Social+Capital+-+Theories+and+People

1. About paragraph - tell us about your topic, providing links to more info is a great idea 2. Link to social learning - tell us why this topic is related to social learning and eLearning

**SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM**
1. Social constructivism is a general theory of knowledge that argues that when people are interacting together, they share experiences and ultimately learn from each other. In a nut shell, doing things with other people is a better learning experience than individually studying the same topic. Think back to when you were in preschool doing things all the time; those were great learning experiences. Now think about all the reading you do. Not great learning experiences. Group projects? Great learning experiences.

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Social_Constructivism

2. With the Internet, learning with a variety of people without boundaries is easier than ever. Forums, instant messaging, video chatting, and social networks are all ways that people can interact with one another using the Web.

Here's a great article about social constructivism and eLearning: http://learningonlineinfo.org/2011/01/26/the-practicality-of-social-constructivism-in-elearning/

**SOCIAL CAPITAL**
Social capital relates to the connections and status an individual or organization possesses. Social capital is closely linked to social networking, as the main way to gain social capital is by networking socially. This theory suggests that social connections are important and necessary in order to grow and succeed. In the recent past social media outlets such as Facebook and LinkedIn have made networking more accessible, therefore increasing social capital as a social norm.

More information on social capital: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-social-capital.htm http://socialcapitalmanagement.org/services/ : this showcases different ways in which companies/individuals can gain social capital

The more social capital one has the easier and more comfortable people are when engaging in social learning and eLearning. There shows that there is longer employment among those that stayed connected to others in the company by using social media. Social media allows for greater flexibility to learn, join, and congregate with those who have similar interests. More social media interaction in organizations also allows for greater and deeper understandings, more knowledge on subject areas. Building networks also improves individuals' ability to learn.

The depth and breadth of these social media relationships predicts performance, innovation, employee commitment, and job satisfaction. This, in-turn allows for organizations to better understand how to design eLearning in a way that will be effective for their employees, for example for full-term use, or to be updated throughout the learning process. It also allows management to identify talent were not aware of, and therefore design new training to add to employees skill sets and fully utilize employees' talents. eLearning training is used to build set of modules to allow people to understand how to use social media tools.

"Working together, each of us, like pebbles tossed in a pond, can make both ripples and waves. Load the boat." (Bingham and Conner, 2010, p. 31).

**STOWE BOYD AND SOCIAL TOOLS**
1. Since 1999 Stowe Boyd has written a blog on technology and social tools. In fact, he created the term with an e-mail newsletter: “Social Tools: Business in the Post-Everything Economy”. Stowe contends that social tools have a great impact on business, media and society. Social tools in their broadest sense are any tools that connect people. Today, its websites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, message boards and wikis that connect people, increase interaction and share knowledge. http://freelancefolder.com/35-social-media-tools-make-life-easier/ http://www.stoweboyd.com/ http://www.twitter.com/stoweboyd

2. Social tools are often at the forefront of social learning. While tools like Facebook may take on a less important role in learning, Twitter and message boards have a much higher role. Message boards about particular topics bring forward huge amounts of highly specific information in easily referenced form. With the increased popularity of “wikis”, people can learn and share up to the minute information. Additionally, eLearning can be augmented through social tools. What is often missing with eLearning vs classroom learning is personal interaction between classmates. In an eLearning setting interaction is reduced to responses and chat rooms, professional interaction rather than personal. This personal interaction has been shown to help in the learning process. With social tools like Facebook and Twitter, eLearners can develop interaction “outside” the classroom.

Basically, he is a social philosopher and connectivist.

**JEAN PIAGET**
Our topic was Jean Piaget and his cognitive development theory. This theory examines the development from infancy to adulthood focusing more on infancy. This four step process which begins: (0-2 years)- Sensori-motor- Differentiates self from objects (2-7 years)- Pre-operational-Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words (7-11 years)- Concrete Operational-Can think logically about objects and events (11-and older)- Formal Operational-Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically These can be further explained at: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/piaget.html http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Piaget.html http://www.learning-theories.com/piagets-stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/jeanpiaget.html

The link to social learning includes a number of aspects of his theories. Children are born with a certain set of skills, but through the years start to change and develop more and more complex as they move forward and interact with others. Children assimilate themselves slowly into certain skills and ideas as they interact with their environment. This sort of foundation provides the beginnings for constructivist learning, which states that humans construct their own learning through interaction with their environments.

**THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY**
Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann developed the theory of social constructivism in their book The Social Construction of Reality as a means to evaluate the world in which humans interact. The main concept of the social constructivism is humans are habitual. People within a group create social constructs which include; knowledge, values, beliefs, and truths. These components eventually lead to the construction of roles within the group. Each person retains their individual characters and the actions eventually become routine. When these roles become available to other members society, the social construction becomes an institution. Within an institution values and beliefs become embedded into everyday life, and become reality for those within the society. For instance, if you looked at Red Sox fans as an institution, they believe that Yankees fans are inherently ignorant, although this might not be the “truth” it is their reality.

