Three Great Performance Support Tools (PSTs) We Can Use in Our New Remote Environment
And why even if you have no idea what a PST is you should learn how to benefit from them
The COVID-19 situation has imposed in most of us a new way of dealing with our tasks. Whether it is work or school, we have moved into an environment that is not our usual one. Especially for those of us who are used to learning things in a hands-on, mentored approach, not having people around for learning can be hard. So, I will share a few Performance Support Tools I have been using to stay sharp, both in work and school.
But before that, what are PSTs? PSTs are learning aids meant to help people with any needed support at the precise moment of their need. They were designed to support and guide employees when at work, when personal training/assistance is not possible. So, to our current moment, PSTs are very much needed, because of their easy availability. However, since our school or work may not have adapted yet as to provide them, be sure to remember that they can be found everywhere online nowadays — we just have to exercise care and use our critical thinking to evaluate if the tools we find are the tools we need, and that they contain everything we need. But that is a topic for a future article.
The first useful PSTs that are available everywhere for us are infographics. Infographics are highly visual, information-driven storytelling tools that are made to convey information about a topic or a process. But why they are more effective than text? Research[1] shows that visual information is more memorable and that 90% of all information that is transmitted to our brain is visual. So, when weighing between text and visuals, our brain is more likely to retain information that is conveyed to us via visual means.
The second tools that have been trending a lot, especially in social media, are microvideos. Microvideos are, according to the eLearning professional Josh Cavalier, a small collection of “micro moments”’ (i.e. thought, image, concept or idea) delivered in a video that’s six to sixty seconds long[2]. Such videos can work with our sensory and working memory without being cognitively demanding, thus being a perfect option for an instant support tool. We should consider them especially if we are helping a team with a specific task and we will not have time/availability to provide the full on-site support that can be needed.
The third tools are an old friend of ours, widely known and used: guides. So, instead of describing them, I’ll just go ahead and give some tips on how to make them efficiently: first, a guide shouldn’t be a huge comprehensive documentation document — it is supposed to be something for quick reference usage. So, we should learn how to extract what is essential in a task, process, project, or content to make one. This, in fact, can serve as a great learning tool (this is also a matter for a future article!). The second tip comes from the two previous tools: images are great, and they should be used! Who does not get bored when facing a text-only guide about anything? However, too many images can also be problematic, so try balancing text and visual appropriately. Third, outline your guide as if you were giving a talk. This will help you to avoid repetition, and unnecessary information.
So, to wrap up: desperate times require desperate measures. Even though the previous sentence is meant to be a joke, since we are dealing with an unusual situation, different learning and leading approaches are necessary for effective results.
[1] https://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116
[2] https://www.techsmith.com/blog/introduction-to-microvideo/
