Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Major Research Review on Learning Transfer

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Will Thalheimer presents this report (22 page PDF) on 'learning transfer', which he says "occurs when people learn concepts and/or skills and later utilize those concepts/skills in work situations." What we know about transfer is based on what he states upfront is weak evidence. "I will roughly estimate as well over 80%... do not actually measure transfer," he says. He writes that "far transfer hardly ever happens. Near transfer—transfer to contexts similar to those practiced during training or other learning efforts—can happen." But there are exceptions. "A person's long-term development is likely to benefit from having a range of learning experiences.. Similarly, people generate more creative insights when they have been prompted to look beyond the usual." This, though, speaks to distinct objectives of training - transfer versus creativity. Finally, he suggests "doing more to proactively reach out to the research-translator community" (also known, I would add, as the 'knowledge translation' or 'knowledge mobilization' community).

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 24, 2024 5:55 p.m.

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