No Takers For Lengthy eLearning Modules? Consider Migrating To Microlearning
You have an excellent eLearning course that was designed a couple of years ago based on what was latest at that time. So, the instructionally-sound course has animations created using Flash, good audio and video elements, formative and summative assessments. It was well received when it was first rolled out (that was 4 years ago!).
However, gradually the course has seen high dropout rates. One of the assumptions for high dropout rates of the eLearning course is its duration and the volume of content packed into it. It was just too much for the duration of 50 min.
The days of lengthy eLearning courses of 45 to 60 mins are gone. No one makes these courses anymore. But, what happens to those courses that have already been developed? They are instructionally good, still relevant. Content might require just some minor updates. Do we just discard them and let the investment go wasted? I think we should not. We should consider repurposing them to create microlearning modules.
Why Invest In The Migration Of Existing eLearning Courses To Microlearning Modules?
When you need to train your employees on a subject, it is best to start with what you have, instead of starting fresh. If the courses are still good but have no takers only because they are too long and don’t work on mobile devices, it is worthwhile to migrate them to microlearning modules for primarily 2 reasons:
- You don’t have to spend time sourcing/collating content.
- You do not have to re-invest in Instructional Designing because it has already been done.
Two major time-consuming activities of eLearning development are already taken care of. If you also have the original source files, a lot of your time is saved and makes your job a lot easier. In the end, you would have successfully salvaged a neglected piece of a learning resource, refurbished it to last long, instead of investing in creating microlearning modules from scratch.
How Do You Go About Migrating To Microlearning Modules?
You need to spend some time planning on how to execute the migration of existing eLearning content to microlearning modules. Here are some tips:
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Spend some time on understanding who your target audience is for the course. Get a few volunteers to view the old course, and ask their feedback. You need to identify the real reason behind the dropout rates for the eLearning course.
- Is it just the duration or there is something more to it?
- Is the content too much?
- Do the presentation or interactivities need rethinking?
Assess all these aspects, and make a note so that you can modify the course accordingly.
2. Analyze The Content
Next, you will need to analyze the content of the course to see how it has been divided. If it has already been divided into different modules, with a logical flow and formative assessments, all you need to do is separate them into independent modules that can be accessed separately. You may also consider giving options to learners to opt out of some of the modules if they feel confident of the subject by testing out of them and moving to the next module of the course.
3. One Module, One Topic
You need to ensure that each module consists of a single topic. If it has more than a topic or lesson, it is best to separate them into different modules as that is the key to microlearning. One single micro module handles on topic or theme of the subject and no more.
4. Consider Mobile Devices
If you would like the microlearning modules to be accessed from mobile devices, you need to ensure that courses are responsive to the device from which it is accessed. It means you need to ensure that courses are developed using HTML5 and any Flash elements that might be there in the course will have to be converted to suit the new format.
5. Explore Different Microlearning Objects
When analyzing the content, you also need to check if it is suitable for mobile devices. If it can be tweaked easily to fit the limited mobile screen without impacting the learning experience, it is fine. Else, you may want to convert some portions of the content as independent micro resources such as PDF documents, infographics, podcasts, or videos.
You can also consider having quizzes independently instead of within the modules. If these cannot be easily included in the course, they can be offered as separate resources or independent learning objects. Here is a blog that suggests different engaging formats for microlearning modules.
Microlearning strategy adapts to the changing times and the changes in the way we learn today. It also offers better flexibility to learners to complete learning at their pace. Most importantly, it enables learners to access content at the time of need which means microlearning doubles up as performance support. So, if you have an eLearning course that is good in all other respects but for its volume of content and duration, you should consider migrating to microlearning modules.
