Web 2.0 and Transfer: Trainers' Use of Technology to Support Employees' Learning Transfer on the Job

We steer transfer research in a new direction by examining the use of Web 2.0 technologies for supporting learning transfer resulting from formal training. We report survey results from training professionals (N = 83) on how their organization uses such methods to cue and support workers’ application of learned knowledge and skills on the job. Guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM) theory, we examined predictor variables found to influence technology use based on empirical and theoretical support in the information technology (IT) literature. Results indicate that trainers are influenced by several individual factors (computer experience, computer anxiety, and computer self‐efficacy), as well as their organization's learning climate, to use Web 2.0 tools to support transfer of learning. Trainers also prefer to use social media, networking applications, and visual media to support transfer among learners. We discuss implications for using Web 2.0 technologies in support of learning transfer and provide directions for future workplace learning research.     

Why some early college high school students do not transition to a 4‐year college: An exploration of perceived barriers and schooling experiences on students’ transition plans

This study examined why some seniors attending Early College High Schools did not plan to continue their education at a 4‐year college immediately after graduation despite attending schools designed to provide coordinated academic and social supports with the expectation that all students would continue their education. Most students in our study (75%) did plan to continue their education at a 4‐year college immediately after graduation. For the remaining students, we used cluster analysis to identify four distinct groups of noncollege bound students. These groups were evaluated based on background characteristics, perceived opportunities and barriers, and schooling experiences. Results indicate that noncollege bound students are diverse in their reasons for not continuing their education at a 4‐year program and that any reform efforts designed to personalize opportunities and supports for these students must take into account how combinations of perceived opportunities and barriers shape their postsecondary decisions.     

Challenging Traditional Sex Role Stereotypes in Careers Education Broadcasts: the reactions of young secondary school pupils

The ways in which television presents images of male and female roles to the young have recently been subjected to much scrutiny and criticism. Educational television has the scope to contribute to changes in the balance of sex role portrayal but little is known of the likely effects of modifications. This paper reports an experimental study of young secondary school pupils’ reactions to careers education materials in which men and women are shown in occupations traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Children viewing counter‐stereotyped programmes are found to be no less stereotyped in their career beliefs than peers viewing a ‘traditional’ programme or controls who view no programme. The results are discussed in terms of the resilience of sex role and career beliefs in early adolescence and it is concluded that intervention attempts will need to be more extensive and more protracted.     

Chapter 1 Introduction,The Field Study

This study was an investigation of the effectiveness of eight types of visual illustrations used to complement oral instruction. An attempt was made to evaluate the instructional value of black and white and colored visual Illustrations. Two hundred sixty-four eleventh-grade students were randomly assigned by class to one of nine treatment groups. Student learning was evaluated by means of five criterion tests designed to measure different educational objectives. Comparisons among the means of the nine treatment groups yielded significant differences. It was found that the realism continuum for still visuals is not a reliable predictor of learning efficiency; however, visual illustrations were found to significantly increase student learning on three criterion tests. Color in visual illustrations did not appear to be an important variable in increasing student learning in is study.     

Science Faculty Belief Systems in a Professional Development Program: Inquiry in College Laboratories

The purpose of this study was to investigate how science faculty members?? belief systems about inquiry-based teaching changed through their experience in a professional development program. The program was designed to support early career science faculty in learning about inquiry and incorporating an inquiry-based approach to teaching laboratories. Data sources for this qualitative study included three semi-structured interviews, observations during the program and during faculty members?? implementation in their courses, and a researcher??s journal. In the first phase of data analysis, we created profiles for each of the four participants. Next, we developed assertions, and tested for confirming and disconfirming evidence across the profiles. The assertions indicated that, through the professional development program, participants?? knowledge and beliefs about inquiry-based teaching shifted, placing more value on student-directed learning and classroom inquiry. Participants who were internally motivated to participate and held incoming positive attitudes toward the mini-journal inquiry-based approach were more likely to incorporate the approach in their future practice. Students?? responses played a critical role in participants?? belief systems and their decision to continue using the inquiry-based format. The findings from this study have implications for professional development design.     

In the trainer's voice: A study of training transfer practices

Data were gathered from members of a large professional training organization regarding their practices for supporting training transfer. Transfer factor categories grounded in the literature were used to code the data using content analysis procedures. Commensurate with the transfer literature, results suggest that trainers reported strategies used within the training setting and in the work environment as having the most influence on training transfer. Transfer practices that do not have a firm grounding in the research but that emerged in the data, trainer characteristics and evaluation practices, were reported by trainers as being important influences on training transfer. This study extends previous work on training transfer practices by elucidating the specific transfer influences perceived by training professionals as critical for supporting transfer in organizations. Implications for practice and research are offered that focus on building trainer proficiency for training transfer in organizational settings.