Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, Vol 12(3), Sep 2026, 361-375; doi:10.1037/stl0000448
Application of knowledge is a primary education goal and often used as a foundational measurement of teaching effectiveness (McKeough et al., 2013). Although confluent findings advocate the importance of teaching for transfer, little is known about precisely what knowledge students gain and how that knowledge is applied outside the classroom when taking specific graduate courses in psychology. As such, a phenomenological, qualitative methodology employing open, axial, and selective coding was used to determine what 58 graduate students gained, applied, and transferred when taking a graduate-level motivation course. Results analysis revealed that the motivation course experience generated greater self-awareness, cultivated acceptance or revision of self-beliefs, resulted in agentic engagement, and facilitated openness toward changing unproductive learning strategies, in addition to providing fundamental knowledge of motivation science concepts. Suggestions for course design that cultivates value and enhances transfer during instruction are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)