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| Photo: Berit Watkin under Creative Commons Attribution License |
Rachel
Burnham writes: In February I took part in the Curatr based
MOOC #exploresocial, in which we were examining what social learning is and why
it is valuable to organisations right now.
I got thinking about this again yesterday, after reading Mark Britz’s
post ‘Social Inconvenience is Important’ which was all about when and where
people connect. And suddenly, I was
thinking about social learning and social networking as being like water.
Ubiquitous
Water is everywhere around us on this planet. In the sea,
the rivers, the air and in living things, including ourselves. Social is a bit like that too – it isn’t just
limited to social media or the use of technologies in learning – it is there
every day, everywhere, every time we have a conversation.
I remember when it suddenly became fashionable
to drink bottled water in the UK and we were all urged to drink up to 8 glasses of water
a day, as though we had never drunk a glass of water before and as though every cup of
tea or coffee isn’t made with water! And
that is where we are at the moment with social learning – we are in danger of
bottling up social with technology and fancy labels, when what we need to be
doing is recognising where it already is and how we can simply make better use
of it.
Powerful
Water is an incredibly powerful force. Water has shaped our planet. Ice and rivers
have carved out valleys and rearranged the landscape. The sea and tides have changed the shape of
this island and continue to do so – cutting away at cliffs and creating new land
spits.
Social is powerful too.
We are only just learning how powerful it can be in shaping our
political & social landscape. We are
only just exploring how social can enable people to work and connect together
within and without organisations in new networks and formations. If you want to read more about this then I would recommend Harold Jarche's blog.
The
drip, drip effect
One of the ways that water acts is by the slow
accumulation of individual droplets of water that gradually seep through
seemly impenetrable surfaces; that in caves make beautiful rock formations – stalactites
and stalagmites – reaching out almost as though trying to connect.
Through social we are influenced one conversation at a
time, one droplet of information, one tweet, one blog at a time. But together the cumulative effect, the
overall learning can be immense.
And
the tsunami wave
Sometimes water is overwhelming and devastating in its
almost instant impact. And social has
its nasty, destructive side too in trolling and social bullying – leaving
wreckage in their wake.
Water
flows
Water flows where it will, working its way gradually
downhill. It follows the gradient. Rivers, streams, brooks, becks and burns all
flow downwards.
Which brings me back to Mark Britz’s post yesterday. You can’t force people to connect in one
place or another. An organisation can’t
mandate the use of an enterprise social network. People will connect when they find it brings
value to themselves - when it makes their
lives easier or helps them learn or is fun. People will go where the flow
is.
Moving water up a slope is tricky and hard work. Getting people to connect when it doesn’t
meet a need for them, will need the equivalent of an Archimedes' screw, the ancient technology which it is thought was used to water the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Social is a bit like water.
Rachel
Burnham
16/4/15
Burnham L & D Consultancy helps L&D
professionals become even more effective.
I am particularly interested in blended learning, the uses of social
media for learning, evaluation and anything that improves the impact of
learning on performance.
Follow me on Twitter @BurnhamLandD
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