Effective social learning is hard work. It starts with intentional design and needs a lot of ‘gardening’ as I like to name it.
Ger’s Learning Notes #30
Social Learning
Human interaction is one of the oldest learning technologies and the basis of social learning. Social learning can be very simple and effective. I like coffee a lot and usually drink it all day long. That means I meet a lot of colleagues at the coffee machine and have short, interesting and valuable conversations with them when I’m at the office. There is a company that decreased the number of coffee machines and water coolers at their offices to support social learning. With the rise of social media and new social platforms, human interaction changed. And so did social learning. To get the most out of social learning, just ‘playing around’ with coffee machines or implementing a social platform doesn’t do the job, as shown by an interesting situation at aNewSpring not too long ago.
The aNewSpring platform has social learning features. A user called us with a complaint: he created an e-learning program on the platform. After a while, he thought social learning would be a good addition. So he switched on the social learning settings. And then… nothing happened (or so he complained)! Effective social learning is hard work. It starts with intentional design and needs a lot of ‘gardening’ as I like to name it.
In this episode of the Learning Notes, you’ll find some of the best resources from experts explaining how to make the best use of social learning. Please use them as conversation starters. Comment, ask, debate and challenge what you read, and more importantly, share! We need all of you to create the best social learning around social learning.
(1) Ten tips for designing effective social learning
by Julian Stodd
What’s it about?
Julian Stodd created a true legacy when it comes to social learning. This article is a great and practical overview of his work.
Why read it?
- The ten tips are a great resource when you want to start designing social learning.
- The article contains many links to additional blog posts with more concepts, deeper explanation, and more tips on designing social learning.
- In the article, you’ll find a clear explanation of ’scaffolded social learning’. Scaffolding is, from my point of view, one of the most important aspects of designing social learning.
Where to find it?
https://julianstodd.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/10-tips-for-designing-effective-social-learning/
(2) Moderating a Social Mooc
by Petra Peeters and Marlo Kengen
What’s it about?
Marlo and Petra designed and moderated a Social MOOC on social learning with 500+ participants (I was one of them). These very experienced learning pros shared their lessons learned (as they did at the ATD-ICE 2018 stage!).
Why read it?
- Find very useful and practical tips around moderating social learning processes.
- Learn from the personal stories of Petra and Marlo about the professional mindsets and values that might help or hinder you with the moderator role – and assess yours.
- Read the short version (TD magazine) or the longer, completer version (Inside Learning Technologies Magazine).
Where to find it?
https://www.td.org/insights/moderating-a-social-mooc
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/c492d1b9#/c492d1b9/44
(3) Digital Body Language
by Jo Cook
What’s it about?
Virtual classroom expert Jo Cook has put Digital Body Language as a rather new concept on the agenda (Great Job Jo!) and explains all of it very clearly in these videos.
Why read it?
- Digital Body Language is a great additional lens to look at moderating social learning and gives important clues on how to make the most of the moderator role in social learning.
- Of course, you want to learn from a very experienced pro: that’s Jo!
- Watch the short video where Jo explains the concept in brief and/or watch the longer interview with Brent Schlenker (@bschlenker) and Chris van Wingerden (@Chris_V_W).
Where to find it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJEZmwujwk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTB_FZSz90w
(4) Collaborative online learning
What’s it about?
I recently had the privilege to join a presentation by Alastair and was impressed by the broad knowledge and experience of this man on collaborative learning—see his Slideshare deck here, with tons of good stuff.
Why watch it?
- This resource has its focus on higher education (great!) but the principles are surely applicable in other areas like workplace learning.
- The deck contains a lot of links to original or additional sources, which makes it even richer. It’s very well-documented.
- It even contains a link (my favourite!) to a free-to-download e-book, the ’Silent Learners Guide’, an important aspect of the designing and moderating of social learning.
Where to find it?
https://www.slideshare.net/alacre/eadl-2019-collaborative-learning
