“We learn by observation and modeling.”

-Albert Bandura in his theory of social learning.

Albert Bandura's theory of social learning pointed out the importance of learning through observation and modeling. While his theory remains influential, the advent of technology has given rise to a new perspective on social learning. Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, in their book "The New Social Learning," propose an approach they define as "learning through social media."

In essence, this approach involves sharing activities with a wider audience through the use of social learning platforms. For instance, when you share a blog on Twitter and seek feedback from your followers, you are engaging in a form of social learning. This extends beyond traditional instruction because you receive input from a broader social audience.

Another prevalent example is the application of this learning approach within learning communities. Various online communities across different domains, industries, and topics are leveraging social learning platforms to learn collectively.

Instructors and Learning & Development (L&D) teams are increasingly embracing modern pedagogies like social learning to create transformative learning environments. To ensure success, forward-thinking edupreneurs, and L&D managers carefully select the most suitable social learning platforms tailored to their students' needs.

What is a Social Learning Platform?

A Social Learning Platform isn't different from the popular LMS or Learning Management System. A social learning platform is an LMS itself, however, it is different from traditional ones.

As you may know, LMSs are software that allows instructors and course creators to manage learning materials for their students. As technology evolves, learning does too. LMSs are online tools that make learning and teaching better.

Social learning platforms vs. traditional LMS

So, what is the difference between the two? Social learning platforms are designed to be highly collaborative and engaging compared to traditional LMS. The best social learning platforms like Teachfloor have integrated social learning or collaborating learning in the software to help instructors create more engaging materials for virtual learning.

As an example, you won't see peer review as a feature in traditional LMSs. You can only see it in modern social learning tools and this is one of the few features Teachfloor has that makes it stand out from the rest.

Want to learn more about the best social learning platforms in 2024? Read on and I will show you in this article. But before that, let's take a look on what are the key features of a social learning platform.

Key Features of a Social Learning Platform

Peer Review.

This is the main feature that sets social learning platforms apart from the traditional LMS. Peer review allows students to give feedback to their peers inside the platform. Instructors can set it up and automate it to save time from manual performing of the learning approach. Lastly, research shows that peer review increases interaction, participation, and a sense of community among students. So, it's proven to work.

Discussion boards.

Social learning is about learning with others. Platforms that are designed for social learning experiences practically has discussion boards, forums, and/or built-in online community that allow students to interact with each other. In other words, having discussion boards inside the LMS is bringing the concept of social media but in a more private, smaller cohorts, who are learning together.

Multiple Integrations.

Since we're swimming in the ocean of online tools, apps, and software, it would be nice to have if you could integrate your favorite apps inside the platform. Teachfloor's integration features is one of the great example of these. You can choose from almost 100 online tools to make teaching easier, smoother, and better by connecting these apps to Teachfloor.

Cohort-based course.

Another powerful feature you should look for in a social learning platform is its capacity to host a cohort-based course. These types of courses are life-changing due to their ability to transform students from 0 to 1. If you aren't familiar with CBC yet, then make sure you apply it.

👉🏻 Start learning what cohort-based learning is!

7 Best Social Learning Platforms for 2024

Now, you're ready to dive into the best social learning platforms for 2024!

Teachfloor: The #1 Social Learning Platform

If this is your first time hearing about Teachfloor, then you're missing a lot. We are one of the pioneers in cohort-based learning platforms and social learning platforms.

In the past 3 years, we have dedicated our work designing Teachfloor to help modern teachers and educators create transformative online learning environments for their students—and this is through bringing and designing the best social learning management system in the entire online education ecosystem!

Don't take our word for it, sign up and try Teachfloor for 14 days for free.

