Transfer of learning refers to the “ability of a trainee to apply the behavior, knowledge, and skills acquired in one learning situation to another.”1
It’s what makes a job easier and faster as a learner becomes more skilled because they can apply what they already know.
There are three distinct types of transfer:
This last one is the one employers are most concerned with; it’s what all the learning is meant to lead up to. Unfortunately, this flow of learning into applied techniques doesn’t always go so smoothly.
When employees fail to learn and adapt to new policies or software, it costs money. Most training is intended to save the company money either directly or indirectly, such as safety training which will reduce injuries and lost work time. So, when employees fail to adapt, the cost of training is lost along with never seeing the cost benefits of applied training.
This situation is as troubling as it is common. In fact, by some expert calculations, only 20% or so of training investment leads to actual benefits.
To try and tackle this “problem of training transfer,” in this blog post we’ll lay out the leading causes of why this happens.
Getting to the root of your organization’s issues with training transfer is one way to set yourself and your company ahead of the pack. As competition increases and resources decrease, eLearning designers’ job is becoming more important since a good course that breaks through these barriers can make a company far more competitive.
Let’s look at the likely causes of poor training transfer:
Good design encourages learners to interact with the material, come up with their own ideas and apply what they’re learning within the training environment, instead of just waiting for the training to be over and then trying out the new information on the job.
Consider the Theories of Training: There are three main theories on a successful transfer of training.
Also read: The 4 Best Tricks to Help Learners Remember Your Content
Self‐efficiency: How capable do your learners feel?
While a learner’s self-reliance and sufficiency levels are an issue for a trainee, as an eLearning designer you will benefit from identifying this before creating the course.
To combat low capability from learners, you can incorporate more background information, and relevant lessons to both teach and raise confidence.
Motivation: As we’ve covered in past blogs, motivation is key to encouraging the retention of knowledge. Fortunately, a well-designed eLearning course can increase motivation with various methods such as gamification, and reward systems and by reinforcing how these new skills will benefit the learner.
Also read: How To Motivate Learners Before, During, and After an eLearning Course
Barriers to Effective Learners: Learners can be de-motivated and fail to transfer due to a variety of reasons including: Inefficient support from coworkers and superiors, difficulties with the task itself, time constraints, and outdated or otherwise inferior equipment.
Personal Time and Stress Factors: Often underestimated as a cause of ineffective transfer, personal difficulties can make it very difficult to accomplish this. You and your learners all have limited energy, time and mental capacity which hinders your ability to teach effectively and their ability to retain and transfer information.
Given Resources: Your learners will remember content back at their job by being given constant opportunities to apply what they’ve learned and also the proper equipment to do this with. This includes everything from paper to write on up to practical educational and technological support.
Leadership support: Transfer can also be facilitated and hindered by the involvement of a manager or other supervisor. If the supervisor takes the course seriously and lends support, then students are more likely to retain and transfer the knowledge. When a manager encourages participation in training and the use of new skills on the job, this is when the transfer is most successful. Obviously, if the manager is discouraging or completely uninvolved, this could have the opposite effect.
A Plan of Action: Having an outline of steps that learners and managers must take also helps transfer and helps maintain focus. This plan includes:
Positive Support from Peers: Adequate support from peers, including feedback from the group, is important to reinforce the importance of the training and encourage transfer. As an instructional designer, you can help this factor by incorporating options for group interaction and feedback within your courses. This factor can and should also include success stories from peers who have already used the training.
External Encouragement: Is the learner’s work environment supporting training initiatives? This factor includes peer and manager support along with whether or not a learner is being given the opportunity to use new skills without repercussions. For example: Google, encourages employees to experiment without the threat of consequences if something goes wrong. This encourages innovations as well as transfer.
Company Culture/Resistance to Change: We’ve all seen movies where an idealistic teacher or new boss comes into a situation where students or employees laugh at their attempts to implement changes. If your learners are used to a culture where group norms dictate that training won’t be taken seriously, then it will be even harder to successfully transfer.
Also read: 7 Brainy Ways to Boost Knowledge Retention in eLearning
Are you struggling to increase knowledge retention in your company?
According to BusinessPerform.com, you should consider these possibilities to figure out why this problem is persisting by asking these questions:
Also read: Before, During, and After Training: Improving Knowledge Transfer in Your Organization in 3 Stages
Also read: These Are The Reasons Why Learners Forget Your Training
REFERENCES:
1- http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/transfer-of-training.html
2- https://phzh.ch/MAPortrait_Data/163736/24/140608-E-1215_iced.pdf
3- https://research-methodology.net/factors-affecting-training-transfer/
4- http://www.businessperform.com/workplace-training/transfer_of_training.html