USCG Human Performance Technology (HPT) Workshop

I attended the U.S. Coast Guard Human Performance Technology (HPT) Workshop in Williamsburg, VA this past week for the first time. I got a chance to meet up with some industry colleagues and some fellow Bloom U Alumni (Jenna Kuhns and Chris Reese). The workshop was a lot smaller than some of the other conferences I've attended in the past (i.e. IITSEC, ASTD, Training, etc.), but it was sort of nice to get a way from the assortment of vendor displays and just focus on the sessions.

As with every conference I've attended, the sessions ranged from "very informative" to "I can't believe I just wasted 50 minutes of my life". Some of the less informative sessions tended to focus on a specific tool and/or application of that tool, and one session was structured like an ADDIE 101 session disguised under the title of "Building training that maximizes performance". I've summarized some of the more informative sessions below.

I started by attending the "E-Learning Trends" session by Rich Arnold from Unitech (pretty cool website too if you get a chance to check it out). I always enjoy attending the e-learning trends sessions just to see if everyone is "trending" in the same direction. Rich was a great speaker and a lot of his trends were right on target. He also noted that, in a sense, there are no e-learning trends. In fact, e-learning is a mechanism; not a panacea. E-learning crosses performance improvement, education, and training. If you are curious, his top ten trends (in no specific order, except for #1) are:
1. Technology used to support realistic performance
2. E-learning fused with school and mobile ILT
3. Performance parameters growing faster than costs
4. E-learning = Training (Show + Tell), Simulation (Do + Consequences), Games (Do + Consequences + Story).
5. Solution blending includes EPSS
6. Mobile and wireless
7. Shift from individual to team-based training
8. Adding haptic interfaces and "real" tools (i.e. weapons). See Karl Kapp's insight from a recent conference he attended.
9. Actual role-training simulations to practice missions
10. Media and environmental modeling becoming more cost effective

Another great session was "Learning Happens" by Ron Chapman. He offered several great pieces of information and helped reinforce things I had already heard. He started by sharing why "learning" was important (ideas = competitiveness, retiring boomers, job satisfaction and retention, etc.) and discussed differences between training and learning. He also indicated that the number one cause of problems in the workplace is a human performance issue. He also mentioned that 80% of learning occurs outside of the classroom. This is surprising (more discouraging) when there are still so many people out there that believe only "purposeful activities" occur through formal instruction (See Tom Werner's post on how Gagne thought this). Ron Chapman also drew an illustration about how performance problems should be viewed as an iceberg..."events" could be considered the very top of the iceberg, "processes/decisions" are right underneath it, and "culture (forces and pressures)" are the bulk of the iceberg that sits below the water. Most of our effort is spent on conducting "events" (i.e. more training courses, etc.) whereas we have increased leverage and opportunity for learning and change as we move below the waterline. Granted, the culture is harder to change, but that is what needs to change in many circumstances.

The last session I'll summarize was a session on "Professional Certification: Myths and Realities". The session had a panel that discussed some of the pros and cons (although it was mostly pros) of becoming certified. This session was particularly interesting to me in light of one of my previous posts. The session was good, but I think it stopped short of really showing the benefit of becoming certified. On top of that, they really didn't distinguish the differences between the certifications, and they bordered on saying that different companies will recognize different certificates depending on which one they are more familiar with...not as a matter of utility. I think certification is important, but I would hate to see several different organizations begin to offer similar certifications with no differences between them. That only will make it harder for practitioners (and corporations) to figure out if they are getting the best.

I also attended a sessions on Podcasting, HPT for the warfighter, and how people learn which were all very good. I would recommend the workshop (especially for the costs...free) for anyone that is looking to get away from the big conferences and get more personal.