Part 2 Social Business : What might new learning networks look like

In this second series, we take a look at what new learning networks might look like. What might the organisational landscape of the future look like? What types of trainers, spaces and places for learning will be available? Where, and with whom, should learning happen?

If organisations are interested in achieving a fully personalised learning environment designed around the needs, interests and aspirations of learners, they need to challenge a number of fundamental assumptions which have historically underpinned the learning landscape:

• First, they need to challenge the assumption that expertise and knowledge reside only within the Human Resources department, and to ask instead, what might be gained from tapping into the resources that exist in the wider employee community and within the networks that employees are already connected to.

• Second, they need to challenge the assumption that ‘learning’ and ‘training’ are different words for the same thing, and to ask instead what different approaches to and models of learning exists the workplace and the wider Internet community?

• Third, they need to challenge the assumption that a one-size-fits-all approach is most effective, and examine how the recognition of learners’ diverse voices and experiences can enhance inclusion, aspiration and achievement through the creation of personalised learning trajectories.

• Finally, as digital resources increasingly offer opportunities for networked, collaborative and distributed learning and interaction, they need to challenge the assumption that the easiest and most cost effective approach to organising learning is within the walls of their organisation.

Organisations need to move away from the institutionalised logic of the human resources department as factory, to the network logic of the learning community. Indeed, they need to move towards a notion of extending learning, whereby human resources department rethink the possibilities around what can be learnt, where learning can happen and who is involved in the learning process. Rather than continuing to build systems based upon centralised control of the human resources organisations and a predefined curriculum, organisations need to move to systems organised through more porous and flexible learning networks that link communities of interests and multiple spaces and places of learning. Social Business tools can empower your employees to form communities and share knowledge