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Social has been one of the watch words in L&D trends over the past five years. Some experts suggest that all learning is social, some say you can design social learning experiences, others that you can’t touch it, that L&D professionals should just stand back and let it happen.

But do we have a common understanding of what it is?

Many people substitute social learning with learning using social media tools, like they are one and the same. Others think that social has its place in certain topics, but should be out of bounds in others. When was the last time you took a social compliance course? But why couldn’t compliance contain an element of social interaction? If it did would that make it social learning? Does that even matter?

Our organisations operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world and that means we’re kidding ourselves if we think we can train people to deal with every challenge they are going to face. We can’t design learning pathways to match all the permutations out there.

So helping people to explore topics together and developing the skills they need to solve complex, ambiguous problems collectively and collaboratively is arguably the most useful thing L&D can do to help organisations grow. This is where social learning thrives, but despite years of commentary very few L&D professionals are putting these approaches into practice. Very few L&D professionals use social learning strategies to solve their organisation’s people development challenges.

That’s why we would like to invite you to participate in a social learning experience about social learning experiences.

Course Tutors

This mini-MOOC is designed and delivered by Sam Burrough and Martin Couzins of MOOC Pro.co.uk. Sam has built a career on applying free and low cost technology to create innovative learning experiences and has worked alongside many independent training consultants as a client. Martin is a professional journalist and curator with strong ties to the HR and L&D worlds, working closely with the CIPD, LPI, TrainingZone and Personnel Today.

Time required

To get the best out of the experience we think you’ll need to put aside 2 hours per week for the next 4 weeks. Content will be time-released, a week at a time.

What will be covered:

• What is social learning and why might it be the best learning strategy for a VUCA world?

• What is a social learning experience and how can they be designed?

• What are the challenges of running a social learning experience?

• How do you show what people are getting from a social learning experience?

• How can online social learning experiences transform how we approach learning analytics?

About the platform

We’ll be using the very latest beta version of Curatr to tackle these questions, which means you’ll be among the first to try out some exciting new features and get to tell us what you think about them. New features include a new ‘playlist’ view, real-time chat (with Twitter integration) and a completely overhauled user profile.

Who is this course aimed at?

This short course is for anyone who recognises the need to further their understanding of Social Learning in a workplace context. It provides a space to explore ideas and learn how to apply them to your business to add value.

It’s part course, part social exploration and it’s all free.

SIGN UP HERE