2. Outline
Outline and Overview Social Learning
Problem Solving Through
Social Learning
Addressing Business
Issues and Strengthening
Relationships
Social Media Tools
3. Social Learning
Barriers to Effective Social
Learning
• Negative Experience
• Learning Difficulties
• Social and Cultural
• Fear of Technology
• Understand Your Obstacles
4. Social Learning
Learning in Today’s
Organizations
• A Platform for Everyone
• Address Ethical Dilemmas
• Stick to Procedures
• Set Values and Code of
Conduct, Social Media
Policy
• Learners Manage Their
Own Learning
5. Problem Solving Through Social Learning
Addressing Business
Problems
Employee’s Perceptions of
Problems
Social Learning vs. Formal
Training Problem Solving
6. Addressing Business Issues
and Strengthening
Relationships
• Employees are Responsible for the
Success of the Organization
• Communication is Crucial
• Empower Knowledge Sharing
• Observe Interactions
• Assessing Goal Achievement
• Utilize Feedback
Effects on Goals and Indications of
Success
7. Resource Allocation and
Accountability
• Best Resources to Improve,
Collaborate, and Communicate
• Social Learning is a Far-Reaching
and Fast Avenue
• Needed Time and Money
• Representatives of the Company
• Guidelines of Conduct Provided
• Lead By Example
Addressing Business Issues
and Strengthening
Relationships
12. References
Arfanakis, M. (2014, November 4). Blogging in Education. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bx2ZhPgraY
Anderson, T. (2019). Challenges and Opportunities for use of Social Media in Higher Education.
Journal of Learning for Development, 6(1), 6-19.
Bingham, T., & Conner, M. (2010). The new social learning: A guide to transforming
organizations through social media. ASTD Press.
Chu, S. K., Chan, C. K., & Tiwari, A. F. (2012, April). Using blogs to support learning during
internship. Computers & Education, 58(3), 989-1000.
Machuca, L. (2017, December 5). Lourdes Social Learning Blog. Retrieved from
http://lourdessociallearningblog.wordpress.com
McQuerrey, L. (2019, March 12). What are Personal Barriers? Retrieved from
http://work.chron.com/personal-barriers-11431.html
Mintz, S. (2021, March 10). Workplace Ethics Advice. Retrieved from
http://www.workplaceethicsadvice.com
Moghavvemi, S., Sulaiman, A., Jaafar, N. I., & Kasem, N. (2018, March). Social media as a
complementary learning tool for teaching and learning: The case of youtube. The
International Journal of Management Education, 16(1), 37-42.
Morris, K. (2018, March 14). Why Teachers and Students Should Blog: 18 Benefits of
Educational Blogging. Retrieved from http://kathleenamorris.com/2018/03/14/benefits-
blogging/
Newberry, C. (2021, February 2). 25 Youtube Statistics that May Surprise You: 2021 Edition.
Retrieved from http://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/#:~:text=YouTube is
most popular with,of those 56 and older.
13. References
Contd.
Pulido, C., Redondo-Sama, G., Marti, T. S., & Flecha, R. (2018, August). Social impact in social
media: A new method to evaluate the social impact of research. PLoS ONE, 13(8).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203117
Ray, M. (2020, September 15). 4 Reasons Why Pinterest Has Become Extremely Popular.
Retrieved from http://socialmarketingwriting.com/why-is-pinterest-unique-successful-
popular/
Song, K., Williams, K. M., Schallert, D. L., & Pruitt, A. (2021). Humor in multimodal language
use: Students’ Response to a dialogic, social-networking online assignment. Linguistics
and Education, 63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2021.100903
Tang, Y., & Hew, K. F. (2017, March). Using Twitter for education: Beneficial or simply a
waste of time? Computers & Education, 106(1), 97-118.
Unionlearn. (n.d.). Common barriers to learning. Retrieved from
http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/common-barriers-learning
Wood, J. (2017, December 4). YouTube as a Learning Tool. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHw5Ec1UHTE
wpbeginner. (2020, January 2). Revealed: Which are the Most Popular Types of Blogs?
