Let me let you in on a little secret: your “students” are already engaging in learning with or without you. Daily. In creative and interactive ways.

Thanks to ever-evolving social media tools, people have become experts at personal and social learning. Every day, millions of people access information that furthers their education in an informal, but powerful manner. Podcasts, blogs, free webinars, articles, Wikis, and on-and-on it goes. This happens when they want it, and how they want it.

Not only are they taking advantage of information that is out there, but they are creating their own and sharing it far and wide, through tools like You Tube, Slide Share, and a host of others  that are bringing a whole new meaning to the term distance learning.

According to Nielsen Online (March, 2009), time spent on blogs and social networks is growing three times faster than that of the Internet as a whole. Through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook individual learners are connecting with others interested in the same topics, and giving and receiving expert advice on limitless topics. This is done in real time, and with a sense of collaboration and community. How many of your learning offerings can you say that about?

Many traditional educators have caught on, using a suite of social media tools and applications to enhance their classroom settings and to engage students in more thoughtful, collaborative learning.

The question is: how are you doing this? How are you designing your distance learning offerings or on-the-job-training to encompass both formal and informal learning, as well as personal and social learning? How are you engaging your students in their own education?

The expectations of learners has changed. How will you change with it?