Through reading this week’s articles and watching the lecture from Dr. Allison Rossett, I obtained helpful suggestions regarding how to learn HPT and further studied the history of HPT.
As a beginner of HPT, I am usually confused about what should I focus on in the field of HPT. And sometimes I felt that I don’t know how to start learning because there are many concepts, models, theories, and some opinions from the experts of HPT. At the same time, I’m also sure whether there are some orders among this knowledge. However, I seems to find the answer when I watched the lecture of Dr. Allison Rossett this Monday. During Dr. Allison Rossett answered the question from Mark, she mentioned that the learners should focus on the practice and need to recognize whether the solution developed is suitable for the context or environment. Although the reorganization usually is not easy, it is a requirement to develop an appropriate solve-solution for one problem. This reminds me that it is helpful for me to learn HPT through the combination of theories and cases or practices. In other words, I could deepen my understanding of this theory through reading some cases regarding the application of this theory when I learn a theory.
In addition, I was also impressed with the development of HPT through reading An eyewitness account of HPT and who is the “real” father of HPT. Although many events during the development process were not recorded by history, there are many great leaders and key events that were recorded. For example, the general recognition is that the HPT started in the 1960s. From the opinion of Dr. Rummler, the history of HPT could be traced from the accurate journals and the topics presented at NSPI conferences from 1963 to 1980. Thus, it seems that NSPI should be another eyewitness for the history of HPT.
Reference
Rummler, G. A. (2007). The past is prologue: An eyewitness account of HPT. Performance Improvement, 46(10), 5-9.
Pershing, J. (2006). Human performance technology fundamentals. In J. A. Pershing (Ed.), Handbook of human performance technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 5-34). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Tosti, D. T., & Kaufman, R. (2007). Who is the “real” father of HPT?. Performance Improvement, 46(7), 5-8.
Hi Xiaojiao,
Your reflection on the history of HPT reminds me of my initial exploration to this concept and development. Dr. Allison and other scholars are good pathfinder to guide us to understand HPT and related concepts much better and deeper. I am totally agree with you on the necessary combination of theories and practices, which is exact what our research novices always devote to do. Thank you for sharing.
-Xiaoying🙂
Hi, Xiaojiao
It's good to read this post about the history of HPT. I always believe that it is very important to learn the history of a subject before digging deeper into it. From learning the history, it is easier for us to know how things go to the current stage and it also potentially help the learners to know where the next step might be. I also appreciated your explains of how the HPT goes and pointed out the important time points.
Thanks for sharing
Sungling Wu