Game-enriched learning environments

Gamification became a hot topic, then a buzzword, and then LMS systems started adding badges for completing painful eLearning modules and calling it gamification. Now those not in Learning & Development see “Gamification” as a worthless fad because they don’t know what it is. Let me attempt to explain game-enriched learning environments.

As I was at my local gym, I found a PRECOR elliptical machine that let me log in and create a user name. I was hoping that this would allow me to track my usage on my phone and therefore onto the YMCA app where I track all of my exercises, but I am not that far in my Metaverse journey to awesomeness.

But now that I’m logged into this elliptical machine, it started to throw badges up on the screen when I hit certain landmarks over my entire elliptical journey.

You just walked across the Golden Gate Bridge! Your cumulative distance over time is the same as Taking a train from Beijing to the Great Wall of China!

If these badges were used for unmotivated learners, then they would simply become asinine and probably, decrease motivation.

Just Don’t Say the “G”-Word

Often when I speak to experts, who are skilled and experienced in adding games to learning experiences, they tend to not like the word Gamification. It’s a dirty word now. Why is that? A lot of business leaders and learning stakeholders have requested Gamification in ways that don’t serve the learning model. Gamification is implemented without the funding or skill sets required to deliver.

For example, learning management systems have added only badges across-the-board, and called that gamification. Not even a leaderboard of who is ahead, just little images with arbitrary words like “HOT SHOT” and “ACE”. That’s not a game that is a reward that you could’ve won if you played a good game well to add merit to your performance. However, getting that badge after taking a raw DATA-DUMP in a trackable SCORM eLearning is more like a kick where the sun doth not shine than a game.

So, it has to be a good game and it has to build skills.

I like to think about games with learning purposes on a sort of quadrant.

1. First of all, is the game fun, or is the game not fun?
2. Second of all, does the game build skills are does the game not build skills?

( Skills here are skills that can be used in the real world. I would say Educational but that would be a circular definition and possibly a slippery slope that is not accurate.
I have also hesitated in using the word Educational here because I don’t want to trigger memories of your teacher or mother asking if the show is “educational” or not? and now I probably triggered it anyway, which is good.)

What are things that you can add to the games that make them great?

How do you make “FUN” games?

The game mechanics are the solution. (be sure to scroll down to the end to see videos of my favorite game.)

Game Elements

Believe it or not, there is a whole field around how to build games, and we are not just talking about video games here either. These ideas and tools work on all games from monitor and VR to paper and cardboard.

If you want to talk about building Gamified Learning Environments then you don’t have to look much further than the work of Karl M. Kapp. His book
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction” is basically THE BOOK.

Why are some games a one-and-done and others are repeatable? It has to do with the elements of the game, the interrelationship of the elements is what makes the game engaging. Games are based on models of reality known as operating models. 

The benefits of abstracted reality:

• Easy to understand complex concepts
• Cause and effect are obvious
• Removes extraneous factors which pose distractions
• Reduces the time needed to grasp the concept

Goals

Game goals differ from instructional Goals. Game goals are specific and quantifiable. Instructional goals are broad and general. The final goal should not come too early. Ideally, there are sets of goals that build skill sets that are used to complete the final goal. 

Rules

A game is just a set of defined rules.

The Book of Rules: Game Design Fundamentals (Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman) defines four types of rules:

1. Operational Rules: Need the right key to open the right door
2. Constitutive Rules of Foundational rules: these are usually most important to the game designer. Probability of a die hitting a 6 or card counting
3. Implicit rules or behavioral rules: Govern the social construct between players. Usually tied to a penalty if broken.
4. Instructional rules: Define gameplay. The player must internalize before gameplay

Conflict, Competition, or Cooperation

Conflict is a challenge from a meaningful opponent and focuses on slowing the opponent down. 

Competition is when a player is “constrained from impeding each other and instead devote the entirety of their attention to optimizing their own performance”. 

Cooperation is working with other players to achieve a desirable outcome.

Time

Time is often used as a motivator to take action. When the clock starts. Time is also a part of helping learners allocate time to pieces of their work. The benefit of games is that they can condense time to view actions and results in real time.

Reward Structures

Badges, points, and rewards are not all bad and it is equally fun to let someone else know you received them. The leaderboard is a prime example of a reward where the user sees how they match up against all other players. It motivates additional play. It is best if rewards are directly linked to difficult accomplishments in the game. The text claims that LMS systems do not have corporate leaderboards but that might be dated information?

