Last updated: 13 January 2010

A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO SOCIAL LEARNING
Choosing the tools

Most social learning in organisations - education or business - is happening because individuals at the grass roots are doing it themselves: they are using the tools for their own Personal Directed Learning as well as for Group Directed Learning.  Educators and students are using them as part of Formal Structured Learning.  No one has told them to do it; individuals and groups have recognised the power of social learning, and just got on with the job using many of the free social learning tools available.

It is clear that this approach has sometimes caused organisation concerns - the vast amounts of personal and organisational data now scattered around the Internet, and the fact that personal, professional and organisational identifies have become muddled, which has occasionally caused embarrassment to employees and/or organisations. 

As organisations have begun to understand the revolution in use of social media, and want to incorporate it into working and learning, this has led to the development of enterprise social software - either self-hosted behind the firewall or managed by the provider.  Such software provides the social functionality required for all types of organisational learning within a secure environment.

Many organisations will need to consider the route they are going to take.

1. support people's use of public/private social media tools - and how they choose to to make use of them for their own needs (perhaps with some social media policies in place)
2. select a set of public/private/self-hosted tools which employees can use within the organisation
3. implement an integrated social and collaboration environment across the organisation

Clearly 1 represents a BOTTOM-UP approach to implementation, whilst 2 and 3 might suggest a TOP-DOWN approach.  However, it will depend upon how you expect the employees to use the tools:

1. if it is you enforce the ways that people can or should use them, then this is top down
2. if it is you are simply putting in a supporting infrastructure and allow individuals and groups the freedom to make use of them how they wish, then this is the best combination/compromise of both a TOP-DOWN and a BOTTOM-UP approach.

The choice of tools will depend on a number of factors

• whether you are approaching this from a personal or organisational perspective
• the functionality (or range of functionality) you require
• the level of integration between tools you require
• how private or secure you require the data to be
• the cost of the tools

Here are 4 options. 

1. Hosted (public and private) stand-alone social media tools

2. Self-hosted private stand-alone social media tools

3. (Hosted or self-hosted, private) Social Learning Management System

4. (Self-hosted) Social & Collaboration  Intranet,  Environment or Platform

For examples of the tools that fall into each category (see Comparison of social software)

Hosted (public and private) stand-alone social media tools

• Cost: Mostly free

• Pros:

  • Diverse range of tools available to use

  • Users can select own tools (DIY learning)
  • Easy to set up and use
  • Doesn't require IT support
  • Sophisticated functionality

  • Some tools can be "secured" for private use

• Cons

  • Huge number of different tools being used could be overwhelming
  • Possible duplication of functionality across systems
  • No (or little) integration possible between tools; so need to work in separate tools for different purposes with different logins
  • Concerns about privacy and security of personal and organisational data as scattered over the internet
  • Lack of backups
  • Private, professional and organisational personae can be muddied leading the embarrassment or even possible harmful publicity (see eMarketer)
  • Unfavourable terms of use for organisations and individuals, e.g. "you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States" and "We may provide information to service providers to help us bring you the services we offer."
  • Viability of provision by free providers; services closing down with immediate effect

Self-hosted (private) stand-alone social media tools

• Cost: Commercial options will incur licence fees.  Free, open source systems are available
• Pros:
  • Good range of tools available - although not as huge as above
  • Sophisticated functionality
• Cons:
  • No (or little) integration possible between tools;  so need to work in separate tools for different purposes with different logins
  • Set up and customisation requires IT support of some kind

(Hosted or self-hosted, private) Social Learning Management System
(ie learning or course management system with social functionality)

• Cost: Mainly commercial products therefore incur licence fees. Open source CMS are free to acquire (e.g. Moodle)
• Pros:
• Social aspects can be added to formal learning environments
• Integrated suite of social media tools provides seamless interface across the tools
• Individuals can keep their private and professional data separate
• No concerns about data privacy
• Cons:
  • Each tool can be less sophisticated than stand-alone tools
  • Only supports formal social learning
  • Set up and customisation requires IT support of some kind (internal or external)

(Self-hosted) Social & Collaboration  Intranet,  Environment or Platform
(ie integrated suite of social media tools supporting personal learning and group spaces for all types of working and learning)

• Cost:  Commercial options will incur licence fees. Free, open source systems are available (e.g. Elgg)
• Pros:
  • Integrated suite of social media tools provides seamless interface across the tools
  • Supports personal and group learning, formal structured learning and intra-organisational earning
  • Individuals can keep their private and professional data separate
  • No concerns about data privacy
• Cons
  • Each tool can be less sophisticated than stand-alone tools
  • Set up and customisation requires IT support of some kind (internal or external)