Most learning, even in small children, is learned socially, either by adults modelling how to do something or by passing information to the child. Children quickly appreciate that others may have valid ideas about mastery of certain tasks and if they are prepared to do some research among their peers or adults, it is probably going to quicker to achieve their goal collaboratively, rather than on their own.

Even with exploration of objects on their own, unless they seek confirmation (further information, facilitating or scaffolding from teachers/adults) then their understanding will be incomplete.

Even students who like to go away on their own and reflect on what they have learnt, are basing that knowledge on shared experience from peers, adults and teachers.

Creativity most often comes from prior learning and is simply an improvement on something that already exists. A lot of qualitative research is conducted in the form of focus groups, so that individuals with similar interests can bounce ideas off each other, leading to a creative synergy. Brainstorming, likewise, is done in groups for the same reason.

When people are measured in absolutes such as ALL, there is a risk that one will consider it false or unreliable. People are not black and white. People are colorful. So can ALL learning really be social? Perhaps it depends on how social learning is defined. Social learning theory focuses on learning that occurs within a social context. According the J.E. Ormrod’s, Human Learning, people learn from observing, imitating or modeling others. In this context it is easier to argue that all learning is social. The flip side of social learning is independent learning. Independent learning implies doing something alone or unaided. John Briggs, author of Teaching for Quality Learning at University, says all learning is relational and involves learners relating to new information, concepts, process-and people within the social context of the environment. In practice, learning is necessarily interdependent. In essence the answer to the statement, “students should have opportunities to learn all skills, knowledge and concepts socially,” is a moot point if learning really is interdependent. In the end, it seems to come down to semantics. What is social learning? What is independent learning and are the two really independent of each other?

Communication is a vital skill and increasingly important in the 21st Century, especially with the proliferation of social media. If students are to be effective 21st Century learners, they need exposure and skillful teaching, plus facilitating to ensure they master these communication tools

As children move through school it becomes important for them to learn the skills of co-operation and participation in groups. A lot of very important skills are learnt hear. Sharing of ideas and tolerance for other points of view. This is important, not only from a learning point of view, but in appreciating that even if people don’t agree their opposing view must be respected.

Also, strongly associated with 21st Century learning (and possibly all learning by extension) is the idea of students becoming lifelong learners. Activities that provide for social interaction provide students with an opportunity to share ideas and explore new ways of thinking together - in other words to gain creative synergy.

I’m sure people are familiar with the video that tells us teachers that we are preparing students who will do jobs that haven’t been created yet. The business environment is a highly social one. If we think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the desire to meet esteem needs is high in most individuals, and nowhere more than in the workplace. Corporates spend a lot of money on team building sessions - there’s no ‘I’ in team remember - thus recognising that corporate success can depend on the teamwork of employees and that teamwork is built on the foundation of effective social interaction between employees. As teachers I would suggest that our two main objectives are to encourage students to be lifelong learners (adaptability in the face of the only constant in our lives - change!) and ultimately prepare them for the world outside the school walls, which most will encounter - only a few ill remain in academia after university. If we think of how the business world has changed in most developed countries our students are destined for a service industry of some type. Not only will they need exceptional social skills with colleagues and fellow workers, but also customers. In teaching Business to my students, when I gave feedback I would ask them, ‘Am I a satisfied customer’? It was interesting to note their reaction to this as it was an angle they hadn’t considered. It worked quite well until they turned it round on me and said they felt their feedback wasn’t appropriate and that they weren’t satisfied clients of mine!

All learning is ultimately social, thus students should have opportunities to learn all skills, knowledge and concepts socially.

I'm dropping my co-moderator role for the sake of adding weight to this side of the cyber-debate. The snarky and crotchety tone is intended, but hopefully not one that is truly my own.

Defining individual words on our own only gets us so far; we must work together to make sense of this statement. I am confident that ultimately you will see things our way. And it is the ultimate steps where true learning takes place. We can collaboratively reflect upon how one might learn something on their own, but ultimately that person would share their experience with others. By sharing that experience with others that learning ultimately was a social experience.

A part of me cringes when called upon to reference edu. philosophy - it is just not my forte. Nevertheless, when reflecting upon this statement, I keep coming back to how we are social creatures. I think this is at the heart of why "ultimately" I am leaning towards our learning being a social, not individual, experience.

But surely we learn things on our own... yes, I thing we do. But we confirm our learnings with those around us, we share our learnings with others, and by doing this our learning experience changes.

We must first understand the difference between studying and learning. While some people may STUDY better alone, they will ultimately forced to show that learning off in a social setting. Those who study alone, become more knowledgeable of a subject, and be able to teach those around them (or make themselves look wiser to the group, adding to their interpersonal value). Gaining knowledge and not sharing knowledge with others (be it teachers, peers, students) goes against everything we as humans have evolved to be since the start of human history. Social learning itself is the basis of evolution. As we heard in the link below (TED Talk for Howard Rheingold), somewhere in human history, we learned to work together to take down a wooly mammoth.

Let's look at this argument, not from an academic standpoint, but from a child's standpoint. What do they face, and what do they learn, from each other? While we as educators want to think of learning in a positive manner, they also learn about sex, drugs, bullying, alcohol, violence, and death long before most parents are comfortable with. That learning isn't done alone, in a purposeful manner led by an adult. That learning is done through social interaction with peers. The introvert, who doesn't know about these things, hears about them socially, and may research them on their own, but the reason for the learning is ultimately forced by a social behaviour.

New media has changed the definition of social. Social networks are online communities where we learn about most of our news. (I learned about the Newton tragedy and the Boston bombings from my Facebook news feed) 84% of people monitor their news and information through social network sites. We also learn about each other's lives through facebook and Google Plus. We share experiences. We share stories. We learn from each other... and while we may be reading these stories alone, we are learning from each other's experiences.

Currently, 80% of companies with more than 100 employees use some types of teams. 90% of all US employees work part of their day in a team. Our most successful companies realize that social learning is vital to success of it's business... they will eventually need to learn this skill to be successful in life, so to focus on the second part of the statement ... "thus students SHOULD HAVE OPPORTUNITES to learn all skills, knowledge and concepts socially" What world are we preparing them for, if we don't teach them how to work together and share ideas with one another?