Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Electronic Peformance Support Systems

Much of the information that was presented in this chapter I found to be relatable to many software applications that we use today. The text broke up EPSS into 5 categories - An Informational Base, Learning Experiences, Embedded Coaching and Help Tools, an Expert Advisor, and Customized Tools. An informational base is like researching a library or any online journals. Each is kept current with the information and is searchable. An example of learning experiences would be if a company had a section where people could post anecdotes of working for that company. Embedded coaching and help tools can be observed in most software products that have help features. Microsoft Excel also helps to coach users through creating graphs with their chart wizard. I haven't actually observed an expert advisor, but I think that car maintenance could be related. I know with cars, some companies have built in maintenance light that goes off if that car needs service. My parents have such a car, and when they took it in, the maintenance light was no longer on, so the mechanic said that he wouldn't be able to know what the problem was unless the light was on. For this reason, I believe it that mechanics must a have a machine/program that lends itself to being an expert advisor as it must guide the mechanic through the steps of diagnosing what's wrong with the car. Lastly, if you think of Microsoft Office as entire suite or whole entity, then all of the different applications like Word, Excel, and Power Point would be examples of Customized Tools. I know that all of these examples are not EPSS, however, I feel like they help me understand the concepts better.

1 comment:

Legions of Christ said...

Hello Kellie,
I found this chapter the most interesting, because it gave me creative ideas that I could use in the classroom or my graduate thesis project. That mechanic story sounded as if the shop was too reliant on EPSS, if that's such a thing. We're supposed to be responding to one another right ?
DF