Training Transfer and Transfer Motivation: The Influence of Individual,Environmental, Situational,Training Design,and Affective Reaction Factors

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of individual, environmental, training design, and affective reaction factors on training transfer and transfer motivation. To determine the relationship between these factors and their influence on training transfer and to test the model, the researchers collected data from employees in the Malaysian banking sector. Structural equation modeling with Amos 16 was used to test the model and determine the relationship. The study suggested that training stakeholders should manage the training program effectively. Transfer is maximized when trainees have social support, high performance self‐efficacy, and transfer motivation. Stakeholders (e.g., trainers, trainees, supervisors, and peers) are important to the training transfer process, as are learner readiness, trainee reaction, instrumentality, and training retention. This study revealed that perceived content validity and transfer design work together and influence the trainee's performance self‐efficacy. In other words, if trainers want to improve the performance self‐efficacy level of trainees, they need to explain how the trainee can transfer the learned skills at the workplace and make sure the content of the training is similar to the actual job. The main objective of training programs is to align the employee's expertise with organizational goals. Organizations can achieve their desired objectives only when employees transfer the learned skills on the job. Unfortunately, employees often transfer only a small percentage of skills they have learned in training. To effectively manage their training programs, organizations need to identify and focus on the factors that resist effective training transfer.     

Transfer of academic staff learning in a research-intensive university

In both Australia and abroad, there is an increasing pressure towards professionalisation of university teaching, with the expectation that academic development courses, such as the Graduate Certificate in Education Studies (higher education), lead to better teaching and learning practices. However, the knowledge, skills and/or attitudes that educators intend students to learn may not transfer successfully back to the workplace. This may occur for a variety of reasons, including individual characteristics of the learner (e.g. ability, motivation), and situational characteristics (e.g. the climate for transfer, including adequacy of resources and peer/manager support). The present study investigates the impact of these factors on teaching staff in a research-intensive university. Two in-depth case studies, followed by thematic analysis of 15 Graduate Certificate alumni interviews regarding post-course experiences, revealed that qualities of the work environment played significant roles in interviewees' post-course attitudes, intentions and activities related to the transfer of learning. Implications for encouraging transfer under similar circumstances are discussed.     

Dimensions of Motivation to Transfer: A Longitudinal Analysis of Their Influence on Retention, Transfer, and Attitude Change

This longitudinal study examined the multidimensionality of motivation to transfer training. Based on self-determination theory, expectancy theory, and the theory of planned behaviour, motivation to transfer was conceptualized in three dimensions: autonomous motivation to transfer, controlled motivation to transfer, and intention to transfer. Relationships of these dimensions with attitudes toward training content, knowledge test performance, and self- and supervisory-assessed transfer were investigated to understand further the mediating role of intentions in the transfer process. Participants were 128 trainees in occupational health and safety programs. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit of the proposed three-factor structure. Partial least squares (PLS) based path modelling indicated partial support of the hypothesized relationships. Knowledge gain following training was large (Cohen’s d?=?1.00), while attitude change was small (Cohen’s d?=?0.27). The findings are discussed in terms of their significance for the development of theories of training effectiveness and their implications for evaluating professional development.     

Transforming expertise from individual to regional community expertise: a four‐year study of an education intervention

In this paper we present the empirical results of a study showing that individualised expertise can be transformed into regional community expertise by means of an education intervention programme. In view of the ongoing reform of the municipal and service structures in Finland, during which small municipalities are combined into areas with populations in excess of 20,000, the need for community expertise is obvious. The reorganisation of service arrangements aims at efficiency, lower costs, quality service and increased regional competitiveness. Due to the reform, local actors are expected to provide new, collaboration‐oriented strategies, while healthcare professionals in the municipalities are presented with new challenges such as how to organise activities on a regional basis, form networks and work together in teams. An intervention study based on working life and with an emphasis on education was conducted using participatory action research between 1999 and 2003. The prerequisite of regional expertise is that individualised expertise evolves along with community expertise. An education intervention targeting entire work communities enables a change process in individual competence towards activity in communities and regions. Consequently, individualised expertise was highlighted by joint planning, work development and various evaluation skills. The change was supported by joint motivation for development, responsible commitment, adequate autonomy of the community, and by management practices and organisational structures that supported organisational changes. The delaying factors included workers' weak commitment, difficulty of giving up one's own specific expertise, a lack of common language and different subcultures. Our results indicate that work organisations can be developed through education so that workers jointly participate in changing the activities and work practices. This process will improve motivation and readiness for work as well as increase collaboration and efficiency of activity.     

