Microlearning may sound like just another buzzword or piece of jargon, but it is quickly becoming the next big thing when it comes to workplace learning and commercial skills training.
Microlearning has proved itself to be suitable for a vast range of demographics and knowledge levels, with the ability to break down subjects into smaller, more easy to consume, chunks of information.
This method of eLearning is providing professionals with a method of learning and development that can be implemented more frequently than traditional training courses and can often be accessed on the go, meaning employees can complete their bitesize learning objectives, during their morning commute, or during a short break in the day. The tasks appear less daunting to all learners and often result in topics appearing clearer.
How can you create a good microlearning programme?
There are no set defined characteristics to define the microlearning process. However, there are some common themes that appear across the majority of successful microlearning systems.
Asset duration
Although microlearning should realistically last around 5-10 minutes, there is no specific rule that dictates how long a microlearning session should last. Many microlearning sessions will need to be customised to fit the audience.
This may involve looking at the free time that your employees have, or how time sensitive their work is. The core goal here is to give your learners enough time to meet the learning objective, which means trainers must break a topic down into the most important elements.
Limit learning objectives
When it comes to microlearning, it must be ensured that there is only one objective per microlearning module. With such a limited time allocated, microlearning must ensure that it is focused solely on the learning outcome delegated to that piece of content. If the microlearning module tries to focus on too many objectives at once, it will likely fail to achieve any of them and become confusing.
Interactivity and accessibility
Microlearning strays a fair distance from traditional learning, with one of its key USP’s being interactivity. Interacting with the material given can assist learners in recalling finer details of the module and also offers them the ability to customise their learning experience.
Equally, it is important for the content to be accessible to a range of audiences, with Millennials explicitly preferring to be able to access their learning materials from any device, including tablets, desktop, laptop and mobile phones.
This builds more of an argument for content creators to thoroughly understand the audience that will be using the learning material and their preferred method of access.
Remain on topic
Relevance to the topic at hand is crucial to a successful microlearning training course. The learning must be relevant to problems faced by your employees regularly, with ideas extracted from commonly asked questions by your workforce, where possible.
This will help you create modules and learning programmes that can be accessed easily and offer the information through microlearning, at the time that it is needed.
Microlearning is no longer at risk of becoming a passing fad. With the development of various methods of delivery and growth in the number of people using technology in their everyday lives, including accessing work-related websites and portals, microlearning looks to become more popular than ever.