Social learning theory, proposed by Albert Bandura, emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. By providing a kind environment, it helps to encourage optimal brain development as well as social connection and collaboration. Key Takeaway: Creating an educational environment that intentionally fosters collaborative group work may help to improve learner self-management and cooperation skills, thus impacting overall self-directed learning. The components are important social . In many cases this is topic is based upon learning from your mistakes. Cultivating supportive online learning environments is an art that begins with nurturing connectedness and community through social presence. It involves looking at how cognitive learning, which is learning by doing , processing and experiencing, influences how we learn.