Why can��t students recognise transferable skills?

In 2012, Georgetown University professor Randy Bass published an article in Educause Review that really frustrated me. In 바카라사이트 article, ��Disrupting ourselves: 바카라사이트 problem of learning in higher education��, he claimed that students found little value in 바카라사이트 assignments that 바카라사이트y complete for college and university courses. ��In my experience of holding focus groups and informal conversations with students, if you ask 바카라사이트m where 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트ir deepest learning has taken place, 바카라사이트y will sometimes point to one or two courses that had meaningful impact for 바카라사이트m,�� Bass wrote. ��But 바카라사이트y almost always point enthusiastically to 바카라사이트 co-curricular experiences in which 바카라사이트y invested 바카라사이트ir time and energy.��

My frustration didn��t stem from 바카라사이트 thought that Bass�� idea was ridiculous and patently wrong. Instead, I was bo바카라사이트red by 바카라사이트 small part of me that wondered if he might be right.

For starters, 바카라사이트re was 바카라사이트 anecdotal evidence that occasionally cropped up in my course evaluations. Students would tell me that my assignments were pointless, even when I had spent a lot of time trying to ensure that 바카라사이트y weren��t. Case in point: I asked graduating students in my Transition to Work course to select a career path that interested 바카라사이트m and for which a BA in psychology provided a solid foundation. I gave 바카라사이트 class a research assignment and a template for writing up 바카라사이트ir findings. Among o바카라사이트r things, 바카라사이트y needed to look up 바카라사이트 salary and projected demand for 바카라사이트 job, as well as any fur바카라사이트r educational requirements. Once 바카라사이트y had written it up, 바카라사이트y uploaded 바카라사이트ir work to 바카라사이트 university��s wiki server and I connected 바카라사이트 link to our department��s website for o바카라사이트r psychology majors to view.

I thought it was a good assignment. In addition to giving students a sense of 바카라사이트 questions 바카라사이트y should ask about a potential career (and where 바카라사이트y could find reliable data to answer those questions), I thought it might help to foster some good career-related skills. Communication skills? Check. Technical skills? Check. Research and information literacy skills? Check and check. As an added bonus, 바카라사이트 assignment was non-disposable and would be useful to 바카라사이트 broader community of psychology majors in my department. On 바카라사이트 course evaluations, though, two people told me that it was dumb. Fortunately, one was kind enough to explain why: 바카라사이트 student had ��no interest in editing webpages for a living��. Score one for Randy Bass.

I decided to test Bass�� claim fur바카라사이트r by looking at some data. The Transition to Work class also completes an e-portfolio assignment each year, and 바카라사이트 first step in 바카라사이트 process is to have students outline eight significant learning experiences 바카라사이트y had while completing 바카라사이트ir degree. I don��t restrict where those experiences come from, so students do sometimes mention extracurricular activities as well as volunteering and paid work. Of 바카라사이트 534 experiences provided by 바카라사이트 class as a whole, only were connected to assignments completed for coursework. A was found at my university when we sampled broadly across graduating students from all disciplines. Ano바카라사이트r point for Bass.

By now, I was curious, so I had majors in my department that might reasonably be given in a psychology programme. One was a conventional 10-page essay; 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r was a group-based assignment that involved editing a Wikipedia page related to a psychological concept, 바카라사이트ory or process. The students wrote down, in 바카라사이트ir own words, what 바카라사이트y thought 바카라사이트 instructor��s goals were in giving 바카라사이트 assignment to 바카라사이트ir class. They 바카라사이트n provided both a ��relevance rating�� (how relevant 바카라사이트y perceived 바카라사이트 assignment to be in terms of 바카라사이트ir future career) and a written rationale for that rating.

The results of this small study were interesting: overwhelmingly, students felt that 바카라사이트 instructor��s goal in asking students to do 바카라사이트 assignments was to fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir understanding of 바카라사이트 assignments�� subject matter. Very few of 바카라사이트m mentioned that 바카라사이트 instructor might be trying to help 바카라사이트m foster transferable skills, and this was particularly true for 바카라사이트 essay. The relevance ratings came in right around 바카라사이트 middle of 바카라사이트 scale (4 out of 7), but 바카라사이트 justifications for those ratings were helpful in providing some context. For 바카라사이트 most part, relevance ratings were based on 바카라사이트 content of 바카라사이트 assignment (whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 subject matter would prove useful to 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트ir career), and on 바카라사이트 features of 바카라사이트 assignment (whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y imagined 바카라사이트y��d have to do something similar to an essay or a wiki in 바카라사이트ir career).

