Don’t be alarmed. David Mallon’s blog has *not* been hacked - it’s just taken on another writer. Now it’s a twofer.

I’m Janet Clarey, a new senior analyst here at Bersin & Associates, and I’ll be conducting research in the learning practice along with David. Frequent readers will be happy to know that David will continue to write his informative and reflective blog posts here too. Two bloggers. One URL. A twofer.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a briefing by the Fort Hill Company. The Fort Hill Company sells a learning transfer support system called ResultsEngine®. If you’re not up to speed on transfer know that historically, transfer of learning has had two extreme perspectives – general transfer and specific transfer. A gazillion papers (dating back to the early 1900s) have been written about transfer.

I learned a bit more about transfer from a doctoral student I was taking a class with last year at Syracuse University. My classmate is actually exploring the topic of transfer of learning specifically, modeling the mechanism by which motivation affects transfer performance. I think it’s an area corporate L&D doesn’t talk enough about.

What exactly is transfer of learning? Jumping over the lengthy history of transfer (you’re welcome!) to the contemporary textbook definition from Jean Ormrod (Human Learning, 2006), learning transfer means “learning occurring at one time can facilitate learning at another time if, in the process, the individual learns how to learn.” Simple.

The EVP & Chief Innovation Officer at Fort Hill Company said their approach has always been to treat learning as a process not an event. Yes exactly!

So how does the Fort Hill system work? It’s actually reminder-driven. It sends updates to participants, reminding learners of objectives, prompting reflection and action, and providing specific content. The system is designed to keep learning top of mind so follow-through can occur.

Realizing the importance of the human factor in learning, the system is also used to engage managers and encourage collaboration with other learners. It captures transfer and performance improvement rates, i.e. actions and results. Much better than the smiley sheet . Companies are using ResultsEngine® for face-to-face training support and online learning support.

The methodology Fort Hill uses complements the technology. It is based on The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning by Cal Wick, the founder of Fort Hill.

Do you know if your learners are applying what they learned? If not, you might want to read up on measuring the transfer of learning. The Fort Hill website has some great resources including case studies and papers.