Creating a role for performance support systems in teacher education

Abstract

This article describes an approach to the design of interactive hypermedia in tertiary education that is focused in a perspective which contextualises Performance Support Systems (PSSs) as cognitive tools. The software described is specifically aimed at student teachers and is conceptualised to provide cognitive support in the performance of a complex task – the planning of lessons. In providing this support, the software needs to possess a range of characteristics that are closely related to what we know about cognitive processes, particularly in relation to the performance of non-simplistic tasks in the context of real-life or authentic situations. Whilst this article is intended to present a view as to why PSSs might be of interest to tertiary educators, particularly with reference to the notion of computers as cognitive tools, it does so by considering a specific case – the design of the Lesson Planning System (LPS). Furthermore, although this article originates in a wider research and development project containing a substantial evaluative element, it is the nature, purpose and conceptualisation of use of the LPS that is largely discussed here.