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Speaker Reflection 2

I was lucky enough to listen to a presentation by Lisa Giacumo and Dr. Steve Villachica. Lisa is an associate professor at the College of Engineering at Boise State. She works with a vast number of companies that range in size. She stated she wasn’t always planning on going into the ID field but loved finding the gaps and problems for clients once she did. Dr. Steve Villachica is a retired Boise State professor but now works in their Process Management Lab which helps nonprofit organizations grow and become more effective. Like Lisa, Steve talked about how he never planned on becoming an instructional designer, but it happened accidentally.   

The conversation was structured around Pershing and Molenda’s Strategic Impact Model. This model is one of the few models that shows performance improvement framed by an organization's largest strategic planning. This model informs what organizations decide to investigate in a performance analysis. Dr. Villachica explained that a strong company will realize there are opportunities related to some performance gaps which leads them to conduct performance analysis. Another great thing about this model is that performance analysis leads to a cause analysis which will lead to instructional or noninstructional interventions. From there one will create, implement, and evaluate solutions. This model is different than other ID models and frameworks. It focuses more on the bigger/clearer picture which is also common in HPT models. While listening to the breakdown of the LeaPS Model, I kept thinking about how it connected to what we were learning in our HPT course. I found the connection that there are many internal and external factors that focus on the system of an organization and the people.

As someone who is fairly new to the instructional design field and very new to HPT, I appreciated the connections made between the model and both fields of ID and HPT. I found it extremely helpful when thinking about evaluation. Being able to pinpoint an organization's problem, design a solution while giving continuous feedback, then formally evaluate if the solutions are directly connected to the problem, is of extreme importance. If you are able to successfully conduct an analysis, whether it’s a need or performance analysis, create solutions then implement them, you become very valuable to an organization.

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Personal Inventory

How do you define HPT?  How does your current definition differ from what you wrote in week 1?

During week 1 I said - I think that Human Performance Technology entails using technology to analyze the performance of individuals or a group to determine what gaps there are and why these gaps exist.

Looking back I put more emphasis on the technology component. Yes, technology can definitely be used while analyzing and determining gaps but it’s not the end all be all when it comes to human performance. Now I would say that HPT is based on analyzing how people perform in their workplace and what factors may be contributing to performance execution not being up to the standards of an organization and a plan on how to fix it.

Identify the key things you gained from this course.  There is no right or wrong answer here – what things mattered most to you, and why?

One of the key things I learned from this course is how the external and internal environment plays a direct role in influencing behaviors and accomplishments. It’s important for all of these components to be aligned in order for positive change to happen in an organization. 

Another key thing that I took away from this course was the examples of performance interventions. It’s important to determine if a learning or nonlearning intervention is needed but once that is determined I feel confident in making the right choice in what performance intervention to choose for a number of scenarios. 

Review the competencies and characteristics of a good HPT practitioner.  

Five Areas of Strength: 

Assess performer characteristics - For our Surf n’ Turf case study I was able to quickly identify the performer characteristics, their strengths, and the gaps they had. I also do this often with my learners in my classroom.

Analyze the characteristics of a learning/working environment - I feel confident that I could go in as a consultant, and identify how the learning or working environment can either positively or negatively affect the staff of an organization. I would do this through observation and interviews.  

Specify performance improvement interventions and strategies - Based on the identified gaps of an organization, I feel that with my experience in education along with the knowledge gained from this course, I would be able to determine the appropriate interventions and strategies along with explain the why behind the ones I choose. 

Communicate effectively in visual, oral, and written form - This is a skill of mine that has grown throughout my career as an educator along with my academic career here at Purdue. This course was another way for me to grow and showcase my performance of communicating effectively across different mediums. These skills are essential to be a good HPT practitioner. 

Demonstrate appropriate interpersonal, group-process, and consulting skills - While I still may be growing as a consultant, I still feel strongly about the abilities that I do have when it comes to consulting. I am a very personable person who believes collaboration is extremely important all while being professional. 

