A few of the common social media tools – Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Blogs and Media sharing, which includes YouTube and SlideShare – are transforming learning in the workplace. Let’s see how.

Facebook: Facebook is one of the most popular social media applications. Users online spend one minute out of every eight on FB! Organizations shouldn’t consider blocking it, but should consider going there themselves. It’s not just Gen Y that’s using FB, but 40% of users are above the age of 35 too. Clearly, the demographics have changed!

Some powerful features of FB include the following:

• It enables us to promote all upcoming events by creating a page for each one
• You can upload videos and view YouTube videos
• And you can post on Twitter while being on Facebook. In fact, a lot of social media is now interconnected

Twitter: Next, let’s look at Twitter. The number of users joining Twitter is an amazing average of 10 million per month and, as of today, there could easily be upto 225 million users of Twitter. Twellow, which is like a yellow pages for Twitter, is also growing popular, as you can search for your target audience based on the industry you’re in.

So, what does Twitter allow us to do? It is very real time-oriented. It enables you to feel the pulse of what people are talking about. You can use Twitter for:

• Rapid-fire announcements/notifications/reminders and sharing of best practices
• You can dramatically see an increased reach for content that is shared through ‘re-tweeting’

Blog: Most organizations today have their own business blogs. A blog is a website where each writer publishes or posts content. You can use blogs for:

• Knowledge and information sharing
• Professional development by subscribing to specialized blogs in your domain or industry

YouTube: Media-sharing channels are currently a rage. YouTube is the most popular site for sharing videos. Here, you can find videos on any topic! Google anything, you will invariably find links to YouTube videos. Great demos of products, procedures, simulations, ideal for product and process trainings. Most companies post videos on their products which are great learning resources. You can also post recorded training sessions that can be of great value to other users.

SlideShare: SlideShares are presentations you can create on various topics. You can embed these into your courses or show them in classroom trainings. You can also share training PowerPoint presentations with participants who might have missed some part of your session. Another way to use SlideShares is to use them in webinars.

Thus, we can’t ignore that 80% of learning happens informally. So, add social learning to your formal learning.

Related posts:

1. Social Media and The Training Cycle
2. Five Social Media Marketing Tips for the e-learning Industry
3. Benefits of Using Social Media for Learning

Basically, learning has been categorized into two forms – push learning approach and pull learning approach. Push is defined as the formal learning and pull as the informal learning. Earlier, in the elearning industry, the course designers just focused on delivering the content to the learners. The primary motive of this conventional mode of learning was to provide the learner with all the information on the topic. The courses lacked interactivity, irrespective of the learner finding the course interesting and engaging.

However, the technological advancement and competition in the elearning industry has led to the designing of interactive and engaging courses. People have started focusing on the pull learning approach, which has changed the structure or style of presenting the information. The courseware designers emphasize on embedding interactions in the courses, making them more appealing to the learner to pull the content.

The big question is which form of learning is best suited for a particular industry or a specific concept. For example, in security and safety industry, the learner has no other choice but to learn and memorize the legal issues and safety rules. Also, the time factor matters, the course designer has to prioritize on content delivery rather than making the course interactive and engaging. Hence, the learner has to study the course and clear all the assessments in a specified time.

Whereas, for soft skills training, the courses need to have interactivity and stimulation features to engage the learner. The learner needs to pull the content he/she requires and apply it differently. A well-illustrated scenario-based design for soft skills courses could help the learner easily understand the concepts and apply them in real situations.

I think the approach of teaching varies with respect to the type of industry, the target audience and the concepts. Besides, depending on the time factor and other requirements, there could be variations in content delivery and interaction levels.

What do you think about this evolution from push learning to pull learning?

Share your views!

Asma Zaineb

Sr. Executive – Business Development

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