Teachfloor's Unique Advantage: Reasons why it's the #1 social learning platform

1. Peer Review & Collaborative Learning: Encouraging active participation and knowledge sharing, Teachfloor fosters critical thinking and deeper understanding through peer learning and collaboration. It has a peer review feature as well as an instructor review. Instructors can freely set these up to create a collaborative learning environment without making too much effort and shelling out huge amounts of money.
2. Active Learning and Interactive Multimedia: With dynamic features like discussion forums, live sessions, and collaborative projects, Teachfloor creates an engaging learning environment that promotes active participation and learner interaction. A built-in online community is already on the platform. No need to set up Slack or another communication app.
3. Embedded Tools and Integrations: Empowering educators with multimedia integration, gamified activities, and real-time collaboration tools, Teachfloor enhances the learning experience for students. You can embed up to 100+ software and integrate your favorite apps only at Teachfloor.
4. Unlimited Storage & Affordable Pricing: Offering budget-friendly plans starting at $59/month, Teachfloor provides unlimited storage, students, and courses, making it a cost-effective choice for both small-scale and large-scale online education.
5. Course Templates for Employee Onboarding & Training: Streamline employee onboarding with structured course templates, reducing administrative overhead and ensuring consistent, high-quality training. Don't start from scratch, use Teachfloor's templates to save time and effort!

What users are saying?

"Teachfloor is the best social learning platform to build engaging courses, it's easy to use and very flexible. Before using Teachfloor to launch a cohort,  we needed 10 different tools only to manage payments, set up courses and communities, and run quizzes. With Teachfloor we have all we need in one easy solution" - Tom K. Founder & CEO

Eduflow: The Modern Social Learning Tool

Eduflow is a modern LMS with a robust authoring tool, enabling the creation of scalable, social learning experiences. It supports various learning activities, including videos, submissions, and peer reviews, making it versatile for online courses, onboarding, or sales training.

Unlike passive learning, Eduflow emphasizes active, collaborative learning where students engage, solve real problems, and generate their content, fostering an engaging and effective online learning environment.

1. Versatile Learning Activities: Eduflow offers a wide range of learning activities, including rich text content, videos, submissions, peer reviews, and discussion forums.
2. Active and Collaborative Learning: It emphasizes active, collaborative learning, where students interact, solve real problems, and create their own content, making learning engaging.
3. Comprehensive Management: Eduflow allows fast and effective course management, personalized settings for learners, detailed progress reports, and integrations with industry standards like SAML, SCORM, and LTI.

🗒️ Important Notice: Eduflow was acquired by Multiverse. Apparently, they will stop operating by the end of 2024. If you are already an Eduflow user, then take a look at Eduflow's Alternative to smoothly migrate your learning materials. On another note, Teachfloor offers the best migration process for Eduflow users.

What users are saying?

“So far, my experience with Eduflow is great. The tool is easy-to-use, and it comes with plenty of features. As a teacher, I like that the team has developed everything having pedagogy and not big business in mind. Another plus is that it is accessible across international settings. Feedback and peer group work is their main focus. Frankly, I haven't seen another product in the market having Eduflow's combination of features. Especially at such a reasonable price.” - from eLearning Industry's review.

Maven Learning: Where top creators teach cohort-based courses

Maven Learning isn't a Learning Management System. It's a social learning platform where students can choose the top courses in the world taught by the top creators using the cohort-based learning model. Therefore, if you are an instructor, you can apply to their accelerator course to teach under Maven. Your course will automatically be featured in their course marketplaces.

1. Vetting and Bootcamp: Maven rigorously selects instructors, ensuring course quality. Their aim is to become the place where only the best professionals are teaching cohort-based courses.
2. Active Learning: Cohort-based courses focus on interactive workshops and projects, leading to higher completion rates. Apparently, Maven is the pioneer of using a cohort-based learning approach in online learning. This makes their courses the best quality courses in the online world.
3. Integrated Platform: Maven combines course management, community, syllabus, and video conferencing for a cohesive learning experience. They have their own LMS that their instructors are using. You can only use it when you are selected to become a Maven instructor.

What instructors are saying?

“The Maven Course Accelerator was incredible, followed by the continued support in marketing and operating my course.” - Noam Segal, The Missing Foundations of UX Research

Mighty Networks: The Versatile Social Learning App

Mighty Networks is a versatile platform for fostering engagement, loyalty, and brand excitement through community and content, empowering creators, entrepreneurs, and brands to build their online presence effectively.