More on the social construction of reality:

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MzGV9A5qLzgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA42&dq=Berger+and+Luckmann+social+construction+of+reality&ots=3CC5x3sTqs&sig=wvmscXHSk-1S_9aRmHfMbBscli0#v=onepage&q=Berger%20and%20Luckmann%20social%20construction%20of%20reality&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Construction_of_Reality

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~s2005.soc.401/bergerluckmann(apr04).pdf

Social constructivism is important for social learning and elearning because it is a good way to evaluate a group of individuals and determine their needs. For instance, if you were building an elearning site for 1st graders, you would not use the same social constructions as you would for seniors in high school. It is not so much about the content of the elearning materials, but instead the context in which they are put in. The reality for these two age groups can be completely different even if they go to the same school district. If the material is aligned with their beliefs, values, and attitudes the rate of transfer is much higher. The social construct is also incredibly important for the rhetoric that is used within the materials. If they language and culture can appeal to the audience it is far more likely that they will understand the course.

**JOHN DEWEY / PRAGMATISM**
1. About paragraph - tell us about your topic, providing links to more info is a great idea

John Dewey is known for developing the theory of pragmatism. Pragmatism claims that propositions should only be accepted as valid if they work in practical situations. Dewey believed that education should include involvement in a structured community that would give them real, hands-on experience. He also believed in making curricula that was individualized for the students that gave them both a feeling of value and of responsibility. Dewey’s theories on education helped spurn experiential learning programs in schools

More on John Dewey’s work: http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/ http://wilderdom.com/experiential/ExperientialDewey.html

More on pragmatism: http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/

2. Link to social learning - tell us why this topic is related to social learning and eLearning

This topic relates to social learning and eLearning because the pragmatic approach should be considered when designing materials for students. In order for students to retain information, they should feel that they could relate to their own experiences. Social learning would actually be an ideal outlet for experiential learning because it can involve the students in what they learn and make them feel responsible for the social group that their are participating in. ELearning could easily become a simple one-way transmission of information so it is important for the instructional designer to keep students connected to the material that they are learning by making it understandable and relatable.

**JOHN DEWEY / SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY**
The phrase social learning theory was first used in 1954 by John Dewey, its focus was learning behaviors by observing others. However, today the focus extends beyond solely learning by imitating others. The social learning theory we know today is often addressed as “new social learning theory”. Social learning theory considers now both environmental and cognitive factors interact to influence learning and behavior. There are three main aspects to social learning theory: people learn through observation, mental states are important to learning, and learning does not always result in a change of behavior. There are different models of observational learning, including, a live model, symbolic models and verbal instructional models. Mentally, intrinsic reinforcement such as a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment help people to learn. Finally, the modeling process is important to learning. The learner must be paying attention, have the ability to store information, be able to reproduce the behavior and the learner must be motivated in order for learning to be considered successful.

Social learning theory is important to social learning, as well as e-learning because It shows the interaction of attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Together these elements are the key to effective behavior modeling and education through social learning and e-learning. When one take’s into account how these elements change when a person is learning through an electronic environment with virtual peers, valuable insight can be gained on how to do this the best. Adjustments can be made to make the e-learning process more effective with this knowledge of how the “personality” in a different learning situation. Each essential element can be analyzed by paying specific attention to how the basic observation models change in an e-learning environment: the live model, the verbal model, and the symbolic model. Additionally the balance of the models must shift to meet the demands of e-learning structure. The symbolic model is most easily represented virtually, but the task becomes how to incorporate the other two effectively giving them presence and input into the learning process. Finally intrinsic reinforcement also plays a key role in social learning theory, meaning the fortification of learning internally, a seemingly daunting task through e-learning. Adaptations need to be made to utilize the things that make intrinsic reinforcement work in social learning also work in e-learning. By observing people in this new electronic environment and comparing it to how they learn in a social environment the differences and similarities can be extracted to make e-learning just as effective as social learning through adjustment.

For more information on social learning theory visit: http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm

http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learningtheory-bandura.html

http://www.southalabama.edu/oll/mobile/theory_workbook/social_learning_theory.htm

**ALBERT BANDURA**
Albert Bandura was born in 1925 in Alberta, Canada. He has held a career as a psychologist and professor at Stanford University for nearly sixty years; he is credited with many achievements in the fields of Social Cognitive Theory, Personality Psychology, and Therapy. While Bandura did not originally form Social Learning Theory, he is often credited with its creation because of his intensive research in the field. He further expanded SLT and explored its relation to human cognition, forming Social Cognitive Theory. Bandura was also widely known for his developments in relation to Self-Efficacy, which is the theory that an individual’s beliefs about their abilities have a significant effect on their level of performance. Throughout his career, Bandura worked to link each of these theories to further explain the way people function.

Bandura is credited not only with the formation of Social Learning Theory, but also with applying the theory to prove that aggression can be often explained by the observation and imitation of others. One of his most notable experiments in this field is the “Bobo Doll Experiment,” in which he proved that children exposed to aggressive behavior are more likely to exhibit it themselves. In this way, Bandura’s work in Social Learning Theory can also be applied to e-Learning. E-Learning allows people to exchange ideas, often through observation and imitation. In a corporate environment, this creates new behaviors and methods that are a culmination of the experience of everyone involved. This shows that Bandura’s Social Learning Theory can be applied directly to e-Learning, which enforces the effectiveness of e-Learning in the workplace.

For more information on Albert Bandura, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bandura http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html

For more information on Social Learning Theory as it relates to Albert Bandura, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_learning_theory http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html http://tip.psychology.org/bandura.html

For more information on Self-Efficacy, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy

For more information on the Bobo Doll Experiment, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment

For more information on Social Learning Theory as it relates to e-Learning, visit: http://www.slideshare.net/janehart/the-future-of-elearning-is-social-learnng