Abstract
Human performance technology combines methods that allow leaders to organize the practical work of all group members. Strategic planning is essential in teamwork to achieve positive results and to enable all participants to grow intellectually and develop their skills. The K-12 school environment is not the exception, and the teacher must provide students with all opportunities for personal development. Online learning has recently become a challenge for all students and educators due to the new format of education with its positive and negative sides. The research shows that online learning of k-12 students can be improved significantly if the teacher applies human performance technology in practice. Using these strategic methods allows educators to support students’ motivation in distance communication and to help them develop personal motives for overcoming challenges in studying. Moreover, the creation of a convenient ecosystem for learning makes online classes more understandable for students and easier to use.
Introduction
Online education is one of the most permissible spheres in contemporary society due to the active development of technologies, their presence in most people’s everyday lives, and the challenges organizations might face, like the recent lockdown and pandemic. Therefore, it is especially critical to pay attention to the development of e-learning methods and their integration into the traditional k-12 educational process. In this paper, the ways to integrate human performance technologies into online learning of k-12 students in small groups are discussed and analyzed. Motivating students during online learning allows teachers to preserve students’ attention, and organizing learning using the educational ecosystem will enable them to keep the process structured and understandable. Integration of human performance technology in online education of k-12 students allows teachers to support students’ motivation to study and to organize the process effectively using the appropriate ecosystem.
Background Information on Human Performance Technology
The notion of human performance technology describes various approaches to increasing students’ competence and productivity in online learning. It is the strategic plan for solving possible problems that arise in the learning process (Information et al. Association, 2018). This concept focuses on selecting the most effective methods, their analysis, design of the possible ways to implement them in practice, application, and further evaluation of the results (Blokdyk, 2021). In other words, human performance technologies allow students and educators to increase the level of their academic accomplishments and to find optimal strategies in online learning. Human performance technologies aim to improve the organization’s performance in general and every person in particular (Information et al. Association, 2018). They started to develop in the 1970s, and nowadays, it is one of the most popular methods in strategic management (Blokdyk, 2021). The peculiar detail is that there is no rigid plan for implementing human performance technologies. Therefore, every organization and leader should find ways to implement these strategies in practice to achieve the required results (Blokdyk, 2021). It gives leaders opportunities to develop solid sides and minimize the weak points in the performance.
It is possible to distinguish human performance technologies applied in large groups, small groups, or particular individuals. The number of participants determines the choice of learning methods. Focusing on small groups of online learning for k-12 students allows us to develop a balanced approach to online education. In this case, the technique can combine group education and attention to every individual. It is the optimal solution for teachers that allows them to preserve students’ motivation to improve their knowledge. First of all, small groups allow students to communicate with each other and compete in the academic sphere (Blokdyk, 2021). Individual format of education supposes the connection only with the teacher, while small group activities allow students to see the progress and the results of their peers, which is essential in tracking their activity. Therefore, the small group online education format will enable students to compare their results with those of their classmates, to feel that they belong to the group of students, share common goals and activities, and preserve motivation for further learning.
Application of Human Performance Technology in the K-12 Online Learning Environment
The motivation of students in online education is challenging for teachers because there is no possibility to see the reaction and control the level of attention in the classroom. During online learning, students and teachers can see each other only during the video conference, which restricts the teacher’s abilities. Moreover, the online lecture or discussion format supposes that only one person can talk, and other people are listening to them. It makes genuinely active discussion impossible. Communication in written messages and commenting on other classmates’ posts is an entirely different format of interaction compared to the one in the traditional classroom. Therefore, both the educator and the students need to adapt to the new interaction design during online learning to preserve motivation. Appreciative inquiry is one of the methods to support motivation among students and sustain a high level of attention. It is one of the popular methods in leadership theory, sociology, psychology, and organizational development, emphasizing its interdisciplinary character (Leeker et al., 2017). Thus, it is possible to apply this method in educational practice during the online learning class.
Several vital components in the appreciative inquiry allow educators to support students’ motivation and promote positive changes in the learning process. First, it is necessary to find the practices that work effectively that correspond to the correct focus (Leeker et al., 2017). Second, the teacher should ask students the right questions to promote positive change, preserve a high level of attention, and help students find the truth. It is possible to make parallels between Socratic questioning and appreciative inquiry (Leeker et al., 2017). These two steps allow teachers to create a reality that satisfies their needs and correlates with the main goals of k-12 education.
