To navigate life, it is necessary to link knowledge and skills across contexts. Without this ability, one begins each new job, new course, and new relationship from scratch. The ability to put things together is an essential element of human learning and development. As such, integration of learning is a highly desired skill and a central outcome of higher education.

The term integration of learning describes the cognitive developmental process that occurs for college students, not the practices that facilitate it. The educational practices often described as integrative (e.g., working on a project that requires drawing on multiple sources, taking an interdisciplinary course, or participating in a study abroad experience) may facilitate integration of learning, but they do not describe an individual’s cognitive process per se, ...