Transference of Learning | The Village Green

Transference of Learning September 13, 2008

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Opinion.
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It seems odd to me that when we learn something, we also have to learn the same thing in a different context. Transference of learning is complicated and often involves a regression in skill. Take handwriting for example. When learning cursive, a student with nice printed handwriting often takes a step or two backward in legibility. Once the basics are picked up, the legibility quickly returns. The same might happen when learning calligraphy.

The same thing happens with social interactions and technology. Learning to be polite in the classroom doesn’t necessarily transfer to the playground or the cafeteria. Learning how to behave in a movie theater doesn’t necessarily transfer to a ride in the car. Learning how to navigate through a file system on a computer doesn’t necessarily mean knowing how to navigate through a web site. As technology changes, previous learning is no guarantee of future understanding.

Take the example of a reporter in Colorado who decided it would be a good idea to use Twitter to cover a funeral as it happened. Now I doubt that the reporter would ever have considered using a cell phone to call in the story as it happened, but the result would have been about the same in this setting. The task set before us is not easy. How do you help someone, student or fellow teacher, learn from the mistakes they’ve already made instead of repeating them? Is there a role for technology to play to facilitate this learning transfer, or does technology just complicate things by providing additional contexts?

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/13/colorado-newspaper-twitters-three-year-olds-funeral/

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