This document discusses using social media and learning communities to keep learning alive outside of traditional classrooms. It describes how a learning community manager can establish and maintain a community using tools like SharePoint, Yammer, blogs and webinars. The manager introduces ways to support both individual courses and long-term programs through social platforms. Specific examples provided include using hashtags and polls for courses, replacing courses with social-based lessons, and creating communities for certification programs or new employee onboarding.

1. Keeping Learning Alive Through Social Media and Learning Communities
Association for Talent Development Conference 2016
Session W201
Twitter Hashtag: #KeepLearningAlive
Daniel Jones
daniel.w.jones@me.com
Twitter: @mcochon
LinkedIn: ch.linkedin.com/in/dwjones
Facebook: www.facebook.com/daniel.ward.jones
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/danielwjones
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2. Keep learning alive
In the past—and even today—many of our traditional classroom and online courses
are “delivered and done.”
As trainers, we might have learners complete an action plan at the end of class that
we hope they’ll complete back on the job. Or, we might send a follow-up email or
two to participants, reminding them about what they learned.
If we’re lucky, managers will coach their employees after class and give them a
chance to practice and apply their learning on the job. But how often does that
really happen?
So, it’s up to us as trainers to keep that learning alive outside the classroom. We
can do that by establishing learning communities and using social media tools to
keep the discussions going, the questions coming, and the learning happening
when we’re not delivering training in the traditional or virtual classroom.
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3. My story
My name is Dan Jones and I’ve been involved in training since 1991 when I first
taught buyers at Macy’s how to use a mouse. Since then, I’ve been a trainer,
support analyst, help desk manager, technical writer, webmaster, communications
manager, and today, a training solutions manager at Zurich Insurance Company.
I first heard about learning communities of practice around 2008, but it wasn’t until
I joined Zurich Insurance’s project management office in 2011 that I had my chance
to start one. In four years, our project management community of practice grew to
over 1,800 global members. And last year, I launched a successful internal
corporate sales training community that already has 2,000 members.
To support my community members, I maintain a SharePoint site, manage Yammer
groups, produce monthly webinars, write regular blog entries, curate useful
content from the web, build elearning modules, design job aids, and yes, use social
media to connect with them.
Today, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned and invite you to share your ideas and
experiences. Together we can learn how our own learning communities of practice
can use social media tools to keep learning alive outside the classroom.
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4. Our learning path
Today, we’ll first identify what a learning community is and learn more about the
role of the community manager.
Next, we’ll identify ways to use social media to support learning.
We’ll then look at specific types of social media tools and learn how you might use
them.
We’ll wrap up with a discussion on how you can imbed social media to support
continuous learning in your organization.
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5. What is a learning community?
So, what is a learning community?
How do you define a learning community of practice?
A learning community of practice is a group of individuals—led by a community
manager—that shares a common passion in and a desire to learn about a particular
topic.
It could consist of 10 learners from one organization who are taking a course, 100
colleagues from one region who are completing a certificate program, or 1,000
people from around the world who share a common interest.
Normally, membership in a community is voluntary, and members choose to
participate as much—or as little—as they want.
Learning communities may form for just a few days, or for many years. It depends
on the community’s mission and objectives.
If a community is going to survive and thrive, it needs a community manager and a
core group of members to make it successful.
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6. Community managers lead the way
What do you, as a community manager and trainer, have to do to start and manage
a learning community?
The role of community manager can be a full time job. Identify a set of core
members (2-5 people) to support you with specific community tasks.
Managers and core members typically:
• Select a sponsor.
• Secure funding.
• Produce and host virtual and face-to-face meetings.
• Drive engagement and involve members.
• Maintain records.
• Demonstrate a return on investment.
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7. Manage your social media tools
One of the primary jobs of the community manager is to select and manage the
community’s social media platform and tools.
Whether its your company’s private enterprise social network (ESN) or your own
collection of free social media apps, you’ll need to:
• Promote the adoption and use of your social media tools.
• Help members access, install, and login to your apps.
• Grant member access to you public or private groups.
