Participants snapped, crackled, and popped at The eLearning Guild’s mLearnCon (Mobile Learning Conference) in San Diego in July, 2010. Most in attendance were wild for mobile learning, leaving no doubt that participants see it as the next big thing.

But what IS it?

As pronounced as the buzz around mobile learning was, there was another idea that grabbed just as much attention. That idea was mobile performance support. Mobile learning and mobile support are related, but they are not identical.

Learning invests in planned experiences that develop the smarts inside people. Performance support attends to outside influence and is what people turn to for help when stumped by a question, symptom, or decision. While the mind, heart, and belly are the domain of learning and instruction, performance support resides on mobile devices, our focus here, and also in pockets, on laptops, and even scribbled on palms and matchbook covers. Let’s look at a side-by-side comparison in Table 1.

Must we choose between instruction and support?

No. A system that combines instruction and support is most desirable of all – especially when much is expected of these people. Think about school principals. Or consider doctors and pilots. In 2007, in the New Yorker magazine, Atul Gawande described the power of checklists in medicine and commercial flight. Medicine and flight have grown increasingly complex. No one person can remember all that is required, no matter the length and quality of their training. To do all that they must do, they now turn to performance support, to a checklist. Gawande tells the story of Peter Provonost, a critical care physician. Provonost, concerned about line infections in the intensive care unit, innovated by providing a checklist job aid. It was stunningly successful, with dramatic reductions in the infection rate. Standardization, on-the-spot reminders, and an empowered role for the nurse made the difference.

Why an ode to performance support?

1. Performance support delivers valued assistance, given limits on human memory. If people could remember everything, then performance support would not be necessary. Memory can be categorized in two ways: long-term memory (LTM) and short-term memory (STM). Long-term memories are stored in the brain, whether they are recollections about chopping down Christmas trees with Grandpa, the political history of Malta versus Yalta, or the definition of “pusillanimous.” The movement of information from STM into LTM, into meaningful networks, is called learning. It costs time and money to learn. Short-term memory is limited, usually to five to seven pieces of information. A good illustration of the limits on STM is the process of transferring a credit-card number from a bill to the check that will pay the bill. Some people capture four numbers at a time; others can capture five, six, seven, or as many as eight numbers.

Because STM has limited capacity, and because moving data into LTM demands resources for repetitive practice over time and settings, professionals concerned with performance have turned to performance support, recognizing many opportunities for aided performance. Whether it’s the pressure of cooking the annual Thanksgiving turkey and assorted fixings, figuring out which products are most appropriate for this customer, or making a good decision about readiness to go to online graduate school, performance support serves as a trusted aid. Even Albert Einstein recognized his limitations and relied on performance support. He admitted to not knowing his own phone number because he could look it up, when necessary. It is hard not be affectionate towards a resource that delivers what you want, be it a phone number, turkey, or criteria for conforming to Sarbanes Oxley.

2. Performance support is short and sweet. No fuss, just focus. Peter Provonost did not write a checklist for the thousands of things that must be done in intensive care. He directed attention to where errors were made, were lives were lost, and hospital stays were lengthened. While effective instruction is comprehensive and prepares individuals to handle the unforeseen, performance support is targeted to the task at hand. Tony O’Driscoll, then with IBM and now at the University of North Carolina, said this about performance support: “Parsimony is the key. It is not about serving up everything that might be relevant to what you are trying to do today. It is about content and resources that solve the immediate now and the immediate how for the task that you are trying to get accomplished.”

3. Performance support is there when you need it, where you need it. Imagine that you are expected at a meeting across town. You have no clue how to get there. Fortunately, your colleague knows how. He whispers directions as he participates in a conference call. You then head for the meeting. Not surprisingly, half way across town, you can’t remember if you turn right or left after the main branch of the library. Don’t you wish you had purchased that GPS? With a GPS, a splendid mobile performance support tool, a sultry voice is in the car with you, to point you to your destination. The information and guidance are there when they are needed. In the car, with a client, on your couch, in the cockpit, or on the run, performance supports helps out. The GPS gets your context and informs you that you will be turning right in a quarter of a mile. Just before the turn, it is there to nudge you yet again.

Andrew Kupresanin recently invented Nadia, a camera with an aesthetics inference engine. Here I am at my niece’s wedding. She looks great. The Hudson River is gorgeous. Her hair is blowing in the wind. I want this photo to be perfect. Is it right? Is this a good photo? What if I took it from this angle instead? Nadia offers ratings as the photographer frames alternatives.

4. Performance support is all about your priorities. On a diet? Working in an intensive care unit? Worried about your readiness to cope with an earthquake? Or are you perhaps a boarding officer? Performance support earns your favor by targeting your concerns. U.S. Coast Guard officer Dan Hardin, a commercial fishing vessel safety coordinator, decided to use performance support to improve inspections on fishing vessels. Prior to the use of the performance support tool, boarding officers were required to attend a one-week course on the intricacies of enforcing hundreds of pages of federal regulations for fishing vessel safety. The complex laws applied to many boats and situations, and sometimes resulted in inconsistent or inaccurate choices by boarding officers. Hardin’s mobile support tool eliminated much of the memorization. The PDA generates a customized checklist of safety requirements for firefighting, lifesaving, and bridge equipment appropriate to each vessel. No more laboring to determine whether the law requires this particular ship to carry one of three different types of life rafts, an inflatable buoyant apparatus, life float, or nothing at all.

Technology makes a good thing even better

One of the great things about the humble print job aid is that it goes where it is needed. That’s true of mobile devices, too. For example, through software on a mobile device, that shopping list can do more than tickle your memory. On a mobile device, that list can deliver targeted advice about the quality of intended purchases, in light of selected goals. Does this purchase match daily caloric intentions? How about dietary restrictions? But wait, there’s more. RedLaser, an iPhone application, scans barcodes and, relying on location services, advises on where to find that product at a better price.

Experience what technology contributes to performance support in San Diego’s Balboa Park, using a 99 cent iPhone app. On 1,200 acres, with fourteen museums, a world famous zoo, theaters, gardens, and restaurants, the park is stunning. But it can overwhelm, and it is not unusual to find visitors wandering lost and frustrated. Imagine that you are a visitor with only four hours to spend at the park. How do you maximize your time? Where is the Japanese Friendship Garden and how far is it from your current location at Fleet Space Museum? How do you get to it? What other attractions are in close proximity? The kids are craving churros. Are those long, slender, deep-fried crullers available in Balboa Park? The app will help you find out. For just under a dollar, the mobile performance support is present, speedy, and personalized to you and your circumstances, something few learning experiences can be. (Read a little about the app at http://www.bpoc.org/node/6588, or download it from the App Store if you are planning a visit.)