Skip to main content

Informal Learning Through Social Media: Opportunities for Learning Professionals

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Learning, Design, and Technology
  • 242 Accesses

Abstract

With ongoing changes in digital technologies and increased use of these technologies in people’s daily lives, corporate workplaces and academia are changing as well. According to research, learning professionals have been concerned about adequate professional preparation and ongoing professional development for those going into the field of instructional design. Learning professionals should be able to engage in complex problem-solving in changing conditions. They can benefit from on-the-job learning, especially using digital technologies. Online technologies now provide virtual access to almost unlimited information resources at any time. People can learn informally through these applications. Research shows there is value in using social media in both academic and corporate environments to connect and communicate with new resources, to learn, and to work collaboratively, especially with the support of a learning community. Learning professionals, as well as their students, can benefit from social media expertise. This chapter focuses on current research and theory regarding changing roles, focusing on the impact and potential of integrating social media learning options into the preparation and practices of learning professionals wherever they work.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan N. Genden .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Genden, S.N. (2018). Informal Learning Through Social Media: Opportunities for Learning Professionals. In: Spector, M., Lockee, B., Childress, M. (eds) Learning, Design, and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_71-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_71-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17727-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17727-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics