Not Your Parent’s Social Media Course

When I was considering courses for my Master's Degree program, the word "innovation" was hot with my team at work. In corporate learning and development, innovating is just as vital as it is with marketing or product development groups. The changing generations in the workplace (Boomers retiring and Gen X through Z working side-by-side) make new, fresh approaches to work necessary. Also, insert requisite phrasing about how the COVID-19 has changed work forever. The "final frontier" for many large L&D organiztions is how to make learners own their learning journies and learn in informal ways. Social learning, specifically learning with the aid of social networks, feels like the new thing to make learning at work more effective. All I can think of is Degrassi. Yes, that Degrassi. The Canadian teen soap opera has had several iterations (including one coming soon to HBOMax). The last two iterations have included scenes avidly discussing social media, including an internet/social media class. At first, I scoffed at the premise. As a member of the generation that grew up as Web 1.0 was entering American homes, I carry a gut-level bias again anything internet-related as silly. Ancillary. Frivolous. Yet rationally we are twenty years from the AOL Instant Messenger chat room or discussion board. The Internet (now worthy of the capital) is the marketplace. Why wouldn't Canadian high school students need to know how to navigate it and the social networks? Similarly, I snickered a bit registering for this class. Would I end up with something gimmicky as how to approach learning with social media. However, immediately I can recognize the necessity of courses like this for instructional designers. The reason many organizations get this wrong is because they admittedly do not take social media seriously. How humans connect and learn is vital and it's time for companies to recognize that social media is the current way. The evidence is what reactions in industries when a Meta product goes down momentarily. If it's so vital to make business work, it's becoming important enough for learning. Class is in session!

Comments

  1. Michelle F.May 15, 2022 at 7:55 AM

    I'm going to have to check out Degrassi! I couldn't agree more with your assessment of organizations getting it wrong! In 1998 at the ripe age of 24, I landed my first professional job and they had just switched from using word processing "computers" for every day work to actual PC's with windows and limited internet access to the company website. Now that organization is pretty much using every social media platform available, creating podcasts for educational purposes, and much more. It took education on their part and realizing these platforms are extremely beneficial. As I type this, I'm not to look down on those that don't use social media as I'm kind of one them somewhat. Learning to blog at 47ish!

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