• Manage group security, email accounts, mailing groups, and other settings.
• Establish guidelines and see that members follow them.
• Monitor posts daily—and discipline those who don’t follow guidelines.
• Provide some training and support.
• Tweet, blog, write, capture, record, film and share content regularly to keep
collaboration active and fresh.
• Plan, produce, and schedule new content (and remove outdated information).
• Drive discussions, promote posting, encourage collaboration—and help
community members learn!
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8. How can you use social media?
How can you use social media within a community to boost social learning in your
organization and keep learning alive?
You can use social media to:
• Support a traditional classroom or online course.
• Entirely replace a course.
• Unite learners after class.
• Support learners who are completing a certificate, degree, or development
program.
• Onboard new employees.
• Support a department or project team.
• Complement a live event.
Let’s look at each one of these in more detail.
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9. Support a course
Set up a learning community of practice to support a cohort of learners from a
single class or workshop.
Before class
Use social media to share the course objectives and expectations, introduce
learners, build excitement, and distribute prework reading and videos.
During class
Use a Twitter hashtag to drive backchannel comments, observations, and
conversations—particularly during multiple-day courses.
Use polling and survey apps like Poll Everywhere and Survey Monkey to conduct
instant polls and share results immediately.
Play learning games with Kahoot to drive engagement. Complete learning
scavenger hunts with apps like GooseChase. Use Pinterest to curate
Show videos from YouTube or Vimeo, or presentations from SlideShare and Prezi.
Complete, share, and peer-review assignments online.
After class
Use community social media channels to share additional information and
resources, collect feedback, continue discussions, answer questions, and coach
learners.
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10. Replace a traditional course
Why not replace a traditional course with one based on social media?
For example, set up a private group on your enterprise social network, Facebook, or
LinkedIn, then:
• Introduce yourself in a YouTube video.
• Share course objectives and expectations in the group site’s description.
• Link to reading assignments in blogs and web sites.
• Share presentations via SlideShare, Prezi, or Haiku Deck.
• Ask questions, share answers, and hold discussions on discussion boards, in
instant messaging groups (in WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger) or simply on
the group’s site.
• Collaborate in a wiki or in Google Docs or in Microsoft Office365.
• Role play using Skype or Google Hangouts.
• Collect feedback through Twitter or Survey Monkey polls.
A course based on social media can be setup to last a few days or weeks, allowing
participants to complete tasks when they have time. Be sure to set participation
expectations (for example, you must log in and participate at least every 3 days).
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11. Unite classroom learners before, during and after class
Set up a learning community of practice to support learners who complete a
particular course. For example, at Zurich Insurance, we’ve established a sales
training community for all employees who have completed one of our sales training
courses.
We automatically add all participants to our community, and give them the option
to “opt out” after they’ve had a chance to experience it.
As the community manager, you can use social media to reinforce the skills,
knowledge, and behaviors participants learned in class—and introduce new ones.
For example:
• Share links to intranet sites discussed in class via email; instant messaging; or a
Yammer or LinkedIn group.
• Distribute job aids and template files through a SharePoint site or Facebook
group. Or store files in a Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneCloud site where
learners can access them.
• Start discussions or hold question and answer sessions using your group site,
instant messaging for groups, or Twitter lists.
• Write a blog entry describe how participants applied their learning on the job
or to expound on a topic from class.
• Publish success stories and allow readers to add comments, ratings, or praise.
Promote stories in your group, when possible, for all to see.
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12. Support a program
Set up a learning community to support members who are completing a certificate,
degree, or development program.
For example, create a community for:
• New project managers pursuing their Project Management Professional
certification from the Project Management Institute.
• Accountants studying for their CPA (certified public accountant) credential.
• Nurses studying for their RN (registered nurse) degree.
• High-potential employees participating in a leadership development program.
That way, community members can collaborate outside of formal learning courses
and workshops.
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13. Onboard new employees
Organize a community to welcome new hires, connect them with colleagues across
the organization, and link them to information and resources they might struggle to
find otherwise.
