This presentation describes a process by which learning takes place using social media, provides an example of the process in action, and includes an invitation to join a network devoted to bookmarking learning resources on del.icio.us.

1. Produsage: Using Social Media
for Learning
Mike Petersell
Web 2.0-based Learning & Development
Florida State University
Summer, 2010

2. Today it is easier than ever to remotely create or join
communities built around common interests.
Web 2.0 tools enable people from anywhere in the world to share
information, cooperate with one another, and even take collective action
without the high cost of face-to-face assembly.

3. Virtual communities form organically as people with
common interests are naturally drawn together.
Knowledge sharing in virtual communities is fostered by enjoyment,
satisfaction, reciprocal help, and social learning. Group members tend to
be hobbyists rather than professionals who, due to competitive
constraints, cannot freely share their knowledge.

4. The learning that takes place in virtual communities
happens informally.
While virtual communities are based on common interests, it is difficult
to predict specific information that will be shared. Individual learning is
based on personal motivations. Members of the same community
sharing the same experiences will make different discoveries from those
experiences.

5. Social learning process. The
diagram to the right depicts one
way in which social learning takes
place through virtual
communities.
Individuals share information Share Attract & Join
using web 2.0 tools or through Information Communities
social media networks. The
information attracts would-be
community members who offer
opportunities for further
engagement and participation in Bookmark Engage &
discussions related to the topic. Information Participate
Community members collect and
store information using
bookmarks which can again be
shared in other related
communities or synthesized into
new information.

6. Share information. Virtual communities
form around common interests. Potential
community members identify each other
by discovering the information they share
online. This could be through blog entries,
Share postings to forums or discussion boards, or
Information messages posted on social networking
sites such as Twitter or Facebook.
Contrary to face-to-face communities in
which people generally gather, then share
information, virtual communities reverse
the order to share, then gather. People
share information online. Others who are
interested in it gather around it to form a
community.

7. Attract & join communities. The core of
any virtual community is the common
interests of its membership. Therefore,
forming communities is dependent on
posting content online that will be
attractive to people with like-minded
Attract & Join
interests. Posting content about
Communities
practices, ideas, or personal expertise
using web 2.0 tools is likely to capture the
attention of at least a few other people
who share the same interests.
Viewed from this perspective, almost any
webpage has the potential to become the
catalyst for the formation of a virtual
community.

8. Engage & participate. Knowledge
sharing provides the basis around
which a virtual community may form.
Level of contribution, engagement and
participation by group members
ultimately sustains the community.
Virtual community membership is
voluntary. The level of involvement of
each member will be dependent on his
or her personal goals, needs, or depth
of interest. A handful of community
members usually account for the bulk Engage &
of activity. On the other end of the Participate
spectrum, there may be lurkers who
only read information posted by others
without contributing anything of their
own. However, active involvement
provides better opportunity for
tangible (access to knowledge, personal
gain) and intangible (enjoyment,
learning) rewards.

9. Bookmark information. As a virtual
community grows, the complexity of
group interactions and the amount of
content shared increases. Even highly
engaged members become challenged
with sorting through all of the available
information.
One way to manage this information is by
bookmarking and tagging WebPages.
Tools like del.icio.us or diigo allow users to
save bookmarks and tag pages to create a
Bookmark personal archive of WebPages that are
Information relevant to the individual.
These stored archives become a
repository of new knowledge and
information for the user that can be used
for future sharing or just to contribute to
the individual’s own learning.

10. The slides that follow provide an example of the social learning process
based on my personal experiences.
SOCIAL LEARNING EXAMPLE

11. Share information.
In pursuit of my interest in workplace learning, I began writing this blog
called Many Ways to Learn to share information online. Here is excerpt
from a posting on virtual instructor led training.

12. Attract & join communities.
Shortly after posting my blog entry on virtual instructor led training, I
came across a question about virtual classroom best practices on the
Chief Learning Officer network forum. I replied, sharing a link to my blog
entry as part of the reply.

13. Engage & participate.
Sharing the link to my blog on the Chief Learning Officer forum led to
further dialog about this topic which took place in the forum and on
Twitter. The Twitter conversations led me to discover a virtual
community of people interested in workplace learning called #lrnchat
that meets every Thursday through a Twitter chat.

14. Bookmark information.
To keep up with the amount knowledge sharing that occurs among the
#lrnchat participants, I began using del.icio.us to bookmark and tag
WebPages for future use.

15. Share information.
After participating in my first #lrnchat session, I wrote this blog entry: I
have learned…socially!!! describing my experiences. My intent was to
share information about what I had learned with others who might be
interested in this community, thus beginning the cycle again.

16. If you are interested in workplace learning, I invite you to join my
network on del.icio.us where you can view the WebPages I have
bookmarked and tagged and you can share some of your own. The slides
that follow explain how to do so.
SHARING INVITATION

17. Step 1. join del.ioci.us – it’s free!
Go to: http://delicious.com and click the “join now” button in the upper
right hand corner of the screen.

18. Step 2. sign in using a Yahoo! ID.
Sign in to del.icio.us using your Yahoo! ID if you have one. If not, follow
the instructions to create a new account.

19. Step 3. locate the network link.
From your bookmarks page, locate the network link directly below your
name. Click on the link to take you to the network page.

20. Step 4. add me to your network.
To add me to your network, you can select “add a user to network” from
the top right of your network page and then type my username:
mpetersell, or you can visit my bookmarks page and select the “add to
my network” link at the top right of that page.

21. Thank you. I look forward to sharing
links about learning with you.
Many Ways to Learn (personal blog): http://mwtl.blogspot.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpetersell
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mpetersell