Traditionally, the primary learning delivery channels in the past were through Instructor led trainings, both virtual and classroom, On the job training, and through online training courses, typically hosted on a Learning management system. And now, there is a blend of formal and informal learning taking place with learners using all possible channels for learning like facebook, twitter, Linkedin, youtube, to name a few.

Here, I’d like to sum up the benefits of social media:

• It serves as a platform for informal learning.
• It helps improve workforce productivity as it is available on demand, as it is needed.
• It can shorten the time required to get trained dramatically as information can be rolled out much faster.
• Social media enables faster responses to questions and queries. More contributors can provide more perspectives as well as more content. You can also get answers to highly specific problems.
• Since most social media is free, there is no investment required.
• Another benefit is that users can develop a shared understanding. There is interaction with peers within groups – so learners can continue to learn even before and after actual learning events.
• Social media can also be used to supplements other training.
• And finally, it can be used to draw learners into formal instruction.

Do you agree? Can you add any other benefits?

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1. Common Features Across Social Media Tools
2. Social Media and The Training Cycle
3. Social Media and Its Impact on Learning Strategy

It’s all around

For their learning needs, learners are interacting with peers, exploring their company’s intranet, tapping communities of practice, conducting online searches, going through the company’s Wiki or engaging with SMEs. Informal learning is happening all over the place!

It’s self-directed

Learners are constantly charting their own learning paths because they know what they want to achieve. Self-direction is one of the basic principles of andragogy – and guarantees remarkable results.

It’s serious

Informal doesn’t mean imply a lack of seriousness. On the contrary, because your employees are trying to bridge their own performance gap, their motivation is intrinsic and they are not just fooling around. Their commitment is likely to be higher than if they were forced to enroll in traditional training programs that have little bearing on their everyday jobs.

It’s on-the-job-training

Employees who want to do their jobs better invariably pick up tips and tricks from the ones doing it well. A conversation around the water cooler or a chat over lunch could be the best channel for bite-sized learning nuggets.

It costs nothing

Your organization needn’t have a budget for informal learning. Your employees are already going about it, using and tapping every available channel. Research estimates that between 75-80% of learning is through informal channels. And, most of the sales persons are adopting informal learning for their sales training needs.

It demonstrates results

It is highly result-oriented. Your employees have their learning goals firmly in mind, even if they are not following terminology used by Robert Magers and Bloom’s taxonomy to frame learning objectives.

Now here’s the challenge for learning practitioners. How do you blend informal learning with the more structured formal learning approach? Thoughts anyone?

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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