1. Community Building: Mighty Networks allows you to create digital communities, which are online spaces where like-minded individuals can come together to discuss, share, and collaborate around a common interest or topic. Importantly, Mighty Networks provides monetization options, meaning you can charge members for access to your community, creating a potential revenue stream.
2. Peer Interaction: Within your digital community, Mighty Networks provides social tools that encourage interaction among members. This includes features like discussion forums, messaging, and commenting.
3. Online Courses: Mighty Networks enables you to offer online courses to your community members. These courses can range from simple lessons to more comprehensive educational content. You have the flexibility to decide whether these courses are offered for free or as paid offerings.

What users are saying?

“It is wonderful to interact with an ethical positive company that wants to create positive communities that make a positive difference in people's lives. We love having all of our communities on one platform. One of our primary values is the power of connection. Mighty Networks makes that possible and gives us lots of support in growing our membership.” - Kathy, small business owner

360Learning: Perfect for L&D Teams

360Learning empowers companies by fostering internal mobility, upskilling experts, and powering academies. Notable benefits include automating compliance training, AI-driven workforce planning, and creating collaborative learning environments. It integrates with external content providers and offers mobile flexibility, enhancing workforce upskilling. Founded in 2013, it serves over 1,700 organizations.

What users are saying?

“Support was excellent from the entire team at 360Learning during implementation. Questions were answered swiftly and effectively. Content creation is simple and ability to use tools like Genially help to make content more engaging. Platform updates occur every 3 weeks. Forum is an excellent source of communication and helps foster community.” -Eli J, Business Owner

Miro: An Interactive Whiteboard Platform

Miro is a versatile and refined interactive whiteboard platform that supports collaboration, creativity, and effective communication in educational settings. Its range of features caters to a variety of learning scenarios, making it a valuable tool for educators and students alike.

1. Infinite Canvases: Miro provides virtually unlimited digital canvases, allowing users to zoom in and out freely. Frames can be added to create zones or pages within the canvas. This flexibility enables users to organize and present information in a way that suits their needs.
2. Collaboration: Users can add various elements like sticky notes, text, files, links, images, and task lists to boards. This makes it ideal for group work, whether it's for brainstorming, project planning, or creating interactive presentations. The ability to share boards with a large number of participants facilitates teamwork and feedback collection.
3. Educational Uses: Miro can be applied across various educational scenarios. It's suitable for one-on-one tutoring, whole-class instruction with active participation, interactive professional development sessions, and student presentations. Teachers and students can use it for brainstorming, research, math problem-solving, or creating graphic organizers.

Additionally, Miro supports assessment by enabling teachers to provide feedback and direction on student projects. What's more, is that you can integrate Miro in Teachfloor!

What users are saying?

"Miro is a very customizable and well-thought product as per the need of the customer or customers considering that single or many team members can work on the same board/tool simultaneously. We use it for designing, workshops, creating user flows, and brainstorming purposes. Miro can be a perfect replacement for your paper/charts if you are moving towards sustainability as a key aspect.” - Peer review for Miro in Gartner Insights

BetterMode: A user-friendly collaborative learning platform

Bettermode simplifies customer engagement and community building with a user-friendly design studio, templates, and extensive integrations, making it a comprehensive platform for diverse community needs.

1. Customizable Communities: Users can create unique customer communities with premade templates and a visual Design Studio that includes customizable blocks for various community elements.
2. Third-Party Integrations: Integration with around 30 apps, including Zapier, enables seamless workflow merging with existing tools. Native apps like Cookie Consent and Custom Code Snippet extend community functionality.

What users are saying?

“Bettermode is a very easy platform to use, both for Admins and users. The interface is clean and easily configurable. In terms of establishing an easy to use community for our clients, Bettermode has fit like a glove!” -Philipe L.

Embracing the Future of Learning with Social Learning Platforms

In the dynamic landscape of education and training, social learning platforms are redefining the way we learn and engage. Building upon Albert Bandura's theory of learning through observation and modeling, these platforms, such as Teachfloor offer a myriad of innovative features.

As educators and organizations seek transformative learning environments, these platforms empower them to adapt, engage, and create communities of learning that extend beyond the boundaries of traditional education.