What is the role of Social Learning Platforms in Online Education?

The demand for online education has skyrocketed since the year 2020. You must be well aware of the fact that the worldwide covid-19 pandemic has fueled the growth of online education. According to many online studies, it is estimated that the number of online learners in India is 9.5 Million as of 2021. Many learners are shifting to learning online with the help of various online learning platforms that they find on the internet. However, not all platforms are efficient for learners as some might be difficult to handle while others may cost you tons of money. 

One of the most promising platforms that is establishing its importance in the educational industry is the social learning platform/network. 

A social learning network is similar to a social media platform where both teachers and students can connect, collaborate and carry out their online classes in one place. Not only this, but students can connect with their classmates, attend their online classes together, share study materials and so on. It integrates certain features of social media platforms but wholely focused on education. 

These platforms are different as compared to online learning platforms as they focus on collaborative learning. With the help of these platforms, students take interest in their learning and engage in their studies as they get to socialize with their friends and teachers. These unique features set this platform apart from other learning platforms. Let us look below at some of the notable benefits of these platforms. 

Benefits of Social Learning platform in the educational industry 

1. Learn with your Teachers & Peers- When a student learns in a traditional environment, he/she learns in a physical classroom with their friends and teachers together. Students often open up in such an environment as they are surrounded by their teachers and classmates. However, many online learning platforms do not provide this benefit to their learners. In such platforms, students have to log into their course and learn alone without any instant guidance. Hence, this becomes difficult as students need to possess self-discipline and keep themselves motivated throughout their learning.  

This is not the case with social learning networks as with the help of this platform, students can learn with their classmates and receive instant guidance from their teachers. All they need to do is connect with each other on these platforms and start collaborating to fulfill their educational goals. Here, students can send connection requests to their teachers and friends and start studying together. Hence, this encourages collaborative learning and helps students to keep themselves motivated during their online classes. 

2. Access to Educational Content & Gamification 

When learning on these platforms, students can access various study materials that are curated by industry experts. These study materials are in the form of videos, presentations, audios, etc which is very innovative and interactive for students. So with the help of these study materials, students can stay engaged in their learning. On the other hand, social learning networks also include gamification meaning students can take advantage of various educational games, quizzes, stories, etc and study for their exams. This method grabs students attention and keeps them interested in their learning. 

3. Class Engagement is never Low 

Many teachers complain about low attendance or low engagement in online classes whenever they teach their students. However, this is not the scenario with social learning networks as students always stay focused and engaged in their learning. 

Various factors that keep the students engaged in their studies are as follows: 

• Face to face learning with teachers 

• Immediate Doubt Solving and feedback from teachers 

• Study together with classmates 

• Study with the help of innovative educational content 

• Learn while playing games, quizzes, etc 

• Send connection requests to classmates, like/comment/share educational content and so on 

4. Win-win Situation for students & teachers 

Learning and teaching on social learning platforms/networks is a win-win situation for both teachers and students. Unlike an online teaching platform, teachers can teach their students live and share study materials with them. There are no time and location boundaries as you simply need an internet connection and you can log in to the platform and start teaching your students. 

On the other hand, students can simply learn in a cost-effective approach as they need to pay a small amount of fees to start learning on these platforms. In addition to this, they get access to the above-mentioned benefits which we specified in the article. 

Conclusion: 

There are numerous benefits that these platforms have to offer to both teachers and students. With the growth in online education, many Edtech companies are putting their best foot forward by creating many such platforms that are beneficial to students. Social learning platforms are the witness that learning could be made more fun and engaging in an online approach. Hence, it can be rightly said that the role of social learning networks in the educational industry is inevitable.