Social Learning
Make Learning a Shared Experience
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Beyond Self-Paced: The Power of Social Learning
You’ve built an efficient, scalable, and self-paced eLearning program. But a common challenge with asynchronous training is the sense of isolation it can create. Learning isn’t just about absorbing information; it’s about processing, discussing, and applying it with others.
This is especially true for complex soft skills, such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, where practice and feedback are essential. How can learners build these skills when they’re learning alone? The answer is a social learning strategy. It bridges the gap between theory and practice by creating a more dynamic and supportive experience. You're likely asking:
- How can we mitigate the isolation associated with self-paced training?
- What's the best way to let learners practice nuanced soft skills in an asynchronous course?
- How can we create a space for learners to share their diverse perspectives and experiences?
How We Weave Collaboration into Your Courses
We partner with you to design and build social learning elements that range from fully simulated interactions to tools that foster a real learning community.
Simulated social scenarios
We design branching scenarios that require learners to interact with and respond to virtual team members or characters, enabling them to practice effective communication and problem-solving skills in a simulated environment.
Guided reflection & sharing
We create reflection activities that prompt learners to share their takeaways. These reflections can be downloaded and emailed to a manager or peer, creating a simple social connection.
Virtual peer mentoring
We can design experiences where the learner is paired with a virtual partner or mentor who provides guidance, shares practical knowledge, and helps them work through challenges.
Simulated group problem-solving
We can create virtual team-building exercises or collaborative challenges where the learner must evaluate the contributions of virtual peers to arrive at the best solution.
Foster a learning community
We can integrate discussion prompts and “call to action” workbooks directly into your course, encouraging learners to apply their new knowledge to external community platforms, such as your LMS or intranet.
Why Choose Us for Custom Social Learning
Schedule a strategic consultation to see how we can integrate powerful social learning elements into your training program.
Why Choose Us for Custom Social Learning
Integrating social elements into asynchronous training is an advanced strategy. When done poorly, it can feel artificial, create “cognitive overload,” or become a distraction. Our expertise lies in designing purposeful, believable, and instructionally sound social experiences.
We are your expert partners in creating training that feels human. We know how to develop your training program to leverage the benefits of collaboration while avoiding common pitfalls.
- Expertise in Believable Storytelling: Our team of instructional designers and writers excels at creating realistic characters and scenarios that don't feel “fake.” This is essential for building learner trust and ensuring engagement in simulated interactions.
- A Focus on Purposeful Design: We align every social element with a specific learning objective. We won’t add a social feature just to be trendy; we do it to address a specific performance gap, such as building communication skills or enhancing critical thinking.
- We Design for the Learner Experience: We understand that not everyone learns the same way. We avoid over-complicating scenarios and can even provide “solo” paths that allow learners to opt out of specific social interactions, giving them autonomy over their experience.
FAQ about Custom Social Learning
What is social learning, and why does it matter for asynchronous training?
Social learning is a theory that people learn most effectively by observing, interacting with, and learning from each other. In asynchronous training, this is crucial for combating the isolation of self-paced learning, enhancing knowledge retention by making learning more active, and developing essential soft skills such as communication and collaboration.
Does this mean my learners have to be online at the same time?
Not at all. “Social” doesn't have to mean “live.” We can design asynchronous social experiences in two powerful ways.
- The first is by creating tools that connect your learners to each other—such as embedding discussion prompts that link to an LMS forum or designing peer-review activities that they can complete at their own pace.
- The second is through simulated social learning, where learners interact with believable, pre-programmed virtual characters.
This offers the benefits of social practice without the logistical challenges of a live group. We can help you design the right approach for your goals.
We’re worried this will feel “fake” or “forced.” How do you make it authentic?
That is one of the most common pitfalls of this approach. Our expertise is in instructional storytelling. We avoid artificial interactions by creating believable characters, relevant real-world challenges, and meaningful feedback that is clearly tied to the learning objectives. The goal is to make the experience feel valuable, not artificial.
What if our learners don’t want to participate in social elements?
We design with learner autonomy in mind. Depending on the goal, we can design reflection activities that can be downloaded for private use. For more complex interactions, we can even provide parallel learning paths that allow a learner to choose a “solo” experience, ensuring everyone can learn in the way that works best for them.
With the right partner, bring your eLearning vision to life
We’ll help transform your training into engaging, cohesive custom eLearning courses hassle-free and within budget — so your learners can achieve more.
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