动机因素在问题解决迁移中的作用

动机对问题解决迁移的影响开始受到人们的关注。目标、兴趣、自我效能、迁移动机等因素可能会对迁移产生影响。动机因素会通过影响初始的学习水平、迁移的发起、迁移的坚持等来影响迁移的效果。未来研究中需要对各种动机因素及其影响迁移的机制进行深入、细致的研究。     

A structured career intervention program for academically challenged students

A study was carried out to test the effects of a 2-week structured intervention program on academically challenged students’ career development. A quasi-experimental study was designed using pre-tests, post-tests, and a control group approach to examine the effects of the intervention program. Data were collected from both the experimental and control groups. The test was carried out on eight schools in the state of Kedah in Malaysia. Eight school counselors were trained to facilitate the assignment to the experimental groups and to collect data. A total number of 335 students with low academic achievement participated in this study. This number included male (43.6 %) and female (56.4 %) students who were aged 15–16 and a half. Modes of measurement used consisted of a career planning inventory (measuring career planning skills), an academic learning motivation scale (measuring attitude toward academic learning), and an academic study skills test (measuring academic study competencies). Analysis was performed using t-tests and the multivariate analysis of variance to examine the differences in the mean scores. The results show that the sample’s career academic score improved significantly from the pre-test to the post-test. A simple regression analysis was also performed to see the effect of the intervention program on the three dependent variables, which revealed that the career intervention program has positive and significant effects on the three variables. However, further studies on the career program for academically challenged students are highly recommended to support the present study.     

Transfer Over Time: Stories About Transfer Years After Training

The purpose of this qualitative study is to form a grounded theory of the process of long‐term transfer. Eight physicians were interviewed to discover if, years later, they had used what they were taught in a faculty development training program. We found that these autonomous professionals continued to apply the teaching ideas they learned. Each, in a personal way, chose to use varied ideas in different ways in several contexts. They applied ideas using intellectual skills such as planning and analyzing. They continued their applications because they perceived supportive work conditions and positive consequences. In sum, over the long term, physicians acquired knowledge and mental skill, chose to use them, and attempted application. They reflected on outcomes, decided to reuse or revise, and tried again. Thus, the process of long‐term transfer was learning to use and learning from use. We examine implications for research and training.     

Taking Ownership for Transfer: A Management Development Case Study

The responsibility for effective transfer of training falls into a gray area between trainers, trainees, and management. It is easy for trainers to point fingers at management and say that they are not supporting transfer of learned skills in the work environment. But this assumes that management views training as an integral component for improving organizational performance, which is often not the case. Training is more often managed as a cost than as an asset. One Training section at Intel has been experimenting with increasing transfer and improving organizational performance by directly influencing the trainee population during and after training. The rationale is that the best way to generate interest from upper management, is to demonstrate business results. This article describes a series of tactics for improving transfer of training. Each tactic was driven by the training function in an attempt to directly influence the transfer of specific management skills to the work environment.     

Predicting Motivation to Learn and Motivation to Transfer Learning Back to the Job in a Service Organization: A New Systemic Model for Training Effectiveness

This exploratory study attempted to identify key predictors of motivation to learn and motivation to transfer as well as examine the relationship between the two variables. Organizational commitment, task cues, and co‐worker commitment to quality work were found to be the strongest predictors of motivation to learn. Motivation to learn, a motivating job, and being expected to use the newly learned skills and knowledge on the job were found to be the most important predictors of motivation to transfer.     

Teaching High School Biology Students to Coordinate Text and Diagrams: Relations with Transfer,Effort, and Spatial Skill

There is growing evidence that targeted instruction can improve diagram comprehension, yet one of the skills identified in the diagram comprehension literature—coordinating multiple representations—has rarely been directly taught to students and tested as a classroom intervention. We created a Coordinating Multiple Representation (CMR) intervention that was an addition to an intervention focused on Conventions of Diagrams (COD) and tested their joint effects on diagram comprehension for near transfer (uninstructed biology diagrams), far transfer (uninstructed geology diagrams), and content learning (biology knowledge). The comparison group received instruction using a previously validated intervention that focused exclusively on COD. Participants were 9th–10th grade biology students (N?=?158 from two schools), whose classes were randomly assigned to COD alone or COD?+?CMR conditions and studied with a pretest–posttest experimental design. Both groups showed significant growth in biology knowledge (d?=?.30–.53, for COD and COD?+?CMR, respectively) and biology diagram comprehension (d?=?.28–.57). Neither group showed far transfer. Analyses of student work products during the interventions suggest that gains were not simply due to the passage of time, because student effort was correlated with gains in both treatment groups. Directions for improving future CMR interventions are discussed.     

