Your best trainers are your employees. Harness their talent with collaborative learning!

According to Digiforma, only 30% of professional training courses are completed. This figure proves that there is still a problem with traditional learning methods, which are not conducive to interaction, and therefore to the deep involvement of learners.

In response, some companies are turning to a new learning method that seems to be winning over employees' hearts: collaborative learning. By offering a more dynamic experience focused on their real needs, collaborative learning quite simply restores employees' love of learning.

This article reveals the ins and outs of collaborative learning, so that you too can take your professional training to the next level!

See all software Education & eLearning

What exactly is collaborative learning?

Definition of collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is a corporate training method that enables employees to share their knowledge and learn from each other.

Collaborative learning is based on a clear premise: when the need arises to deepen certain knowledge and skills, you may already have one or more employees in your organization who possess just such knowledge and skills. In that case, why call on external contributors? You might as well capitalize on it 😉.

This approach echoes new management models, and thus the desire of employees to move towards greater horizontality and autonomy.

☝️ Collaborative learning should not be confused with cooperative learning. The latter involves working in small groups to solve a given problem.

Differences between traditional vocational training and collaborative learning

What are the 6 benefits of collaborative learning?

#1 More committed employees

Collaborative learning works like a decentralized peer-to-peer system , in which employees gain greater independence and become more proactive.

In this scheme, it is they who express the need for skills upgrading, as opposed to the top-down model where the initiative comes from management, training managers or human resources. And that reinforces employee commitment.

😀 Employee commitment is also strengthened on the side of the employee responsible for sharing their knowledge, thanks to the recognition of their expertise.

#2 More relevant training content

With this method, your training courses gain in relevance, since they are delivered by members of the company who know and understand your specific businesses, issues, etc.

The result is programs and learning paths that are much more rooted in reality, enabling learners to put the knowledge they acquire into perspective with their day-to-day missions. And that, too, helps them learn better!

#3 More effective learning

Collaborative learning is also more effective in terms of the quality of instruction, since we're dealing with active learning, conducive to knowledge retention.

In other words, thanks to this process, employees memorize more information than if they passively watch videos or simply follow a lecture.

#4 More agile companies

Collaborative learning makes it much easier to respond quickly to an emerging training need within an organization. If someone in the organization has the knowledge that other employees lack, you might as well make the most of it, rather than wasting time finding an external trainer, organizing sessions, and so on.

In this way, the company gains in flexibility, which is a significant competitive advantage.

Collaborative learning also generates feedback from learners, enabling continuous improvement of modules. As a result, courses can easily evolve in line with team needs.

#5 Less expensive training

If you save time implementing your learning program, you also save money. Cost savings are therefore one of the many benefits promised by collaborative learning.

🤑 Not to mention that training itself costs less (provided you're equipped with the right tools!). And for good reason: no more expenses linked to :

• remuneration of an external trainer or educational engineer,
• renting a dedicated room,
• paying for employees to travel to sessions, etc.

#6 Closer-knit teams

Last but not least, collaborative learning creates bonds and encourages team spirit, notably through the creation of communities of learners conducive to exchanges (of practices, knowledge, experience, resources, etc.) 🤝.

And that's quite a benefit in a context of widespread telecommuting, often resulting in the geographical dispersion of teams!

On the other hand, some traditional training methods, particularly e-learning, reinforce the isolation of learners.

And the disadvantages of collaborative learning?

However, for collaborative learning to work, you need to have in-house employees with sufficiently advanced knowledge of a given subject to share it.

👉 Let's say you need to train employees on a new piece of software. Perhaps no one in the company has tried it out enough to develop a training program worthy of the name and avoid approximations? You need to be aware that this method can't work every time!

At the same time, collaborative learning requires time on the part of the employee who has been elevated to the role of trainer. While he's instructing his colleagues, he's not concentrating on his primary tasks. And depending on the structure of your organization, or the time of year, depriving yourself of this workforce can have a negative impact on overall productivity.

☝️ However, as we shall see below, this last disadvantage can be greatly reduced by using the right tools!

How collaborative learning works

How does collaborative learning work in practice?

It all starts with a training need that has to be met in a hurry. For example:

• Are you implementing a new technology in your company?
• Are you making major changes to your management methods or project management?
• Do you need to bring your staff up to speed with a new trend that is causing a stir in your sector?

In a classic scheme, the use of learning engineers and other external bodies takes time and money.

But with collaborative learning, anyone can quickly and independently design their own training paths and modules. What's more, these online modules can be improved later on the basis of feedback. The result is a longer lifespan for training courses, and of course more relevance in the teaching provided.

💡 As you will have gathered, the notion of collaborative learning implies the use of appropriate software. While there are a number of solutions on the market capable of supporting this method, 360Learning is a key player. This collaborative learning-oriented learning management system (LMS) enables modules to be created in just a few clicks (the first one took just 17 minutes!), thanks in part to AI-assisted design. With this collaborative approach, 360Learning also supports the co-creation of content and the collection of user feedback, thus meeting companies' objective of continuous improvement.

Collaborative learning applications: 3 examples of use cases

If all the human and technological conditions are right, collaborative learning can be a godsend for companies in many situations.

Here are a few use cases to help you identify the benefits 👉.

Onboarding new employees

Using collaborative learning when onboarding a new employee means saving time by deploying training sessions which, while automated, are nonetheless perfectly adapted to the new recruit's role and job.

What's more, this method favors the employee's social and professional integration, since in just a few clicks he or she has access to an entire knowledge base on the company's culture, roles and responsibilities, internal processes, and so on.

It's the perfect way to make good first impressions, and thus help retain your talent!

Regulatory updates

When there are changes in general regulations, or simply at company level, collaborative learning provides a relevant response... and above all a much more friendly one (for subjects that are not always 😮‍💨)!

What's more, by using the right tools, it's possible to track employees' progress on these subjects, because regulations are no joke!

Training for new software

Implementing new software within a company often represents a profound change for employees, one that can even compromise their well-being at work. Hence the need to support them with (formal) training.

Here, collaborative learning is used to :

• to create courses designed to get teams up and running quickly on their new tool ;
• then support them over time, as technical and functional updates are made.

See all software Education & eLearning

Implementing collaborative learning: a few best practices to keep in mind!

Finally, here are 6 bonus best practices for effectively deploying collaborative learning in your company 👀:

• Identify precisely the learning objectives you want to achieve, making sure they're aligned with the needs of your company as well as the learners.
• Establish a strong team spirit beforehand, without which the collaborative learning mayonnaise won't take.
• Develop flexibility in your organization and internal processes, so that everyone has the flexibility they need to embrace the principles of collaborative learning.
• Encourage the participation of people from different departments, hierarchical levels and areas of expertise, to enrich discussions and stimulate knowledge sharing.
• Embrace the feedback culture, a sine qua non for maintaining the quality of learning content.
• Use the right tools, essential for collaborative learning. Without structuring software, you risk finding yourself managing a gas factory!

It's up to you!