Retrieved from http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/which-are-the-most-
popular-types-of-blogs/
YouTube. (2016, December 21). What is Pinterest & How Does it Work? Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKmcQsS6xAM
YouTube. (2018, July 1). Twitter 101 - Five Minute Twitter Class for Absolute Beginners.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ8jykKJ5mU
Editor's Notes
Social learning allows trainees to learn through various social methods including observation, visuals, and interaction with one another among other methods. As we examine social learning, we can identify four social media tools we feel will benefit our company and promote a community of learning. They include blogging, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter.
Social media has proven to hold both positive and negative aspects. When employees are informed and educated on its use and social media is used properly the opportunities far outweigh any challenges. (Anderson, 2019)
Barriers to learning can be based on a previous negative experience, trauma, personal circumstances, or learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Social and cultural barriers may be perceived as barriers. Practical and personal barriers are also factors as well as emotional barriers such as low self-esteem or self-confidence. Another type of barrier is related to time in the workplace, such as a leave of absence, discrimination, managers not being supportive, or segregation. (McQuerrey, 2019).
Some of the barriers people face relate to technology and many fear using social media. If you have researched and acquired common technical knowledge and skills popular in your industry, you will be a more competitive applicant. The first step in overcoming obstacles is to understand the obstacles. (Unionlearn, n.d). Once you realize the obstacle, you can tackle it. (Unionlearn, n.d.)
With all the possible social media platforms that exist, there is something for everyone and a platform or combination of platforms that fit everyone’s needs and level of comfort. To best utilize Social media for social learning, there must be a good foundation of everything that goes along with social learning and the use of media tools including possible ethical dilemmas.
It is vital to be truthful especially when reporting statistics or other data. (Unionlearn, n.d.) Ethical dilemmas may also occur more delicately, in the form of bullying, accepting inappropriate gifts from vendors, or skipping policy or procedure even once. Ethical dilemmas also revolve around discrimination and sexual harassment. Unethical behaviors in the workplace no longer remain silent and tolerate and in an online environment have lasting damaging potential.
Avoidance of ethical conflicts in the workplace is the best tactic. This means adhering to a set of fundamental values, a code of conduct, a strong compliance function, and ethical management (Mintz, 2021). This means that when a conflict arises, a well-defined process assists in solving it effectively.
There are advantages of social learning in the workplace as the economy continues to enhance and become more competitive. Companies are continuously looking at new ways to improve their employees' skills and responsiveness. The key advantage of supporting and participating in a social learning environment in the workplace is that it allows employees to assume responsibility for their learning. (Unionleard, n.d.)
When a business problem arises, social learning provides the capability to move services, assets, and guidance closer to where they are needed to people seeking answers, solving problems, overcoming uncertainty, and improving how they work, (Bingham, T., 2010, p. 8). The role that it plays is social learning and social media tools help facilitate and overcome problems. With social learning, they can provide receive a rapid exchange of information between organizations, employees, clients, and discoveries are shared instantly. Employees often to sometimes always leaned on colleagues to help solve problems at work. Employers can take advantage of that and encourage social learning to help employees do so more easily.
Employees learn better if they believe the task at hand is different, and a social learning context reinforces those perceptions. Practicing behavior, skills, and knowledge learned through mental and physical rehearsal makes it easier for employees to learned skills when required to decrease problems in the workplace. The employees will learn by internalizing information and recall the information they learned when they are faced with a situation to what they learned that information in.
Problem-solving issues are different when addressed via social learning versus formal training. Formal learning is used in everyday education and it is the name given to training that is structured and takes place within a planned setting, like a classroom or online. It has clear objectives and goals that are defined by an instructor or trainer. Social learning relies on some pre-set materials it takes place in a social environment where learners can take their time and examine and evaluate others' actions. In formal training you get the trainer's idea of how to solve the problem versus in social learning you collaborate with your peers, share ideas, and come to a conclusion together.
