Computer

The MASIE Center has just published an interesting survey on the use of social learning in the workplace. I’m not sure I go with the term ‘social learning’ because this is incredibly ambiguous – after all, a fair proportion of all learning involves the learner interacting with others – but let’s assume they mean the use of social media for learning and not get distracted. This was a self-selecting survey to which 1069 responded, ostensibly from ‘around the globe’, although I would predict a strong North American skew.

Respondents were asked which social media technologies they used in their organisations. Practically all the responses are interesting because they are, at least for me, unexpectedly high, even Twitter down at the bottom with 12%. Media sharing at 48%, wikis at 47%, blogs at 45%, social networks at 41%, content ratings at 13%. These are fascinating results, even allowing for the fact that respondents are self-selecting and that the question doesn’t specifically ask whether these media are used for learning. Even if you divide by four, you still have evidence of a significant trend in a hugely conservative profession.

Some 62% thought there was some or high value in social learning in their organisations. I’m not sure if this is positive or not, but I’ll take it as the former because I bet that a fair proportion of these installations flounder because they are poorly implemented or insufficiently integrated into everyday work.

When looking at barriers, by far the biggest obstacle identified was organisational culture, which is no surprise. Command and control doesn’t fit well with informal and collaborative learning approaches, and given the current crisis there’s even more command and control than usual to contend with. Chances are small organisations will find it easier.

Some 35% of respondents stated that they had a social learning project in place, i.e. a deliberate use of social media for learning, as opposed to emergence from the bottom-up. I’m not sure that it matters from which direction the impetus comes, but it would be nice if it was both.

Only 11% thought social learning was a fad, which is encouraging, although I’m not sure you can recognise something as a fad when it’s currently fashionable (as we found with sub-prime mortgages).

The question was asked ‘What percentage of your learning would you estimate could be done with a Social Learning format?’, which is rather awkwardly phrased and open to all sorts of misinterpretations, not to mention impossible to estimate. Anyway, respondents made a guess and the highest proportion guessed at 20-30%. That seems optimistic for social media in the short term, but far too low for social learning in its broadest sense.

I wouldn’t quote these figures with huge confidence, but I would be encouraged by the progress that’s being made. Thanks to the MASIE Center for getting this data together.