Feedback

Feedback is more frequent in games than in traditional learning environments. Robin Hunicke describes engaging feedback as juicy. Juicy feedback is tactile, inviting, repeatable, coherent, continuous, emergent, balanced, and fresh.

Levels

There are three types of levels: Game level, Playing level, and Player level. 

The Game Level is useful for plot and storytelling. Skills can be built at each level. The level-up is a motivation to continue.

The Playing Level. A simple game is boring and an overly complex game is not fun. Therefore many games have an entry-level at the beginning, easy, moderate, and difficult. It is often helpful to have the first level as a demonstration with guidance and feedback on how to play.

A Player Level relates to the character’s experience level or experience points in role-playing games.  So, think Final Fantasy or Pokemon where a player has EP or “Experience Points”.

Storytelling

Storytelling can be as simple as the name of the game. It can be supported with minimal additions to create a plot. Today video games have huge storylines and back plots. Stories add meaning, provide context, and guide action.

The Hero’s Journey

The monomyth or the hero’s journey includes leaving the comfort of normal life and entering the unknown to battle the conflict. Stories like The Legend of Zelda and even Super Mario Bros build on the Hero’s Journey.

Curve of interest

Using “The hook” to move from this being a required training or an interesting topic toward the learner being excited about the learning experience. The entry point, is that it is mandatory learning, then the Hook where the learner’s attention is grabbed. Last is the climax and then the learning is over.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics range from the design of game board pieces to sweeping landscapes of imagined worlds. Game aesthetics relate directly to Learner Experience (LX).

Example

While we are discussing game aesthetics, I would like to share one of my favorite games. Simple to play, yet complicated to solve. I love this game so much that I think it deserves its own post. I played Monument Valley available on Apple Arcade and I couldn’t wait to download Monument Valley 2+ available on the same platform.

These videos are best viewed on YouTube using a smartphone.
(Just click on the YouTube icon on the videos to play there.)

Work Cited

Kapp, Karl M., 1967-. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. San Francisco, CA :Pfeiffer, 2012.

Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass. The MIT Press, 2004.

I have been stuck in survivor mode for what seems like years. I knew it was happening but didn’t know what to do about it. I heard my heroes on the Bigger Pockets real estate Podcast warn about the pitfall of analysis paralysis, and their solution was to buy your first house. Well, I did that, and then I did it again turning the first house into a rental (as was the plan). If I am being honest it was not a smooth transition.
Que the music Bill.

Purchasing a new home by writing my own contract from a template and using a local title office, then rehabbing said new home, while launching my new real estate rental business in the midst of navigating a job change into a department I was unprepared for at work; it does not seem like that much until you consider we were having our second child while fixing up the room she was going to sleep in (painting the room pink, below) and the carpet team the previous homeowners set up were attempting to jack up their prices and sharing they might not be able to install before the baby was due. Oh, and did I mention I was not thriving at work?

So, it happens, life is not always smooth and it does not always go according to plan. To borrow a Stephen “Covey-ism”, the problem is not the problem, it is how we perceive the problem. In other words, it is the choice we make after the conflict arrives that is important. Do we choose flight or flight? or is it really as binary ☯️ as that? Do we have other options? Yes. Yes, we do. The “pause and pivot” come to mind. The old “accept failure as a moment of learning” is a way for us to accept that we failed, move on, embrace the fail, own it, learn from it, and hopefully grow.

Yes, I was working nights and weekends to get a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Educational Technology. I am just going to gloss over how amazing it is that my wife stayed by my side during this time of turmoil. This blog is something that I had every intention of keeping active, and I am dreaming that starting this back up could be one step toward moving back into a state of re-engagement; to thriving.

So, what next? Well, I have a project that I put together during this point in my life when I tried to do all the things at one time. It was a school project so, of course, I made it look as good as possible and painted it as a success, and slapped it on the front page of my LinkedIn profile. Like a total FCUK-ing liar. It is a case study around that new position I got at work, remember that? The one I desperately failed at?
If I am being honest, I could have made it work, but I was in survival mode, remember? I didn’t want to learn the backward process that supported a company, with a mission I was not passionate about, and pour it into PowerPoint decks, I had already done that many times previously and I longed for something new. So, I just went through the actions, while looking for a new job and “running” my new business, but that is a story for another post…

In my next post, I will share that project, illustrate how it failed and ask you how you might have tried something different. It doesn’t have to be something brilliant, just something real.

