Redtray's training division managing director, Jon Shepstone, says the changes will make it easier for learners to communicate with each other; share their knowledge and opinions; and also boost each other's motivation to training.

"Social learning is a natural part of people's daily lives, and we want to make it even more accessible for our learners. By giving them tools to communicate and express their thoughts after attending their training, we want to encourage them to share their knowledge with others and spark their colleague's interest in gaining new skills," explains Jon Shepstone.

The new social-learning features in CloudRooms launched on 18 February and will make it possible for learners to

• star rate their courses
• post reviews of the training they've attended
• share links to useful training materials available on the portal
• "like" training modules in the Facebook style
• connect with each other through their message boards on the portal

According to Mr Shepstone, social learning tools play a big part in engaging learners. He says, "Once you start using them, social learning becomes contagious. Such tools make it easy to connect with internal experts, ask them for advice, share tips, and find training that can help address a lack of a particular skill required to do the job."

Last year alone, CloudRooms delivered more than 1800 live online training sessions including PRINCE2, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Technical courses. The interactive online classes, run by live trainers, gained 100% popularity among CloudRooms learners, which sparked the idea to make the portal more social-learning friendly and encourage students to connect with each other.