Third-year College Retention and Transfer: Effects of Academic Performance, Motivation, and Social Connectedness

We studied the effects of academic performance, motivation, and social connectedness on third-year retention, transfer, and dropout behavior. To accommodate the three outcome categories and nesting of data within institutions, we fit a hierarchical multinomial logistic regression path model with first-year academic performance as a mediating effect. Our sample included 6,872 students representing 23 four-year universities and colleges. This work expands the current state of persistence research by (1) considering the effects of motivation and social connectedness on college persistence beyond the first year of college, (2) testing whether the effects of motivation and social connectedness on third-year retention and transfer are direct, indirect, or both, and (3) testing whether the effects of academic performance, motivation, and social connectedness are different for retention and transfer. We found that academic performance has large effects on likelihood of retention and transfer; academic self-discipline, pre-college academic performance, and pre-college educational development have indirect effects on retention and transfer; and college commitment and social connectedness have direct effects on retention. Academic self-discipline led to greater first-year academic performance, which suppressed its effect on retention and transfer. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2nd Annual National Symposium on Student Retention, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2006.     

The Effect of Personal Development Planning on Attitudes,Behaviour and Understanding

This paper explores the impact of a personal development planning (PDP) project on the attitudes, behaviour and understanding of students in Years 11 and 12. It examines levels of motivation, personal understanding, communication skills and the responsibility of the students with regard to their own learning at the beginning of the project and again after 6 months. Findings may be of interest to tutors involved in PDP, action planning and similar initiatives driven by the one‐to‐one dialogue.     

Maternal interaction,private speech,and task performance in preschool children

This study examined the correspondence between ontogenetic and microgenetic change in private speech, the association of private speech with task performance, and the relationship of maternal interaction during a teaching session to preschoolers' verbal self-regulation and success in independent problem solving. Thirty 4- and 5-year-olds were observed while their mothers assisted them in solving two challenging tasks. In three subsequent sessions, children's private speech and performance were tracked as they worked on tasks requiring skills similar to those taught in the mother-child session. Correspondences between age- and session-related trends in private speech and task performance appeared that are consistent with Vygotsky's assumption that private speech undergoes progressive internalization with increasing cognitive competence. Contrary to Vygotskian assumptions, utterances accompanying action were not replaced by those preceding action (planning statements) with advancing age and task mastery. Private speech predicted gain in task performance more effectively than concurrent performance. A global index of authoritative parenting was a better predictor of private speech and task performance than were microanalytic measures of scaffolding, suggesting that microanalytic indices may miss critical features of maternal teaching behavior that promote transfer of cognitive strategies from adult to child.     

Preparing Minority Adolescents to Blend Work and Family Roles: Increasing Work-Family Conflict Management Self Efficacy

Ethnic identity, information about the world of work, and mastery in specific career skills crucially impact the process of career development among minority adolescents. Identity and conflict management skills also affect one of the major stressors experienced by employees today: the work-family conflict. This paper presents a culturally appropriate career intervention program for increasing Israeli Arab adolescents’ self-efficacy to manage work and family roles, and feedback from 15 participants in a preliminary pilot intervention. The program comprised three units: identity exploration, information, and skill transfer. The intervention was grounded in the career development literature on minorities, on work-family conflict research, and on social cognitive career theory. The proposed strategy also included process variables comprising critical career intervention components. The program is seen as having potential for being implemented in other cultural contexts.     

A Comprehensive Model for the Transfer of Training

The transfer of newly learned skills from a training situation to actual on-the-job performance is one of the most important aspects of training design and development, since this process is the ultimate goal of nearly any training session. Based on an extensive literature review in a variety of educational and corporate content areas, the following article presents a model for the effective transfer of newly learned skills from the training classroom to worksite implementation. The model includes three overall stages (pre-training, training, and post-training) and specific strategies in each stage for use by trainers, managers, and other corporate professionals. While useful in a variety of settings, this model should prove particularly helpful to instructional designers and corporate trainers involved in developing instruction to improve the performance of employees at all levels.     

