Performance Support/ Workflow Learning

So far we’ve looked at how different (but related) models of learning can increase the effectiveness of your learning designs. We’ve encouraged you to begin to apply some aspects of these models in your thinking about potential learning activities and resources, and we’ve encouraged you to look at the research evidence which indicates the effectiveness of these models in real world situations.

In this final section of the module, we’d like to introduce you to performance support or, just-in-time learning. For the purposes of this module, we will define performance support as an approach to reinforcing learning which provides the right information, and access to that information, to staff in the workplace, at the time when they need it. It is:

Embedded within the user’s workflow; giving the end-user support as fast as possible;

Fits the context it refers to: i.e. it is contextual to the user by process, roles, and circumstances;

“Just Enough” support to get the job done (our guiding principle when we design a performance support tool is that the user should be able to read and apply the material accessed in under 1 minute/ 90 seconds).

Fundamentally, performance support can be grouped into two categories: Paper-based or Electronic. Paper-based is the oldest form of Performance Support and includes job-aids and quick references. These tools can be seen in most work spaces in the form of yellow “post-it notes” stuck to your monitor, but they can also be a much more elaborate, structured and individually tailored form factor designed to optimize their overall effectiveness.

Electronic performance support, often called EPSS, is typically found on a PC, but is increasingly available on hand-held devices such as smartphones etc. Those of you who’ve been using Microsoft Office for a while might remember the dancing paperclip which used to appear on the screen when you were using MS Word asking if you needed help. This was Microsoft’s attempt to provide performance support for its software. Google searches can fall into this category too, but it often presents more than information than a user needs or wants. More advanced versions of EPSS offer a contextual, process- embedded and immediate solution: i.e. they are designed specifically for the work you or your staff are doing.

It’s worth being clear about what performance support is not. Performance support is not instructor-led training (i.e. face-to-face/ classroom based), e-Learning, workshops or other forms of formal instruction. Formal training is designed to educate a learner who has little to no background or prior knowledge of the environment or outcome. Performance Support focuses on the application of that learning in a real-world context.