Learning Transfer as “Preparedness”: A Phenomenological Study of Computer and Video Game Players Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin B.A. M.A. MSc.(Econ) November, 2012. This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK. Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin Some Rights Reserved. This thesis and the individual chapters are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License You are free: to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work to make derivative works to make commercial use of the work Under the following conditions: Attribution — You must give the original author credit. Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one. With the understanding that: Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. 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Learning Transfer as “Preparedness”: A Phenomenological Study of Digital Game Players. Thesis submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy. July, 2012. Abstract Learning transfer has been the subject of research and debate since the time at least of the publication of seminal articles by Thorndike and Woodworth (1901) with regard to the specificity of its effects. Over the intervening period there have been many reconstructions and reinterpretations of the concept, as well as calls to abandon it entirely as a way to study the influence of prior learning in new learning contexts. Against this background a research question is posed which deliberately does not begin with the concept of learning transfer but asks rather: how do prior learning and experience interplay with or support new learning efforts in the negotiation of novel learning or performance challenges? The influence of prior learning and experience is, after Bransford and Schwartz (1999), operationalised as “preparedness for future learning” in a phenomenological study of computer and video game players (n=9) of varying levels of past experience as they make their way through a series of novel game-based challenges. The key data gathering methods are those of concurrent think aloud and retrospective stimulated recall. Analysis culminates in a model of transfer as preparedness based around the interplay of four constructs – those of performance, preparedness, new learning, and felt experience. Preparedness emerges from this model as something which, at its deepest core, provides the extensive non explicit background without which even the “unsuccessful” meeting of any performance or learning challenge would not be possible. Preparedness, however, it also suggested, does not bring the learner “all the way” in terms of manifest acts of transfer or performance without some kind of active negotiation with other elements of the model. A final chapter offers discussion with regard to the differences between this model and the original work of Bransford and Schwartz (1999), as well as some reflections on the validity and limitations of the study findings and their implications for practice, policy and future research. References Bransford, J., & Schwartz, D. L. (1999). Rethinking transfer: A simple proposal with multiple implications. Review of research in education, 24 , 61-100. Thorndike, E. L., & Woodworth, R. (1901). The influence of improvement in one mental function upon the efficiency of other functions. (I); II. The estimation of magnitudes; III. Functions involving attention, observation and discrimination. Psychological Review, 8(4), 247-261, 384-395, 553-564. i Contents Abstract .................................................................................................. i Contents ................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements................................................................................. v Publications Derived From my Research ...................................................vi List of Abbreviations .............................................................................. vii List of Figures ....................................................................................... viii List of Tables .......................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction and Background .............................................. 1 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.2. Stories of Transfer ................................................................................... 6 1.3. What to Call it ......................................................................................... 8 1.4. Defining Learning Transfer ...................................................................... 9 1.5. A Neglected Topic? ................................................................................ 12 1.6. The Importance of Transfer ................................................................... 15 1.6.1. Formal Education............................................................................... 16 1.6.2. Making and Measuring Transfer ........................................................ 18 1.6.3. Corporate Training ............................................................................. 19 1.6.4. Changing Global Contexts .................................................................. 20 1.6.5. Lifelong Learning and Key Skills .......................................................... 21 1.7. Summary and a Look Forward ............................................................... 22 Chapter 2: Learning Transfer Review .................................................. 26 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 26 2.2. Types of Transfer................................................................................... 29 2.2.1. Positive and Negative Transfer........................................................... 30 2.2.2. Near and Far Transfer ........................................................................ 33 2.2.3. High-Road and Low-Road Transfer ..................................................... 36 2.2.4. Transfer and “Ordinary” Learning ...................................................... 42 2.3. The Specificity of Transfer ..................................................................... 44 2.3.1. Introduction and Overview ................................................................ 44 2.3.2. Formal Discipline and Identical Elements ........................................... 44 2.3.3. Judd, Gestaltism and Cognitivism ....................................................... 45 2.3.4. The Situated Perspective ................................................................... 47 2.3.5. Expert Transfer .................................................................................. 48 2.3.6. Beyond the Generality and Specificity of Transfer .............................. 51 2.4. Conditions for Transfer ......................................................................... 52 2.4.1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 52 2.4.2. Deriving an Integrative Overview of Transfer Conditions .................... 54 2.4.3. Integrative Views of Transfer Conditions............................................ 55 2.4.4. Conditions for Workplace Transfer .................................................... 58 2.4.5. Conditions for Teaching for Transfer .................................................. 60 2.4.6. Beyond the Search for Transfer Conditions ........................................ 63 ii 2.5. The Denial and Reinterpretation of Transfer ......................................... 65 2.5.1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 65 2.5.2. Criticisms of The Traditional Transfer Concept ................................... 65 2.5.3. Reconceptualisations and Reinterpretations of Transfer .................... 70 2.6. Summary and Conclusions .................................................................... 88 Chapter 3: Computer and Video Games: Research and Synergies ......... 95 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 95 3.2. Computer and Video Games as Research Environments for Transfer ... 96 3.2.1. A New Starting Point .........................................................................