Five Areas of Growth:

Conduct performance gap analyses - While I can look at data about what the specific gaps are, I still need practice in actually collecting that data. I would love to learn more about the different strategies that are used to conduct performance gap analyses. 

Analyze the structures of jobs, tasks, and content - I believe I need to improve in this because each case that I could potentially be working on may/will have different tasks and content that needs to be understood. Until I feel more confident in my abilities as a whole when it comes to HPT, this area will be one to improve. I will become better at this through practice and experience.

Write statements of performance intervention outcomes - I believe this is very specific of whatever the gaps are and because I’m still working on conducting a gap analysis itself, I lack the confidence. This is another one that I think with time and experience I will become stronger at. 

Determine resources appropriate for performance improvement activities and help obtain these - I worry mostly about helping obtain the resources. The best way for me to become stronger in this is with practice but also talk to the organization I am working with about what kind of resources they already have or if there are any they would like to obtain. I also think learning more about the different kinds of resources available would be very helpful. 

Promote performance consulting and human performance improvement as a major approach to achieving desired results in organizations -  I believe I will grow in this over time. The more experience I have in this field will help me become a stronger consultant and more knowledgeable in the HPT field. 

Discuss how you might use these skills in your current or future roles.

As someone who wants to be an instructional designer, I have found that there are quite a few tools and techniques I can use from HPT. Conducting a successful gap analysis is definitely high on the list because I have to understand what my learners need. Being able to identify the internal and external learning environment will help me determine the best methods/models to use in order to create my instruction. I think it’s very important to also be able to identify if what my clients will need is instructional, like training, or is actually a human performance gap. I can either create the instruction that is needed or tell the client/organization I’m working with that it’s not instructional-based and is something that needs to be fixed through a detailed performance plan with interventions.

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Presenter 1 - Antonio Cortes

I had the pleasure to listen to Antonio Cortes speak about his experience with HPT and it was truly wonderful. Antonio works for NonProfit HR as the team lead for their Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice, or EDIJ, department. NonProfit HR is one of the country’s oldest firms that exclusively focuses on supporting nonprofit organizations, specifically talent lifestyle solutions. They do a multitude of things in the human resource space such as education, training and development, or anything that is people related that a nonprofit organization may need. Antonio and his team specialize in helping these organizations with DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Depending on the organization's needs they will provide the following services; conduct equity assessment and strategy design, EDJI training, strategic advisory, and/or act as the interim equity officer. Essentially they will conduct staff surveys to understand perceptions of the organization, take the data they have collected and make a plan of action, provide training if needed, either create or implement a partnership with a committee to advise them on solutions and act as an EDJI officer if they do not have anyone in house that can do so. Antonio mentioned that in the past most nonprofits didn’t have much funding for things like DEI or didn’t find them important but in today's everchanging society, they have started to see the importance. What sounds so great about NonProfit HR is that they are always working to understand the nonprofit and they need to be successful. 

Antonio’s presentation had a great impact on me and has me very interested in working for either a nonprofit or a company like NonProfit HR which helps these organizations. I wasn’t sure at first how DEI would connect to HPT but after a few minutes of listening to Antonio, he quickly made those connections. When he was discussing how his team will do equity assessments with an organization it was about conducting staff surveys and having conversations to develop an understanding of people’s perceptions of the organization to figure out where the gaps are. This is some of the things we’ve been learning in EDCI 528. It’s not about training or even the instructional side of things, it’s about the people. Figuring out what those performance gaps are and realizing they are coming from the people in an organization can be extremely helpful when developing a solution. Antonio also touched on how most organizations think they can train their way out of a solution when in reality they cannot. It reminded me so much of what Keeps and Stolovitch talk about in the book, Training Ain’t Performance which discusses how training isn’t the end-all-be-all when it comes to problem-solving. Antonio and his team have realistic conversations with organizations when they want training and usually include them saying things like, “Tell me what you think training will solve.” or “Training may help but it will not resolve the issue.” These are very similar to some of the things found in our book as well. I found it very interesting that the first presenter we had this semester said almost word for word what was found in our textbook but also what is discussed in class. It reminded me once again that training may be a part of helping an organization but it is not always the answer.

