How To Best Utilize Social Media Tools For Online Learning
Social media have become an integral part of our lives, revolutionizing the way we connect and communicate with one another. The numerous advantages they bring make them excellent companions not only for day-to-day tasks and entertainment purposes but also for learning and skill advancement. In this article, we discuss 7 best practices that will help you integrate social media into your online training program in the best possible way. Moreover, we will look at how you can use certain social media tools to improve learning.
Best Practices When Using Social Media In eLearning
1. Provide Guidance For Optimal Results
Although social media have become a habit for many, it would be wrong to assume that all your learners know how to use them. It’s possible that they are not that tech-savvy or that they use a different platform than the one you have chosen for your training program. To avoid such issues, provide clear instructions or relevant resources on how to use each feature so that everyone knows what they are allowed to do and what you expect from them. This way, you ensure learner progress and maximum alignment with learning objectives.
2. Employ Various Types Of Formats
Social media tools carry the great advantage of being able to bring even the most dull subject to life. Using different formats, such as text, images, videos, podcasts, animations, and more, there is really nothing you can’t make accessible and comprehensible for your audience. In addition to boosting information comprehension and retention, translating material to various formats can enhance learner engagement and participation. As some learners might be more inclined to audio or image-based content, it’s important to cover all bases and allow access to material that best suits their learning needs and preferences.
3. Don’t Overdo It
With so many platforms to choose from, variety is the name of the game when it comes to social media. It might be tempting to try and create communities on many platforms to accommodate everyone. However, keeping everything updated might be a greater challenge than you bargained for. It’s best to select the one or two platforms that you and your learners are most comfortable with and try to make the most of the features and integrations they provide. This will concentrate your material in one place, making the learning experience more user-friendly and preventing confusion for all parties involved.
4. Don’t Make Participation Mandatory
Another thing to remember is that social media must be complementary to the learning process and not a mandatory part of it. As not everyone is drawn to or interested in social media, it would be unfair if a significant percentage of their grades or progress depended on them. This is especially true if excellent use of social media has nothing to do with the subject you’re teaching. Therefore, make sure to keep social media participation optional and low-stake for your learners. Instead, try to encourage learner engagement by making the social media content captivating and exciting.
5. Respect The Privacy Of Your Learners
Despite the many advantages of social media tools, you must be mindful of the threat they can pose to an individual’s privacy. Don’t post sensitive information, such as grades, and make sure to carefully examine each platform’s privacy policies and practices. Accommodations might also be necessary for those uncomfortable with posting content and participating in online communities. Specifically, you can offer the alternative of private messaging for assignment submissions or communication and allow learners to create new academic profiles so that they don’t have to use their personal accounts to participate in your learning program.
6. Provide Feedback
Social media can create a connected learning environment that promotes collaboration and peer-to-peer learning. But that doesn’t diminish the significance of providing constructive and timely feedback to your audience. Apart from promoting a connection between instructor and learner, feedback can encourage active participation and involvement in the learning process. Moreover, it can provide learners with valuable information regarding any areas that need improvement and lead to a deeper understanding of the subject at hand. Finally, it supports accountability, urging learners to strive for excellence.
7. Assess And Adjust Accordingly
Social media are dynamic platforms that continuously expand their capabilities. For this reason, it’s important not to set your online training strategy in stone. Instead, stay on top of emerging trends that could be beneficial for learner performance so that you’re able to reformulate your strategy to best utilize them. For example, a new feature might be added that streamlines communication, or a recently established platform might have become a learner favorite. Keeping track of such updates will help you uphold the effectiveness of your training program as well as the interest of your learners.
4 Social Media Features To Use In Your Online Training Program
Many social media tools can enhance the learning experience and captivate the learners’ attention. Below, you can find how to incorporate a few of them into your online training program.
Notifications To Keep Everyone Up To Date
Social media platforms are the best tool to keep everyone updated on announcements, scheduling adjustments, assignment deadlines, and more. Instead of using clanky online dashboards that not everyone remembers to check, you can rely on the social media platform’s alerts and notifications that guarantee all members of the learning community will see what you have posted.
Live And On-Demand Streaming For Lectures
As is often the case with online learning, your audience will want the opportunity to access material at their own pace. Online lectures that can be streamed live or on-demand will not only help learners who can’t attend lectures keep up with their peers but also boost information comprehension, as they can be watched more than once.
Blogs To Inspire Research
Although blogs are usually used for instructors to share learning material, they can also be a creative way to encourage active involvement in the learning process. Specifically, instead of asking learners to submit their essays or assignments, you can have them post them to their own blog based on your prompts. The more they write, the more they will develop their critical thinking and research skills.
Groups To Build A Community
There are many social media tools that help learners connect and collaborate with each other, but groups are probably the most effective. Private or public communities can become the most suitable place for learners to work together, exchange opinions, and post questions. Features such as discussion boards and polls will create a dynamic experience that involves everyone in the learning process and promotes skill advancement through the exchange of experiences and perspectives.
Conclusion
Social media are here to stay and can become a great companion if you know how to best utilize them. If you follow the best practices that we shared in this article, you will surely manage to find the best ways to leverage social media platforms to create a more effective learning environment that promotes information retention and supports learners in achieving better results with the help of their peers.
