From lurking to learning by sharing

From lurking to learning by sharing

Traditional learning transformed; learning has mainly been the domain of being delivered in a formal classroom/lecture setting for generations, but in a post Covid world- more ever than before virtual classrooms have increased in popularity and at times become the norm. We can ever than before learn via a variety of online material; e-books, podcasts, even online courses on sites such as Udemy, Alison and Futurelearn. Educational establishments use some of these methods, but learning has never been, and should never be, limited to the establishment.

Learning by sharing information between people is as old as the hills but now technology has eliminated the distance factor as well. I wrote a piece that I originally published on LinkedIn about learning from peers and how the model for learning has changed and, of course, would welcome any thoughts on this.

Learning from Social Media

In addition to learning from others from coaching, mentoring and peer networking, learning in the broadest sense is also heavily reliant on “social media”. We spend so much time on the many different platforms that the messages on them (sometimes false, sometimes real) are forming our learning – just reflect for a moment on what you’re watching on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook!

The 1% Rule

Interestingly, various sources over a period of time show that only 1% of the users actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only ‘lurk’. Even when they are encouraged to collaborate and engage, 90% of the participants of a community only view content, 9% of the participants engage content, and 1% of the participants actively create new content. This demonstrates that the majority of us use online platforms to just consume rather than to engage, however often the best and better way to learn is by sharing and teaching!

 Is it now more than ever the time to move away from lurking to engaging, to learning by creating and teaching?

 So which are you and which will you be? A learner or a creator? I’m happy to ‘engage’ – let’s chat