ELI5: What is Social Learning? 

I was at a conference recently and heard a presentation about buzzwords. Since I consider myself pretty competent at buzzword bingo, I was surprised that there was one I had never heard of – ELI5 – which simply stands for Explain Like I’m Five.

ELI5 started – like many great things – in an episode of the TV show, The Office, where Michael is asking an employee to explain what a budget surplus is “like I’m five.” If you search online for ELI5 you’ll find tons of examples of people taking questions and simplifying the answers down to their most basic meaning – in terms even a five year old could understand.

So today, I thought I’d do the same with social learning.

Social learning is all of the things that you learn but that aren’t taught in a classroom, that you don’t read in a book or fill out in a worksheet. It’s the things you learn from friends on the playground or by listening in on conversations between your parents. It’s what you learn when you’re not TRYING to learn… when you’re just going about your business, living your life.

Want a more grown-up definition of social learning? We’ve written that post as well and it includes some of the advantages of social learning software.

I’d love your input on this topic – How would you explain social learning to a 5 year old?