Executive development programs teach various skills deemed important in future leaders and help shape future leadership and its performance. However, they are often excessively focused on competencies required for dealing with internal issues and relationships. They do a much less admirable job preparing future executives for the unique skills…

This is a retrospective analysis of the performance of a large training program in a combat environment looked at through the lens of human performance technology. Van Tiem, Moseley, and Dessinger's performance improvement/HPT model and strategic, operational, and tactical levels are used to describe effective and ineffective applications of human…

Using their "license to snoop," performance architects uncover the nuances of how work gets done in an organization. This is the first of a four-part series in which each article will present a different organizational level. Typical performance issues and opportunities for each level will be discussed, and helpful models and tools will be shared.…

As Danny G. Langdon wrote in September 2010, for human performance technology to be a science, it needs commonly understood and applied models. He proposed his language of work (LOW) model. This article presents arguments for a very different model, one that cuts the cord to our profession's beginnings in the design of programmed instruction,…

In 2011, American School & University (AS&U) showcased some of the hottest products in the industry. This article presents the top ten most requested products as determined by readers. The top one on the list is the Bulb crusher which can cut recycling costs by 50%, can hold 1,350 4-foot lamps in a single 55-gallon drum, can crush a 4-foot lamp in…

Addressing metacognitive functions has been shown to improve performance at the individual, team, group, and organizational levels. Metacognition is beginning to surface as an added cognate discipline for the field of human performance technology (HPT). Advances from research in the fields of cognition and metacognition offer a place for HPT to…

Efforts to improve human and organizational performance are often courageous adventures full of unexpected twists and turns and frequently leading to unexpected destinations. From mentoring and succession planning to e-learning and beyond, the activities that can be leveraged to improve performance are vast. Comparing, contrasting, selecting, and…

The digitized collections of artifacts known as electronic portfolios are creating solutions to a variety of performance improvement needs in ways that are cost-effective and improve both individual and group learning and performance. When social media functionality is embedded in e-portfolios, the tools support collaboration, social learning,…

What does performance improvement look like in practice in today's organizations? As part of its commitment to the learning profession, the American Society for Training and Development annually judges the practices of organizations through a blind peer review process to determine what merits the best practice designation. This article contains…

In this article, "Training" asks the 2011 winners to give their predictions for what training--either in general or specifically at their companies--will look like in the next five to 10 years. Perhaps their "training visions" will spark some ideas in one's organization--or at least help prepare for what might be coming in the next decade or so.

This commentary is part of an ongoing dialogue that began in the October 2011 special issue of "Performance Improvement"--Exploring a Universal Performance Model for HPT: Notes From the Field. The performance improvement/HPT (human performance technology) model represents a unifying process that helps accomplish successful change, create…

Librarians are the ultimate information workers, with little they can count as done at the end of the day. Staying productive and motivated when there are no finished items that you have created at day's end can be difficult. For just this reason, David Allen, author and productivity expert, has proposed an information-worker-centric theory of…

Previous reviews in the field of Educational Technology (ET) have revealed some publication patterns according to authors, institutions, and affiliations. However, those previous reviews focused only on the rankings of individual authors and institutions, and did not provide qualitative details on relations and networks of scholars and scholarly…

The purpose of this study is to examine key research themes in human performance technology (HPT) through content analysis of the 20 most influential articles identified in Cho, Jo, Park, Kang, and Chen (2011). Three questions guiding this inquiry are: (1) What are the key themes of the 20 most influential articles in "PIQ", (2) What information…

In this article, the authors present a model of career engagement that helps bridge the gap between career counselors' focus on supporting individuals to find meaningful work and employers' desire for an engaged, productive, and committed workforce. They briefly review highlights of the employee engagement literature, introduce the Career…