Andreas Gegenfurtner

Motivation to Transfer Training: An Integrative Literature Review.

Motivation to transfer is essential for the transfer of training. Without motivation, newly acquired knowledge and skills will not be applied at work. The purpose of this integrative literature review is to summarize, critique, and synthesize past transfer motivation research and to offer directions for future investigations. First, seven contributions of past research are presented in an attempt to understand antecedents, correlates, and consequences of motivation to transfer. Second, an alternative view that complements and extends current approaches is discussed, and its implications for future studies investigating employees’ motivation for training application on the job are outlined.

Predicting Autonomous and Controlled Motivation to Transfer Training

In spite of a broad consensus on the importance of motivation for the transfer of learning from training to the job in work organizations, studies investigating motivation to transfer are limited. This study combines the self-determination theory, the expectancy theory and the theory of planned behaviour to provide a theoretical framework for investigating attitudes towards training content, relatedness and instructional satisfaction as predictors of two dimensions of transfer motivation: autonomous motivation to transfer and controlled motivation to transfer. A total of 444 subjects, trained in 23 occupational health and safety training courses, completed multi-item questionnaires immediately following training. Structural equation modelling procedures indicate that controlled motivation to transfer was affected by attitudes towards training content and that autonomous motivation to transfer was affected by attitudes, relatedness and instructional satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for training effectiveness associated with the interplay of motivation and transfer in professional training.

Traditional microscopy instruction versus process-oriented virtual microscopy instruction: a naturalistic experiment with control group.

BackgroundVirtual microscopy is being introduced in medical education as an approach for learning how to interpret information in microscopic specimens. It is, however, far from evident how to incorporate its use into existing teaching practice. The aim of the study was to explore the consequences of introducing virtual microscopy tasks into an undergraduate pathology course in an attempt to render the instruction more process-oriented. The research questions were: 1) How is virtual microscopy perceived by students? 2) Does work on virtual microscopy tasks contribute to improvement in performance in microscopic pathology in comparison with attending assistant-led demonstrations only?MethodDuring a one-week period, an experimental group completed three sets of virtual microscopy homework assignments in addition to attending demonstrations. A control group attended the demonstrations only. Performance in microscopic pathology was measured by a pre-test and a post-test. Student perceptions of regular instruction and virtual microscopy were collected one month later by administering the Inventory of Intrinsic Motivation and open-ended questions.ResultsThe students voiced an appreciation for virtual microscopy for the purposes of the course and for self-study. As for learning gains, the results indicated that learning was speeded up in a subgroup of students consisting of conscientious high achievers.ConclusionsThe enriched instruction model may be suited as such for elective courses following the basic course. However, the instructional model needs further development to be suited for basic courses.

Seeing through a teacher’s eyes improves students’ imaging interpretation

Because the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is an acceptable and commonly used method of assessing clinical performance, we designed this study to examine whether narrative medicine training can enhance clinical performance as measured by an OSCE. What was tried? We designed a quasi-experimental study using a cohort of 116 interns that was carried out at National Taiwan University Hospital between 1 June 2010 and 31 May 2011. We invited a random sample of 22 interns to participate in a narrative medicine training course. Because of their work schedules, only 15 interns were able to join the course in April 2011. These interns formed the case group. We offered the training course twice and seven or eight interns attended each time. After a short introduction to narrative medicine, students wrote narratives describing a memorable experience in patient–doctor communication. Volunteers then shared and discussed their narratives with the group. A sample of 39 interns without narrative training were selected from the cohort as the control group. Members of the control group were matched to case group members by age, gender and academic performance. Graduation-qualifying OSCEs with 12 stations were held on 7 and 8 May 2011 for all interns. The OSCE stations included two history-taking stations, two physical examination stations, two communication stations, two clinical decision-making stations, and four procedural skill stations. We performed independent t-tests to analyse the OSCE scores of the case and control groups using SPSS Version 19.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Two-tailed p-values of < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. The case group performed significantly better than the control group on the two stations focused on communication (mean scores: 78.96 versus 73.01; p = 0.03). There was no significant difference between the groups on the 12-station total score (mean total scores: 883.83 [case group] versus 858.69 [control group]; p = 0.24). What lessons were learned? Our study attempted to advance the evaluation of narrative medicine training from the lower levels of Kirkpatrick’s framework (reaction and learning) to a higher level (behavioural change). Although there was no significant difference between the case and control groups in total OSCE scores, our findings showed that students with narrative medicine training performed better on communication stations. Based on these promising results, we plan to expand narrative medicine training to include more sessions, themes, students and clinicians. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of narrative medicine training on the health care system and patient outcomes.

The challenges of studying visual expertise in medical image diagnosis

Visual expertise is the superior visual skill shown when executing domain‐specific visual tasks. Understanding visual expertise is important in order to understand how the interpretation of medical images may be best learned and taught. In the context of this article, we focus on the visual skill of medical image diagnosis and, more specifically, on the methodological set‐ups routinely used in visual expertise research.

