It seems that “social learning” is the trendy topic right now in learning, the only thing is “social learning” isn’t new. As educators, we have always used social learning to enhance our training and development (T&D) programming. We use small group exercises, polling, or open discussion to help get our points across and engage the audience. However, what’s new are the innovative tools we now have available to kick social learning up a knotch.
The other day I was catching up on my reading of the American Society for Training and Development’s (ASTD) T&D magazine. I came across an article about their Benchmarking Forum where they were discussing how to drive results with innovative learning methods. The article included the quote, “innovation isn’t reinventing the light bulb, but using the light it gives off differently.” I have to disagree with this statement. Before the light bulb, our ancestors used candlelight to find their way through the dark. Then one day Thomas Edison discovered a better way and the rest is history. I look at emerging social media tools in the same way as the light bulb. While the old tools can provide us with what we need to help our audience learn, new tools that approach the solution differently may just be better at lighting the way.
Given my background in adult learning theory, I hope that Thomas Edison looked at the candle, performed a needs assessment, and said “here’s my list of everything that I really need out of a light source.” In the same way, we have the opportunity to look at social learning and ask ourselves “what do I really need to get out of my educational programming?” I urge you to take out a piece of paper right now and start making your own list. Here are two of the items from my assessment list and how I have seen social media tools solve these problems:
1. Provide additional opportunities for learner engagement. We all know that one of the best ways to deliver content is through a didactic presentation with way too many PowerPoint slides, which is why we continue to teach this way. (I’m just kidding – please don’t stop reading now, but I hope you get my point.) Even though we know that lecturing to our audience is one of the least effective ways of getting our learners to retain information we continue to do it. We just look back at the blank stares hoping that something will sink in. That’s were social media comes to the rescue. A great idea is to use a micro-blogging service (like Twitter) to solicit questions and feedback from your audience. As you are presenting the audience can use their phones or laptops to submit questions and comments. Not only will you be able to see the questions and comments, but so will the rest of the audience, and even people that weren’t able to attend the session. Learners would also able to engage in conversation with each other in order to further flush out important points or get connected with people who have had related experiences. I will discuss this strategy further next blog post.
2. Extend the reach of valuable content beyond those that are learning first hand. A great example of this is Best Buy’s BlueShirtNation, an online social platform that allows Best Buy employees to interact with other employees all over the nation. The informal interview below is a little rough, but it will give you a real sense about how Best Buy employees share what they have learned with each other through this platform. In future posts I will discuss this case study in greater depth. (video from Jason Falls at www.socialmediaexplorer.com)
As I said at the beginning of this post, as educators we have always used social learning theory to engage our learners in the subject matter and we must continue to do so. Social media tools will allow us to take the next step toward building and delivering effective social learning programming for our learners. Currently, many are either still looking on in amazement of what innovations like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, and other social media tools have to offer or find themselves repulsed by the horror of the unknown. Either way, I look forward to sorting through these emerging social media tools with you and discussing how we can leverage them to meet the items on your assessment list.
Best,
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Related Posts
- Top 10 Ways Social Media Will Impact Employee Development and Training in 2010
- The Real Secret to Social Learning Success in 2010
- 7 Creative Ways to Introduce Social Media to Your Team
- What Can Blogs Do For You… and Your Learners? A Social Learning Case Study Review
- How to Use Twitter in Social Learning
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As a learning and development professional in corporate America, I couldn’t be happier to finally find information and a dedicated site to the potential for social learning. Renee is tapping into the human condition – we learn from each other, we learn informally and now especially, we want to learn on our own terms. I would like to understand how social media is impacting learning strategy and design in other organizations – these are great examples – but how do you start moving the needle on this issue? It’s a huge paradigm shift for some generations to make.
Considering the speed of business, globalization and access to technology, social media as a learning modality is not just here to stay, but will quickly evolve to a critical tool in capturing institutional knowledge.
Thanks, Renee! Keep the posts coming.
So glad I found your site, Renee! I am currently researching ways social media technology can be used at my organization. I like your assessment that instructor-led training essentially uses “old tools” for social learning, but social learning nonetheless, and that the next frontier is basically new tools for this “old” function.
I plan on doing a lot of research first, and your article above has been helpful in formulating questions that need to be asked, such as:
* “What do our employees really need from learning opportunities?”
* “What do they think they need to learn?”
* “What do we think they need to learn?”
Still a lot of work to be done!