The business landscape is evolving, perhaps quicker than ever. In this fast-changing environment, it is crucial that employers and organisations adopt learning strategies that ensure their workers stay well-trained, up-to-date, connected and committed.
One of the best ways to achieve this is through collaborative learning. Learning does not need to be siloed – collaborative learning offers a way for employees to stay engaged, share knowledge and communicate, improving the overall training experience.
Here, we’ll explore what collaborative learning is, how businesses can explore it and what benefits it can provide. We’ll also show you how Feaniks can help your business capture the opportunities provided by collaborative learning.
What is collaborative learning?
Collaborative learning is a strategy that encourages individuals to work together in groups to share knowledge and solve problems.
According to Forbes, collaborative learning in the workplace ‘means connecting new learners with the high-performers in your organization to help drive effective learning’. It ‘places the emphasis on people working together to more efficiently and effectively operate as a whole’.
More traditional approaches often put learners in a passive role in relation to instructors. Collaborative learning strategies, by contrast, give learners an active role and responsibility in their own training.
Collaborative learning strategies
There’s a wide range of methods that businesses can employ to capture the benefits of collaborative learning.
We’ll run through some of the examples below.
Group discussion
Whether you do it online for remote working or in-person with your employees in the office, group discussion can be a great way to facilitate collaborative learning. In group settings, workers are encouraged to share ideas, ask questions, raise issues and share ideas.
You need to ensure you have a good discussion facilitator, and ideally give your workers enough lead time ahead of the discussion to think about what they can bring forward.
If you do it right, you can create a flourishing environment for exchange of ideas and help let your employees learn from each other – and get better together.
Peer learning
Similarly, you can encourage employees to learn from each other through peer learning. You could create a mentorship programme, pairing newer employees with more experienced ones to give them access to valuable on-the-job expertise.
Group projects
One of the best ways to engage collaborative training in the workplace is to encourage workers to learn together by working together. Assigning your employees to work on projects collectively allows them to pool their skills, knowledge and perspectives, and to identify problems and work to solve them on their own initiative.
General tips
Of course, you need to keep in mind the ways that your business is unique, and to select the right collaborative learning strategies for your needs. Education institutions and online courses can help you learn more about collaborative learning and how it can help a business in your sector.
Remember, as always, to be flexible – gather feedback from your employees about what’s working and what’s not, and adjust your approach.
Learning management systems
Using learning management systems (LMS) is crucial to effective collaborative learning. LMS platforms provide a space where organisations can deliver, manage and track learning activities. They can offer collaborative features including real-time communication tools, discussion boards and more, and they give your workers a central hub from which to access resources, participate in activities and engage with their peers.
Benefits of collaborative learning
A well trained workforce is always more effective than a less knowledgeable one. On top of that, an engaging and open approach to learning can help keep your workers happier and more invested in the business.
Enhanced engagement
Collaborative learning actively keeps your workers involved, promoting a sense of ownership and engagement in the learning process. When employees are engaged, they are more likely to hold information for longer, proactively apply what they have learned and contribute to your company’s success.
Diverse perspectives
Collaborative learning brings your employees together. This means hearing from a wider range of individuals, with more diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expertise. In this way, it can help to bring unique and fresh perspectives into the learning process. Diversity is an ever more important concern for companies in all sectors, and it can provide benefits including fostering creativity, innovation and problem-solving.
Improved communication and collaboration skills
When they learn together, workers have more opportunities to refine their communication skills. These skills are vital to the wider workplace: they enable effective teamwork, make it easier to work across departments and can help ensure any potential conflicts get resolved quickly and easily.
Increased employee satisfaction and retention
Finally, one of the best reasons to adopt a collective, engaged approach to training is that it helps build a culture that shows employees that they are valued. It communicates that their knowledge is valuable and their concerns will be listened to. It shows your workers that your business cares about their development. And all of this contributes to higher job satisfaction, increased loyalty and higher levels of retention.
How to learn collaboratively with Feaniks
Here at Feaniks, we can provide the tools your business needs to embrace collaborative learning.
- Our training structure for curricula focuses on collaboration between employees and managers. Once a learner has completed a training course, the Feaniks platform gives their manager a framework to test their competency and allows the scheduling of one-to-one catch-ups to ensure open communication.
- We provide collaboration forums[ST1] where both teams and managers can share ideas and best practices, as well as monthly online webinars especially for managers to measure the impact of our training courses. This encourages a consistent collaboration from both sides.
- Our platform allows for personalised learning experiences. You can set up specific learner pathways based on the needs of the individual or group taking the course, and track and chart progress in real time.
We hope you have found this introduction to collaborative learning helpful. We live in a time of great change for businesses, with high levels of competition. It’s crucial that your company prioritises learning and development to stay ahead. Collaborative learning offers an effective way to train and upskill employees by promoting engagement, knowledge sharing and teamwork.
If you’d like to explore what Feaniks can offer your business in collaborative working, please explore our site.