Learning transfer and preparing learners for future learning

Those of us working in the area of digital learning will often be challenged to demonstrate the learning transfer effectiveness of a specific digital learning course or solution, or of digital learning in general. Learning transfer as classically defined, however, is notoriously difficult to demonstrate and most of the associated empirical research gives the impression that transfer does not tend to happen at all or is limited to transfer between very similar contexts. This chapter provides a brief overview of some of the debates and issues around the concept of learning transfer as classically defined and operationalised in research and practice. The chapter concludes by offering suggestions, after Bransford and Schwartz (1999), as to how best to think about the ways in which different kinds of learning experiences and activities help to prepare learners for future learning and performance challenges, and the role digital learning may have to play in this process.