There are certain peculiarities concerning using the appreciative inquiry method to motivate k-12 students in online learning. It is essential to use positive language in this discussion to support students’ interests and to take the best practices to the future educational experience (Leeker et al., 2017). The last vital detail in appreciative inquiry is valuing the differences that apply to all students’ occasions and peculiarities and innovative technologies in online learning (Leeker et al., 2017). Thus, these components show that supporting high motivation during online education of k-12 students is a process that requires strategic planning and precise attention from the teacher.
There are multiple ways in which constructionist principles can be applied to k-12 online learning and human performance technologies because they all aim to improve the participants’ lives. Constructionism is the first principle that allows educators to integrate appreciative inquiries into human performance technologies in online learning (Leeker et al., 2017). It supposes that students learn how to see the interconnection between their actions and decisions and the results of their work, which is critical for their further professional development and education. Online learning gives students partial autonomy in decisions and actions, which helps them to learn how to interact with others in a more liberal context without restrictions (Roberts, 2018). At the same time, there are rigid recommendations concerning learning outcomes, which help students preserve motivation and find the appropriate direction in their academic development.
The principle of self-awareness and reflection is vital in supporting students’ motivation for learning during online classes. Self-awareness allows them to develop a clear vision of their strong and weak sides, which is essential for progress. As a result, the e-learning schedule should pay enough attention to analyzing progress and self-reflection (Roberts, 2018). This principle correlates with the basics of human performance technologies and allows k-12 students to develop self-discipline and stable motivation for work they might need in their future lives.
As already mentioned, motivating students in online learning without accurate life contact is challenging for teachers. In addition, it is difficult for educators to see the mistakes in the understanding of the subject and to track the activity of students during the lesson (Dangi & Saat, 2021). The teacher does not know whether the things they discuss during the online class are clear to all students, which might make the education results comparatively low.
There are specific methods to increase the course completion level applicable to k-12 distance education. First, educators must understand the notion of motivation and its types to know how it works in practice. Without motivation to complete the course, online learning is ineffective, and k-12 students should understand why they work stably. The teacher can support students’ desire to learn motivational messages regularly, reminding them about the reasons that keep them going (Dangi & Saat, 2021). These reasons include the need to pass the final test, get an excellent score to continue education, receive the award, etc. At the same time, this motivation is extrinsic and requires constant support from other people, making it comparatively weak and short-term (Dangi & Saat, 2021). Despite this fact, the teacher should still use it to support students’ interest in online education because this learning format is challenging for them. Therefore, extrinsic motivation is additional in this case.
Online learning requires long-term motivation of students to elaborate a structured and stable attitude to education. Another type of motivation is intrinsic, satisfying the needs mentioned earlier. It supposes that the student should be interested in completing the course successfully and continue studying without constant reminders from the teacher or another adult person. At the same time, it is possible to help the student to develop intrinsic motivation. For instance, using confidence-enhancing strategies effectively increases this type of motivation for students in distance learning (Dangi & Saat, 2021). When the academic activity is rewarding, students are engaged in completing the task and going to another level. Moreover, they feel more assured in their abilities and skills, which reduces the fear of failure that often paralyzes students. The content of the course and the applicability of the obtained information to the student’s experience are essential in developing the appropriate attitude toward learning.
The ability to find help during online learning is an essential component of successful distance education. Chyr et al. (2017) claim that flipped learning and academic help-seeking positively impact students’ progress in online education because it gives them a sense of stability. Understanding where students can find academic assistance concerning their subject increases their skills in self-directed learning, self-efficacy, and the level of involvement in the educational process. In general, the teacher should create the appropriate learning environment during the online class to develop these skills and characteristics among students to support their intrinsic motivation.
Therefore, the learning environment is critical to success in k-12 online education. Another method of motivating students during the online course is visualizing the material (Sung-Hee, 2017). For example, when students see the visual representation of their individual or team performance, they perceive the results better, and their level of satisfaction with the course is higher. It allows us to state that visualization and the convenience of using materials during online classes positively impact student motivation.
It is possible to apply the same principles to the development of technologies in education because the goals of structuring the performance and increasing the effectiveness of the process are similar. It shows that human interpretation and educational technologies cannot be separated from each other (Information et al. Association, 2018). For instance, human performance technologies in online education for small groups of k-12 students should present the information in a structured manner and grasp the participants’ attention for a comparatively long time. The need to pursue these goals determines the choice of practical methods.
