Discipleship's Adult Learning Transfer Fail #1: Confusing Style for Substance

Among movement leaders, nonprofit training leaders, and professors at leading seminaries, some admit they really don't understand adult learning transfer. Some say that they know and use good adult learning practices (but often don't).

Still others say they don't care--"we just need to rely on the Holy Spirit." Certainly!

So, please answer this question: Why wouldn't we want to learn to teach and train in line with the way the Holy Spirit created us to learn? Isn't that one critical way we "rely on the Holy Spirit"—to "grow in the wisdom of the Spirit?"

Fail #1: We confuse adult learning transfer with adult learning styles

First, let's define learning transfer. 

Learning transfer is moving knowledge into long-term memory and seeing it become practically useful in a person's life.

That sounds like Jesus in the Great Commission, "teaching them to obey everything I commanded you" (Mt. 28:20, NIV), or Paul's theme of imitating Jesus--living like Jesus in our hearts, our minds, our beliefs, our behaviors, our purpose, and our attitudes.

So back to the "learning transfer" versus "learning styles."

How many of you have utilized a "right brain, left brain" theory of learning?

So, that means you probably intentionally sequence your training between creative illustrations or activities and logical statements or activities. That sounds good...and can be helpful.

Or, how many of you have utilized, maybe the most popular theory: the kinesthetic, visual, auditory learning styles theory? 

Those are not principles of adult learning transfer, they are adult learning style theories--they aren't the same thing.

In fact, adult learning style theories are unproven (surprising, right? ...lots of people are making a lot of money off the marketing of them). Research has yet to show a positive impact on learning transfer from their usage. In fact, some research suggests learning style theories may result in decreased learning transfer.**

That doesn't mean learning styles should be abandoned. Rather, the research suggests that the current practice in how learning style theories are implemented tends to undermine a key, proven principle of learning transfer.

Therefore, if we learn to implement those learning styles theories using good, proven adult learning transfer practices, they likely will be of benefit. This latter hypothesis is supported by the fact that Gardner's Mutliple Intelligences learning styles theory has some research suggesting it enhances learning transfer. The difference is that Gardner's theory intentionally utilizes key, proven principles of learning transfer that the other theories tend to violate.

A principle we teach in the Train-the-Trainer Bootcamp (Teaching You to Turn Learning into Changed Lives) will help you master the key principles of learning transfer rather than leading you down a path of unproven, but well marketed ideas that don't produce fruit.

The goal is to increase our learning transfer from the 2 to 20 percent range to the 30 to 60 percent range, depending on the type of learning and the learning outcomes. 

Is seeing that kind of increase worth it to you? Worth the price of time, money and effort to learn to train in a way that increases learning transfer? 

If you think so, you can take two actions right now to make that increase in learning transfer possible:

First, register for the next workshop: Teaching you to Turn Learning into Changed Lives: Train-The-Trainer Bootcamp and begin the journey to increased effectiveness in discipleship and training Christian leaders.

Second, subscribe to the emails from 5Minutes2Lead™ in the footer at the bottom of this page to receive more reasons discipleship training fails to deliver learning transfer.

 

 Sources Referenced:

**British Learning and Skills Research Center study, 2004.
Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, Robert Bjork, "Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence," Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, no. 3 (2009): 105-119.
Harold Pashler and Doug Rohrer, "Learning Styles: Where's the Evidence?" Medical Education, 46 (2012): 34-35. These studies examined all the research on the 70 top learning styles theories and found no evidence that they increase learning transfer. 
As of 2023, no studies have contradicted the findings of these three recent studies by the heavy-weights of adult learning transfer with an adequate level of confidence in the findings.
Peter Brown et al. (a leading corporate trainer), in their book Make it Stick (2014), adeptly summarizes these studies and others. 
©2024 Ross Adelmann, All Rights Reserved
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