Exploring the World of Social Learning

Synopsis

We used to live in two worlds: the workplace, a formal and restricted environment, and the social world, which was unrestricted and expressive. These spaces used to be separate, colliding only at moments of misjudged intra-office relationships and the alcohol-fuelled miscommunication of the office Christmas party.

But no more. There is no longer a formal and social divide, and instead we inhabit a grey space where we answer office emails from the bath and use Facebook in meetings. That photograph of the holiday in Ibiza will haunt you in your next job interview and the post about how much you hate your boss has just gone global thanks to a misjudged retweet.

But what does social mean for learning? It’s an incredible opportunity to engage, and this book will explore ways in which we can do so, by showing how to create more dynamic and challenging social learning spaces. Through nearly fifty collected articles from my daily blog, together with new commentaries and practical tips for each, I look at what drives engagement in these spaces and how the thinking around them has evolved.

Social layers are being built up around all types of learning. It’s no longer a question of whether the conversations take place; it’s a question of whether we want to be involved in them.