Chapter 12: Enabling and Managing Social Learning

When taking face-to-face instructor-led classes, there is the formal learning time, during which attendees listen to the teacher's lecture. And then, there is a wealth of informal learning that occurs while casually discussing with others, doing group work, reading a book or an article that someone else had recommended, or really any time you are hanging around with your classmates. Some research even suggests that we retain more information from informal discussions and interactions than from traditional formal learning.

Teachers know how to take advantage of our natural desire for social interaction to facilitate learning and increase retention. Group work, peer review, presentations, and so on have been part of the traditional teaching arsenal for several hundred years.

At first glance, you might think that distance learning complicates or even prevents the social and informal aspects of learning. But this is without taking...