Transfer of learning

Transfer of learning is the dependency of human conduct, learning, or performance on prior experience. The notion was originally introduced as transfer of practice by Edward Thorndike and Robert S. Woodworth. They explored how individuals would transfer learning in one context to another, similar context – or how "improvement in one mental function" could influence a related one. Their theory implied that transfer of learning depends on how similar the learning task and transfer tasks are, or where "identical elements are concerned in the influencing and influenced function", now known as the identical element theory.

Today, transfer of learning is usually described as the process and the effective extent to which past experiences (also referred to as the transfer source) affect learning and performance in a new situation (the transfer target). However, there remains controversy as to how transfer of learning should be conceptualized and explained, what its prevalence is, what its relation is to learning in general, and whether it exists at all. There are a wide variety of viewpoints and theoretical frameworks apparent in the literature, which can be categorized as:

Knowledge transfer involves the application of previously learned knowledge while completing tasks or solving problems.

The intent of this excerpt is to support the work of transfer in educational materials readily available and for other users to incorporate their ideas as well. Hopefully this article may aid in the planning phase, teaching, and day to day lesson plans when thinking about the importance of educational transfer in the future. When I think of learning theories I think of educational transfer. Educational transfer is important and should be dually noted that researchers, educators, and the like need to know how to teach for transfer. The idea of transfer is seldom specified. However, it is one of the most important goals that we can teach our students. The ultimate goal is for the student to be able to apply their knowledge and skills inside and outside of the classroom, specifically to new cases. Transfer of knowledge goes far beyond simply repeating memorized material but to being able to take old knowledge and experiences and apply this old knowledge to a new concept and being able to use both the new and old knowledge to solving a problem that you have never encountered before. This mode of thinking about the process of learning and transfer resonates with the Gestalt theory of learning.

To understand the idea of educational transfer of learning it involves one's own transferring of knowledge and skills from one problem solving situation to the next. Transfer of learning is so common in our everyday lives that we may not even realize that we are applying the idea of transfer to our everyday practices. We do this without conscious thought. Transfer can be considered positive or negative. Transfer occurs at a subconscious level if one has achieved automaticity of that which is to be transferred, and if one is transferring this learning to a problem that is sufficiently similar to the original situation so that differences are handled at a subconscious level, perhaps aided by a little conscious thought(Perkins, David N. and Salomon, Gavriel (September 2, 1992). Unfortunately, researchers are unable to develop a general theory of educational transfer of learning. This would allow students to get better at applying and mastering the idea of transfer in an educational setting.

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