1. Talk background A talk on social learning and social networks given byBryce Biggs at a Public Service Trainers LearningNetwork workshop held at the Elangeni Hotel, Durbanon 26 and 27 September 2012. Bryce can be contacted on: biggs@associates.co.za orSkype: bryceb45 Every effort has been taken to acknowledge allintellectual property and sources. If there are anyomissions please feel free to let me know. Backgrounds, themes, slides mainly fromwww.slidegeeks.com. Great value and great materials. Check slide 17 to see the reason for the goldfish theme.

2. An interaction with Bryce Biggs Use of social networking and other electronic media: its influence on learning in the 21st century 3. What we will talk about A brief visit to learning theory (groan here) A provocation to return to at the end of oursession All learning should be/must be/is social The scale of social networks in South Africa Moving to social learning Some of the (many) tools to facilitate [social]learning A key facilitated social learning outcome(engagement, engagement, engagement) COPs (communities of practice) 4. Teaching/ learning models or theories 5. Yesterday? Tremendous feats of memorisation(Some scholars it is said could memorise 300 000traditions. from Ideas: A history from Fire to Freud by PeterWatson) 6. Some responses to yesterday Does Education teach us to memorise information, instead of understanding it, or is memorising important for future use? No more memorising in schools Yes, Really! Never memorise something that you can look up in a bookThe first two quotes were found in an Internetsearch (23.09.2012) the third is from AlbertEinstein (letter to Josh Winteler, 1901) 7. Today? 8. Tomorrow? 9. Learning models/theoriesEssentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful. Box & Draper, 1987 10. A brief (partial) visit to learning theory (1) ArgyrisDouble loop learning BanduraSocial learning theory Bruner Constructivist theory GardnerMultiple intelligences KnowlesAndragogy Lave Situated learning Piaget Cognitive development Rogers Experiential learning Rotter Social learning theory SchnTheories of action SiemensConnectivism SkinnerOperant conditioning Wertheimer Gestalt theory 11. Putting it all together 12. Some call it connectivism . 13. Transition and evolution http://projects.coe.uga.edu: Diagram ex Ireland, 2007: Connectivism, George Siemens 14. Some call it 21 st centurylearning 15. http://www.teachthought.com/learning/9-characteristics-of-21st-century-learning/ 16. What if we just call it social learning? 17. All learning should be/must be/is social?SociallearningTraditionalteaching 18. What is social learning? Banduras Social Learning Theory posits that people learnfrom one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling.The theory has often been called a bridge between behavioristand cognitive learning theories because it encompassesattention, memory, and motivation. http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html 19. And again . The main idea in Julian Rotters social learning theory is thatpersonality represents an interaction of the individual withhis or her environment. One cannot speak of a personality,internal to the individual, that is independent of theenvironment. Neither can one focus on behavior as being anautomatic response to an objective set of environmentalstimuli. Rather, to understand behavior, one must take boththe individual (i.e., his or her life history of learning andexperiences) and the environment (i.e., those stimuli that theperson is aware of and responding to) into account. http://psych.fullerton.edu/jmearns/rotter.htm 20. One perspective . 21. Heart, head, hands: turning learning around We see here another form of education emerging onethat we are often too fearful to embark upon as it requires somuch letting go, so much trust in the child. In effect, the modelwe are accustomed to is turned on its head as learning beginsby capturing the heart. Through experiencing and having the opportunity tohave a sensory experience with a topic or subject, a child willdevelop an affiliation and personal connection for the topic.However it happens, its captures the heart. From an article in the Natal Witness by JoanneMadgwick, September 2012 (edited extract from her bookLearning Through the Senses) Emphasis added 22. And a story . 23. Story of a burned 3-year oldchild Anice (her mother) said Pippie had formed anamazing attachment to Dr Ridwan Mia, thesurgeon who led the operation to replace herskin. Her favourite [moment] is still to see DrMia. She loves him to bits and, when I cantget her to fall asleep, I play her a voice-mailmessage from him and she is out. Article in the Sunday Times, 23 September2012 24. So if we are going to dosocial learning what do wedraw on? 25. At the heart of social learning aretwo of the greatest disruptions inhuman history from atoms tobits; and, from local to global: atleast in part through the mediumof social networks 26. Atoms to bits As more and more of what we consume becomesvirtual or digital we are moving or transformingatoms to bits. Some stuff may never becomedigital or virtual. But much/most of the addedvalue in a product/service will. Education is thenext frontier where the atoms of most products e.g.books, lecture materials, lecture presentations willbecome bits. (Nicholas Negroponte was the person in the1990s who coined the phrase Move bits, notatoms.) 27. Local to global Much has been written aboutglobalisation. And thats not our topicfor today. But social networks arehelping us globalise and areincreasingly a key element of thesocial learning process. So lets look at them next (largelythrough a South African lens). 