Liftology 13: The role of recontextualization

Too often, we talk about content, without differentiating what we mean. What we should mean is models, examples, and feedback. Those are important elements that together provide guidance for our efforts to perform. Examples are often misunderstood, particularly when and what examples to provide over time. Let’s see if we can make sense.

What examples do is show the models in context. Each example shows a specific context or application of the idea, and that idea is guidance to use the model appropriately. Further, research shows that an example or two before actual practice helps, at least for novices. 

Contexts matter, because the contexts we see in the learning experience guides where we’ll see appropriate application opportunities for the idea after the learning experience. So, if you provide a limited set of different contexts, not all that dissimilar, you’ll get limited transfer. (Which may be what you’re aiming for, but that’s part of the design process.) To get the full transfer you desire, you need to make sure the contexts seen will support transfer to the situations that will be experienced by your learners. (You have even need negative examples if learners will over-apply the idea.)

Now, simple models probably require only an example or two, but most of what will make a difference to people are not simple models. In practice, most times the model is relatively complex, desirable difficulty for instance, and you’ll need to introduce a simple model of the theory, and then gradually develop more nuanced understandings. Given that learning takes time, you’ll need some practice on the simple model, and then you’ll expand. However, if you’re presenting a more nuanced model, you’ll then benefit from demonstrating the value of the extended model, via example, before providing practice. 

Thus, there are two directions suggesting expanding the examples you see. For one, the increasing complexity, and for the other the need to provide a full suite of contexts to support appropriate transfer. Granted, the total space of transfer is both the contexts seen in examples and practice, but still, more examples are likely. Which suggests that you’ll not just be providing examples during learning events, but also during the full learning journey. We can’t stipulate exactly when you should provide examples via LIFTs without knowing your specifics,  but we can suggest that considering examples, recontextualing the learning, is something to consider when developing the journey.