Effects of Force Level and Hand Dominance on Bilateral Transfer of a Fine Motor Skill

Our research is about bilateral transfer, a concept in motor learning where skills learned by one limb are "transferred", allowing the opposite limb to benefit from what was learned by the first limb. Previous research into bilateral transfer has raised questions about whether specific aspects of motor coordination are or are not transferred. We wanted to see whether learning to control pinch force by the thumb and index finger is transferable, and if it is, whether the learning transfers equally from either hand. We also want to look into the effects of different force levels on the degree of transfer. We designed a task using a program that takes force levels as inputs and has the participant trace shapes on a screen. By having participants perform with one hand, then practice with the other, and finally perform again with the initial hand, we can measure transfer as the difference in performance before and after practice with the other hand.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

A Case Study on Learning Transfer in a Social Service Organization

Support from managers, training specialists, and human resource development specialists is needed if social service employees are to transfer learning to their organizations. There is a gap in the literature about managers, training specialists, and HRD specialists familiarizing employees with learning transfer expectations. This study addressed the way social service employees transferred what was learned after attending normal training classes. The research questions focused on learning transfer expectations for the employees, conditions that addressed during the learning transfer, processes that are in place where there was not a learning transfer initiative, and the way learning was used by employee. The study utilized a case study approach and thematic analysis based on theoretical frameworks of McGregor\u27s theory X and theory Y, Drucker\u27s management by objectives theory, Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick\u27s 4 levels of training evaluation. Data were collected from open-ended interviews with 15 human resources officials in 1 agency. Data were inductively coded and analyzed for themes and patterns. Findings yielded themes of inconsistencies such as familiarizing employees with learning transfer expectations, differences of factors or conditions that addressed the learning transfer function or activity, not having a learning transfer initiative or instructions, and having an informal way of using what employees acquire from training limited policies and procedures, and a lack of direction. These changes could promote awareness of the social service community to encourage regular updates on training, practice new learning, partner and collaborate with stakeholders, review training offerings, and use technology

Transfer of Learning

A key characteristic of effective education is that students are able to retain and build on the information, skills, and values they learn in their work in later courses and in the world. Doing so is known as transfer of learning. Ultimately, for law students that means they are able to transfer what they learn into the work they do as professionals. Best Practices for Legal Education did not delve deeply into the educational literature on transfer of learning. Underlying its preparation for practice theme, however, was an implicit recognition that both individual law teachers and law schools as institutions must educate students in a manner that facilitates transfer. Law teachers know all too well the challenges of achieving transfer: students often deny having encountered a legal doctrine that was unquestionably covered in another class. While this phenomenon raises other important questions, such as to what extent and for how long do students retain information conveyed in the classroom, it also potentially raises the question of transfer of learning. Even if students remember the information in its initial context, can they draw on it in a new one? Transfer is a core issue for effective teaching and learning, especially in the context of professional education where students are expected to be able to use their skills–even if the skills in question are solely the analytical ones supposedly taught in the conventional law school classroom–when they encounter new problems. Yet, until recently, how to create conditions that will lead to transfer has been a neglected question in legal education. Transfer of learning is critical if law schools intend to educate skilled professionals, but the research suggests that achieving transfer is neither easy nor automatic. Thus, for both the individual teacher and law schools responding to the call to either improve or truncate legal education, it is a best practice to attend to educational strategies to improve transfer of learning, both from individual courses and the curriculum as a whole.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-books/1007/thumbnail.jp

Effective Practice and Experiential Education

The central challenge to educators in the liberal arts as in all areas of study is transfer of learning i.e. how can we design learning environments and instruction to that students will be able to use what they learn in appropriate new contexts? Alfred North Whitehead described this as the problem of ‘inert knowledge’ nearly a century ago and Dewey noted that instruction which helps students reproduce what is studied on exams might not produce the depth of understanding that allows for recognizing the relevance of what is known to a particular situation and the ability to apply it. Knowledge that is not conditionalized (i.e. in which the learner does not know when where and why it is to be used) is inert