Defining your social learning program

Step 1: Identify your course topic

First on the docket is identifying your course topic. Doesn’t matter if you’re a virtual academy, bootcamp, or an internal training team looking to upskill your employees—picking your course topic is the first step for everyone building a cohort learning program.

To do that with your own thoughts, brainstorm some ideas. Try to find the intersection between your passions, expertise, and market demand for what you can offer. Consider what topics align with your own, or your organization’s, knowledge set and values, and which ones you can add true value to.

Consider the following when brainstorming:

• Passion: What topics are you or your organization passionate about? This could be areas where you’ve consistently invested time and effort, or subjects that energize and excite you.
• Expertise: Where does your expertise lie? Think about the knowledge areas where you or your team excel. These could be technical skills, industry insights, or specialized knowledge.
• Market Demand: What does the market need? Conduct market research to identify current trends, gaps in knowledge, or emerging challenges that your course could address.

Expert Tip: If you’re passionate about leadership, have extensive experience in managing remote teams, and notice a growing demand for remote leadership skills, a course on “Effective Leadership in Remote Teams” could be a perfect fit. This topic not only aligns with your interests and expertise but also addresses a significant need in the current market.

Utilizing a social learning platform can facilitate the creation and management of these learning courses by leveraging social media-like interactions, fostering communication among learners, and promoting active engagement and knowledge sharing.

Step 2: Define your learning objectives

Once you’ve found your course topic, the next step is mapping that back to your company’s objectives. Define what you’re hoping to achieve with this cohort learning program, and map out some SMART goals that will help you understand if the course was successful or not.

Linking learning objectives to organizational goals

Your learning objectives should be closely tied to your organization’s overall goals. This alignment ensures that your program contributes to the broader success of your organization and demonstrates its value to key stakeholders.

For instance, if your company’s goal is to enhance team collaboration, your social learning program might focus on developing communication skills, fostering trust, and encouraging teamwork among participants.

Creating SMART learning objectives

When defining your objectives, it’s essential to make them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. SMART objectives provide clarity and focus, making it easier to assess whether the course meets its intended goals.

Expert Tip: Instead of a vague objective like "improve leadership skills," a SMART objective would be "By the end of this course, participants will demonstrate improved leadership skills by successfully leading a virtual project team, as measured by a post-course evaluation and peer feedback."

This objective is specific, measurable, and tied to a clear outcome.

Balancing individual and group learning goals

Cohort learning courses should focus not only on important individual outcomes but also on how the group comes together. Collaborative skills development, group dynamics, and team sentiment should all tie back to an objective in your course planning.

Perspective-taking is a key strategy for enhancing group dynamics and social understanding in cohort learning programs. Enhancing problem-solving abilities through social learning and emotional competencies should be a key focus, as it addresses the needs of various learners, including those with social challenges.

Expert Tip: Your goal might be to have everyone who takes a cohort learning program walk away with one new skillet, and one specific application of that skill set that aligns with your company’s goals.

With that goal in mind, you can then start to craft content, learning assessments, and group learning experiences that help the learners progress toward that desired outcome.

A group-oriented objective might be “By the end of the program, participants will collaborate to create a comprehensive project plan, demonstrating effective communication and teamwork skills.” This not only ensures individual learning but also fosters a sense of community and collaboration among participants.

Step 3: Identify your audience

After objectives, the next step is identifying and understanding your audience. You need to get to know them, and what makes them tick. This is how you create course content that they actually want to experience.

Gathering detailed audience insights

Start by gathering details about your prospective learners, especially students in a school setting. Understanding students’ educational backgrounds, preferences, and needs is crucial for creating effective course content. Anything helps.

Demographic information (age, gender, education level), professional backgrounds (job roles, industry experience), learning preferences (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), and goals they’re hoping to achieve are all great pieces of intel.

Use surveys, interviews, existing data from past programs, and any other data source at your disposal to gather all that juicy information. Once collected, the real fun—or work, depending on your outlook—begins.

Surveys

Use questionnaires to gather demographic data and understand learning preferences. For instance, Disco's survey tool allows you to consolidate this information efficiently. Surveys are excellent for collecting valuable insights from your members. To gather course feedback, integrate a survey into your curriculum.

Alternatively, create a community survey directly from your content dashboard and attach it to a feed post or discussion. Here's how you can do it:

Interviews

Conduct one-on-one interviews with a sample of potential participants to gain deeper insights into their preferences and needs. For instance, if your target audience is mid-career professionals in the tech industry, you might discover that they prefer concise, on-demand video content they can access at their convenience. They may also prioritize learning practical, actionable skills that can be immediately applied in their roles.

Learner data analysis

Leverage data from previous programs to identify trends and patterns in participant behavior and preferences. Tools like Disco AI can enhance your data analysis by identifying these patterns and providing valuable insights.

Expert Tip: Disco AI can categorize learners based on their student engagement levels and content preferences through product reports, enabling you to tailor the learning experience to better meet their needs.

Creating detailed learner personas

To effectively tailor your course to your audience, develop detailed learner personas. A learner persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal participant, created from the data you’ve gathered. This persona should include several key elements:

Name and background

Give your persona a name and brief background to make them relatable. For example, "John, a 35-year-old software engineer with 10 years of experience in the industry."

Learning goals

Outline what this persona aims to achieve through your course. For example, "John wants to develop leadership skills to advance to a management role."

Learning preferences

Identify how they prefer to learn. For instance, "John prefers interactive, hands-on learning experiences that allow him to apply concepts directly to his work."

Potential challenges

Consider the obstacles they might face in the learning process. For example, "John struggles with balancing work and learning, so he needs flexible course options that fit into his busy schedule."

