Exploring Social Learning and Why It’s Valuable in the Workplace

“Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” In the case of social learning, you may not even have to teach someone how to fish. After all, they’ve probably seen it in-person or on screens. 

That is the concept of social learning.

What is social learning?

Social learning theory believes the power of observation allows us to pick up new learnings and skills, even if we have not physically done a task before. 

In the past, behaviorists believed all learning was the result of association and reinforcement through direct environmental experience. Albert Bandura, a psychologist that introduced the social learning theory, believes otherwise. 

Bandura says not all learning can be accounted for through direct reinforcement. You could still find a new environment familiar and be able to perform new tasks if you've witnessed it before. Children and even animals often behave like the world around them. While some things require step-by-step teaching, many others are picked up naturally.

Even if you’ve never played football before, it is almost guaranteed — disregarding the quality of execution — that you know how to kick a ball or play goalkeeper.

How to get better at learning

Learning new things is already daunting and difficult as it is. It would be overwhelming and laborious if all learning was done independently. Luckily, humans like social environments and working together.

Learning isn’t just listening to an educator and filling out worksheets. It’s about observing the world and people around you, learning from each other, and collaboration. 

Practising social learning

Observation doesn’t just happen — we need environments that allow sharing and witnessing. This is why Navarro and Associates uses Padlet, a social learning tool that allows students to create and watch video submissions. Across our workshops, we’ve used Padlet in over 100 classes, collecting 5000+ student video submissions and garnering over 100,000 peer views.

Training programs with Navarro and Associate doesn’t just include a workshop. It is built based on instructional design, AI-enabled for continuous learning and application, as well as tools like Padlet to encourage effective learning theories such as social learning. 

Through observation, students can then internalize, imitate, share, and receive feedback on their learnings.

Let’s help your teams learn more efficiently. Contact us for a free consultation today!