Invite recruits to join the community during the interview process so they can learn
about the organization’s culture, ask current employees questions, and eventually
make a sound decision to join—or not join—your company.
New employees can use the community’s social media tools to ask and answer
questions, find the right contacts, access tools and templates, and review policies
and procedures, among other tasks.
Normally, their involvement with the onboarding community will fade as they gain
experience, although some will continue to participate in the community to help
those following them.
A community manager and other experienced employees should monitor the
community to provide answers, add new links and content, and keep the
community’s platform up-to-date.
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14. Unite a team
Use a community to unite a department or project team and help them learn from
one another.
For example, use SharePoint to set up a site where team members can:
• Store and collaborate on project documents.
• Use discussion boards to ask questions, provide answers, discuss issues, and
document decisions.
• Document and share knowledge.
Team members can also use the site to maintain a project calendar, keep a project
task list and assign tasks, and access tools and templates—to support the project or
team’s activities.
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15. Support live events
Create learning communities to support live events like conferences, workshops,
and town hall meetings.
For example, use Twitter during a town hall meeting to create a backchannel where
participants can share comments by using an event hashtag. I’ve used the hashtag
#KeepLearningAlive here. Include it in your Twitter posts and others will be able to
search for all posts that feature it.
Other ways to support live events include:
• Use Instagram to post and comment on photos from a workshop.
• Post your thoughts on a Wordpress blog during the event.
• Use SlideShare to distribute presentations from a conference.
• Record videos of speakers or attendees and post them on your community’s
YouTube channel.
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16. What do members do?
What do members do in general on collaboration platforms and social media tools?
What do they use them for?
Social media networks and tools enable members to share, comment, reply, like
(and now love and dislike), tweet (and retweet), blog, watch, send, receive, curate,
and collaborate.
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17. What types of tools to members use?
What types of social media tools do learning community members use?
A learning community is united by mix of social media tools such as:
• Groups like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Groups.
• Microblogs like Twitter and Tumblr.
• Blogs like WordPress and Blogger blogs
• Video sharing sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and TED.
• Photo sharing apps like Instagram, Imagr, and Flickr.
• Wikis using Google Sites, PBWorks, or Wikispaces.
• Chat or instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
• Curation tools like Pinterest and ScoopIt.
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18. Why use enterprise tools?
Why should you use enterprise social media tools or those that you normally must
pay for?
There are advantages to using enterprise social media tools or “paid” apps.
• First, they are normally more secure and can be used to share sensitive
business information.
• They are configured to work on your organization’s network and standard
computer equipment.
• They often offer integration support, and better and faster levels of service.
• They sometimes offer more features than free versions.
• They can be linked to your learning management system (LMS), although many
LMSs can now track the use of public social media.
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19. Why use free social media tools?
Why should you use free social media platforms and tools?
If you budget is tight or not, consider free social media tools. Here’s why:
• Well, they’re free!
• They are easily accessible. Most are available for iOS and Android devices, and
many for Windows smartphones.
• Many people are already familiar with the apps and have accounts.
• They are user friendly. Most tools offer detailed online support, and many have
user community support groups who offer quick help.
• They can be used anywhere. Most tools have desktop, tablet, and smartphone
versions that people can use in the office or on the go.
• They offer more features than many enterprise social networks.
• They offer security features to keep information public, limited to groups, or
totally private.
• Some social media can be linked to learning management systems to track
learning.
• Social features encourage collaboration. Many web sites now build in sharing
tools to the most popular social media.
• Social media are fun to use!
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20. Groups: Facebook and LinkedIn
Host your community in a Facebook (www.facebook.com) or LinkedIn
(www.linkedin.com) group.
In both apps, community members can share updates with photos and links on the
group wall, tag or mention other members, and reply to what others have shared.
Group walls are great for sharing ideas, pointing to other resources, holding
discussions, and asking and replying to questions.
Facebook groups are the more robust of the two. Facebook allows members to add
locations and share videos in posts. Members can also store files on the group site,
plan events, participate in group polls, and use a chat feature with other members
who are online.
