Yesterday’s post highlighted some of the reasons why you’ll want to implement social learning this year, in addition to the fact that it will likely outpace on-demand remote learning soon.
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If you’re still interested in remaining competitive and in increasing your learning programs’ ROI, here’s some additional information you’ll want to consider—information regarding how you can implement social learning this year.
Use the Right Technology
Even if you implement social learning via in-person training sessions or workshops, you’ll still want to have mobile platforms or apps that learners can access once the session or workshop is over, especially if they have take-home assignments to complete.
You’ll want them to be able to have constant access to an online forum or group chat, etc., where they can interact with their instructors and peers whenever it’s convenient for them and when their questions or concerns are most relevant to them and what they’re learning.
Encourage Learner Participation
While you may not want to require your learners to interact with one another right away, you should facilitate interesting discussions or projects, and encourage learner participation by participating in social learning yourself.
For instance, you could share your portion of a project with your learners first, before you ask them to discuss it. Or, you could post a question to facilitate a discussion. You could also elect a learner who is an early adopter of your social learning initiatives to spearhead discussions and projects with others, too.
Assign Group Projects
If you want your learners to really engage with one another and collaborate and socialize as they learn, then give them a common project or task to work on together. They will naturally ask one another questions, learn from one another, offer one another assistance and feedback as needed, and will reach out to you with any questions or concerns about their projects.
Host Knowledge-Sharing Sessions and Problem-Solving Workshops
Whether online or in person, host sessions where learners swap information or knowledge on a particular topic with one another. And host workshops where learners must apply what they know and have already learned together to come up with solutions to specific problems. This will inspire social learning, innovation, and collaboration.
Keep Communication Lines Open
Don’t ever close your social learning apps or platforms to your learners. Allow them to post their questions and feedback daily and hourly and allow them to interact with other learners when it’s most convenient for them, at any time of day, from any location. And consider implementing instant messaging apps and platforms, too, so that learners can easily interact with one another.
Avoid Using Traditional Social Media Platforms
Believe it or not, social learning strategies should not entail the use of traditional social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Only specific social learning platforms and learning management systems and apps should be used for workplace social learning.
Otherwise, your employees will get distracted with other outside content that’s irrelevant to their learning experiences and will not gain many of the benefits that come with social learning in the workplace.
Use the tips outlined here to begin developing your social learning initiatives and strategies this year right now. Don’t wait for your learners to get apathetic or for your competition to outpace you.