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Blog Post 1 - Goals & Expectations

What do you think Human Performance Technology entails?

I think that Human Performance Technology entails using technology to analyze the performance of individuals or a group to determine what gaps there are and why these gaps exist. 

What skills and knowledge do you already have that you feel relate to the content of this course? 

As a teacher, I have analyzed student behavior in order to determine what social skills students were missing and/or lacking. From there I used that data and helped create a SEL (social-emotional) curriculum. I didn’t use too much technology though, only to organize my data using different apps within Google. 

In EDCI 577 I used the Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate the effectiveness of a training course. While this was evaluating a course I think that having knowledge of the Kirkpatrick model will help when analyzing human performance. 

What do you hope to gain from this course?

I would like to gain more knowledge of Human Performance technology as a whole. When is it appropriate/needed to evaluate and analyze human performance? I would also like to know the whole process of how one does this and then what to do what the data after it is collected.  

What do you expect to contribute to this course?

I expect to contribute my knowledge of student performance within a second-grade classroom and how it can help other educators but also people outside of education. Even though age groups may be different, strategies and tools can be modified to fit different learners' needs. I also will use the knowledge I have gained from the LDT program so far to contribute to class discussions, projects, and provide feedback when necessary. 

How do you believe you will use what you learn in this course in your future career?

I think that I will use what I learn from this course in my future career by strengthening my leadership when it comes to working with a team. I tend to take a backseat a lot when a part of a team but if my team is lacking when it comes to performing in certain areas, I’d like to be able to identify what the issue is, why it is happening, and how to fix it. I’m excited to find out how else this course will help me in my future ID career.

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Get to know Angie

Introduction

Hi all! My name is Angie and I live in Royal Oak, Michigan, about 20ish minutes outside of Detroit. If you’ve had a course with me before you know that I have two rescue pitbull mixes, Penny and Dublin who are my entire world. Unfortunately, we had to put Penny down two weeks ago and it has been a really difficult time for me and my husband but we know we gave her a great life. I have included pictures below. Penny is the black and white one and Dublin is the brown. 

I have a 6-year-old nephew named Edison who I genuinely think is smarter than my family half the time haha. In my free time, I love reading, traveling, cooking, and going to concerts. I have 6 concerts alone this summer along with some in the fall. My favorite thing to cook is homemade pasta with any kind of cream sauce. My favorite place I’ve ever been to is Ireland, which is actually how my dog Dublin got his name. And in July I am going to visit my best friend in New York so if you’ve ever been and have recommendations please let me know! 

I am an enthusiastic person who is mostly an extrovert but at times can be a homebody. I believe that any bad mood can be fixed with good food and good people. Here is me in Chicago with some friends. It was absolutely freezing outside and we ended up walking more than we thought we would have to but our moods quickly got better once we ordered this giant pretzel haha.

Describe your relationship to the LDT program and the purpose of this blog

This is my 4th semester in the LDT program here are Purdue and it has been such a great learning experience. The purpose of this blog is to discuss what I have been learning in EDCI 528 along with completing assignments within the course. It is a place where I can analyze what I have learned about human performance technology and how I can apply it to the world of ID. 

Describe your professional and educational background

It’s been a while since I graduated but I spent 4 years of my undergrad at Central Michigan University where I was studying special education. During my 4th year, I decided to switch to general elementary education. Although I loved CMU as a school, I didn’t love the city of Mt. Pleasant so I transferred home and finished my undergrad at Oakland University. I just finished my 6th year of teaching with it being the fourth in second grade and prior to that, I taught 4th grade for two years. I started grad school here at Purdue in May of 2022 and will be graduating this December! 

Being a teacher has taught me so much and while I truly enjoyed it, the last two years have been extremely challenging. It is partially to do with my school being a Title I school with a very needy population in a low-income area. The behaviors are extreme and we have little to no support. Ever since starting the LDT program I have found a new passion so am trying to transition to a new career. I have spent the last year and a half trying to leave the classroom and step into the L&D Field. That alone has been a challenge but it is my goal this summer to find a job in the field.