In the rapidly evolving landscape of employee training and development, incorporating social elements into eLearning courses has emerged as a powerful strategy to promote engagement, collaboration, and a sense of community among learners. Social learning theory tells us that we efficiently learn by watching and interacting with others. Taking advantage of this natural tendency is a strong way to increase collaboration and engagement in employee training and development programs. eLearning can become more effective by incorporating elements of social learning.
Here are three practical ways to add social elements to employee training and development courses.
1. Gamification
The effect of incorporating social elements into your employee training will only be as strong as the participation of the learners. Without engagement, there is no clear path for your learners to retain the material in your content. To avoid having social spaces in eLearning that end up being a ghost town, utilize gamification.
Integrating gamification elements, such as leaderboards, badges or social challenges, adds a competitive social dimension to eLearning courses. Courses that feature elements of gamification are receiving widespread industry recognition because they keep the learner engaged and at high levels of understanding. Gamification also fosters motivation, a sense of accomplishment, and a positive learning environment by encouraging employees to interact with the content and each other.
2. Feedback and Q&A Systems
There are many ways to implement feedback platforms and Q&A opportunities into your trainings. Whether eLearning courses are virtual instructor-led trainings (VILT) or not, allowing learners to engage with instructors or experienced company professionals on discussion boards is a great way to promote a culture of curiosity and investment in shared learning. Learners could also have a space to provide feedback on each other’s work, offer suggestions for improvement, and learn from the perspectives of their peers while they actively reflect on their own learning. Feedback and Q&A spaces can be built in whichever modality that works best for your employee’s training and development, but these spaces should be easily accessible, checked regularly and user-friendly so that they don’t become another social quiet zone. Remember — participation is key!
3. Create Cohorts
Connecting employees who are going through similar courses on virtual platforms is a great way to draw inspiration from social media successes and utilize social learning as employees go through eLearning courses. Utilizing platforms like Microsoft Teams or Viva Engage (formerly called Yammer) have familiar social media interfacing, and they are a terrific way to encourage engagement with course content outside the structured course itself. Learners can participate in social interaction by exchanging ideas, asking questions, and building connections with their peers. Moreover, learners can gain a deeper understanding of course relevance by interacting with others in more informal ways throughout the learning journey. Encouraging connection between learners helps to facilitate a community between people, one that they can lean on to address challenges or have positive interactions. There are so many ways to leverage the benefits of social elements to create more dynamic and impactful eLearning experiences for your employees.
Conclusion
These are just a few ways to add social elements to your eLearning employee training and development courses. By fostering a sense of social community, you can promote engagement and collaboration among your employees. Taking steps to incorporate gamification, feedback spaces, cohort communication, and other social learning platforms allows learners to collectively construct their understanding and meaning of the content. No matter how technology continues to change and advance it remains true that people need people to learn and develop – eLearning courses are no different.