By creating these personas, you gain a clear understanding of your target audience, which will guide your decisions throughout the course design process. This ensures that your program is aligned with the specific needs, preferences, and challenges of your learners, ultimately leading to a more effective and engaging learning experience.

Step 4: Gather existing learning materials

You’ve got your goals, and you know what your learners like. Next up is to gather all of your existing learning materials to see what you can repurpose and reuse (we’re all for recycling).

Start with learning materials that are directly relevant to your program’s objectives—articles, videos, webinars, podcasts, or anything at all. Review each one to ensure that it aligns with your learners’ needs and the goals for the curriculum.

Conducting a thorough content audit

Start by conducting a content audit to identify materials that align with your program’s objectives. This could include articles, whitepapers, videos, webinars, podcasts, case studies, and interactive tools. Review each piece of content to assess its relevance, accuracy, and effectiveness.

Ask yourself:

• Does this content align with the learning objectives?
• Is it up-to-date and factually correct?
• Is it engaging and accessible to the target audience?

Expert Tip: If your program focuses on project management, you might already have a collection of case studies and articles on successful project management strategies. These materials can be integrated into your course, saving you time and effort in content creation.

Going through these activities saves you from repeating work you’ve already done. Instead, you can spend time filling the gaps in your learning material and creating complementary activities and discussions that put your existing material to work in a cohort setting.

This approach can also enhance social skills by incorporating interactive activities and discussions that promote social-emotional learning.

Identifying and filling content gaps

Once you’ve reviewed your existing materials, it’s crucial to pinpoint any gaps that need to be filled. These gaps could involve areas where content is missing, or outdated, or where new and innovative approaches are required.

Incorporating content that helps learners develop self-regulation skills is essential. This not only enhances their social competencies but also promotes self-awareness and eases interactions with peers.

Expert Tip: If you notice that your current materials lack interactive elements, consider creating quizzes, simulations, or group activities to foster active learning. Additionally, you can harness the power of AI to generate new content and train Disco AI to address these gaps.

To generate the needed content, craft a clear prompt and include any relevant reference materials, such as links, media, content types, or training sources from your Disco media library. This approach ensures that your content is comprehensive, up-to-date, and fully aligned with the needs of your learners.

Leveraging diverse content formats

Offering content in multiple formats can cater to different learning styles and keep participants engaged. For example, while some learners might prefer reading detailed articles, others might benefit more from watching instructional videos or participating in hands-on workshops.

Expert Tip: Creating video assets that enhance social communication skills is crucial for facilitating social learning and aiding educators and thought leaders in delivering impactful strategies. Here’s how to create video assets using AI:

Step 5: Determine your business model

Last step—figure out how you’ll make money! That should also be the first step, but you need to go through all of the planning stuff mentioned above to understand what you have to offer. 

Setting your business model is a pivotal step that ensures the sustainability and success of your cohort learning program. Think about the different revenue streams and monetization opportunities that could come out of your cohort learning program: 

Subscriptions

Offer access to your course content on a subscription basis, with participants paying a recurring fee. This model works well for ongoing programs or those that provide regular updates and new content.

One-time payments

Charge a one-time fee for access to the course. This approach is suitable for standalone programs or those offering certification upon completion.

Corporate sponsorships

Partner with companies that are willing to sponsor the program in exchange for brand visibility or access to participant data. This model is common in programs aimed at specific industries.

Freemium models

Offer a basic version of the course for free, with premium features or content available at a cost. This model can attract a large audience and then convert a percentage of them into paying customers.

Take a look at what else is on the market, along with the value that your course provides, to help align your business model and pricing strategy. Don’t forget to factor in things like operating costs when deciding fees and membership prices—you want to make sure you’re adding value, but hey, you’ve still gotta make a profit!

Step 6: Customize your social learning platform

No two organizations are the same. Even when looking at your closest competitor, you’ve each got your own unique needs, goals, and learners. By customizing your LMS with Disco, you can tailor it to fit your organization’s specific needs perfectly. It’s like getting a suit tailored—you’ll wear it more when the fit is perfect.

Tailoring the platform to your needs

Customization enables you to align the platform with your organization’s branding, integrate necessary features, and remove unnecessary ones. For instance, you can tailor the platform to include tools that facilitate collaboration, such as discussion forums or group project spaces, while ensuring that it reflects your organization’s look and feel.

Customization also allows you to add specific functionalities that cater to your audience’s preferences. For example, if your learners prefer a mobile-friendly experience, you can ensure the platform is optimized for mobile use.

Additionally, incorporating social thinking methodologies in their own experience can enhance social, emotional, and academic learning through a customized platform.

💡Disco makes learning more accessible and engaging with Disco Learning App available on iOS and Android.

Enhancing user engagement through personalization

Secondly, a customized LMS can greatly improve user engagement. Imagine using a platform that feels like it was made just for you. It’s easier to navigate, it has the features you need, and it even matches your company’s branding. All that makes it more enjoyable for you and your learners; you’ll enjoy building it more, and they’ll notice the small details you’ve put in.

Expert Tip: A personalized learning platform can help learners focus on the areas most relevant to their goals. Similarly, incorporating social features, such as leaderboards or peer feedback, can foster a sense of community and friendly competition, further enhancing engagement.

Ensuring scalability and flexibility

Customizing your LMS also ensures that the platform can scale with your organization’s growth. As your program expands, you might need to add new courses, accommodate more users, or integrate additional tools. A flexible, customizable platform can adapt to these changes, ensuring that your social learning program remains effective and relevant over time.

Expert Tip: As your program grows, you might want to add features like advanced analytics to track learner progress or integrate with other systems your organization uses, such as customer relationship management (CRM) or human resources (HR) software.