embedded solution can bring dramatic positive change to an organization by empowering workers with resources that will significantly improve their performance.
(Exerpt from Transcensus white paper "Learning at the Moment of Need")
In this short statement, Schank accurately summarizes one of the greatest challenges faced by most organizations today—what do our workers really know how to do? With the substantial technological requirements now associated with most job descriptions, how much knowledge should we realistically expect them to retain? What is the best way to ensure that they are able to gain access to relevant information when they need it to assist them in developing and maintaining their job-related competencies? How do we retain our knowledge pool when there is so much employee attrition, and, therefore, so much need for ongoing training?
An often cited study developed by Dr. Robert Kelley, Adjunct Professor of Business at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University, puts the knowledge retention dilemma into perspective. Dr. Kelly concluded that in 1986, workers could retain in memory as much as 75% of what they needed to know to perform their job tasks. By 1997, knowledge retention dropped dramatically to 15%-20%. In 2006, it was estimated that as little as 8%-10% of what one needed to know to perform their job tasks could, on average, be retained in memory.
Why the dramatic shift in knowledge retention? One could argue that the primary reason is that there is simply too much to know. We are bombarded with the need for application and procedural knowledge to the point that in many cases, we don’t really want to know more. However, an equally compelling argument for the decline in worker knowledge retention is that workers are no longer really required to know everything related to their job tasks because of all the knowledge access tools that are now available to help them find information.
Search engine Google is a prime example. Although the company is only nine years old, many would be hard pressed to imagine life without Google or other search engine tools, like Yahoo and Live Search. Why? Because they have opened the floodgates to nearly instantaneous fingertip knowledge on a massive scale and in ways that were simply unimaginable and unattainable only a decade ago.
Exciting innovation that is specifically tailored to learning and that is designed to address complex knowledge access and retention challenges head on is emerging very rapidly. In some respects, we are witnessing a new frontier in learning, one that will dramatically shift how organizations develop and maintain their knowledge assets. For more than a decade, significant discussion has been centered on a concept called "process-embedded learning," more commonly referred to as "performance support.." Technologies that surround this concept, commonly referred to as Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), have advanced, in quite dramatic fashion, to the point at which effective performance support, once unattainable for most organizations, is now an affordable alternative to traditional instructor-led training and e-learning. The purpose of this paper is to explain the concept of performance support while outlining reasons why a process-embedded solution can bring dramatic positive change to an organization by empowering workers with resources that will significantly improve their performance.
(Exerpt from Transcensus white paper "Learning at the Moment of Need")
Performance Support and ROI
An Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) may also be known as electronic performance support, automated job aids, electronic performance support tools, electronic coaches, intelligent online help, performance centered design, embedded support, or enriched learning environments. Performance support systems such as job aids have been a matter of importance to performance technology for a long time. The availability of computer technology, the increasing complexity of the workplace, and the need for increased workplace performance to enable global corporate competition are three factors that have lead to an increased concern about how to most effectively design and develop performance support tools in an electronic environment.
The purpose of EPSS is to enable workers to perform a task or set of tasks better by providing information and procedures when they're needed, in the worker's natural environment. Providing performance support "just-in-time," (JIT) obviates the need for the worker to store knowledge; they can access it as needed, and within context. This is not only more convenient than out-of-context training, but may allow better transfer of learning, because workers often learn better in authentic performance settings.
An EPSS is not a magic bullet, and measuring ROI for an EPSS is as important as for other interventions. The cost of an EPSS is primarily incurred during the initial development. While delivery costs may be lower than that of traditional training, it is more difficult to track them. Performance support occurs at the same time as the employee's performance, in contrast to traditional training, which is normally finite and easier to isolate from the cost of performing the work itself. Because most of the cost of an EPSS is up-front (during implementation), the ROI for an EPSS increases the longer the system is used. An EPSS can also eliminate the costs associated with traditional training, such as travel expense and classroom space.
Hawkins, Gustafson, and Nielsen (1998) created a web-based EPSS ROI calculator for use by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Some benefits of an EPSS tracked in an example web-based ROI calculator were:
New employees:
· reduced time required to learn the task
· reduced supervision hours (answering questions, training the employee, organizing work)
· reduced help from coworkers
· reduced calls to help line
· reduced down time (waiting for help, consulting manuals)
Continuing employees:
· fewer mistakes
· fewer employees needed
· reduced overtime
Quality benefits:
· reduced employee turnover
· reduced grievances
· reduced absenteeism/tardiness (morale improvements)
Reference: * Electronic Performance Support Systems - By Susan Mullen ( http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/ARossett/pie/Interventions/epss_1.htm )
The purpose of EPSS is to enable workers to perform a task or set of tasks better by providing information and procedures when they're needed, in the worker's natural environment. Providing performance support "just-in-time," (JIT) obviates the need for the worker to store knowledge; they can access it as needed, and within context. This is not only more convenient than out-of-context training, but may allow better transfer of learning, because workers often learn better in authentic performance settings.
An EPSS is not a magic bullet, and measuring ROI for an EPSS is as important as for other interventions. The cost of an EPSS is primarily incurred during the initial development. While delivery costs may be lower than that of traditional training, it is more difficult to track them. Performance support occurs at the same time as the employee's performance, in contrast to traditional training, which is normally finite and easier to isolate from the cost of performing the work itself. Because most of the cost of an EPSS is up-front (during implementation), the ROI for an EPSS increases the longer the system is used. An EPSS can also eliminate the costs associated with traditional training, such as travel expense and classroom space.
Hawkins, Gustafson, and Nielsen (1998) created a web-based EPSS ROI calculator for use by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Some benefits of an EPSS tracked in an example web-based ROI calculator were:
New employees:
· reduced time required to learn the task
· reduced supervision hours (answering questions, training the employee, organizing work)
· reduced help from coworkers
· reduced calls to help line
· reduced down time (waiting for help, consulting manuals)
Continuing employees:
· fewer mistakes
· fewer employees needed
· reduced overtime
Quality benefits:
· reduced employee turnover
· reduced grievances
· reduced absenteeism/tardiness (morale improvements)
Reference: * Electronic Performance Support Systems - By Susan Mullen ( http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/ARossett/pie/Interventions/epss_1.htm )
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