Agents of Integration: Understanding Transfer as a Rhetorical ACt

[John]

My knowledge and understanding of "transfer" is limited to a few articles scattered here and there, but I'm looking forward to diving into my first book-length study on the concept.

As writing teachers it does seem important to ask ourselves if and how knowledge and composing "skills" transfer across different disciplinary and non-academic contexts. As I put the finishing touches on my syllabi, it's a question I find myself asking all the time.

Feel free to post quotations that are interesting, questions that strike you, or maybe even notes from your reading. Main point: your post doesn't have to be a mini essay. Anything is fair game. If the conversation is going in a direction that isn't interesting (and listen, if I'm involved in the conversation, that's more than likely the case) take us in a new direction. Also, please continue to suggest books for our reading list.

To get us started: What are your experiences with "transfer" thus far? Is transfer something you think about when designing courses or teaching, or is it not something that you worry about at all?

Cheers!

[John]

"Students transfer knowledge across disciplinary boundaries more often than current theories of transfer expect or acknowledge [...] students' efforts to connect knowledge across boundaries are not always recognized or valued, either by their instructors or by the theories that seek to explain these students' efforts" (10).