A dreary seminar room on a Monday morning, lovelessly stapled seminar materials with no added value, and zero practical relevance: This does not make for an optimal learning atmosphere. Anyone who wants to motivate their employees sustainably and break down knowledge silos uses social learning.

What Social Learning Can Do

In the e-learning sector, social learning defines the idea that people learn best when they exchange ideas with others and can apply knowledge in a practical way. The classic 70-20-10 model by Bob Eichinger states:

We only acquire 10 percent of our knowledge through rote learning in courses and seminars.

We acquire 20 percent of our know-how through others telling us about their experiences.

Conversely, we acquire 70 percent of our knowledge by having experiences ourselves and actively engaging with problems and topics.

Social Learning Tools

Social learning picks up on this aspect and incorporates it into digital further education. Through the various tools available, employees have the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with other people.

The advantages of mobile and social learning come into their own in a learning app. A corporate app can be used regardless of time and location. Colleagues can get in touch with each other across departments via a chat. In a quiz app, employees or teams might compete against each other and thus test their knowledge. Such gamified learning solutions certainly require social interaction, because not everyone knows the answer to every question, which means colleagues also get into conversation with each other in real life to answer questions together.

Advantages of Social Learning

• Via learning apps, knowledge can be applied directly where it is needed
• Knowledge is prepared in terms of media and didactics. During the development process, the topics are immediately reflected upon, which is already the first step in the learning process.
• The knowledge stored via learning apps and e-learning platforms can help new employees with onboarding
• Depending on their experience, qualifications, and area of interest, employees can decide for themselves which topics they would like to exchange ideas on with each other.