The Online Learning Paradox: Making Learning Social

For many people, online learning conjures up images of clicking through endless modules (checking WhatsApp), wondering what the lowest score is needed to pass this quiz (checking Instagram), studying for five minutes which feels like fifty minutes, and then wondering…is it true what they say about sitting being the new smoking?

Even when you voluntarily sign up for a course that interests you, it’s incredible how this “learning in a void” feeling can slowly chip away at intrinsic motivation. As an introvert who is happily and voluntarily completing an online masters, I still find myself craving and missing human interaction. And I’m not alone in feeling alone. As survivors of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all know firsthand how important social interaction is to our mental health and well-being. In fact, forget sitting is the new smoking - it seems that social isolation is.

While many instructors value social interaction, their attempts to make learning more social often fail. My recent experience with a group project is a case in point. While I was excited about the chance to finally connect with my peers, finding opportunities to meet after working hours and between our three time zones became a source of stress. Over time, I found myself guiltily wishing that the assignment had been an individual one.

Social Interaction and Autonomy: a Paradox?

Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a theory that has gained popularity in recent years as it is

Image adapted from Unsplash

“well aligned with the societal shift to individual empowerment”, may offer insight into this dilemma. SDT outlines fundamental needs that must be satisfied: autonomy, relatedness, and competence, in order for humans to flourish.

One of the great draws of online learning is that it fulfills the need for autonomy, as learners decide when, where and often what they study. However, what learners gain in autonomy they often lose in relatedness, as each person enters his or her own learning bubble.

Thankfully, this is not the end of the story, and the L&D community is full of movers and shakers who are doing away with the learning bubble. As such, here are five creative strategies for supporting learners’ needs for both autonomy and relatedness:

#1 Ditch the online lecture

As someone who has been guilty of giving online lectures, I know the frustration of seeing students disengage. Don’t they realize how much work I’ve put into making this lecture engaging? And yet, as soon as I have to sit through a Zoom lecture myself, whether live or recorded, I am reminded just how excruciatingly mind-numbing they can be.

It’s time to see lessons as active, two-way conversations. This can be as simple as instituting breakout room discussions, asking students to comment in the chat, or literally having anyone else talk. Q&A webinars, where you declare the topic in advance and invite participants to send in questions, can also be great alternatives to the standard lecture. Furthermore, participants can upvote questions that are most relevant to them, and, better yet, answer one another’s questions.

#2 Gamify learning to spark friendly competition

Gamification can help engage learners, not only with the content, but also with one another. In fact, the vast majority of players are “socializers”: happiest when they are collaborating with others. Experience points, levels, and leaderboards can help inspire competition. Social polls and surveys can also give learners insights into their peers’ opinions. Gamification can do wonderful things for motivation as well, although it would be wise to keep Kellers’ advice: in order to “increase felt confidence”, success must be seen as relating to one’s effort and ability, and not random chance.

#3 Promote student-student interaction.

Prioritizing student-student interaction can transform a fixed training session into a flourishing community of practice, where learning “is at the very core of [the] enterprise” (Merriam & Bierema, 2013). With opportunities for discussion, peer mentorship, and daily “just in time” application, learning becomes continuous. Consider implementing:

• Commenting ability. Give learners the ability to comment on their learning as it happens, and to view one another’s comments. Whenever possible, encourage them to share their own anecdotes in response to what they’re learning.

• Social media forums. Create an online space for learners to communicate with one another. Rather than a Facebook page that gathers dust, consider channel-based messaging tools like Slack and Discord, which are designed for real back-and-forth conversations and offer a variety of integrations.

• Set an informal tone. If students feel like they have to write in a formal or business-like way, they may just put communicating in the “too hard basket”. Setting an informal tone lowers the activation energy required for real communication to happen.

#4 Establish a virtual peer mentoring program

It’s a win-win situation: using video conferencing tools means that peers can schedule meetings at times that are convenient for them, while still benefiting from the social interaction of regular meetings. In a workplace, more experienced employees can become mentors to newer employees to help them develop their skills, while offering feedback that is much more natural and personable than a stilted, once-a-year performance review. In an eLearning setting, peer mentoring can help mitigate some of the isolation students feel.

To get the most out of this program, it’s important to develop clear guidelines and expectations. Questionnaires that assess interests, goals and aspirations can be useful for pairing mentors and mentees (source).

#5 Cohort-based learning: the ultimate solution?

For many years, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were seen as the future of learning. Nowadays, however, people are realizing that more access to content does not equal higher engagement. In fact, one MIT study considered 261 courses offered by MITx and HarvardX and discovered that 52% of learners who register never even open the course.

In response to this realization, cohort-based courses (CBCs), which offer greater engagement, feedback and accountability, are now rising in popularity. What’s more, learners are willing to pay for this. As Maven co-founder Wes Kao relates in her article on CBCs, “Consumers pay for what’s scarce. And in today’s content-rich world, what is scarce in online learning is community”. To learn more about CBCs, I highly recommend checking out the resources on Kao’s site. Also, if you’d like to dive deeper into designing social learning experiences, don’t miss this cohort-based boot camp for designers by Eduflow. In addition to design, the course also teaches you how to formulate an argument for getting stakeholder buy-in.

Paradox = Opportunity

No matter which approach you choose, prioritizing social interaction among students can help prevent boredom and isolation, create a dynamic sense of community, and is also correlated with more effective learning outcomes (source). With more schools and workplaces going remote, creating a sense of community to retain students and employees has never been more important.

References

Brody, J. E. (2017, June 12). Social interaction is critical for mental and physical health. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/well/live/having-friends-is-good-for-you.html

eLearning Industry (2020). Social Learning in the Workplace. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/free-ebooks/choose-implement-social-learning-platform-in-workplace

Hollister, B., Nair, P., Hill-Lindsay, S., & Chukoskie, L. (2022). Engagement in Online Learning: Student Attitudes and Behavior During COVID-19. Frontiers in Education, 7. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.851019/full

Kao, W. (2021, January 28). Wes Kao — The State Change Method: How to deliver engaging live lectures on Zoom. Wes Kao. https://www.weskao.com/blog/the-state-change-method

Kao, W. (2021, July 15). Wes Kao — In Online Ed, Content Is No Longer King—Cohorts Are. Wes Kao. https://www.weskao.com/blog/a16z-cohorts-are-king

Kumar, J. M., Herger, M., & Friis, R. (2022). Bartle's Player Types for Gamification. Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/bartle-s-player-types-for-gamification

Merriam, S. B. & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. Wiley.

Reich, J., & Ruiperez-Valiente, J. A. (2019). The MOOC pivot. Science, 363(6423), 130-131. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav7958

Rigby, S. C., & Ryan, R. M. (2018). Self-Determination Theory in Human Resource Development: New Directions and Practical Considerations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 20(2), 133-147. https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018_RigbyRyan_HR.pdf

The MVP Model: Overview and Application. (2017). New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 2017(152), 13-26. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tl.20265

Using Q and A in a Zoom Webinar. (2022). Zoom Support. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203686015-Using-Q-and-A-in-a-Zoom-Webinar#h_78b48699-e323-4f45-87d9-37b1ad5273b7