Using the convenient and understandable ecosystem for online learning is essential in successfully implementing human performance technologies. It is possible to use the school’s ecosystem to structure the material required for the specific course (Information et al. Association, 2018). At the same time, it is possible to outsource online learning ecosystems to achieve better results in training k-12 students. For example, the use of links for e-courses and streaming video or audio materials makes the learning ecosystem better for students because they can access more information. In addition, these links to the external sources are structured and gathered in one place, the student’s account in the school’s online learning ecosystem, making navigation easier. Moreover, the fact that all students in the small group have access to the same data and links makes learning more organized and disciplined (Leeker et al., 2017). Therefore, using the e-learning ecosystem where all required materials, tests, and communication are gathered makes the educational process more effective.
The use of the appropriate e-learning ecosystem facilitates the evaluation of students’ results. The development of the objective analytical tool allows teachers to support online discussions on the required topic on the dashboard. Moreover, the easy-to-understand evaluation and rating system increases the motivation of k-12 students to participate in the debate online. It reduces the fear of possible failure because students know all the requirements for the post, and it makes writing the answers on the discussed topics less stressful (Yoo & Jin, 2020). Another peculiar detail is that online discussions and the use of a transparent system of evaluation for all students make participation more democratic by its essence. Many students are afraid of speaking in public or feel too shy to communicate in the classroom. Online discussion, in turn, allows them to express their opinion, increasing their participation during the lesson (Yoo & Jin, 2020). It will enable us to assume that possible inconveniences connected with the student’s involvement in the online discussion can be solved by implementing clear evaluation criteria, which increases their online activity and motivation to study.
The clarity of the e-learning ecosystem should be evaluated not only theoretically but also practically. It is possible to describe the steps to ensure that the dashboard is convenient to use for all students using the following steps:
“(1) expert validation to verify that the dashboards complied with the visual guidelines and provided learners with the information they needed; (2) tests to identify usability problems, collect qualitative and quantitative data, and determine participant satisfaction; and (3) user experience evaluations to determine how learners and instructors perceived their interactions with the dashboards” (Yoo & Jin, 2020).
This information shows that creating a user-friendly interface for the learning ecosystem is a complicated process that requires time and effort, but still, there is a vital need for distance learning.
Online learning is usually perceived as the opportunity for all students to have equal access to education regardless of their location and status. However, it is not entirely accurate in practice because distance learning is also connected with various inequalities. For example, not all students have access to the computer and the Internet required for online classes (Madden, 2020). Moreover, students from marginalized families often do not have opportunities to participate in the lessons without problems. They are constantly distracted by their siblings or other relatives and feel anxious about talking online during class (Madden, 2020). Thus, educators need to learn in advance that all students in the classroom have opportunities to participate in an online discussion to avoid emphasizing the existing inequalities. Teachers can substitute participation in the online video conference with the written answers to the questions for these students.
The human factor determines many aspects of online learning, and socioeconomic inequalities are among them. Baum and McPherson (2019) propose introducing hybrid learning strategies to overcome these gaps in the communication between teachers and students. The main point of these strategies is to find educational solutions that correspond to the opportunities for all students in the classroom (Baum & McPherson, 2019). The teacher should know the background of every student, and it requires not only a digital biographic description but also real-life communication with this person. Some details about challenging circumstances in the particular student’s life might not be reflected in the biographical data, and the student might feel shy about it. The educator needs to provide all k-12 students with solutions that satisfy everyone in the classroom.
Conclusion
It is possible to apply human performance technology in learning environments that pertain to using educational technology in multiple ways. In this paper, the focus is on the distance learning of k-12 students. They study in small groups online, determining the education format and its practical peculiarities. The research shows that two major issues are challenging for students and teachers in online learning. The first critical sphere is the use of the ecosystem for distance learning that provides a structured and understandable interface for competing for the course, its evaluation, and communication with peers and educators during the class. The second sphere of human performance technologies is working with students’ motivation, which is difficult during online courses when the teacher cannot see all students at once and monitor their performance.
K-12 online education is connected with such challenges as overcoming inequalities among students, preserving their attention, motivating them to study without teacher supervision, completing tasks, and establishing effective communication between students and teachers. Online formal makes understanding all these details complicated for teachers, and they should apply various techniques to create a positive learning environment online. Using human performance technologies allows teachers to create the optimal environment for k-12 students and to preserve their interests to achieve good results in learning. Moreover, they help students elaborate the strategic plan for stable learning, which is also critical in digital education. It is especially vital in modern society due to the popularization of online education format.
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