Transfer Learning
A presentation made by:
Rena Mae Macellones
Riza Mansog
Princess Joan Aronales
Objectives:
At the end of the Lesson the Learners/ Educators
are expected to:
• Know the importance of Transfer Learning
• Know how to use Transfer Learning
• Distinguish when to use Transfer Learning on
our/your own predictive modeling problems
• Distinguish the vital role of Transfer learning to the
Educators
• Know the 5 strategies of Transfer Learning
Transfer Learning
• According to Jason Brownlee , 2017, Transfer learning is a machine
learning method where a model developed for a task is reused as the
starting point for a model on a second task.
• It is the improvement of learning in a new task that has already been
learned.
How does Transfer Learning Occur?
• Transfer of learning happens when learning in one context or with one
set of materials affects performance in another context or with other
related materials.
• According to Crow & Crow “ the carry over of habit of thinking,
feeling or working of knowledge or skills from one learning area to
another is usually referred as transfer of learning. Simply put, it is
applying to another situation what was previously learned.
Examples:
• Learning to use roller skates later helps a person to learn
more quickly to ice skates.
• Learning to get along with classmates in preschool helps
the child adjust and relate well with classmates in the
elementary schools.
Why is it Important?
• Frequently, the circumstance of learning (classrooms, workbooks, tests, drills)
differs significantly from the situations when what is learned is to be applied (in the
home, on the job, within complex tasks).
• As a result, the educational goals are not met until transfer occurs. This makes
transfer a very important aspect of instruction. If there were no transfer, students
would need to be taught every act that they would even perform in any situation
• So, its vital that as a future teacher you have a clear understanding of how best to
teach your learners so that transfer of learning is facilitated.
Five Strategies in Transfer of Learning:
1. Explicit Teaching. We can encourage transfer by teachers to students on
how to apply what they learn each day to other parts of their lives.
2. Group Learning. Allowing students to work together mirrors their kinds
of experiences they are more likely to have outside the classroom.
3. Reflection. It is important because it challenge them to think on what
learning strategies personally works best for them.
4. Analogies and Metaphors. It helps students understand a lesson more
easily as teachers form connections between the new topic and what has
already been taught.
5. Generalizing. It is the degree to which a learned behavior will be repeated
correctly in a new situation.
Types of Transfer
• 1. Positive transfer- positive transfer occurs when learning in one context
improves performance in some other context.
• 2. Negative transfer- it occurs when learning in one context impacts
negatively on performance in another.
• 3. Near transfer- near transfer refers to transfer between very similar
contexts. This is also referred to as specific transfer.
• 4. Far transfer- far transfer refers to transfer between contexts that, on
appearance, seem remote and alien to one another. This is also called general
transfer.
Conditions and Principles of Learning
Conditions and Principles of learning are factors with the consequent
principles and educational implications. Below are factors that affects Transfer
Learning.
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Similarity between two learning situations
Degree of meaningfulness/ relevance of learning
Length of instructional time
Variety of learning experiences
• Context to Learner’s experiences
• Focus on principles rather than tasks
• Emphasis on metacognition
Principles of learning
• The more comparable the types of situations are, the more likely it is that
what is learned in one will be used in the other.
• In comparison to memorization, meaningful learning leads to increased
transfer.
• The larger the time spent in class, the more likely it is that the student will
transfer.
• Transmission is facilitated by introduction to either a wide number of
options and opportunity for practice.
• Transfer of learning is more likely to occur when students discover what
they've learned can be applied to a variety of situations.
• Principles are simpler to convey than facts.
• Student reflection improves transfer of learning.
References:
• Larry Ferlazzo Blog for Education Week Teacher, 2017
• Mark D. Rapport and Lauren M. Friedman, in The Clinical Guide to Assessment and
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Treatment of Childhood Learning and Attention Problems, 2020
M. Giurfa, in Larning Theory and Behaviour Learning and Memory: A
Comprehensive Reference, 2008
Robert E. Haskell, in Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 2004
Jason Brownlee, in A Gentle Introduction to Transfer Learning for Deep Learning , 2017
Chapt. 11: Transfer Learning, Handbook of Research on machine Learning Applications ,
2009