What is transfer and why is it such an important educational topic? What factors best facilitate transfer of learning? Use examples to clarify your answer.
Transfer is the process of gaining knowledge through study and/or experience and then applying that knowledge to different contexts. For example, a math student learns about the concept of averaging and is asked to solve multiple problems with random numbers for each set. Transfer comes into play for example when at home, that same student asks his mother for the latest grocery receipt and proceeds to average out the receipt numbers and tells his mother what the average cost of the groceries was.
Transfer is based on prior learning. Before any kind of information can be reassigned to another context by a learner, that learner must have already acquired said knowledge. For example, before a student can add 2 + 2, they must understand what the number 2 is and what the concept of adding is.
In education, the topic of transfer is an important issue. The idea of getting an education is noble, however the fact that an individual has a degree doesn’t necessarily mean they have an education. Transfer is what allows the individual to take what they have learned in school and apply it to real life. The reason this is an important issue in education is because degrees don’t always mean the student knows what they are doing. In other words, the students are learning lots of theory, practice, and great ideas, however they don’t necessarily always understand the practical application of these ideas without real-life experience. If transfer weren’t an issue, companies would be hiring recently graduated students as CEO’s and allowing them to make high-level decisions based on the most recent theories taught in school. But companies know better and understand that transfer often takes time, experience, and seasoning. The transfer of knowledge within the realm of education is paramount to the quality of the education. If the learner can’t apply what they’ve learned, what good is the education?
To lessen the gap inherent within transfer are best-practices that educational institutions are incorporating. These are among others abstraction, examples, real-life experience, guidance, context, and subject mastery.
Abstraction is a practice that has been shown to increase transfer because the learner has to think and ponder about the learning and creatively come up with news ways to apply the knowledge. Abstraction works because it’s imprecise and inexact which provides a loose testing framework for the learner. For example when learning how to average numbers, the student tries to figure out where else the concept would apply without aid from others.
Examples increase the level of transfer because they offer different usages of knowledge. For example, if a student learns about what a blog is and then hears the instructor offer examples on how blogs are used as a way to build communities, increase public awareness, and for under-represented voices to be heard, then the students understanding and awareness of blogs changes from a simple location for a personal journal to something much more meaningful.
Real-life experience and guidance offers hands-on application of theory and ideas and gives first-hand knowledge of what does and doesn’t work. For example, it’s easy to learn the ADDIE principles of design but it is a whole different ball game when having create a training program to address gaps in leadership performance using the ADDIE model.
Guidance is helpful in increasing transfer by helping the learner stay on track to hit the mark. In learning a lot of important trial and error takes place, but sometimes along the way, focus can get skewed. The necessity of guidance helps to ensure that the information learned is transferred appropriately through correction, course alteration, and pitfall avoidance.
Learning a subject and applying it within the proper context is another best-practice in transfer. This means that for learning to have the maximum impact, the learner needs to use what they are learning within the environment where it will be most useful. For example, a hitter in baseball can practice his hitting at the batting cages, but until he gets into an actual game and experiences the real-time speed of a live pitcher, he won’t be able to master his craft. However, practicing hitting against a live pitcher is as close to the real thing as a hitter can get which allows him to get a feel for the context of what game hitting is really like.
Subject mastery is also a great way to get transfer to work. Subject mastery means that the learner is more aware of the nuances and subtleties involved in the subject and because he knows the information so well is able to apply it across disciplines more easily.
It has been said that we shouldn’t let our schooling get in the way of our education meaning that learning theories and principles are nice but education comes in the application of what’s been learned. Transfer is process of gaining knowledge through study and/or experience and then applying that knowledge to different contexts, in other words, transfer is what turns schooling into education.
