While the word “Microlearning” sounds like a fancy modern invention, it actually dates back as far as the mid-20th Century when the concept of cognitive load theory emerged, proving that there’s a limit to how much information the human brain can process at once. Thus, microlearning was invented to create short bursts of learning opportunities to enable people to absorb smaller amounts of information at a time.
As anyone who has presented or attended corporate training sessions knows, they can be long and – even despite the best efforts of dynamic presenters – boring. The amount of information employees retain is likely lower than what they need in order to succeed at their jobs.
Bob Pike’s 90/20/8 rule says that people are able to remain attentive and alert for 8 minutes, with attention dipping after 20 minutes and almost disappearing by 90 minutes. This is where microlearning comes in – providing people with bite-sized chunks of critical information that they can absorb easily, boosting their engagement and knowledge retention.
In this blog, we will explore the benefits and challenges of microlearning as well as the best practices as it relates to employee training.
Key Characteristics of Microlearning
There is no official “microlearning” definition, but there are key characteristics shared by microlearning opportunities, including:
- Brevity – Microlearning lessons are known for being very short, usually 1, 3, or 5 minutes long and rarely more than 10 minutes.
- Focused – Each microlearning unit covers only one specific and focused topic.
- Accessible – The content is generally mobile-friendly and able to be accessed from either a desktop or a variety of mobile devices.
- Variety – Although microlearning units are short in length, they can still be made up of various content types including text, images, video, audio, and quizzes.
Benefits of Microlearning
Microlearning is a direct response to shortened attention spans and the inability of the brain to focus and retain information for long periods of time. The major benefits of microlearning platforms for employee training include:
- Speed – It’s much faster to develop and deliver microlearning courses as compared to longer and more complex training sessions as there is significantly less content to prepare and create. It’s also possible to respond quickly to changing business goals or the needs of the learners and adapt the materials.
- Cost – Fewer resources are needed to produce microlearning courses, especially as they are online and can be viewed over and over at no additional cost, making it a cost effective choice.
- Flexibility – A huge range of topics lend themselves to being taught via microlearning, using a variety of mediums from text to video and more. In addition, it offers the flexibility for users to watch the material at their own leisure when it’s convenient for them.
- Engagement – In many ways microlearning is akin to checking a social media app, something which most people are accustomed to doing on a regular basis. The informality and short-length as compared to traditional training sessions are a natural way to increase engagement and motivation.
- Retention – A proven way to retain information is repeated studying and revisiting. Microlearning encourages this behavior because the short clips are easily watched multiple times to ensure the information is retained.
Challenges and Considerations of Microlearning
Despite the advantages offered by microlearning, it is important to note the challenges involved with this system, as well as the situations in which microlearning is not the ideal solution. For example, microlearning works very well for big-picture or concepts that are easy to grasp. It doesn’t work as well for teaching complex technical skills or learning a language fluently or in-depth.
This means that employers considering microlearning for their employee training efforts must think about the content of the training – teaching new servers a restaurants’ procedures and policies is a great candidate for microlearning, while showing new employees how to assemble a complex engine would likely require longer, more hands-on training.
Microlearning in Employee Training
Microlearning platforms can be an excellent tool in certain aspects of employee training, especially in restaurants and retail stores where the concepts to teach are not overly complicated but are crucial to job success. The training areas in which microlearning can be applied include:
- Onboarding and training of new hires
- Ongoing support and training to upgrade job performance
- Compliance and regulatory training
- Learning and development of new skills
Best Practices in Designing Effective Microlearning Experiences
Microlearning is most effective when it’s implemented in a thoughtful and strategic way. Best practices for ensuring the success of microlearning opportunities include:
- Assess the Fit – As discussed above, microlearning is not appropriate for every training requirement. It is important to first assess the complexity of the topic to be covered in order to determine whether it is deliverable in the short bursts that characterize microlearning.
- Set Goals – Identify the desired outcomes of the microlearning, and be specific. For example, the goal may be to ensure that new hires in a restaurant know the procedure for seating customers.
- Create Focused Content – Don’t just take pieces of existing longer e-learning courses, but rather create specific microlearning content that speaks directly to the goals.
- Use Multimedia – Text alone is boring and the point of microlearning is to avoid the boredom that is so prevalent in traditional training sessions. Incorporate interesting elements like video, photos, animations, etc.
- Choose the Right Technology – Research available microlearning platforms to find the one that best suits your needs and is easy to use.
Future Trends in Microlearning
As new technologies and innovations emerge, the microlearning industry is able to improve and adapt. The biggest trend to keep an eye on is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the impact increasing capabilities will have on microlearning. With AI, it will be possible to modify and personalize training content based on each employee and his or her style of learning.
In addition, microlearning platforms are becoming more advanced when it comes to including analytics and the ability to track progress. Being able to see where people are excelling and where they are struggling will enable employers to create content that best suits the needs of their learners.
Microlearning with Bites
As our name indicates, Bites enables you to create bite-sized visual content that can be used to engage your new hires and employees and allow them to have fun and stay interested while learning all they need to know to succeed at their job.
Because Bites seamlessly integrates with existing tools that your team uses, employees don’t need to install additional hardware or download software – it’s easy to use, resulting in a better and more positive work environment.
Click here to set up a demo today.