You CAN take it with you: Activities that encourage students to transfer study skills to other courses Marcia Toms, PhD Academic Success Instructor Wake Technical Community College mltoms@waketech.edu http://bit.do/F16ACA

This Hour Review of scholarship on transfer General strategies for encouraging transfer Sample activities http://bit.do/F16ACA

My journey http://bit.do/F16ACA

Transfer of learning From one problem to another From one course to the another From one semester to the next From school to home From school to workplace http://bit.do/F16ACA

Learning without transfer is meaningless The ability to transfer learning is the difference between education and training http://bit.do/F16ACA

Key Concepts of Transfer Initial Learning is Necessary  Context Matters (Bransford, et al., 2000) 1. Initial Learning Nothing can replace learning the original information. Before stressing out about providing appropriate context, make sure students actually get it. 2. Context Students might be able to handle percentages fine when dealing with money, but struggle with formal mathematical formulas Students might be able to zoom through difficult algebraic equations, but struggle with a word problem. http://bit.do/F16ACA

Types of Transfer Near Far Literal Figurative Low road High road Forward reaching Backward reaching Table listing four different types of transfer Near and Far Literal and Figurative Low road and High Road Forward reaching and Backward reaching (Schunk, 2003) http://bit.do/F16ACA

Near and Far Near: very similar situations One math problem to another Far: Little similarity between situations. Chemistry problem that requires use of exponents http://bit.do/F16ACA

Literal and Figurative Literal: Using the whole skill or knowledge in a new situation Solving for an unknown Figurative: Using some aspect of knowledge to think about a new problem Pizza example http://bit.do/F16ACA

Low and High Roads Low Road: Automatic transfer Driving a new car High Road: Apply a learned rule or principle to a more general case. Mindfully choosing what strategies/knowledge to use http://bit.do/F16ACA

Forward and Backward Forward reaching: Looking toward how knowledge could be used in future Backward reaching: Looking backwards to see how previously learned skills and knowledge could be useful http://bit.do/F16ACA

Help Transfer Across Contexts Ask students to apply knowledge in multiple situations Direct students to use skills in new contexts Ask “What if this aspect of the situation were changed?” Ask students to generalize the information Help students see benefit of transferring knowledge/skills http://bit.do/F16ACA

What are the barriers to students transferring study skills? http://bit.do/F16ACA

Creating “Embedded” assignments in “Bolt on” Classes http://bit.do/F16ACA

General Principles Create assignments that require students to transfer study skills to their other classes Ask students to use their hardest class Make the assignments as flexible as possible Be prepared for students who aren’t taking classes outside of yours http://bit.do/F16ACA

References Bransford, J., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (Expanded). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Schunk, D. H. (2003). Learning theories: An educational perspective (4th ed). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Wingate, U. (2006). Doing away with “study skills.” Teaching in Higher Education, 11(4), 457–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510600874268 http://bit.do/F16ACA