Microlearning: effective approach

I NEED IT NOW. How many times have you heard this before? Probably many times. The time when you could spend days finding solutions is long gone. Similarly, the time when you could spend days finding valuable information is long gone.

Fortunately, the eLearning environment has ways to adapt itself to the necessities of the ever-changing world. What are these necessities? More structured and shorter pieces of information, delivered in an engaging way, focused on specific objectives. This leads us to the concept of microlearning, which suits all of these needs.

In case you needed some good news for today, you don’t need to study for hours in order to acquire the specific knowledge you need. But, let’s take things step by step.

What is microlearning?

Microlearning is a method used in the eLearning environment, which consists of bites of information covered in a variety of formats, such as images, short videos, micro-assessments and games, which are designed to check some specific learning objectives and which provide knowledge in a more engaging and interactive way.

Briefly, microlearning is your live-saver learning method in this era of chaotic schedules, high-demanding learning requirements and short attention spans. It’s one of the benefits of online learning.

Benefits of microlearning

Now that you have an idea about what microlearning is, let’s move on to the benefits it brings for your company, in the process of delivering efficient corporate trainings.

1. It boosts knowledge retention

Nowadays, when there is a constant flow of new information and skills to be acquired, corporate trainings are a must-have in order to check your business objectives. You need your teams to be well-prepared, preferably in a short period of time and to fully use the information they get.

eLearning is a life-saving solution to accomplish all these necessities, and microlearning is a powerful tool in the process of knowledge retention because the learners don’t have to clutter their minds with tons of information, some irrelevant, which would force them to further skim through it in order to keep the relevant content. Through this method, they get the specific information they need in order to check some concrete goals and to provide them with the skills they need in order to fulfil their business tasks.

2. Learners find microlearning more engaging

As I’ve mentioned before and as you all know already, the attention span nowadays is getting shorter and, moreover, the training time the employees have is also shorter. And when they move from the tons of tasks they have to the corporate training, they are not as pleased as one might think. Why? Because constantly adding information might be overwhelming.

The solution? Engaging methods of gathering information which would make the trainings welcomed by learners. This is where micro-learning comes in help because it employs scenario-based learning, interactive videos and infographics which make the learning process dynamic and more efficient, both for the company goals and for the employees professional development.

Moreover, is seems that micro-learning is the eLearning method of today’s millennial generation who spends hours scrolling on the smartphone, so giving them learning content which is similar to the content provided by the social apps they use is a smart and effective move.

3. It is flexible and faster to deliver

In terms of flexibility, micro-learning allows you to cover any subject that you would cover through regular eLearning, but in a more concise way, offering a broad overview on a specific subject.

Also, the eLearning content is easier to update in case you want to adapt it to different teams or to slightly different learning objectives, in comparison with the printed manuals and traditional methods of learning which are harder to readapt. It is faster to deliver because it involves fewer resources and shorter periods of time, both in terms of delivering the information and in terms of receiving and internalising it.

Now, that we’ve covered the benefits, let’s talk a bit about the limitations of micro-learning. You need to know that this method might not be the ideal choice for you if you want to deliver in-depth training or complex concepts which do not involve a broad perspective on a topic, but rather a more detailed learning process. And this leads us to micro-learning best practices.

Check whether microlearning is or isn’t the right method for your specific learning objectives. Keep in mind that you might fully benefit from it if you use it with a clear goal in your mind which can be accomplished through concise information.

Anyway, if you need regular eLearning delivery, be aware that you can still employ micro-learning, but as a supplementary method, using it as a bonus in the learning process.

Use multimedia and gamification methods to get the best out of this process. Videos, audios, images and short games might be what learners need in order to turn the notion of training from a necessity into a benefit.

Use proper micro-learning content. You need to know that you can’t just copy paste blocks of a regular eLearning material into a shorter format and call it micro-learning content. You need to create materials that consist of focused content and capture that exact information you want to pass on in order to get to a well-defined outcome.

Microlearning might be the ideal change you need to make in your training delivery process in order to transmit information which is well structured, specific goal-driven and appealing to learners in terms of engagement and interactivity. And don’t forget about the micro-learning content which is your starting point when using this method.