LinkedIn’s basic accounts lack those group features, but LinkedIn allows members
to post longer, formatted posts where they share their expertise rather than short
updates of comments. It’s also linked directly to SlideShare (www.slideshare.com)
where members can share and clip slide presentations. LinkedIn Group managers
can highlight “manager’s choice” conversations, and close announcements,
answered questions, and other content that no longer needs comments or likes.
Both Facebook and LinkedIn offer public (standard) groups, and closed or secret
(unlisted) groups, so you can limit who can see and join your group. Members my
flag inappropriate comments, and group administrators (managers and monitors)
may remove off-topic conversations and block members who abuse the group’s
rules.
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21. Microblogs: Twitter, Tumblr
What is a microblog?
A microblog is a social media site to which users make short, frequent posts. Prime
examples include Twitter (www.twitter.com) and Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) .
Both Twitter and Tumblr allow users to post text, photos (including animated
GIFs), and links from a browser, smartphone, and email. Tumblr adds the
option to easily share quotes and music (or other audio). And with both
services, users can post videos—up to 30 seconds on Twitter and up to 100
megabytes per day on Tumblr.
How can you use Twitter or Tumblr to promote learning?
• Share links to online resources (for example, blogs, infographics, and
presentations, and videos).
• Share short learning videos and audio podcasts (on Tumblr).
• Ask questions and encourage community followers to answer.
• Supply a Twitter #hashtag and run backchannel communications during a
course or workshop.
• Run Twitter polls. Polls can last from 5 minutes to 7 days and questions can
include four options (each up to 20 characters).
• Create Twitter list of your community member accounts. View the list timeline
to see a stream of Tweets from only the accounts on that list.
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22. Blogs: WordPress, Blogger
What is a blog?
A blog is a website or page that an individual or group updates regularly with posts
related to particular topics, events, or situations. It’s often written in an informal,
conversational style and normally includes links to other blogs and resources on the
web. Readers can comment on blog entries, and in some cases, rate them.
How can you use a blog to promote learning?
Members can use a community’s blog to showcase they personal knowledge and
connect with other members of the group. They can share success stories and how
they have incorporated learning into their daily work.
Other members can use blogs to “show their work,” capture their knowledge, and
share their best practices.
Community managers can use blogs to curate content of interest to the community.
Trainers can incorporate blog reading assignments into their lesson plans, then use
discussion boards or instant message chats to discuss what members read.
Set up a free blog on Wordspace (www.wordpress.com) or Blogger
(www.blogger.com).
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23. Video: YouTube, Vimeo, TED
Watch, share, and comment on videos hosted by YouTube, Vimeo, TED and similar
video sharing services.
Create a YouTube or Vimeo channel and publish your community’s videos privately
or publicly. Members can subscribe to the channel and see videos in their feed.
Create a playlist in YouTube or a group in Vimeo and curate videos that you want
your community members to watch.
Remember, you can add narration to you animated PowerPoint shows and share
them as videos on YouTube and Vimeo. See Microsoft PowerPoint’s online help
(Export video) for details.
Sites that feature videos for training and learning include:
YouTube: www.youtube.com
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com
TED: www.ted.com
Khan Academy: www.khanacademy.org
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24. Photos: Instagram, Imgur, Flicker
A picture says a thousand words on Instagram, Imgur (image-er), Flickr and other
photo and short video sharing sites.
In addition to photos of community events, promote learning by sharing and
tagging images of classroom flipcharts, screen captures from online whiteboards,
and copies of PowerPoint slides (save a slide as a PNG or JPG file).
Create and share photo memes that teach lessons or reinforce learning—and watch
them go viral!
Organize photos into public, hidden, or secret albums to control who can see them.
Popular photo sharing sites include:
Instagram: www.instagram.com
Imgur: www.imgur.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com
Google Photos: photos.google.com
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25. Wikis: Sites, PBWorks, Wikispaces
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a website that allows anyone designated to add, revise, or delete content.
Learning communities can use a wiki to:
• Document frequently asked questions (FAQs)—and answers.