If you have ever had the opportunity to work with a Learning Management System (LMS) then you know they can be a step less than friendly. In addition, if you have had a chance to work with a few different ones you might have noticed that they are definitely not all the same. In this blog post I review three of the LMSs that I have had the most experience with and some of the take-aways that I have from working with them.

ShareKnowledge

The main boasting point of Share Knowledge LMS is that it integrates with SharePoint. This makes having content available on the company’s SharePoint site easily assigned to learners in online courses. The downside is that you have to deal with the antiquated system that is SharePoint, but many companies still seem to be happy doing just that so this is also a very attractive option for that reason.

There is not a lot to be found online about how to use ShareKnowledge but if you are using it they have a superb Customer Service department that is more than willing to work with you over the phone or email to assist you. In fact they will even accept zip files of eLearnings that are not working on their LMS and test them for you on their end. This is especially helpful in diagnosing issues.

Another thing that Share Knowledge seems to do rather well is integration with other Microsoft products. For example, Instructor Lead Training (ILT) that is available in Share Knowledge will automatically send class participants emails and create calendar invites in outlook.

Schoology

As its name implies, Schoology, sounds like more of a classroom system that is used by schools. In fact Schoology has a thriving Corporate user base. The one thing that Schoology does support is an online learning community. It has a very well developed user forum function that allows users to interact in a social-media-type dialogue. Not to say that other LMS options do not have this function, it is just that Schoology does this especially well.

Schoology has many options in creating diverse online courses rich in multimedia. There is also an adequate quiz function that can automatically score multiple choice questions and pend short answer questions for review by the facilitator / instructor. Overall Schoology is a user friendly option that creates a strong sense of community.

 

SABA

SABA LMS is marketed as a “global learning management” tool. It has a very well developed online forum that has a very active participation from users around the world. To be honest you will need it. SABA is very powerful and can do many things very well. With all of the options that SABA offers it can be daunting to find the path to the option you want. However, when all is said and done the designer can find what they are looking for in the online instructional resources and forum.

The trade off is a very seamless experience for the user. SABA is extremely intuitive and users are generally very happy with the experience. There is a very nice 5-star-rating and written response for content that is simple to turn on and gives user the ability to provide instant feedback on learning materials.

Author

David Kolmer is a Learning and Development Specialist who focuses on curriculum development and eLearning authoring.

Featured Image: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/848203

Personal Vision Statement

To create inclusive learning environments that provide opportunities for all learners to improve regardless of ability. Leverage technology to implement relevant, interactive and cost-effective learning environments that promote learning through exploration.

As an instructional designer, I am obviously interested in every step of the standard ADDIE model. However, my creative spirit  lends toward an AGILE development style.
I am involved in Assessing, designing, developing and implementing any given curriculum but tend to submit my material for evaluation while developing various iterations.
My emphasis for my Master’s degree at Fontbonne University was Learner Experience.
I believe that the environment that the learners find themselves in is fundamental to their success. A calm and peaceful environment is much more conducive to learning than a loud and overly critical environment.

Learning Opportunity for All

The word “inclusive” and the phrase “all learners” were selected deliberately. In, the course: Current Topics in Universal Design, JoAnn Mattson, the director of eLearning at Fontbonne University, introduced me to the CAST organization which included UDL or Universal Design for Learning.

We were asked to submit all work within the guidelines proposed by this platform. It was not a difficult decision for me to agree that all learning materials should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability. Audio files should have text-based transcripts, texts should have audio options and text should be in a larger 14 point font, physical activities should have text-based options. In this way, the facilitator will be prepared for any student with any set of abilities that enters their classroom. CAST (2018) I am not addressing the learning styles of learners as that concept never appealed to me much and as it turns out there is little to no evidence to support the theory of learning styles. (Husmann and O’Loughlin 2018)

e-Learning or e-Boring?

In the second sentence of my mission statement, I brand effective use of technology as creating “interactive” and “cost-effective” learning content. Much has been written about the mass exodus of corporations from instructor-led content to the use of e-Learning as a way of decreasing costs. Normally, these articles and blog posts are linked with the opinion that a majority of this e-Learning content does not promote actual learning. This is why I have chosen to add the element of interactivity. It is all too easy to generate a quick e-Learning that serves as a “data dump”. However, generating an e-Learning module that engages the student and provides the environment conducive to learning requires skill and an understanding of the principles of andragogy. It is an art that has been hastily presented as a simple task that can be easily replicated.

