In the industry right now – as we see
in the Social Media for Learning report
research data – there is considerable use of social media tools in instruction
delivery efforts. But there’s less evidence that people are using the tools to
support social learning. Often, people use social media tools as another means
of delivering content. For example:
Publishing the training department
newsletter on a blog
uto-scheduling tweets about class
assignments from a Twitter account that does not otherwise engage with the
learners or ask them to engage with each other
Hosting a software application development
course, in tutorial format, on a wiki
By contrast, using social media to
support and extend social learning invites learners to contribute, engage, and
participate with one another online. For instance, when:
Setting up a wiki for those in a new-hire
induction program to work together to edit a FAQs page for use by the next
group coming to the program
Having managers-in-training use a
microblogging tool for a leadership book-club discussion
Helping to support and participating in a
community of the organization’s customer service reps, to give them a place to
share war stories and strategies for dealing with challenges
So just using the online tools to
deliver content doesn’t support “social learning;” that happens when you use
the tools to invite interaction from and between the learners. It’s about
social, not media, and it’s about shared learning, not just pushing content.
New social media tools now enable social learning to happen on a much larger scale. But this doesn't mean that social learning is something we suddenly need to "do," as if it hadn't existed before or that we need to attempt to "implement." Rather, those involved in eLearning should work to ensure our designs home in on and support areas where social learning is already naturally occurring in the learner's workflow and leverage new tools where that makes sense. (Workflow questions: Where and when are workers asking for help from one another? Where do they need performance support?)