All organizations should have an understanding that to have a successful company you have to acknowledge that the most important people responsible for your success are your employees and how well they communicate and interact with each other. Set goals and objectives as you are putting together your training manuals and discuss the importance of good collaboration to achieve them. As a company, an objective would be to empower your employees and allow them to share their knowledge throughout your workforce. (Machuca, 2017)
As a company, you want to know how well your employees are retaining any of the information they have been trained on or shared with other employees. To find this out it is best to observe interactions between your employees and customers or review their finished work. As you can gauge which employees are mastering their skills and retaining these skills, you can then turn them into instructors and promote social learning. You can measure success by assessing which goals have been achieved from the responses of others. It is important to allow feedback from your employees and review its positivity.
As a company, you want to provide the best resources available to your employees so that they can improve, collaborate, and communicate and their knowledge for the betterment of the whole. Social learning provides the avenue needed to reach the largest amount of people and a short amount of time. Company management must be able to allocate all resources whether it be time or money to provide a good training program for all employees. (Machuca, 2017)
Some social media policies and procedures need to be followed to ensure that all employees understand and acknowledge that you are representing the image and reputation of our company. As you understand that you are the face of our company you will be provided with guidelines for which you be held accountable. The company will display ethical behavior and is expected to lead by example. Senior staff and Manager leadership will be expected to follow all of the company’s policies and procedures to guide and counsel co-workers.
The YouTube social media platform is an important video and visual tool for teaching and learning. Entertainment, information-seeking, and school-based learning are some of the main reasons for using YouTube. (Moghavvemi, Sulaiman, Jaafar & Kasem, 2018) . It is most popular with users who are age 35 and under. There is a percentage of users that utilize YouTube for informational use including DIY projects and primarily instructions on how to do things. You can also hear speakers, music videos, and then there is YouTubeTV.(Newberry, 2021)
Twitter has been found to be a form of social media that holds one of the largest social impacts. (Pulido, Redondo-Sama, Marti, & Flecha, 2018) Twitter has also shown to hold value in producing positive learning outcomes in multiple studies. (Tang & Hew, 2017) Aside from the normal tips for posting related to popularity, the posting must also be moral. Since the use of social media has skyrocketed, educators have adopted social learning for professional purposes only. You must remain rock-solid positive and ethical in the social world. The nature of social media tends to get information misconstrued. We should apply gestures of respect and attention when we are tweeting as well.
Pinterest is being used more and more in learning as a way for students and trainees to express themselves. Pinterest has been shown to be a preferred tool that gains and holds the user’s interest easily. (Song, Williams, Schallert & Pruitt, 2021). It is all-inclusive and offers so many features. From meal ideas, dress attire, home décor, workouts, meal prep; you name it. Pinterest offers a wide variety of resources that can be used in your everyday life. Whether looking for a floor plan, painting idea, workout routine, or something as simple as putting a meal together; Pinterest has grown to be your one-stop-shop for just about anything you are seeking. (Ray, 2021)
Blogs can effectively be used for collaborative learning, reflection, communication, and social support. The results of studies have pointed to multiple positive aspects of using blogs to enhance learning and highlight the popularity and convenience of using blogs to create fast web content, promote frequent interaction, and provide other external links to related information. (Chu, Chan & Tiwari, 212) Blogging produces social support for individuals who seek out to be inspired and perfect their craft in their desired field of interest. Some of those categories are food, travel, music, lifestyle, fitness, sports, etc. Blogs are driven by passion. Once passion is identified, then you can begin to find your niche. (Morris, 2018) When educators choose to blog, it has a great impact on students and the community they serve. It fosters community-based education and gives students another avenue to an educational resource. In addition, this enables students to look deeply into their craft and find a blog that interests them. This can assist them in their educational gains and grow their minds. (wpbeginner, 2020)