28. Mxit (South Africa) Total Mxit Users:9 350 000 Penetration of population: 19% (estimated)Source: World Wide Worx and Fuseware, August 2012 29. Facebook (South Africa)Total Facebook Users:5 356 800Position in the list:31Penetration of population: 11%Penetration of online population 101%The largest age group is currently 25 - 34 with total of 1 607 040 users, followedby the users in the age of 18 - 24.N.B. Because Facebook does not measure mobile-only usage among those whohave registered via their cellphones, the full extent of its penetration issignificantly understated: primary research by World Wide Worx shows that 6.8-million people access Facebook on their phones. Source: socialbakers, September 2012: percentages rounded off 30. LinkedIn (South Africa) Total LinkedIn Users: 1 837 150 Penetration of population:3.8% (estimated) Penetration of online population: 35% (estimated)Source of total users: socialbakers, September 2012 31. Twitter (South Africa) Total Twitter Users: 2 430 000 Penetration of population: 5% (estimated)Source: World Wide Worx and Fuseware, August 2012 32. YouTube (?) South African statistics not available? Fifth most visited site by South Africans after Facebook, Google, Mxit,Wikipedia Source: Mapping Digital Media: South Africa, March 2012 A R E P O R T B Y T H E O P E N S O C I E T Y F O U N D AT I O N S 33. From news.com.au 34. Of course .. social learning deliveryis not just about social networks 35. Pick your social media platformComment &Reputation Social Bookmarks CrowdsourcedcontentPictures Live Casting-Blog Platforms Video and AudioBlogs/ConversationsWikiBlog communitiesMusic Social Micro media Events Media Life streams Documents Specific toTwitterVideo AggregationSMS/VoiceVideo Social Networks LocationNiche NetworksCustomers Service Networks 36. A short and incomplete tourof some of the manyplatforms/opportunities forsocial learning 37. Social networks 38. Social networks and groups 39. Learning platformsA South African Moodle site 40. Resource websites 41. Guides on websites 42. More resources (for COPs) 43. Yammer a free enterprise social network 44. Platforms 45. Your own platform page 46. Platform tools 47. Platform guides 48. More platform guides 49. And then . A final question . Cansocial learning help us tackle one ofour biggest challenges in any [SouthAfrican] organisation today? 50. Engagement todays numberone organisational challenge.And how social learning couldhelp 51. What is engagement? The individuals investment of energy, skill, ability, and eagerness inthe work performed. Engagement includes involvement andcommitment yet goes beyond to include observable behaviors suchas: Attention to task detail Commitment to assignment completion Involvement in special projects Communication willingly, effectively with others Demonstration of personal/professional improvement Initiation of problem-solving and/or conflict resolution Innovation regarding processes and procedures Tim Wright as quoted in www.hrcapitalist.com Bold emphasis added 52. Some factors impactingengagement and somemeasures of it 53. Analysis across the UK Civil Service shows that the three themes with the strongest relationship with engagement are: leadership and managing change, my work, and my manager. Leadership & managing change My work My manager Pay and benefits Employee Learning & development engagement Resources & workload Organisational objectives & purpose My team Inclusion & fair treatmentcsps: 2011: horizontal yellow lines show relative strength of theme 54. Civil Service People Survey 2011 (UK)90%70%50% 30% 10% Range of scores for each organisation Level of engagement: United Kingdom civil service: 97 organisations: dotted red line shows median percentage (56%) 55. Leadership and managing change is thestrongest driver of engagement (csps) 12 between 2010 and 2011 (%) 10 8 Change in engagement 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10-20 -10 0 1020Change in leadership and managingchange score between 2010 and 2011 (%) 56. Engagement levels in Sub-Saharan Africa Gallup Inc., 2010 57. Extract from Gallup engagement surveyFeedback, recognition, and positive relationships these kind ofworkplace conditions are fundamental enough that they can serveas focal points for leaders in a broad range of contexts and cultures.The positive outcomes consistently associated with employeeengagement for organizations and individuals suggest it is oneyardstick by which we can measure progress toward greaterproductivity and personal fulfilment for workers worldwide. 58. So where does social learning come in?Opportunity/challenge Social learning response Involvement in special projects Wiki Demonstration of Enterprise social networkpersonal/professionalimprovement Innovation regarding processes Shared online creativity/changeand proceduresmanagement course Leadership development Course management site withappropriate courses, blogs,wikis, videos, etc., Change management skillsetc.(Moodle?)development Effective onboarding Newbie wiki/astonishment Etc. Etc. 59. How we as trainers can help,and go on helping 60. COPs 61. What is a community of practice? The third form of learning, Communities of Practice (CoPs), was coined in the 90s byLave and Wenger (1998). "Communities of practice are groups of people whoshare a concern or passion for something they do, and learn how to do it betteras they interact regularly" (Wenger, 1998). While there are other definitions, communities of practice (CoPs), so defined, are tiedintrinsically to social learning theory. They self organize; cut across organizations,time zones, countries, and disciplines; and exhibit engaged co-learning. Thiscompelling description links the CoP structure of to social learning capacity. A community of practice is not just a Web site, a database, or a collection of bestpractices. It is a group of people who interact, learn together, buildrelationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutualcommitment. Having others who share your overall view of the domain and yet bringtheir individual perspectives on any given problem creates a social learning systemthat goes beyond the sum of its parts (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002, p. 34). Emphasis addedwww.joe.org/joe/2008june/a1p.shtml 62. A closing thought As trainers in the Public Service (and in the service ofthe public) we need perhaps to be focusing a lot of ourefforts at the top and at the bottom of the employeepyramid. At the top we need to be helping public service leadersto implement existing frameworks that enhance theirleadership qualities and help to buffer them frompolitical interference and temptation; at the base weneed to be recruiting, selecting, and inducting people sothe Public Service becomes increasingly an employee ofchoice and not of last resort. Social learning mechanisms can help us at both theselevels