21st Century Learning and Teaching

Interested in incorporating cutting-edge social techniques into your training programs? Consider these three options.

Tony Bingham, president and CEO of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), is leading the discussion about defining social learning.

“Social learning is learning with and from others, often — but not always — with social media tools,” Bingham explains. “Social learning is a powerful approach to sharing and discovering a whole array of options, leading to more informed decision-making and a more intimate, expansive and dynamic understanding of the culture and context in which we work.”

"Social learning theory is the idea that people learn most effectively when they interact with other learners about a given topic. Educational psychologists refer to this as social constructivism. Recent credibility for this theory comes from a study by Dr. Richard J. Light (Harvard School of Education) that identify factors that lead to success for college students. According to Dr. Light, the strongest determinant of students’ success in college—even more than the details of their instructors’ teaching styles—is their ability to form or participate in small study groups. Students who studied in groups, even only once a week, were more engaged in their studies, were better prepared for class, and learned significantly more than students who worked on their own."