Social learning is something that is gaining a lot of popularity nowadays. You can expect that if it is quite popular, that people prefer learning through it. After all, when we hear the word social, it seems to be quite fun and so full of interaction.
While that is true you need to understand that this is a very effective learning method. One benefit that you will get is that learners will be very enthusiastic in the course. Think about social networking sites and how successful they are. This practically uses the same concept.
This type of learning was based on the theory of Albert Bandura in 1977. It simply implies that people usually learn by observing their environment. People imitate what the majority does. With this theory in mind, you will know how you can use social learning in your elearning course.
What makes this strategy great is that it has an informal learning process. Participants are encouraged because it does not require them to be all serious when they are trying to learn. They are not pressured because they merely tap into their natural learning abilities as they try to learn from the shared knowledge that they will get from this special elearning course.
Not only that, social learning encourages learners to work together in order to maximize the learning potential. This will help improve their sense of teamwork and at the same time, establish bonds between them. This is very helpful when social learning is used in training programs for companies or corporations. The strengthened ties between employees will help make the workforce more productive as a more harmonious work relationship is established.
Of course, the facilitator of this type of elearning strategy has to take control of the situation. When learning is done in an informal setting, things can easily get out of hand or divert from the real topic. That is expected when the participants are having fun – regardless if it is practically still a learning process. The facilitator, trainer or instructor should make sure that they set strict parameters and monitoring tools so they can be alerted if the whole thing is getting out of hand.
One of the ways that you can implement social learning in your elearning course is to establish rewards or turn the whole things into a gaming strategy. Any method that encourages high interaction and constant coordination should be a great way to turn your course into something that is highly sociable. That makes the learning experience more interesting and engaging.
Implementing this is not as complicated as you may think. There are learning management systems that can help set up a hub wherein participants share their knowledge and skills. This can be an online system that will have to be accessed by participants via the Internet. These systems are also equipped with discussion platforms that people can use to discuss issues and lessons amongst themselves.
In truth, you may not even have to set up anything extravagant. You can use existing social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Simply set a separate account for these interactions and step back to watch the members learn.
Just as social networking sites are popular because of how they connect us with each other, this social learning will also be a guaranteed hit – regardless if it will be used in schools or businesses. It is just important that the whole elearning course is facilitated well to ensure that the participants will really learn something from the whole encounter.
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