What is your mission?
(Recall that the UJTL says a "mission" is a "Task with a purpose.")
Perhaps your mission is to reach an
an educational goal?
Consider this concept:
Could educators really benefit from a METL
based approach?
They tend not to focus on, or are confused about, the mission – educating children
– and instead get lost in the details of trying to “try out” or implement somebody’s “good idea”
for a particular program, rather than taking a holistic approach.
If the mission is educating children, then what are the standards and what are the conditions?
What
are the critical tasks? (i.e. Assess aptitude and skill level to identify gaps, Plan instruction to bridge gaps, Deliver the
instruction, Assess progress).
What are the enabling tasks? (i.e. Provide environment conducive to
learning, transport students to and from, etc., etc.)
Some examples
of business requirements that need to be supported by Enterprise Data warehouses and information management systems include:
Tracking student populations by region, district, and school in terms of:
- Demographics (Age, Gender, Racial/Ethnic background, Socio-Economic status, etc.),
- Special needs (both physical and mental), including enrollment in an Individual Education Plan (IEP)
- Test scores on aptitude (i.e. IQ tests) and progress assessment (i.e. basic skills tests to measure progress against
state/federal standards) – This is a BIGGIE!
- Details on testing given (when,
where, by whom, under what conditions, etc.)
- Eligibility for and use of vouchers/state
provided scholarships
- Mode of transportation to and from school
- Enrolled in reduced cost lunch program
- Eligibility for enrollment
- Tracking teacher populations by region, district, and school in terms of:
- Demographics
- Educational credentials
and certifications
-
Experience and years of service
- Training received (especially
state and federally mandated training)
- Salary history and all relevant HR
records (benefits, emergency contacts, etc.)
- Recording and tracking registration and attendance
- Recording
and tracking grades and GPA’s.
- Generating Report Cards.
- Curriculum and lesson plan development
- Recording
and tracking test scores on basic skills assessments
- Online delivery
of education (blended learning concepts)
- Cost accounting
(tracking fixed and variable costs by region, district, school)
- Payroll
and accounts payable -Funding sources and distribution
- Disseminating information via external and internal web sites by district and school.
(From DRC's Britt Bray, expert in
the Mission & Means Framework)
DRC supported
the establishment and operation of the standards-based Navy Warfare Training System.
In each case, the process followed ISTD/ ADDIE models of defining
the mission requirements by answering three basic questions:
What does
the “trainee” (team, unit, group, etc) really need to do (knowledge, skills, and abilities)? The “Tasks.”
How well do they need to do it? The “Standards” to balance and propel excellence.
What tools, equipment, systems, etc. have they been given to complete the necessary tasks?
By focusing first on the end product, educators
and trainers can assemble the path to mastery-even allowing time for experimentation and discovery. In
that manner, students learn to adapt to various circumstances.
Ensuring that the first performance is correct sets the tone for the rest of the course.
We stress making sure step one is a perfect as possible so when it must be performed in emergencies, it is reflexive.
The answers to
those now help us employ targeted business processes to determine the training requirements and supporting information systems:
Functional
needs analyses focus on the overall results desired and define what parameters must be monitored and tracked by smart systems
that help organize, track, and project student performance. Sample questions: Which methods produced better
performance and what was the % increase per dollar invested?
Curricula requirements include scheduling, course loads and throughput
capacities.
Functional
solutions analyses uses proposed training “methods, modes, and means” to determine numbers/ course loads, schedules,
trainers, simulator maintainers, etc. Plus, they lead to decisions for information management and knowledge
retention systems.
A
major part of the business process was discovering opportunities to measure and track employment of the four phases of Kirkpatrick’s
Training Evaluation model:
1.
Reaction
2.
Learning
3.
Behavior
4.
Results
The
“third and fourth” layers of Kirkpatrick are where the rubber meets the road: How well did the graduate perform
out there? What did we miss? Are post-course surveys enough? What
actions have been traced back to a training deficiency or solution? Business solutions were needed to focus
on these - relational databases and displays of individual, team or peer group performance histories and trends.
A key is to apply
that feedback to develop course corrections. With linked information performance and management systems,
near-real-time updates can be made. Moreover, often, the “Live” performance results in issues that must be confronted
systematically with the Training piece only part of the systems solution.
Sometimes – and now more often- constraints
on live training, drive us to simulation. Having the whole “mission” picture allows us to develop
realistic and challenging simulators that reflect many of the sensory perceptions one would get in a live event.
Those become “requirements” to build into models and simulations. And training assessment
can include evaluation of the effectiveness of the models and simulations. Debriefs of folks from the battlefields
and fleets provide the feedback to develop more realistic scenarios.
Another part of the “training requirements” is the need for an evaluation, assessment,
and feedback system to enable the “virtuous learning” cycle. Measuring performance against
clearly stated mission objectives allows us to prepare force for eventual mission success. Linked information
and performance management systems could assist decision makers in their pursuits of excellence.