Relevant interactivity is one of the most crucial elements of effective eLearning modules. These are not necessarily simulations that are specifically “learning by doing”, although they could be. What is really at play here is having the learner focus their attention on content to enter it into their working memory. Then, time is given for the learner to process the information in multiple ways (we often refer to this as a reinforcement activity). However, in my mission statement I have chosen the word “exploration”. This increases the probability that the learner transfers the information, or encodes it, into mental models in their long-term memory. (Clark 68-69) If this is done effectively, namely with a relevant context, then knowledge transfer back to the working memory can be achieved when needed. (Clark 253-254)

Or as Clark writes it:

“There is little value to mental models in long-term memory that cannot be retrieved back into working memory when needed on the job.”

(Clark 254)

On an even more personal note, I first decided that I might be interested in instructional design because of a set of e-Learning modules I took while working at Lowe’s Home Improvement. The tagline at Lowe’s was “Never Stop Improving” and I could work with that,  these e-Learning modules were bland “data-dumps” with faulty multiple-choice quizzes.  I wanted to know how those modules were created, because I felt I could do better, and that is when I started on my interest in Instructional Design.

works cited

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2.
Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Clark, Ruth Colvin. Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement. Pfeiffer, 2008.

Husmann, P. R. and O’Loughlin, V. D. (2018), Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students’ study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles. American Association of Anatomists. . doi:10.1002/ase.1777

Photo Credit: “Marceline – Adventure Time” via Tofu Verde – flickr.com/

Let’s face it, cartoons are fun to watch and if we are really honest with ourselves we have learned a lot from them.

I am interested in improving my skill-set around creating video shorts that explain a complicated idea in a short, light and easy to consume cartoon. I have seen similar content done on Prezi but really, although I do like digital zooms I really feel like that sort of presentation is really just a PowerPoint with extra bells and whistles to distract participants from the content. Especially now that PowerPoint has introduced the “Morph” Transition. I know it is a popular platform but I have heard a wide range of mixed responses to the platform. Some have even said that it makes them feel sick. Besides, a formal presentation is what I am trying to move away from. As I said, I want to make a narrative cartoon.

I had done some work with Animoto and it is a wonderful online app that is fast and very easy to use. I had not seen many ways to do much more than an animated slideshow with the Animoto platform so it really does not speak to my need.

I found an app called Wevideo that looked at face value like a simple online video editor that you might compare to a souped-up version of the legacy Windows moviemaker that came standard on Pre-Windows 7 Operating Systems. When I have some raw video that I would like to edit I look forward to leveraging that platform, but again I want to make some cartoons.

So then I narrowed it down to two platforms that I felt might be able to create something that I am looking to do. Powtoon, Vyond and GoAnimate stood out as industry standards which aim to do exactly what I want. Start with some audio and quickly build out some cartoons around the story. I researched both and at face value, GoAnimate seemed like the higher-shelf product. It had very modularized backgrounds or sets I would even call them, gobs of props, and characters complete with emotions and animations. The item the sealed the deal was they have the voice to lip sync technology (which I later found is not part of the free trial) that makes the characters actually move their mouths in sync with the vocal audio (but you know, like cartoons do.)

Powtoon was attractive simply because it also looked very good. The animations looked very colorful and compelling. The backgrounds looked great if not as adjustable as the sets on GoAnimate or Vyond. The attribute that made me really long and hard at Powtoon was they have a permanent free option whereas the lowest level on GoAnimate (after a 15-day trial) was $50 a month. Not bad if you make cartoons for a living but too much if it is just something you do once in awhile.

So I have decided to try out both Powton, Vyond and GoAnimate. So far I have only created a short 1 min. video in GoAnimate and I absolutely love working with the platform. I had a beer and knew my way around before the beer was finished. Not bad… Not bad at all. An hour later I have a link to my final product. What did I learn? With the free trial, GoAnimate will place a watermark on the whole video, whereas friends at work have shared that PowToon just pops in a little icon on the bottom corner of the screen. The same is true with Vyond. Powtoon is the lowest pricepoint, and higher than that would be GoAnimate. In my opinion the most expensive platform, Vyond, is worth every penny. There are just so many more characters, set peices and automated animations. In addition set peices themselves are moveable.

Here is an example of a cartoon I created on Vyond:

Title Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/

This blog post explores the idea of leveraging Podcasts to support the learning and instructional process. With the connectivity of the Internet age and the increase of social learning, Podcasts have become a very popular way for people to learn new ideas and gain new skill-sets.

