Today there is so much information available and ‘experts’ sharing their insights, online learning has never been so easy to access. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) study, 54% of working employees are being pressured into up-skilling or re-skilling in their current position in order to maintain relevance (Hiremath et al. 2021). The question of how this up-skilling is being delivered and whether it is as successful for student engagement more than traditional face-to-face learning remains. Is professional learning more about knowledge-seeking with the collaboration of social media or do we still require both academic guidance and traditional methods – what is known as blended learning?
In the age of everything digital, online learning for professionals is becoming more popular as it provides flexibility, an exchange of ideas and a way to collaborate and connect with others (Prestridge et al. 2021). The ability to tap into a continual circulation of knowledge sources through social media and gain or provide peer feedback via blogs has made this method of learning a more suitable choice for busy professionals with other commitments such as families. This Online Communities of Practice create many opportunities to bring adult learners around the world together to share a common interest. (Abedini et a. 2020).
The new Emergent Curriculum
This new digital learning trend has begun to challenge the traditional method of face-to-face learning and even more so with the changing landscape of social media “experts” and “trainers”. While some professional upskilling requires certified, accredited outcomes, other ways of acquiring knowledge and therefore new skills can be done through less formal frameworks. This is known as the Emergent Curriculum where knowledge can be gained via a collective group of industry people who inspire life learners to always be up to date with the latest trends and findings. These collectives are also known as PLN (Professional Learning Networks). PLNs can not only inform and connect you to experts and industry thought leaders but they can also be seen as future opportunities for career growth and opportunities.
Social media is a form of collective expression and knowledge sharing
As social media is based on content creation and feedback there is a continual loop of knowledge-sharing that can be accessed throughout your career, post studies. This can be appealing to those who have been in an industry for a length of time and need to remain competitive with younger more digitally savvy colleagues. In essence, community builds the curriculum (Bell et al. 2016).
When we look at adult learning online we start to see a type of Connected learning, which is characterised by a shared purpose where the focus is on exchanging knowledge (S. Prestridge et al. 2021). Platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and the more corporate Prezi are great examples of this. They provide a collaborative learning experience where the teacher (expert) and the student (consumer) can provide shared exchanges of knowledge.
Social media has played a significant role in giving us access to tutorials and bite-sized learning however this can also work as a tool for tertiary institutions to encourage student engagement and participation. Social Media is an ideal platform for inspiring connected learning experiences as it displays no boundaries or formal frameworks. Organically, the learner can build knowledge and more importantly a sense of agency. Connected learning is a more informal way of learning yet it is considered part of the up-skilling experience. This identity or agency is a critical factor for student engagement and participation as the more confident a student is about their beliefs and ideas the more willing they are to continue learning. Social media is a driving force for inspiring collective exploration (Selwyn 2012) and through knowledge exchange, this journey can generate ideas, creativity and freedom of expression.
The digital divide.
While there appear to be more benefits outweighing the negatives there are some limitations we should consider as we move into this new frontier of digital learning. The digital divide exists when not all global students can access this online learning knowledge. The most obvious is access to technology. In some parts of the world, internet access and speed can make learning online or upskilling through social media slow and sometimes interrupted. Not all public internet use can be easy to navigate with privacy issues and login details required. Age barriers and the older generation can also struggle with using technology for online learning and this can impact the overall engagement of these students as they focus on the software rather than learning the content. The trainer online can be anyone who is an ‘expert’ which questions the credibility and academic insight of those who are teaching. The online teacher can appear more scripted and therefore not responsive in real-time or adaptive to the learner’s needs.
The future of learning.
Overall these limitations will always present themselves more so in a formal structured learning framework. This should not impact the way we continue to learn through a thriving online world of knowledge exchange. As life gets busier and technology brings automation and speed so does the need to learn and evolve. It would be a great outcome if Social Media once designed for only ‘social’ interactions also became an option for learning, upskilling and building educational connections while working alongside the traditional academic process of learning. According to Williamson (2013), the curriculum of the future is shaped through connected learning, inquiry and creativity which builds towards a lifelong journey of continual learning.
References
Abedini A, Abedin B, Zowghi D. Adult learning in online communities of practice: A systematic review. British Journal of Educational Technology. 2021;52(4):1663-1694. doi:10.1111/bjet.13120
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020-21, Work-Related Training and Adult Learning, Australia, ABS, viewed 29 January 2023,
<https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/work-related-training-and-adult-learning-australia/latest-release>.
Bell, F., Mackness, J., & Funes, M. (2016). Participant association and emergent curriculum in a MOOC: Can the community be the curriculum? Research in Learning Technology. https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt. v24.29927.
Hiremath NV, Mohapatra AK, Paila AS. A study on digital learning, learning and development interventions and learnability of working executives in corporates. American Journal of Business. 2021;36(1):35-61. doi:10.1108/AJB-09-2020-0141
Prestridge S, Jacobsen M, Mulla S, Paredes SG, Charania A. New alignments for the digital age: insights into connected learning. Educational Technology Research and Development: A bi-monthly publication of the Association for Educational Communications & Technology. Published online: 9 February 2021
Selwyn, N. (2012). Making sense of young people, education and digital technology: The role of sociological theory. Oxford . Review of Education, 38(1), 81–96.
Williamson, B. (2013). The future of the curriculum: School knowledge in the digital age. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
World Economic Forum Study (2021) www.weforum.org
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