Report on Informal Continual Learning

Using Social Media to Create a Personal

Lear ning Network for Continual Lear ning
Notes on Infor mal Teacher Training

Document Title SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LEARNING

Date Monday, May 30, 2011
Author Ghazala Ansari
Total Pages 10
Presented Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad
Conference Details National Seminar on ‘Quality Concerns in Open and Distance Learning
Teacher Education Programmes
07-08 September, 2010
 Report on Informal Continual Learning

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

Abstract ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

1 Introduction & Background ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

1.1 Benefits of Informal Learning ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
1.2 Why Social media? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
1.3 How will a PLN help? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

2 The PLN environment---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

2.1 Core Focus ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
2.2 Sample Environment ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

3 Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

4 Reference ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

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Abstract
In a student‘s journey through formal education, teachers play one of the most important
roles. As such, a teacher‘s preparedness in teaching students has a direct impact on the
quality of student education. While formal teacher education forms an important component
in this preparedness, by nature, such education is structured and event-based. There is a need
for effective and continual preparedness through informal self-learning. One way of doing
this is by leveraging the capabilities offered through social media. Today, social media
provides varied opportunities in helping teachers constantly prepare and update themselves
on strategies and tools to tackle the challenges of effective teaching. With such opportunities,
teachers are equally responsible to shoulder the onus of getting themselves trained. Social
media can help teachers organise and develop their own personal learning network (PLN) to
work towards continual preparedness.

This paper deals with the benefit of using social media for continual teacher training. Key
activities of a PLN have been identified as ‗learn‘, ‗collaborate‘, ‗share‘, ‗organise‘ and
‗network‘. How each of these activities can be leveraged in a PLN ecosystem has been
elucidated by considering popularly used or representative tools. Through an understanding
of this framework, new teachers can independently establish an individualised and cost-
effective PLN for themselves in their goal towards continually bettering their teaching and
facilitating skills.

Keywords: PLN, social media, informal learning, training, tools,

1 Introduction & Background

Fast-paced, Information-rich world
We live in an information-rich world. With so much information changing so rapidly,
‗information overload‘ has become a common byword in our lives. As professionals,
deciphering and managing such a quantum of information is quite a challenge. However,
precisely because of the quantum, it is also a necessity to be accomplished. To develop
oneself as an informed and progressive teacher, this challenge needs to be addressed. Some
immediate consequences of living in a fact-changing, information-rich world for a teacher
would be:
1. Necessity of immediate updates on key perspectives and practices prevailing in the
education domain
2. A framework to be able to sift through enormous information and quickly reach relevant
information

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3. Inability of structured teaching to instantly address the change of pace

In this age of fast-paced, information heavy environment, individuals can no longer afford to
wait to be taught in a structured manner.

Informal learning
Jay Cross in his book ‗Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Pathways that Inspire
Innovation and Performance‘ (2007) makes a case that around 80 per cent of what people
learn is through informal learning. ―Workers learn more in the coffee room than in the
classroom. They discover how to do their jobs through informal learning: talking, observing
others, trial and error, and simply working with people in the know. Formal learning—classes
and workshops—is the source of only 10 to 20 percent of what people learn at work. … In
short, informal learning is generally more effective and less expensive than its formal
counterpart.‖

The 80:20 (informal:formal) model indicates that for effective learning to occur in adult
professionals, the informal zone needs to be better harnessed. Effective learning leads to
contextual retention and the ability to translate that learning into real-life practices.

Social media
The technological environment today has made online networking and collaboration through
social media interesting, varied and interactive. The nature of tools available through social
media makes informal learning through observation, discussion and collaboration a real-time,
contextual, effective, and personal activity.

By using the right combination of tools, individual teachers can set their own personal
learning network which will ensure a framework for continual learning and expertise
building.

1.1 Benefits of Informal Learning

By focussing on informal learning, teachers will experience several benefits. They will be
able to:

 Set their own objectives.

 Organise information to the logic of how they learn and work.
 Set their preferences.
 Be in touch with practitioners rather than structured learning courseware.

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 Pull the information they need rather than have a bundled programme pushed towards
them that may not be of immediate benefit.
 Get access to what they need, when they need it.
 Have room for trial and error methods that require observation, discussion, questions
to experts, pilot solutions, and reflection.
 No certificate awarded; however, there will be an observable capability improvement.

1.2 Why Social media?

The 2000s have brought in a revolution in the way people meet, communicate and
collaborate. Building acquaintances and friendships merely on the basis of online interaction
has become a regular phenomenon. From shopping, buying books or the weekly groceries,
booking movies, following news and journals, to financial planning and banking, most
activities can be done online.

