Social Media Training Plan

1. Motivation

1.1. Social mediate motivates students by giving them on-demand access to tools and materials in a less-structured or more informal setting, which helps learners maintain their motivation to learn about a topic (Premenko, 2012).

1.2. Students may not be motivated to engage, rather they may become passive participants or “lurkers” (Leino, Tanhua-Piiroinen, & Sommers-Piiroinen, 2012) if not required to engage or if the amount of work is not deemed to be assessed by the instructor.

1.3. Adding social media to training provides a level of anonymity and privacy relative to the learner’s workplace that motivates those who are shy or otherwise hesitant to share to engage and share their own experiences and interact with others (Leino, Tanhua-Piiroinen, & Sommers-Piiroinen, 2012)

2. Training Program Competencies

2.1. Effective Communication

2.1.1. Learners and trainers should have strong verbal and written communication skills.

2.1.2. They should be able to navigate a communication thread in a social media environment with ease and understand how tone and visual cues can affect those receiving their communications

2.2. Thorough Research and Use of Resources

2.2.1. Learners and trainers should be able to navigate their social media resources and should be able to conduct thorough research on the assigned topics.

2.2.2. Research is done with care, using valid sources and references

2.3. Engaged Interactions

2.3.1. Learners and trainers should be engaged when interacting with others in the social media environment. Those who do not will not be considered competent in this area.

2.3.2. It is inappropriate to only receive information and avoid sharing information with others.

3. Organization

3.1. Untangled Soul Mindful Instruction is working with a major bank (name undisclosed due to non-disclosure agreement) to train its employees in the benefits of mindfulness and mindfulness exercises and techniques.  

3.1.1. Untitled

4. References

5. Theories

5.1. Self-Directed

5.2. Transformative Learning

5.3. Adult learners are motivated by internal desires and curiosity (Estep, 2008). Social media is interactive and learners can choose what to read or access, following their natural curiosity.

6. Ethical Considerations

6.1. Plagiarism. The program planner and/or instructor should be aware that plagiarism may occur and may be more likely to occur in a social media setting. Steps should be taken to encourage learners to avoid engaging in acts of plagiarism.

6.2. Bullying. With the anonymity factor of social media comes the possibility of bullying. As with plagiarism, steps should be taken to educate learners about bullying and there should be measures put in place to address bullying should it occur.

6.3. Conflict of Interest. The program planner will need to consider conflicts of interest when implementing social media into the program. Conflicts of interest may include using a social platform that is associated with a competitor, or sharing information in an open forum that could be used against the organization.

7. Topic

7.1. Trainees are encouraged to share their experiences with the mindfulness exercises and techniques. While discussion does occur in the physical classroom, use of social media could be a way to further enhance these discussions and encourage learners to share their experiences outside the classroom.

7.2. Using social media may also expose learners to learning more about mindfulness on their own.