SoMe for Learning

Mar 01, 2011

Joe Deegan
By Joe Deegan

I was reading Tom's recent post "You want eLearning success but are you prepared to go all the way?" and got to thinking, how can I make better use of Social Media to implement the "Post Learning Support" that Tom talks about in the post?

I often try to keep the learning going using tools like forums or blogs but have had little success.  We have the tools in place, now how do I get people to participate? The most success I have had is when they are required to post something as part of a structured activity or assignment but very little success with open conversations where the learner is not "required" to participate.

Do you have any tips that can help improve the use of Social Media as a learning tool?

4 Replies
Zara Ogden
13 years ago03/01/11 at 8:34 am (UTC)

Believe it or not...I was watching CP24 (Toronto's mini CNN) at 6 am on Saturday and they were replaying their weekly tech talk and one of the programs they featured was Rypple I am not really familiar with it but it sounds like it may be a very beneficial tool for all us L&D ppl and a possible SoMe option that will be accepted corporately.

I am going to check it out although i don't know if it will fit my business it may benefit you.

Tracy Parish
13 years ago03/01/11 at 10:07 am (UTC)

What about posting 1-3 questions the week after for a few weeks?  See if the "learners" can answer the questions posted.  Or have a 30 min live chat about the course after the fact.  Let the learners chime in on what they are having issues with.

Either have a facilitator to moderate and answer questions or let the learners answer each other.

Tom Kuhlmann
13 years ago03/01/11 at 8:17 pm (UTC)

I think what makes social media valuable is that it allows you to easily connect people who want to share what they know and learn from each other.  In that sense, it's about using some technology that facilitates that and then finding the people who are willing to share.  

About 10% will be active members of a community of learners.  The other 90% want quick, pragmatic help.  

As far as using the tools with learning, here are a few ideas:

  • create a wiki that's used to collaboratively solve a case study
  • use a community forum (or any place where you can post and answer questions) with your training.  Instead of an assessment, have th new learners monitor the forum and answer questions.  
  • have a new learner do a screencast where they demonstrate what they learned and how thy can apply it to their job; for example, use Screenr to show a PowerPoint animation you learned, then use the embed code to share it with others in the community

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