Immersion -- Week 5

Performance Centered Design ... Objectivist or Cognitivist?



A classmate recently remarked that performance centered design (PCD) seemed very objectivist in nature. That is, in order to receive just in time support, people are many times led by the hand in the right direction for the information they need to get the job done. But, my PCD instructor presented his take on this issue - that distributed cognition is the foundation of Performance Support. From the distributed cognition view, knowledge is transmitted between individuals and cultural tools, and the relationship of these different elements (person-to-person, person-to-tool) changes the external structure to develop a "functional system". I can see where this view would fit with performance support. However if you are trying to get a person from Point A (weekly timesheet) to Point C (entering weekly timesheet into automated system) and present B (job aid to help person enter weekly time into automated system) as the stimulus to get to Point C, then isn't that purely objectivist? Or can it be both?