Discusses the importance of calculating the return on investment (ROI) for electronic performance support systems, beginning with the practical issues of identifying what will be measured and then assigning costs and benefits to each variable in monetary terms. Suggests the challenge is in defining and quantifying the real business benefits.…

Discusses the design of Web sites by human performance technologists and provides a beginner's guide to conducting usability tests to gather feedback to use in refining and improving Web sites so they are more accessible and will help the users' performance. (Author/LRW)

Discusses how to produce behavior change and related performance improvement by nonexperts in as little as eight minutes by having them become instantly engaged through instant credibility of the content and instant application to their situation. Explains digital coach technology which can create instant engagement for the nonexpert. (Author/LRW)

Discusses fluency, a combination of quality plus speed that characterizes competent performance that is the true definition of mastery. Suggests the need for including a time dimension in measures to show distinctions between levels of performance, and concludes that performance development programs should address fluency to improve learning and…

Defines performance technology to include impacts on society; serving clients; keeping the organization's success in view; ISD (instructional systems design); training needs analysis; combining solutions and improvement strategies; and supporting the organization's ability to become or remain competitive in its current and potential marketplace…

Discusses the need for performance improvement professionals to achieve useful results, and to prove the value added in terms of empirical data. Considers the differences between systems, systemic, and systematic approaches, and examines which approach applies to various concepts in the field that would help add value. (Contains 14 references.)…

Explains public relations and describes how it can be used effectively by performance technologists. Topics include choosing a suitable project; determining the target audience; press releases; press kits; and contacting journalists. (LRW)

The designing of instruction, when considered as a process, is the determination of instructional requirements of the learner and development of functional learning systems in order to meet these requirements. In fact, as a consequence of studies on the development of effective learning systems some instructional design theories have emerged.…

The leap in wireless LAN standards to 802.11n is a WiFi upgrade so new it has not yet garnered final approval from the standards committee. Although that approval will not come until next year (vendors are currently building to a "pre-n" standard), there are plenty of notebook computers out there capable of running 802.11n. That means students…

Some call them Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSSs). Others prefer Performance Support Tools (PSTs) or decision support tools. One might call EPSSs or PSTs job aids on steroids, technological tools that provide critical information or advice needed to move forward at a particular moment in time. Characteristic advantages of an EPSS or a…

This article considers the nature of complexity and design, as well as relationships between the two, and suggests that design may have much potential as an approach to improving human performance in situations seen as complex. It is developed against two backgrounds. The first is a world view that derives from second order cybernetics and radical…

Those involved in training know that creating instructional materials can become a tedious, repetitive process. They also know that business conditions often require training interventions to be delivered in ways that are not ideally structured or timed. This article examines the notion that learning objects can be reused and adapted for…

This dissertation reports the results of an exploratory data analysis investigation of the relationship between the structures used for information organization and access and the associated storage structures within state government websites. Extending an earlier claim that hierarchical directory structures are both the preeminent information…

Organizations have become more dependent on information technology (IT) in the 21st century. But IT implementation and use is resisted in certain sectors of Tanzania, particularly in government-run enterprises. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes and consequences of resistance to IT development and implementation in the…

The "Facilities Performance Indicators Survey" ("FPI") supersedes and builds upon the two major surveys APPA conducted in the past: the Comparative Costs and Staffing (CCAS) survey and the Strategic Assessment Model (SAM). The "FPI" covers all the materials collected in CCAS and SAM, along with some select new data points and improved survey…