Social Learning Platforms and Social Capital

Written by: Bill Sherman on Tuesday, 2 June 2009, 3:09 PM

Today, Mike Prokopeak, from Chief Learning Officer magazine, questioned  the value of social media and informal learning within training and development programs. RIght now, there’s a lot of buzz about using social media tools–Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. to create social-media based learning communities. Mike asked “are training professionals behind the curve or ahead of it?”

Social media and social networking tools can provide a space for learning, but they themselves are only tools. People have to actually use the platforms (to find and answer questions . . . as well as participate in collaborative learning).

From what I’ve seen so far, many learning practitioners have launched a social media tool with a Field of Dreams mindset: “If I create this cool social media learning space, then my learners will find ways to learn together through it.” That approach glosses over fundamental instructional design issues.

Social media provides a platform, but the web-applications themselves shouldn’t be confused with true social capital–the ability to locate and mobilize resources within your network to achieve a goal.

The learners want to achieve goals–such as mastering a skill, solving a problem, or finding an on-demand answer.

Yes, social media can create a space where it will be possible to learn collaboratively. However, that learning doesn’t magically happen. There are several key criteria that must be met:

• The answer (or help) must have already been created; OR
• People must be available and willing to provide on-demand help.

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