Human Performance Improvement

HPI, is as a professional field of enterprise, centered on the efforts and results of people operating in work settings. However, according to Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey, in Chapter 14 of Trends and Issues In Instructional Design and Technology, principles of HPI, have been applied to educational situations (p.135). HPI is about “lowering the behavioral (activity) cost and markedly increasing the valued result or benefit.” (p.136)

I was thinking about a problem that our community college has of students dropping from courses prior to the semester ending. The behavior being, dropping out of class, the cost is loss revenue by the college because of the dropout rates. So if I understand the HPI concept correctly, the college needs to work on solutions to decrease the behavior of dropping classes and work on retention of students, the valued result being, (i.e., retained or increased revenues), as well as other benefits, such as increased student enrollments, and higher graduation rates. Concentration on retaining students would result in an increase in value for all stakeholders, with all benefiting from this achievement.

Another thought I had was about a card I received, as a teacher, of a group of children holding hands together in front of the world, and it said, “children, our most precious natural resource.” HPI adopts as its heart the idea of maximizing “human capital achievements.” This saying on the card I received, years ago, parallels this idea, which I believe has been a core value of education, from conception. To any educator, these words sound familiar, “performance outcomes”, “clear expectations,” “timely and specific feedback, “access to required information, “adequate resources,” etc. (p. 136) Isn’t this what making AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) is all about? I certainly would be interested to see whether the “PC toolkit,” which HPI has is useful in tackling the problem with failing schools. The public schools' systems could use an injection of HPI Botox, “human performance improvement”, using “human performance technology.”

According to the chapter, HPI is applicable in use to any population or subject matter, and is commonly applied to “social improvement settings. (p. 137) of which schools are a natural fit. The idea of closing the gaps in student performance and designing “cost-effective,” and “efficient interventions,” in areas, such as special education, would be phenomenal.