Traci Tobergte has worked for 15 years in instructional design and as a facilitator. Her job at the time of the webinar was as an Instructional Systems Specialist for an agency within the Department of the Interior.
Like many other speakers in the webinars and our textbook, Traci said to start the performance evaluation process with a gap analysis. She said to ask clients many questions, including, “What do you want?” She made a point that I have observed. She noted that most organizations don’t know what instructional designers or performance consultants do. This makes the job more difficult
Traci pointed out something I have not heard from any other webinar speakers. She said that you don’t have to be the content subject matter expert to do performance consulting. If you are not a subject matter expert, you will be more objective in your evaluation. You are an expert in instructional design, so build a relationship and a partnership to create something together.
Traci had several professional recommendations, including books and networking groups for instructional designers and performance consultants. She also talked about the software expectations in instructional design jobs. She recommended that a digital portfolio is the most helpful tool in a job search for instructional design or human performance technology.
Traci spent more time talking about Instructional Design than Human Performance Technology. She had some great suggestions about job searching and the skills needed. Traci’s job sounds like a typical instructional design position. It was good to hear how she applies human performance technology thinking to instructional design work. This webinar didn’t give me a stronger understanding of HPT. It showed how an instructional designer could use the framework of HPT on the job to provide more than training. Traci said a few things that were also reflected in the other webinars. She said that training is not the answer 90% of the time. George also said this as well as Dr. G. M. Bud Benscoter. Often a job aide is a better solution than training. One thing Traci said reminded me of what Dr. George Hanshaw said in his webinar. Traci said that in performance consulting, the consultant needs to gather all information, refrain from making immediate assumptions, and consider the impact of what they do on the outcome. George said the same thing more concisely when he said, “Wonder what if?” Traci's main point that reflected what we have studied in class is that training is not always the answer.