In my personal life, I have enjoyed the narrative of podcasts like Radiolab, Serial and S-Town. Although these podcasts are true stories, that are gripping and enlightening, they do not necessarily build a definable talent or even marketable knowledge, or do they? These immensely popular podcasts do generate a deeper understanding of the human condition and I have enjoyed them immensely. If nothing else they increased my sense of empathy for other people who are not like I am. Did they teach me a new skill? Well, no, not really but does all learning need to give you a practical skill?

HEY! I work for The Man.

So, I am looking at this from the corporate perspective simply because I am currently employed as a corporate trainer, working for “the man”. From my perspective what is learned is defined by business needs and ways to increase the profit margin. When you introduce a topic, in the corporate training environment, you list the behavioral learning objectives using verbs that describe what learners will be able to “DO” (to better serve the business) at the end of training. I do not mean to cheapen the concept of what learning is, much the opposite in fact. So, with that in mind let me dream about pure learning for the sake of learning, say at a school…

 

Podcasts in Class?

In his article for The Atlantic, Michael Godsey, shares of his difficulty to get students to read but how he discovered the same students were activity engaged in discussing podcasts, such as Serial, outside of class. He even compares this difficulty to adult’s excuse that it is hard to find the time to sit down and read but Podcasts, on the other hand, present a learning modality with a different set of rules. So, he introduced a unit that leveraged the engaging power of the Podcast. Michael shares are feelings on the subject:

“While I felt guilty the students weren’t reading very much during this unit, their engagement with a relevant and timely story—their eagerness to ask questions, their intrinsic motivation to use critical thinking—seemed to make it worth it, at least temporarily. The students voluntarily studied maps, evaluated clues, argued with each other, and wrote twice as much in their journals as they previously had.”

 

Freakonomics Radio

 

There are other Podcasts that I have enjoyed in my personal life that I feel have come closer to teaching me an actual skill. Freakonomics is a podcast that I have listened to the most. This show aims to debunk common misconceptions of the modern world through the discoveries of Economics. Branding themselves as “The hidden side of everything” they ask experts in niche areas of Economics to share what they have deduced from their data-sets. If nothing else this show has helped me think more critically and analytically. Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, or the Steves, got their start on the subject by co-authoring “the book and blog by the same name” and then decided to break into the Podcast space. I for one am certainly glad they did.

 

This podcast (and Blog) work in with my Personal Learning Network because the content cuts through all of the emotional baggage and lies we tell ourselves. We are looking at data to locate the truth and it is less important how we feel. An instructional designer must use a needs analysis to find the truth of what is really needed by the learners. It is up to them to build the curriculum around those needs and involve actions that train to those needs, not use some activity they like which does not serve the higher purpose of what needs to be learned; or use the latest trick in Captivate or Storyline to make them look fresh and cutting edge. In addition, serving the needs of the learning is also up against resistance from business leaders who want to add insignificant granular details or destructive animations and sound effects to the training. A true ID will stand up for the truth. They will become an outsider and build a training that will actually improve the world. Not just add more noise.

Bigger Pockets

Another Podcast that I think does a fantastic job of training people in their everyday lives to build a valuable skill-set or knowledge base is The Bigger Pockets Podcast. The Bigger Pockets team actually started out by creating a social network around real estate investments which has grown to be one of the (if not the biggest) to date. Biggerpockets.com is a social media site of sorts where you can log in and network with other real estate professionals (and novices) from around the world to grow your real estate prowess. At one point the creators noticed that their plan had actually worked so they decided (the verdict is out on who decided to) start a Podcast. Now, over 200 podcasts later the show is a smash success.

The reason the show works as a learning model is that it relates to the listener on a social level. Joshua Dorkin and Brandon Turner are not afraid to take cheap shots at each other and even throw in some amazing (as well as questionable) humor when they speak with their incredibly successful guests. This realness of the show leaves the listener feeling as though they have simply met up with the team at a coffee shop or bar somewhere and are listening in.

As studies have shown, this communicative storytelling narrative drastically increases knowledge retention. Research supporting the personalization principle shows that more knowledge is retained when it is presented in a conversational tone. (Moreno and Mayer 2000) Similar to Freakonomics the Bigger Pockets crew also invite the best of the best on to their shows, subject matter experts if you will, who have amassed millions of dollars through real estate and are proven experts on the subject. So, you know you are getting solid methods that have been tested in the real world. One of my favorite parts of the show is they ask every guest what their favorite real estate book (that they did not author) is. In this way, I have discovered (and read) numerous books on the subject that I otherwise might never have heard of.