For instance, one may envision the following scenario:

1. You start your day by checking your RSS feed reader for specific updates and reading
material. Over a period of time you have spent time is personalising the feed reader so
that you get only the information you want.
2. You find out about an online workshop and decide to enrol. You tweet about it to your
friends using a micro-blogging site like Twitter. You come to know that several from the
network of people you follow on Twitter have enrolled for it.
3. Using Elluminate, a web conferencing tool, you listen to the speakers through audio
transmission and slide presentations and then participate in the extended discussion using
the tool‘s instant messenger.
4. At the same time you upload links to resources being shared during the workshop on your
school‘s closed social networking platform, Ning.
5. One of your colleagues posts a query to you that you immediately relay back at the
workshop.
6. After the workshop, you write a note on your learning and experiences and post it on
your blog.
7. Someone in another country picks up your post and links it to a new forum.
8. Because of the trackback feature on your blog, you get notified of this linking. People
start posting messages to you on this new forum.
9. With all the queries that you get, you decide to create a quick presentation using
Microsoft PowerPoint and upload it on a file sharing site like Slideshare.

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Before you know it, you have new connections and peers to interact with.

Thus, the hallmark of social media is:

 Flexibility
 Non-linear interactions
 Range of tools with different purpose and features to choose from
 Free access
 Intuitive and easy-to-use tools
 Free training/help modules on tools easily available on the Internet

1.3 How will a PLN help?

A PLN allows teachers to create their own unique and personalised network. A PLN is not
technologically dependent. Even a network of school colleagues would be considered a PLN
if there is sufficient sharing, connecting, collaboration and reflection occurring within the
group. However, with the variety of social and online tools available, creating and following
a PLN has become an immediate, personal, effective, and creative activity.

Learning is a multi-dimensional activity. A PLN will only be successful if it acts as a

reciprocal learning system. While it allows a teacher to find what they like and the opinions
that they value, in turn they have to add their experience back to the conversations.

2 The PLN environment

Listed below are some of the key benefits of establishing a social media based PLN for
teachers:

Experience
 Updates on new developments (practices, methods, programmes, tools, industry
news/trends)
 Answers to questions from peers and experts
 Tuning in to the ideas, developments and concerns that are engaging the larger
audience nationally and internationally
 Sourcing of collaborators to work with them on their projects/ideas
 Establishing multiple sources of getting information

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Contribute
 Creating/participating in a network of like-minded people for exchange of ideas
 Collaborating on projects that they find interesting
 Being able to reach a large audience
 Receiving inputs from peers and experts to improve their ideas/work

Personalise
 Learn at your own time and pace
 Filter information - learn what you find relevant
 Make sense of the chaos that is the Internet in ways that is relevant to you
 Engage in contextual (hence effective) learning
 Engage in just-in-time learning
 Inexpensive and personalised framework

2.1 Core Focus

Very broadly, we can place the popularly used social media tools under 5 categories.

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The tools associated with the focus areas are for illustrative purpose. Due to its largely open
source nature, several tools will be available for the same purpose. For instance, both
Wordpress and Blogspot may be used for blogging. The choice of tool is largely an individual
decision.

So far this year (2010), the top 5 tools that are emerging are:
1. Twitter (micro-blogging)
2. YouTube (video sharing)
3. Google Docs (office suite – collaborative documentation)
4. Delicious (online bookmarking)
5. Slideshare (presentation sharing)

As is evident from the list above, several file sharing tools are quite popular. Online
bookmarking helps organise sites using tags and tag bundles in the same manner that the
folder structure allows on the desktop. However the tool that has currently caught everyone‘s
imagination is the micro-blogging site that limits all conversations to 140-characters.

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2.2 Sample Environment

The illustration above provides a sense of the interactive, immediate, non-linear, personal and
continual nature of a PLN structured using social media tools.

3 Conclusion
The 90-9-1 principle in online social communities, referred to by usability expert Jakob
Nielsen as the ‗Participation Inequality‘, is an accepted fact. As per the rule,

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 90 per cent of users read or observe, but don't contribute.

 9 per cent of users contribute from time to time, and are largely limited to comments.
 1 per cent of users account for most of the active contributions.

If a PLN based on social media is to be successful, teachers have to aim to be a part of the 1
per cent of the active community. By making the PLN a reciprocal activity, teachers can truly
experience the power of collaborative learning. The more they contribute, the stronger will be
their skill enhancement as innovative and inspiring educators and facilitators.

With existing technological capabilities, the onus is equally on the teacher to take initiative in
self-training and development. Teachers can take control of their own learning to make it a
continual process.

4 Reference
Cross, Jay. Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Pathways that Inspire Innovation and
Performance. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2007. Print.

Hart, Jane. ―Introduction to Social Media for Learning & Working.‖ Centre for Learning and
Performing Technologies. <http://c4lpt.co.uk/academy/ism/index.html>

Hart, Jane. ―The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 list is emerging.‖ Jane‘s Pick of the Day.
24 Jul. 2010 <http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/2010/07/the-top-100-tools-for-learning-
2010-list-is-emerging-.html>

90-9-1 principle. ―90-9-1 Principle.‖ The 90-9-1 Principle, How Users Participate in Social
Communities. <http://www.90-9-1.com/>

Nielsen, Jakob. ―Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute.‖ Jakob

Nielsen‘s Alertbox. 9 Oct. 2006
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html>

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/56631921

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