Learning Transfer is a topic that has received a great deal of research. In a time where our profession is focused on ROI, proving the transfer of learning is essential. But the concept of learning transfer is not always well-defined for the learning and performance professional. Let’s fix that.
In the introduction to his white paper, the Seven Step Program for eLearning Improvement, Clark N. Quinn says: “…we are trying to achieve retention of the learning intervention, and transfer of that information to all relevant situations even if not seen in the learning experience.”
Retention is the ability to recall the information we learned. It is highly perishable. When we walk out of the training room, our recall of the information received begins to atrophy immediately, like the value of a car starts to drop the minute you drive it off the lot.
Transfer is the ability to use the learning in a new setting. Usually, that is back on the job. However, Quinn highlights a nuance to transfer – it isn’t the ability to just use the learning back on the job, but the ability to transfer the information and apply the learning to any relevant situation.
It is critical to any learning effort that we account for retention and transfer of learning. An organization’s responsibility to support a learning effort does not just apply in the classroom.
There are things we can do to help support retention and transfer in our learning design.
And here is one last thought. If, during the design process, you engage your stakeholders in defining how transfer should be supported, they will be more likely to stay engaged in supporting the transfer once the learning is implemented.
I found the following links helpful in learning more about retention and transfer of learning:
http://www.quinnovation.com/Resources.html
http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm#transfer
http://www.maqweb.org/maqslides/powerpoint/New_Mods/TOL/TOLnotes.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_learning
http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/thinking/docs/traencyn.htm
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm
E-learning seems to be growing more complicated lately. Whether the field is expanding, or I am just listening better, I find there are many acronyms and terms (LCMS, LMS, SCORM are some the most frequent) that I can’t actually define.
One primary goal of this blog is to help you keep up with the changing landscape of the workplace learning and performance profession. E-learning is a huge part of that change. (E-learning is also a significant component in 4 knowledge items in the CPLP Knowledge Exam Content Outline.) (more…)
In an article published on the Harvard Business site last Friday, Jeanne C. Meister and Karie Willyerd suggested that we will soon be working in a 5-generation workforce. Change is already galloping ahead of us; are we going into overdrive?
It seems to me that many organizations are still struggling to cope with 4 generations in the workplace. I work in a small business that employs 4 generations – we are mostly Boomers and Gen-X, however, our oldest was (more…)
ASTD's Talent Management Model
I noticed an article in the May 2009 T+D by Andrew Paradise which defined Talent Management. Talent Management is one of the 9 Areas of Expertise (AoE) in ASTD’s Learning & Performance Competency model. Since I’m reading the May issue of T+D in August, I suspect that a few of my readers might also have missed this information. For those of you who haven’t seen that definition yet, here it is: (more…)
When was the last time you went to the library to do research? There was a time when you had to go to the library to access business books, journals, and even the catalogs of material contained in those publications.
Have you ever searched on a topic in Google, found an abstract that looked like exactly what you wanted, only to find out the full article would cost you $10 just to view?
Moving all of that information from the library to the Internet was only a matter of time, with the emergence of digital everything over the last 20 years. But access to all that information has been restricted to academic institutions and paying organizations. ASTD has removed that barrier for its members, by including EBSCOhost as a part of its membership benefits.
There are a couple of other research resources worth mentioning as well. Follow me, and we’ll take a brief tour of the ASTD Knowledge Center. (more…)
