"Social learning" and "informal learning" are among the training industry's hottest phrases these days. But there's so much confusion over what they mean, and what they mean to those of us in the business. A few truths:
 

• Social learning isn't new
• Social learning isn't necessarily "managed", "launched", "controlled", or "measured"
• People in the workplace are learning all the time - without us
• Those people likely don't think of what they're doing as "learning"

In this session we'll spend some time looking at real examples of social and informal learning as it happens in workplaces all the time, every day. Along the way we'll generate some ideas for locating, supporting and facilitating social learning opportunities toward the greater goal of enhancing organizational performance.

A decade ago Jane Bozarth moved from the world of traditional instruction to designing and facilitating both asynchronous and synchronous training. Now that technology—and learner access to it—has finally caught up with possibilities, her interests have expanded to the world of social media tools to support and extend the work of the workplace training practitioner. She has an M.Ed. in Training & Development/Technology in Training and a doctorate in Adult Education. (Her dissertation, on workplace social learning/communities of practice, is available free via a Google search).+ You can find her "live" most anytime on Twitter @janebozarth and almost always on Thursday evenings as one of the moderators of the popular #lrnchat sessions. Her Twitter profile describes her as a feral learner, positive deviant, and World's Oldest Millennial. She also drives too fast.