Job aids and performance support: the convergence of learning and work

Abstract

Performance support is happening where we work and live. Under a tree and at a park bench, in a submarine, at a parent-teacher meeting, in a cubicle, or on the manufacturing floor, people reach beyond themselves for help in doing what needs to be done. The support comes as extensive computer systems, reminders on cellphones, and notes scribbled on old envelopes. Annual studies by ASTD and Training magazine confirm the slow, steady trend away from classroom delivery and towards more technological approaches. This shift to knowledge everywhere suggests the beginnings of a revolution in workplace learning, a revolution that brings messages and meaning closer to where it is needed. What is performance support? Where did it come from? And what are the possibilities suggested by planner and sidekick support? Those questions are addressed here.