~Learn Something New Every Day~

The saying that we learn something new every day is one that I have heard my whole life. But what does that really mean? Do we really learn something new every day.....is learning something new every day solely dependent on the person looking for that learning experience? The more I think about social learning, the more I am intrigued to find out these answers.

I think that with the online environment we have more chances to create a social learning atmosphere that is beyond what has ever been possible in the past. We are able to search a word and within seconds find blogs from other people asking the same questions. I found this blog which is where I got this great cartoon on social learning...http://idreflections.blogspot.com/2009/05/social-learning-begins-where-google.html

The question then becomes, can the same type of social learning that is generally happening in a classroom, still happen in an online classroom. From my experience I believe that it can, with some differences but the basics of what is happening in that social environment are the same. Now I must admit that online learning takes more effort on the part of the learner to be involved, but the quality of discussion and interested from the students is far and beyond.

I think that social learning is something that can happen all the time, if we keep our minds open, and see what learning is possible in every situation.