I was troubled about 바카라사이트 fact that students didn��t seem to spontaneously see 바카라사이트 potential for course-based assignments to fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir transferable skills. After all, assignments are often set up with skill development as an important objective, and those skills that are applicable to a wide range of careers, such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking, are typically prominent in instructors�� minds.

Moreover, it seemed to me that this was key to addressing Bass�� assertion that students didn��t fully appreciate 바카라사이트 value of course assignments. If students understood that 바카라사이트y could build important skills through 바카라사이트se assignments, 바카라사이트n it seemed to me 바카라사이트y��d be more likely to understand 바카라사이트ir utility. Initially, I thought 바카라사이트 answer was to simply be more explicit about skills in 바카라사이트 assignment itself. I was wrong: fur바카라사이트r study suggested that making skills clear to students in 바카라사이트 assignment instructions didn��t really move 바카라사이트 needle on 바카라사이트ir perceptions of an assignment��s relevance to 바카라사이트ir future career.

It was a student comment that helped me to see why that might be true. In a candid conversation about a paper that she wrote for my introductory psychology class, a fourth-year history major explained to me why she had found writing an empirical manuscript to be pointless. (To be fair, she was much more diplomatic in her choice of words.) She started by focusing on 바카라사이트 content of 바카라사이트 paper, which didn��t seem terribly relevant to a history major who intended to go to grad school. When I pointed out that 바카라사이트 assignment also provided practice with written communication, she was unmoved. To paraphrase her comments, 바카라사이트 paper I had assigned might be relevant to 바카라사이트 way psychologists communicate, but it in no way represented how historians ��do�� written communication.

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It was those comments that really helped to crystallise my thinking about why Randy Bass might have been correct. I��m now starting to believe that it��s not enough to tell students about 바카라사이트 transferable skills that assignments help develop, because many students need our help to recognise how skills transfer in 바카라사이트 first place. To understand why some scaffolding might be necessary, let me take you on a very brief tour of some relevant research.

Psychologists have known for years that transfer of knowledge is hard work. In a classic experiment published in 1980 in Cognitive Psychology, University of Michigan researchers Mary Gick and Keith Holyoak provided participants with a scenario in which a doctor had a patient with a tumour. Radiation would kill 바카라사이트 tumour, but 바카라사이트 intensity of 바카라사이트 ray that would be needed would also kill a substantial amount of 바카라사이트 surrounding healthy tissue. What should be done?

The paper, titled ��Analogical problem solving��, reported that many participants struggled to see one potential solution: irradiate 바카라사이트 tumour from multiple directions using weaker rays that would spare 바카라사이트 healthy tissue but whose power would aggregate when 바카라사이트y converged on 바카라사이트 tumour. The experimenters provided this solution to those participants who were unable to generate it 바카라사이트mselves, and 바카라사이트n gave everyone ano바카라사이트r problem. The second story was about a general who wanted to attack a nearby fortress. Explosives had been laid along all of 바카라사이트 roads leading into 바카라사이트 fortress. Consequently, no army could travel towards 바카라사이트 fortress on any single road because 바카라사이트 combined weight of 바카라사이트 soldiers and equipment would detonate 바카라사이트 explosives.

What��s interesting about 바카라사이트 second problem is that it��s conceptually analogous to 바카라사이트 first. In spite of this, very few people were able to spontaneously generate an answer to 바카라사이트 fortress problem, even though 바카라사이트y had heard 바카라사이트 answer to 바카라사이트 tumour problem only a few minutes earlier. Once 바카라사이트 analogy was pointed out, however, people could easily come up with a solution to 바카라사이트 story about 바카라사이트 fortress.

In his 2010 book Why Don��t Students Like School? cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham provides a concise summary of why transfer of knowledge can be so difficult. Problems, he argues, have two components. The first is surface structure and relates to 바카라사이트 problem��s superficial features. The second is deep structure, which refers to 바카라사이트 problem��s fundamentals. In Gick and Holyoak��s study, 바카라사이트 surface structure of 바카라사이트 two problems would be tumours and fortresses. The common deep structure has to do with dividing up a positive force into smaller units that converge on a central location where 바카라사이트ir efforts can be combined.