Transfer of expertise: An eye tracking and think aloud study using dynamic medical visualizations

Expertise research has produced mixed results regarding the problem of transfer of expertise. Is expert performance context-bound or can the underlying processes be applied to more general situations? The present study tests whether expert performance and its underlying processes transfer to novel tasks within a domain. A mixed method study using eye-tracking and quantitative and qualitative analyses of think aloud protocols was conducted with medical professionals in radiology and nuclear medicine who diagnosed identical patient cases displayed with three different computer-based imaging technologies: a familiar, a semi-familiar, and an unfamiliar imaging technology. Results indicate that expert performance, as well as its underlying processes, transferred from the familiar to the semi-familiar, but not to the unfamiliar imaging technology. Educational implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their significance for designing technology-enhanced learning environments to promote the transfer of expertise.

Voluntary or Mandatory Training Participation as a Moderator in the Relationship between Goal Orientations and Transfer of Training.

Trainees can participate in organizational training programs voluntarily or mandatorily. To date, research has reported mixed evidence on the question whether voluntary or mandatory participation is associated with higher motivation and transfer of training. Grounded in the frameworks of participatory design, the notion of autonomy in basic psychological needs theory, and the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals, this meta‐analysis examined the relationship between goal orientations and transfer of training in contexts of voluntary and mandatory training participation with a sample of N = 4729 trainees in k = 29 studies. Goal orientations were conceptualized in four dimensions: mastery‐approach, mastery‐avoidance, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance. Results of the primary meta‐analysis indicated that mastery‐approach orientation had the most positive correlation with transfer of training, followed by performance‐approach, mastery‐avoidance and performance‐avoidance goal orientation. Meta‐analytic subgroup analysis examined the effects of two conditions for training participation: voluntary participation and mandatory participation. The findings indicated that training participation significantly moderated the correlation coefficients of mastery‐approach and performance‐avoidance goal orientation, with more positive estimates when training enrollment was voluntary. Contrary to expectations, the correlation coefficient between performance‐approach goal orientation and transfer of training was more positive when entry into training programs was obligatory and mandated. Implications for future research and the practice of training design and delivery are discussed.

Reflections on Empirical and Methodological Accounts of Agency at Work

This chapter provides a reflective account of the studies in Part II of this volume, with a focus on discussing their empirical and methodological contributions to research on agency at work. Agency at work is a crucial component of how individuals engage with work and learning in a way that enables them to develop. Until recently, research on agency at work has had a distinct conceptual stance. These empirical chapters, therefore, provide an important contribution to the literature, by both employing different conceptualisations and examining agency at work in various contexts. In this chapter, we provide some descriptive and reflective accounts of the variety and nature of the empirical work and the methodologies employed based on a framework inspired by conceptual depictions of agency in the literature. Emirbayer and Mische’s (Am J Sociol 103(4):962–1023, 1998) framework that indicates three facets of agency—iterative, practical-evaluative, and projective—has been complemented by characteristics emerging from the analysed studies, indicating the relational versus transformative nature of agency at work. We engage in a discussion on the focus of these studies and operationalisations of agency, the units of analysis, analytical approaches and main findings. We then reflect upon the nature of agency at work and discuss the heterogeneity that is distinctly featured among the studies: Heterogeneity of terms of operationalisations and methodologies employed and also of findings considered defining for agency at work has stood out as an important characteristic of these empirical works. Based on this analysis and reflection, we delineate avenues that may drive the further consolidation of the field. Our reflective account highlights that the studies reviewed have provided an understanding of agency beyond disciplinary boundaries and beyond exclusively individual or collective actions. They reflect the complexity at the empirical level, where agency is expressed in heterogeneous ways and drives actions that trigger further learning processes.

Effects of eye movement modeling examples on adaptive expertise in medical image diagnosis

Research indicates that expert performance is domain specific and hardly transfers to novel tasks or domains. However, due to technological changes in dynamic work settings, experts sometimes need to adapt and transfer their skills to new task affordances. The present mixed method study investigates whether eye movement modeling examples (EMME) can promote adaptive expertise in medical image diagnosis. Performance, eye tracking, and think-aloud protocol data were obtained from nine medical experts and fourteen medical students. Participants interpreted dynamic visualizations before (baseline) and after (retention, transfer) viewing an expert models eye movements. Findings indicate that studying eye movement modeling examples had positive effects on performance, task-relevant fixations, and the use of cognitive and metacognitive comprehension strategies. Effects were stronger for the retention than for the transfer task. Medical experts benefitted more from the modeling examples than did medical students. Directions for future research and implications for related domains are discussed.

Visual expertise and the Quiet Eye in sports – comment on Vickers

1 Department of Educational Development and Research, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands 2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada * Corresponding author: Department of Educational Development and Research, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, NL-6200 MD Maastricht , The Netherlands, Tel: +31 43 3885791, Fax: +31 43 3885779, Email: a.gegenfurtner@maastrichtuniversity.nl