Microlearning And Its Benefits
Here is everything you need to know about microlearning, including definitions, examples, and examples of how to use it in your training program. Long PowerPoint presentations and clumsy Learning Management Systems (LMSs) need to be eliminated. The term "microlearning" refers to the quick, bite-sized training techniques that have recently been adopted by workforces around the world.
What Is Microlearning, And How Does It Work?
Microlearning is a technique for imparting knowledge to employees in brief (3–5 minute) bursts as and when required, with a clear and focused learning purpose. The learner has full control over what and when they learn, and they are free to finish their training whenever it is convenient for them.
Take into account the information you take in on a regular basis. Most likely, you learn about it via brief informational bursts on your Twitter feed or from news update notifications on your cell phone. Microlearning makes use of this behavior by mimicking your current routines and giving you more interesting and easily digestible short bursts of information.
Josh Bersin distinguishes between microlearning and macro learning and makes a great argument about how microlearning fits into the overall learning environment. While macro learning enables us to fully immerse ourselves in learning and go deeper into a topic, microlearning offers quick fixes to the problems we are currently facing [1].
What Are Its Perks For Employers?
Microlearning is more than simply a passing phase [1]. It's a groundbreaking new approach to education that is designed to fit our increasingly busy lifestyles. Over the course of a workweek, learners are reported to spend just 1% of their time on Learning and Development. With such a busy schedule, how can we expect them to sit down and study for hours on end?
However, it goes beyond simply keeping track of time. Our preferences for information consumption have fundamentally changed. The installed smartphone base is currently 2.5 times that of PCs, and 68.1% of all worldwide website traffic in 2020 came from mobile devices. It's no wonder that mobile-friendly training and microlearning are growing in popularity as our lives become more intertwined with our phones.
Because of this, mobile learning and microlearning have a strong relationship and commonly coexist. Mobile learning enables us to disseminate that information using the everyday gadgets that millennials and the rest of society use, while microlearning divides the material into brief (2–5 minute) segments. Microlearning provides a solution for modern enterprises that have struggled to motivate and engage learners at a time of low retention rates and short attention spans.
Some Examples
Information for microlearning is available in a range of formats. Naturally, the only requirement is that it must be brief. Consider the following microlearning formats: there are short paragraphs and flashcards incorporated throughout the material.
- Images, including diagrams and other visual assistance
- Videos with brief and simple explanations
- Audio clips of music or voice
- Games or quizzes that measure a learner's comprehension
Your customers will be most engaged by microlearning solutions that make use of a variety of information forms and mimic the experience we have when scrolling through social media. It's crucial to make learning accessible and fun for the end user so that they can pick up where they left off right away and stay motivated to keep studying.
This learning approach can be helpful in a range of settings, from integrating new hires to adopting company-wide safety programs. Businesses that use microlearning have shown considerable boosts in productivity and retention.
What Is The Most Effective Technique To Begin Microlearning?
Our top recommendations for developing a productive microlearning plan or enhancing an existing one are listed below:
1. Keep It Short And To The Point
According to Josh Bersin, today's employees are stressed, impatient, and distracted. This implies that, depending on whether the training seems relevant and will fit into their busy schedules, your learners will decide whether or not to continue with it in 5–10 seconds. In our opinion, a microlearning lesson should last 3–5 minutes.
2. Make It Simple To Begin…And To Continue Learning
In a few clicks, learners will decide if your learning platform is worthwhile. Making it simple to find is the first step. Most eLearning platforms require a lot of effort to sign in, and once you do, they automatically log you out. The idea of microlearning, which demands instant access, is incompatible with this.
Be sure to note how many stages there are in order to get started. Make sure that learners may remain logged in on the learning platform once they have identified themselves through the first activation step; they shouldn't have to do this more than once.
3. Make Your Microlearning Accessible On Mobile Devices
As previously stated, the concurrent rise in popularity of microlearning and mobile learning is not a coincidence; rather, they complement one another. When developing your learning, take into account how people use their mobile phones as opposed to how your existing eLearning is structured. As a result, you can build on the learner's familiar and intuitive behavior, without having to educate them on how to use the learning tool on top of everything else.
4. Use Videos
Video content is enjoyable for everyone, so incorporate it into your microlearning. The "keep it brief" rule still applies because people have two minutes of attention span. Utilize relatable examples that your students can relate to, and underline essential points with text and visuals displayed on the screen to improve information retention. To make things simpler for students who don't want to turn on the audio because they lost their headphones on a crowded train, add subtitles.
5. Become Accustomed To Learning Something New Every Day
Corporate training, in our opinion, must be done the same way: in quick bursts, as needed, on our cellphones, or even on the fly. For microlearning to be effective in causing behavior change and producing business results, it must be practiced frequently. Present your students with brief, pertinent courses and morsels of essential knowledge so they can dive in. When they check into their microlearning, they should always discover something fresh and interesting.
6. Use Spaced Repetition To Your Advantage
According to the theory of spaced repetition, learning occurs when new skills and ideas are gradually introduced to the brain, with breaks for reflection. The only way to prevent knowledge loss afterward is to repeat the process repeatedly. New information is quickly forgotten. The study also demonstrates that by asking people questions to make us search for information, and by repeating material at regular intervals, we can create new learning pathways. It is comparable to how you learn when working, where you repeat tasks and challenge your knowledge.
7. Use A Conversational, Lighthearted Tone
When someone mentions "corporate training," most individuals become uneasy because they automatically picture something boring and monotonous. Use interaction, a conversational approach, and a hint of humor to eliminate these misconceptions. You must create a strong pull effect if you want to regularly draw in learners. Remove all limitations based on tradition.
Conclusion
In today's evolving workplace, microlearning is a terrific tool to train staff. Students find it to be fascinating, practical, and enticing. A standalone corporate training product is microlearning. However, if microlearning is implemented without careful consideration, we cannot say that it is a universally applicable approach. Creating customized training is a difficult task, especially in light of the abundance of microlearning instances.