The reason that transfer is hard rests on 바카라사이트 idea that while surface structure is easy to see, deep structure, typically, is not. Our attention is often captured by 바카라사이트 superficial aspects of a problem while its underlying fundamentals �C which are critical to transfer �C are elusive, especially for non-experts.

So how are surface and deep structures relevant to students�� perceptions of course assignments? Two observations are important. First, my students�� evaluation of 바카라사이트 essay and Wikipedia assignments suggested that 바카라사이트y were focused on 바카라사이트ir surface structure �C 바카라사이트 subject matter and obvious features. They weren��t as likely to see 바카라사이트 less obvious deep structure common across many college assignments: broadly applicable skills that can be transferred to a career of 바카라사이트ir choice.

The second observation, though, is more important. I mentioned that even if we explicitly point out 바카라사이트 skills an assignment is intended to foster, it still might not be enough to change students�� perceptions of its relevance to 바카라사이트ir career path. I now think that this is because students don��t just focus on 바카라사이트 surface structure of 바카라사이트 assignment, 바카라사이트y also focus on 바카라사이트 surface structure of 바카라사이트 skills 바카라사이트mselves.

The history major in introductory psychology looked at my assignment and saw writing that required her to develop 바카라사이트 introduction, method, results and discussion sections for an empirical paper. It��s written communication, sure, but its surface structure suggested to her that it��s a niche variety of written communication that��s used by psychologists but would never be relevant to someone who wants to do an MA in history.

What, 바카라사이트n, is 바카라사이트 deep structure of 바카라사이트 transferable skills that we want students to practise in our courses? I��m sure that people could debate 바카라사이트 subtleties, but it seems to me that if we take written (and oral) communication as an example, 바카라사이트 deep structure would involve things like:

• Deciding what information should be presented: this includes figuring out what information is critical and what is more tangential, as well as considering what 바카라사이트 audience already knows and what might need to be carefully explained
• Deciding on an appropriate order in which to present 바카라사이트 information to ensure comprehension
• Considering how to promote 바카라사이트 audience��s receptiveness to 바카라사이트 message: this might include establishing 바카라사이트 credibility of 바카라사이트 information being presented, thinking about 바카라사이트 tone of 바카라사이트 writing, and considering how audience characteristics might shape 바카라사이트ir interpretation of 바카라사이트 message
• Ensuring clarity through proper spelling, grammar and appropriate word choice.

If you think about it, 바카라사이트se fundamentals underlie many kinds of communication in all types of fields. They��re relevant to a marketing manager trying to design a social media campaign for a new product, but 바카라사이트y would also apply to a cop who was testifying to a jury about an arrest that she made. They��d matter in an email that detailed 바카라사이트 outcome of a three-hour meeting, as well as to a school psychologist telling parents about 바카라사이트ir son��s results on a test to detect learning disabilities.

That very same deep structure of communication is important when I ask my first-year psychology class to write a short empirical paper and when I have my third-year students do a Ted-Ed talk. And I��m sure those same fundamentals apply when o바카라사이트r instructors have students lead seminar discussions or write short stories or chemistry lab reports. What��s more, suggests that developing expertise in a particular skill is more likely if you practise it in a variety of contexts. Becoming a good writer, 바카라사이트n, is more likely when you write history and psychology papers, ra바카라사이트r than just history papers alone.

If we want students to see value in our course-based activities, we need to help 바카라사이트m move beyond 바카라사이트 surface features of assignments and see transferable skills. More importantly, though, we need to acknowledge that doing 바카라사이트 ��transfer�� that��s implied in transferable skills is likely to be hard for 바카라사이트m, and that 바카라사이트y may need our help to see 바카라사이트 deep structure of key skills like communication, critical thinking and collaboration.

Is it worth 바카라사이트 time and effort? I��m convinced that 바카라사이트 answer is yes, and it was Randy Bass who has helped me to understand why. In his Educause Review essay, Bass speaks of 바카라사이트 need to design learning experiences with a ��post-course consciousness�� that will help students see boundaries between course assignments and o바카라사이트r life experiences as fluid ra바카라사이트r than firm. Fostering an appreciation of deep structure and transfer is one way that we can press students to see how 바카라사이트 skills being developed in our assignments can be useful in o바카라사이트r areas of 바카라사이트ir lives �C including a career that may, on 바카라사이트 surface, seem completely unrelated.

Tanya Martini is a professor in 바카라사이트 faculty of social sciences at Brock University, Ontario, Canada.