Performance Improvement

Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help to solve the problem.

Many students at my school did not pass last year’s STAAR Writing EOC. This, to me, seems to be a performance problem that could be improved with non-instructional solutions. I know that these students are receiving writing instruction. In fact, these struggling students have been put in special intervention classes where they may be pulled by their ELA teachers for additional individualized instruction. I cannot judge whether the student’s ELA instruction is in need of improvement, but as a librarian, I see several other solutions for improving writing scores based upon library programs. (Studies have shown that the more a student reads, the better a writer he or she becomes.)

• Students might be offered incentives to read more. 
• Students must be provided with the time to read materials of their own choosing.
• Students must be provided with engaging reading materials and information sources in both print and digital formats. 
• Students must be provided with the time and encouragement to produce and communicate their own unique ideas in less high-stake settings.
• Students must receive adequate feedback on these products of their ideas.
• Students must have access to adult leaders who model the behaviors of reading and writing.

Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above.

 

In chapter 15 of the text, Nyugen defines performance support as “a system that provides performers with varying levels of access to support information and tools at the moment of need.”

I imagine a computer software or device app performance support system to help students improve their writing skills as having the following capabilities:

• It would allow access to examples of well written materials with clear annotations throughout on as to why it is considered so.
• It would provide tools for planning written work. 
• It would offer writing critiques, grammar pop-ups, and other suggestions for correcting one’s work. 
• It would provide links to additional external writing help.

If such a program does exist, I think that a performance support system would not be a fix-all, but would be one of many interventions that could be used to increase the level of performance of our student writers. In fact, Nyugen (2009) suggests that performance support systems be used for low frequency and non-critical tasks. I believe that being able to write well is high frequency and very critical, especially when tied to performance on high stakes testing. 

If we were to rely too heavily on a writing performance support system, we might find that it acts as a crutch, and when that support is removed and students must work alone with no outside aid on the STAAR EOC, they may not perform well. It is for this reason that I would be hesitant to implement such a support system for anything other than a training support tool, and at that, it should be used in conjunction with classroom ELA writing instruction and several of the other proposed library program interventions mentioned above.

                                                                     by Laraine Languell

What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving? 

In chapter 16, Rosenberg discusses four types of knowledge: explicit, tacit, common, and undiscovered. In the above presented problem of students failing the STAAR EOC Writing exam, I would want to understand what knowledge that high performing writers have that struggling writers do not. I believe that the characteristic that sets the high performers apart may be that they hold more tacit knowledge, or the knowledge of experience. The skills of writing must be developed over time. I believe that the more experience we have in reading well written text, and in creating our own written products, the more our writing skills develop. This experience leads to a better feel for grammar, syntax, and the overall written flow of ideas. We begin to emulate the style of well written texts that we have read and begin to develop and perfect our own unique style of writing.

It would certainly be a challenge to make this type of tacit knowledge explicit and commonly known, but attempting knowledge management could benefit developing or struggling writers. This undertaking becomes more feasible when we understand and work within the components of knowledge management: codification, collaboration, and access. 

Much of what we know about writing skills has already been codified in innumerable resources over grammar, punctuation, creative writing, different styles and forms of writing, planning written work, etc. The studying of such resources has its benefits to the developing writer. However, as previously mentioned, I believe that writing skill comes much from experience. Experience comes from exposure to well written literature and experience in creating one’s own written works. Experience and tacit knowledge can also be shared by means of the collaboration component of knowledge management. Students and teacher could accomplish this by discussing written works, sharing one’s own written works with others, critiquing and offering feedback on the work of others, and by promoting these types of collaborative exchanges in a non-intimidating environment.

Access to information is also a key component of knowledge management. As a librarian, I facilitate access to information. One way of doing so is to provide well organized resources in both print and digital format. The school library’s website serves as a portal for organized access of information and resources. This portal links to our online catalog into which our print, multimedia, and electronic resources have been cataloged according to the standards of the Dewey Decimal Classification System to enable easy and predictable retrieval. Through the systematic creation of bibliographies, patrons may search for online resources and production tools by topic or type from the library website as well. The library website is a portal to the K-12 Online Databases. The website might also serve as a portal to web 2.0 tools that may facilitate the type of collaborative exchange of knowledge described above. The library strives for equitable access to information, so restrictions on who may access the information and when it may be accessed, should ideally be nonexistent. I am excited to be a librarian because the library is the hub of knowledge management. The valuable information and resources within the library must be promoted to our learning community so that we might learn to better use these resources to solve problems by means of access to knowledge and ideas.

What informal learning experiences have you participated in? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? Should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened for others?

Informal learning is a continuous experience in our lives, often driven by interest and curiosity. For those things in which we are most interested, we seek information, immersion, and experience. I can think of many examples of informal learning in my own life. My undergraduate degree is in Spanish education. I am not a native speaker, so I had to learn Spanish as a teenager and adult. Much of the fluency that I have gained has been through informal learning- authentic conversation with other Spanish speakers. Although it can be difficult for foreign language educators to replicate a truly authentic language experience in the classroom, the knowledge gained through authentic conversation can be somewhat codified and shared with language students. Educators and instructional designers can accomplish this through long-distance communication with other Spanish speakers via phone, Skype, and web 2.0 tools, through watching and listening to Spanish multimedia, and through true immersion experiences of visiting Spanish speaking communities. These forms of informal learning have helped me personally in forming my knowledge of the Spanish language. I also experience numerous opportunities for informal learning on a vast number of topics throughout my daily life. When we encourage students to see these informal experiences as ways of developing knowledge, we are helping them to truly become life-long learners.