• List procedures, determine standards, or establish best practices.
• Find group solutions to problems.
Wikis help learners develop a sense of community as they share their expertise and
experience with one another. They can be public or private, so you can limit who
can see or revise the content.
Wikis are typically easy to use, and contributors can work on them at the same
time. Since they normally show who added or revised content, contributors are
recognized for their effort, promoting a sense of ownership in the content.
Make sure the goal of your wiki is clear. Assign a moderator or editor to manage
contributions. And foster friendly collaboration on the site.
Useful wiki sites include:
Google Sites: www.google.com/sites/overview.html
PBWorks Wikis: www.pbworks.com/wikis.html
Wikispaces: www.wikispaces.com
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26. Chat: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger
When you have a dispersed community, chat and instant messaging tools like
WhatsApp (www.whatsapp.com) and Facebook Messenger (www.messenger.com)
help members around the world communicate in real time.
Members can send messages to individuals or groups, and include photos and short
videos and audio files with a message—ideal for sharing nuggets of learning. Use
group messages to send reminders, share news, or point to new resources on the
Web.
Twitter Chats and Yammer Jams
Twitter Chats and Yammer Jams happen when a group of people meet at a set time
and share messages with the same hashtag. Yammer provides instant translations,
so knowledge of the same language is not critical. Trainers can use such chats in
these ways:
• Hold a question and answer session with a leader (#AskRobert)
• Hold a review session with a training cohort.
• Brainstorm ideas or solutions by sharing ideas using the same hashtag.
• Play a scavenger hunt: Have players go online at the same time for 30 minutes.
Tweet a question to the group using a hashtag. Players find the answer online
and tweet their response, a link to the response, and the hashtag back to the
group. The person who answers correctly first scores a point. The player with
the most points wins.
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27. Curation: Pinterest, ScoopIt
Use curation apps like Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) and ScoopIt (www.scoop.it)
to collect, categorize, and share resources from the web on your own board or a
group board.
Community members can subscribe to your board or scoops and view them across
various social media platforms. For example, anything you pin can also appear on
your Facebook wall, and anything you scoop can also be tweeted and added to
LinkedIn. Those who view your pins can share them with others through Pinterest,
Twitter, Email and other services.
Create a public group board in Pinterest and invite your community members to pin
to it. While anyone can see your group board, you control how can pin to it. And
you can remove off-topic pins someone might add. Need more privacy? Create a
secret board, then only you and those you invite can see and pin to it.
Curation sites are a great way to discover and share learning content on the web.
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28. Other social media tools
What other social media tools are you using or have you heard of?
Examples include:
• Google Hangouts and similar paid services from WebEx and GoToMeeting for
group video conferencing.
• DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud and similar services for file sharing.
• Enterprise social networks like SharePoint with Yammer, Slack, Salesforce
Chatter, Confluence, Facebook at Work, and Jive.
Google the name of a tool or “social media tools” to find out more.
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29. Build social media into your training
So how have you built social media into your training programs?
What tools do you use and how do you use them?
There are many ways to build social media into your training programs. Here are
some examples:
• Set up Facebook, LinkedIn, Yammer or other social media groups for learners.
• Plan, schedule, and share links to useful information (for example, blogs,
videos, and web sites).
• Plan, schedule, and share discussion questions.
• Watch related YouTube videos—and produce and share your own!
• Encourage a Yammer backchannel during your workshop.
• Include a module on how learners will use social media to support learning
before, during, and after a course.
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30. Let’s talk!
What questions or comments do you have?
Ask them online through social media:
Email: daniel.w.jones@me.com
Twitter: @mcochon
LinkedIn: ch.linkedin.com/in/dwjones
Facebook: www.facebook.com/daniel.ward.jones
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/danielwjones
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32. It’s time to keep learning alive
It’s time to keep learning alive outside the classroom.
So, it’s up to you as a trainer to start using social media to support training and
learning.
You can do that by establishing learning communities, using social media tools, and
building social media into your courses in order to keep the discussions going, the
questions coming, and the learning happening when your not delivering training.
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