A Critical Analysis on the Transfer of Learning Technologies in Higher Education Curriculum Design

Abstract

Transfer of Learning (“transfer”) has been studied for many decades in various fields dealing with the cognitive sciences such as psychology, learning, and education. A distinction between near transfer and far transfer is generally accepted, the latter referring to significant dissimilarities along various dimensions between an original learning context and a later situation requiring the application of knowledge [1]. The far transfer of learning is the putative goal of education. However, the focus in higher education practices on this phenomenon is not generally commensurate with its importance for students about to graduate from formal schooling to permanent employment. Yet at this time of their life, transfer of prior learning becomes an issue arguably more critical than in any other period.This paper pulls together some of the key literature describing studies into the transfer of learning, and argues that the phenomenon should receive much more attention and focus in higher education than it does.Although there is some doubt in the literature about the nature or efficacy of transfer, the doubts appear to rely on scientifically narrow definitions of transfer which exclude deliberate interventions that facilitate transfer. However, such narrow approaches are unnecessary for effective application in an educational context. This is because there is substantial accumulated evidence in the literature that a wide range of practical interventions are possible in learning, teaching, and assessment in higher education that have been shown to directly facilitate the transfer of learning.