Enhancing motivation to read and reading abilities in first grade

Abstract

This study examined changes in reading motivation and reading achievement among Hebrew-speaking first graders following an intervention program designed to increase intrinsic reading motivation. The program was delivered by the class teacher and focused on choosing relevant reading materials, providing choices for reading and encouraging social collaboration. Twenty-nine children in the intervention group (IG) were compared with 29 children in the control group (CG) who followed the official reading instruction program. During the year, the IG improved their reading motivation, while the CG declined in self-concept as a reader. Reading achievement improved more in the IG than in the CG. These findings suggest that a reading motivation program should be embedded in the regular reading acquisition curriculum to enhance children's reading motivation and improve their reading skills. Special attention should be paid to prevent a decline in young children's motivation as it may predict their future involvement in reading.     

Transfer Skills Across A National Curriculum: The Role of Cognitive Strategies for Children with Learning Difficulties

A NATIONAL CURRICULUM in the United Kingdom established by the 1988 Education Reform Act will place greater demands than ever before on children with learning difficulties. Not only will these children be stressed in each subject area but also they will be required to use transfer skills for various cross‐curricular themes. In order to promote transfer across the curriculum various guidelines involving the use of cognitive strategies are recommended. These involve the promotion of perceived similarity, an analysis of the learning context, the use of expert scaffolding and the detailed planning of practice schedules. From these will evolve the necessary carefully constructed teaching programs to enable children to bring skills and information from one situation and use them to advantage in another.     

Implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program in child care centers: A qualitative study

Pesticide use in and around child care centers is a potential health threat to children and staff. The implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) can reduce these risks yet child care providers receive minimal, if any, education concerning pest management. The objectives of this qualitative study are to: (a) develop a model to describe the process of implementing an IPM program in child care centers, (b) identify the facilitators and barriers to implementing an IPM program in child care centers, and (c) examine congruence between IPM practices identified on an IPM checklist with practices reported in qualitative interviews with child care managers. Interviews and IPM checklist observations were conducted with nine child care center managers in California before and after the introduction of a pilot IPM education intervention program. The qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed a four-stage IPM implementation process, from awareness of IPM, recognizing the importance of IPM and learning how to practice it, motivation and the decision to adopt IPM, to the implementation of IPM. A wide range of facilitators and barriers were identified. There was general congruence between the manager interviews and IPM checklist findings on IPM policies, practices, and management. Understanding the process of how an IPM program was implemented in these child care centers and the facilitators and barriers involved in the process can inform planning efforts for future health interventions in child care.     

A Holistic Approach Toward Motivation to Learn in the Workplace

The purpose of this study was to identify key variables within and outside the learning context that could affect motivation to learn during training. Aside from research on motivation to learn, the theoretical framework of this study was also based on sociotechnical systems, total quality management, and training transfer theories which in turn furnished the training and organizational variables projected to have an influence on employee and organizational performance. Task autonomy, extrinsic rewards when applying newly learned skills and knowledge, organizational orientation toward quality improvement, and a work environment within which people live up to high ethical standards were found to be the most important predictors for motivation to learn during training.     

The Influence of Specific Supervisor Support Types on Transfer of Training: Examining the Mediating Effect of Training Retention

The aim of this study was to examine the differential effects of specific types of supervisor support on transfer of training, taking into account established trainee characteristics, such as trainees’ motivation to learn, motivation to transfer, and training self-efficacy. More specifically, nine types of supervisor support were examined (pre-training information, role modelling & facilitation, request sharing, favourable attitude, coaching & feedback, openness, involvement & accountability, work coverage, and training participation). In addition, the mediating effect of training retention is explored, as learning outcomes may present an intervening variable that connects supervisor support to transfer of training. A time-lagged design was used to investigate the relationships in the proposed model and it was evaluated using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM). Data was gathered in Belgium through online questionnaires at three points in time from 111 participants of work-related training. Participants were employees from a retail organisation and different government agencies. Results indicate that only supervisors’ accountability and involvement positively predicted employees’ transfer of training three months after training. In addition, it was found that supervisors’ involvement and accountability had an indirect effect on transfer of training through training retention.