Social learning is a theory that explains how people learn through observing and interacting with others. It suggests that much of what we learn is acquired through social interactions with others, rather than through formal instruction or individual experience.
In social learning, individuals observe and learn from others' actions, behaviors, and experiences. They then use this knowledge to inform their own actions and decision-making. This type of learning can occur through direct interaction with others, such as in a classroom setting, or through indirect observation, such as watching a video or reading a book.
Social learning can take many forms, including:
Modeling: Learning by observing and imitating the behaviors and actions of others.
Collaboration: Learning through working together with others to solve problems and achieve goals.
Discussion: Learning through sharing ideas, thoughts, and opinions with others.
Feedback: Learning through receiving and responding to feedback from others.
Mentoring: Learning through a more experienced person providing guidance, advice, and support.
Social Learning in LMS Platforms
A Learning Management System (LMS) is the application that is used to build, deliver, manage, and track an online learning program. While most every LMS supports the online delivery of course content, some platforms now include tools to add a social learning element to an online training program.
The Benefits of Social Learning for Customer Training Programs
Social learning can provide numerous benefits to customer training programs. Here are some of the key reasons why social learning is valuable for customer training:
Enhancing Engagement and Motivation
Social learning can increase engagement and motivation among learners. By allowing learners to interact and collaborate with each other, they can build connections and create a sense of community. This can make the learning experience more enjoyable and satisfying, leading to greater engagement and motivation.
Encouraging Knowledge Sharing
Social learning can facilitate knowledge sharing among learners. By enabling learners to share their experiences, ideas, and insights, they can learn from each other and gain a broader perspective on the topic at hand. This can enrich the learning experience and provide learners with a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
Enabling Collaborative Problem-Solving
Social learning can also facilitate collaborative problem-solving. By working together on projects and assignments, learners can develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This can help them apply what they have learned in real-world situations and prepare them to solve problems they may encounter in their job or personal life.
Providing Personalized Learning
Social learning can also provide personalized learning experiences. Learners can tailor their learning experience to their individual needs and preferences. For example, they can choose to engage with content in different ways, such as through discussions, videos, or quizzes. This can help learners stay engaged and motivated throughout the learning process.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The platform provides the ability to launch Discussion Boards to support social learning by program administrators to launch and moderate learner discussions regarding the subject matter.
The system also offers an embedded course authoring tool that enables most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily, using existing digital content, such as videos, PDFs, SCORM files, PowerPoints, and more.
LMS Portals allows you to add Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) sessions and include quizzes and assignments to assess user comprehension. If you choose to, you can then group courses into Learning Paths to add structure to your training program.
The LMS Portals platform also offers a powerful reporting and analytics engine to review and evaluate learner progress and overall program performance.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages