I found it ironic that the authors said “there is power in words, but only when their meanings are made manifestly clear” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 135). Aren’t these the same authors who devoted all of Chapter 1 to defining the field of instructional technology? Thanks to their definition, I quickly understood the meaning of HPI and immediately linked it to professional development. To play off of the first quote, “there is power in TECHNOLOGY, but only when it is used to our (HUMAN’s) best ability”. What I mean is that schools can have the greatest technologies, but if the teachers are not trained on, keen of, or even using the technologies, it is of no benefit to the students. This is inversely reflected in the relationship between HPI and HPT; “human performance improvement is what we wish to achieve and human performance technology is the means we use to achieve it” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 137). Consider Baker College where we have a variety of educational technologies ranging from SMART Boards and clickers to overhead projectors and educational software. Most instructors attend 1-2 professional developments a year, of which few, if any, are technology-related. Like I said, I initially linked HPI to professional development, but the editors presented the idea that “human performance problems could be solved via means other than training” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 141). Technology aside and looking at Baker College faculty as a whole, “timely methods for providing feedback for employees” and “better worker selection procedures” are the most relatable means to improve human performance (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 141). Every quarter, faculty are evaluated Week 8 (of 10 weeks), and I think we receive feedback Week 1 or 2 of the following quarter. By then, most instructors have probably already set up their class as they normally do and it’s too late for major changes. To tie feedback into hiring, I think Baker College needs to not be afraid to let go of poor instructors. I’m told every quarter that the President reviews every instructor’s feedback and that we could lose our jobs if the scores are too low. And every quarter, the instructors that students complain about and that I know are poor instructors are still listed on class schedules. Maybe we need to evaluate human performance more like we evaluate educational technology and ask ourselves if it’s worth the investment and going to enhance the students learning experience.
Since I’m not an Apple user, I went to Zune.net to view podcasts available for my Microsoft Zune. I’ve always noticed the “podcasts” list on my Zune, but never bothered to get into it…until now. Two topics peaked my interest when I was browsing through the education podcasts – math and German. I’ve taught math for three years now and am always interested in new, fun ways to look at math. I reviewed the various math podcasts and subscribed to “The Math Dude – Quick and Easy Tricks to Make Math Easier” for a two primary reasons. First, the host, Jason, takes a non-traditional and more fun approach to math, which is much like my teaching style. He explains things in terms that people can relate to and makes math more understandable and offers a wide range of podcasts of beginning math, intermediate math, terms, test taking tips, real world math, and brain teasers. Second, the most recent episode was uploaded 10/8/10; a common problem I saw with most podcasts is that new episodes haven’t been uploaded for months or years. Listen to the “What Do Prefixes Mean in Math?” episode on the official Web site here - I think you’ll love the music like I did! :) I had never before noticed various types of RSS feeds, i.e. podcast and article, but I did this time and correctly subscribed to his podcasts via Google Reader…go me! The German podcast I chose to subscribe to is Pukka German: Real German Lingo! I’ve had over four years of formal German instruction and visited Germany twice, but everyday conversations are often very different than what is taught in school. This podcasts features episodes of street-wise lingo instruction in topics ranging from Oktoberfest and food to elections and family interactions. The unofficial Web site doesn’t work, but you can find out more about this podcast here. I’m going to review some higher ed podcasts within the next week, but I thought I’d first get into podcasts with some more fun educational topics! My sister's been doing a lot of business in Germany the last few months, so I'm going to send her the link to German Survival Phrases! Looking forward to seeing what exciting podcasts my classmates found! :) PS, hope you could find the links easier...I found out how to change the font color! :)
My boss, the director of the Learning Support Services (LSS) has been talking about podcasts for a few years now. Here’s a few examples of how the LSS could use podcasts:
LSS Services
Episode 1 – Tutoring
Episode 2 – Make-Up Testing
Episode 3 – Hours
Study Skills
Episode 1 – Note Taking
Episode 2 – Test Anxiety
Math podcasts would probably be broken down further into each class
MTH 091
Episode 1 – Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers
Episode 2 – Multiplying and Dividing Whole Numbers
Episode 3 – Adding and Subtracting Decimals
Episode 4 – Multiplying and Dividing Decimals
Episode 5 – Ranking Decimals
Students could access these short podcasts from home, or even a computer on campus, for a variety of topics! There could even be other categories with subject-specific tips and tricks, brain teasers, etc. to appeal to a wide variety of students!
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