T2P Blog Post 3: Transfer

Jean Ormrod describes transfer as occurring "when something you learn in one situation affects how you learn or perform in another situation" (389). This is when we draw on skills and knowledge that we have gained to deal with different situations. Ormrod accurately defines it as "an essential component of human functioning" (389). This makes perfect sense. If we could put our knowledge and skills to the test every day in the variety of situations we encounter, we would not be able to do anything at all.

As a teacher, this is a critical skill that I must help my students to acquire. In order to encourage transfer to occur, I must provide meaningful learning for my students over rote learning (Ormrod, 397). This also connects to the idea that students are more easily able to transfer principles and ideas over facts (Ormrod 397). This is why in my classroom, my top priority is always to find a way to make the project personally meaningful for the student. When they are able to make a personal connection to their work, they struggle in a way that pushes them to be their best. They have to take what they have learned on previous projects and apply it in a way that meets their vision for their piece. This is also why my content and projects do not typically focus on specific facts; for example, William Henry Fox Talbot made the first paper negative in 1835). It is more important to me that students have a general understanding of the information's importance in context with the time period; for example, prior to Talbot's invention, each photograph a one-time deal and could not be reproduced so being able to reproduce a single photograph was very exciting.

Another way I encourage transfer to occur in my classroom is by being sure that each lesson builds on the skills from the previous lessons. Ormrod also said "the probability of transfer increases when students know something well" (397). This highlights the importance of teaching certain skills again and again in new projects with increasing complexity. This allows the students to practice application of the skill into new situations. As they increase their understanding of how to apply certain techniques and elements/principles of art and design, their artwork improves and their understanding of how these things work together expands.

To prepare students for real-world applications of the concepts I teach, it is important to give assignments that they could be hired to do. Ormrod said that if two situations are similar, it is more likely that information learned in one will transfer to the other (397). After teaching students about advertising and target markets, studying the use of line, color and the feelings they can evoke, I assign a logo project. The students are given a fictitious company to design a logo for. I provide information to the students on the company's product and target market, and they must design a logo that fits the company's needs.

References

Ormrod, J.E. (2012). Human Learning: Sixth Edition. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.