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This article first appeared in TrainingZone on 7 September 2011, but is reproduced here for those who don't have a TZ account. During social learning month, Jane Hart will be providing some weekly articles curating some key resources about social learning. 1. Social learning has become the latest trending concept in the learning world. Although there have been, and there will be, many articles providing a definition of what social learning is all about, I think this article by Dennis Callahan sums it up, and makes it quite clear - social learning is like gravity - it's just there all the time.

Wikipedia defines a learning management system (LMS) as: "A software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content." What that means is that the right learning management system can help you better reach your training/education goals whether they are focused on continuing education, eLearning availability, synchronous or asynchronous learning, mobile learning, certification programs, or even eCommerce and more, learning management systems are designed to provide the features you need to make sure your unique learning goals are met and a positive ROI is achieved. An LMS is a branded, secure extension of your organization's training/education effort to deliver content and materials in an easy, professional, managed and accessible manner - for users and administrators. 

"There are many explanations for today's uncertain economy. But Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University has advanced an analysis that's starting to resonate. In a recent article, Stiglitz says that our problem is "rooted in the kinds of jobs we have, the kind we need, and the kind we're losing, and rooted as well in the kind of workers we want, and the kind we don't know what to do with." To advance our economy, Stiglitz believes that wrenching, fundamental change is required - no less dramatic than the shifts experienced by an earlier generation during the Great Depression. While Stiglitz and I work in different worlds, I see evidence in all types of organizations that we need to better prepare, train, and inspire successful self-directed learners to meet today's challenges. As I see it, there are two big questions to consider. First, what are the critical 21st century skills that the workforce of tomorrow needs to develop and master today? Secondly, how can we improve our learning methods to enable the self-directed learner to thrive in this new environment?"

Do you find that your employer is resistant to incorporating social learning tools to enhance the business?  Maybe, we just need to communicate the value better. First of all, let's get on the same page with what 'social learning' even means. Wikipedia defines social learning as:  learning that takes place at a wider scale than individual or group learning, up to a societal scale, through social interaction between peers.

"Social Learning is not about using Social Media but how to learn Socially Remember "Group Studies" we did in our school with friends? Well, it isn't important as to what we studied together, but neverthless they were enriching lessons useful for life. Atleast for me, the learning went besides text books that gave me confidence to approach people better. The concept of "Social Learning" exists way back. In India, the dominant form of education referred to as "Gurukul" system passed on knowledge through multiple generations based on this system. If you look closely at "Gurukul" system, it is a group of students getting together in the teachers place (akin to boarding school). They learn not just by sitting in class room but by also by doing daily work and assisting the teacher in various chores."

There is a growing demand for the ability to connect to others. It is with each other that we can make sense, and this is social. Organizations, in order to function, need to encourage social exchanges and social learning due to faster rates of business and technological changes. Social experience is adaptive by nature and a social learning mindset enables better feedback on environmental changes back to the organization.

This chapter is concerned with making learning visible. Unless a teacher can see, hear, or use other senses to detect a student's learning, the teacher cannot know whether learning has taken place. A teacher cannot assess a student's learning unless there is observable evidence of that learning. Making learning visible, however, is difficult. Most of a person's knowledge and mental actions are invisible to others. Because we cannot see a person's thoughts, we depend on indicators that suggest the nature of her or his knowledge.

Social methods and technologies mesh much better with independent learning, where the student is at the center of the learning experience (learning on their own as opposed to be being taught). They leverage a ring of social, academic, and motivational influences on their way to the goal of knowledge acquisition.

"The EU definition of e-learning integrates social learning: « E-learning is the use of emerging Internet technologies, in order to improve learning quality, on one hand by enabling access to resources and services, and on the other hand by distance communication and collaboration »"

Howard Gardner of Harvard has identified seven distinct intelligences. This theory has emerged from recent cognitive research and "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways," according to Gardner (1991). According to this theory, "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences - the so-called profile of intelligences -and in the ways in which such intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains." Gardner says that these differences "challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well." Gardner argues that "a contrasting set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally effective. Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students - and perhaps the society as a whole - would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means."

Although we learn every day, in everything we do, whether it is in what we read, watch or listen to, or in the conversations and discussions we have with other people, at some time people started believing that the only important learning happens in a formal setting, e.g. in a school classroom or a university lecture hall.

The Net, especially working and learning in networks, subverts many of the hierarchies we have developed over hundreds of years. Formal education is one example, as shown in this excellent article by Cathy Davidson:

A great deal has changed since the term eLearning first entered the vocabulary in 1999 and since web-based courses and modules started appearing in volume in the early 2000s. We need to rethink eLearning in light of these changes and other changes (like Social Learning) that are only now starting to impact the world of work. I'm sure most of us are aware that the major challenge for learning is no longer about 'content' or 'knowledge' (if it ever were).

"Social Business" is not about technology, or about "corporate culture." It is a socio-political historical shift that is bigger, broader and much more fascinating. A new perspective is changing how we think about society, politics, interpersonal relationships, science, government and business. New approaches are emerging. Learning and self-expression are exploding. Values are changing. Leadership is changing. The economy is changing. Change itself is changing - it is accelerating and becoming the norm."

"For Usher, creativity is not something a lucky few are born with. Instead, it's a skill that takes hard work and discipline to develop and hone. According to the 46-year-old, "Creativity is not a science. But it's also not magic, either. It's a learnable skill, and anyone can learn to be more creative." Learning how to be creative, however, takes time and practice, and to that effect, Usher offered several tips to attendees to help get them started on the path to being more creative. Related Reading Technology | Building a World of Sound and Shapes Technology | To All My Independent Artists According to Usher, the greatest obstacle to being creative is a combination of fear and resistance. As we grow up, we learn the rules and limits that govern our lives. That is, the codes of love, life, work, and law become intrinsic to how we function as a human being, and we quickly learn to love those rules, because they bring about predictable and dependable outcomes. After all, it's as Usher says, "When I'm driving a car, I love the fact that you will stop at a red light." Real-life needs rules to function properly and effectively, but being creative, by its very nature, entails stepping out of one's comfort zone and embracing potentially disastrous outcomes. "

"In the "e-learning era" the focus of training moved to designing and developing sophisticated, self-paced, online course content, and then managing access to it in a LMS. With the emergence of the "networked learning era" training departments have begun to think about how they can add "social" into the mix."

Learning can be fun when you make a game out of it. That premise underlies the decision of an online learning platform to use game mechanics to engage college students. It works by motivating students to join, participate, contribute and share their successes.

Businesses struggle with the idea of playing games at work - the term conjures up the idea of having fun without a purpose. But the practical application of gamification is disrupting that assumption and slowly changing the way businesses learn. In a nutshell, gamification is the concept of applying engaging elements of game theory to non-game applications. An example would be to create a game to learn something new for work: While a lecture session could potentially turn off employees and prevent learning, a game that teaches the same skills could lead to an interested employee that is eager to learn.

"The problem with formal learning is that it's inherently abstract: no matter how engaging and dynamic it is, it's always one step away from our everyday reality. When people leave the event and go back to their real lives, real jobs and real pressures, it's always hard to bridge the gap. Whilst workshops can be very enjoyable, drawing the links back to reality is a challenge. Which is where social and collaborative approaches come in."

A nice selection of posts about social learning and social media for learning this week.