At this point, the interview with Austin Fruechting is still one of my favorites. Check it out here.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/biggerpockets-podcast-239-achieving-financial-freedom-age-32-austin-fruechting/

The Bigger Pockets podcast is a large part of my Private Learning Network (PLN). I am a designer, a performer, a teacher, a trainer and I am an instructional designer with an emphasis in Learner Experience. The interest I have in these topics revolves around a love of learning and sharing what I have learned. However, when I have achieved a certain amount of capital it is real estate that I am ultimately interested in. I like buildings, I like houses and I am excited by the prospect of owning more of them… Ultimately, I would like to design learning content around real estate investing but I am simply not there yet.

So what are your thoughts? Have I convinced you to use Podcasts in your teaching or training efforts? Please leave your thoughts below.

And if I have convinced you then check out this list of featured Learning Podcasts that were hand selected by our friends at Player.FM

work cited

Monero, R.& Mayer, R.E (2000b). Engaging students in active learning: The case for a personalized multimedia message. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 724-733.

Godsev, Michael (2016, March 17). The Value of Using Podcasts in Class- Ironically, they can encourage students to read more. Retrieved from URL https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-benefits-of-podcasts-in-class/473925/

 

 

Title image: Social Network Analysis Visualization.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I shared my portfolio with my mother last week, who exited the full-time professional world back in the 80s, and all she could say was, “Oh, wow. Times have really changed.”;  and she was right. Times have changed more than we know in countless ways we will never know.

Take the job search for example; it will never be the same. Finding work has always been loosely related to who you know, but now it is easier to connect with people from all over the world with the click of a button. (In fact, many of the first steps into our next role starts with being discovered by an online search-bot, not a person at all.) But HOLD ON! wait just one hot minute Improvement Dave, this blog post is about being social, not about cold lonely robots that live online.

The dawn of the internet age has changed our world forever. As Marcia Conner reminds us in her interview on theelearningcoach: access to mobile devices is more prevalent than access to clean water. Let that sink in, the number of us that have smart phones is greater than the number of us that have access to water to drink. Her interview is amazing by the way. Check it out here:

 

Professional Network Groups

Professional Network Groups are an added layer to this ability to connect across large distances. Joining a group is a fantastic way to grow your circle of influence, learn about best practices in your industry and just meet some new people who share common interests with you. Although the Groups on Facebook do include a vast range of interests, for professional development and performance enhancement Linkdin.com is the place to go.

Personally I find that the groups I join on Facebook reflect my personal interests that I enjoy in my free time, and sure those interests do cross over into my professional life. Overall, there seems to be an unwritten perception that Facebook is more of a Social Network and Linked In is s Professional Social Network.

 

Just by the nature of Linked In I have joined groups that directly relate to my career. Being a Learning and Development specialist I have found numerous groups that discuss best practices in training facilitation, Instructional Design and eLearning. Not to mention I have befriended and then followed people from those groups. It is their posts the enrich my feed with what is called social learning.

Social Learning

We are social creatures. There are many studies that reinforce the hypothesis that people learn more in a social environment. In her article on elearningindustry.com, Juliette Denny presents the 70-20-10 model. The research around this model shows that we learn 70% to 90% of what we know from work while on the job. It breaks down like this, while at the workplace learning is:

• 70% ‘on the job’ that is by experience
• 20% by watching others
• 10% through formal training

What can we take away from this? Social Networking is not simply a way to meet a new friend or find your next gig. Social networking is an extremely effective way to learn; a proven modality to better yourself and increase your workplace performance.

So, the next time you find yourself beating yourself up for spending 10 minutes on Linked In reading content related to your industry, stop. You are doing yourself a favor. However, if you find yourself spending hours at a time watching cute cat videos, then you might want to take a look at your priorities in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

works cited

Denny, Juliette (2017, November 22). Social Is Sexy: 11 Reasons Why You Need An Informal Learning Strategy. Retrieved from URL https://elearningindustry.com/informal-learning-strategy-11-reasons-need-social-sexy-70-20-10-model

Malamed, Connie (2016 ?). Social Learning Is A Way Of Life – Conversation with Marcia Conner. Retrieved from URL http://theelearningcoach.com/podcasts/29/?utm_source=linkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare