What Is Microlearning?

Microlearning is a method of eLearning that delivers short, focused bursts of content and learning activities to an audience. These bite-sized lessons and tasks have found favor with learners and it’s generally acknowledged that microlearning meets the following criteria:

• Learner-centric
• Easy to access
• Short and focused (usually less than 10 minutes)

Freed from the resource and time demands of the traditional learning environment, microlearning is revolutionizing how people access and consume educational material.

Here are some benefits of incorporating microlearning into your strategy:

After the upheaval of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations found themselves faced with the challenge of how to deliver online learning in a remote environment. Without face-to-face contact and the continuous feedback that it offered, it became more important than ever to find the most effective methods for communicating information in both a digestible and memorable format. Video learning was soon heavily relied on in this remote environment, giving learners the freedom and flexibility to access materials at their own pace.

Statistical projects that by the end of 2021, there will be more than 6.3 billion smartphone users worldwide, meaning that most people’s device of choice for accessing the internet will be their phones. Having lessons readily available via a mobile phone and optimized for that platform means that people can learn on the go at whatever time they have available.

2. Short Burst of Information Can Improve Learning Retention

This claim is supported by RPS Research, which found that microlearning improves learner focus and supports long-term retention by up to 80% in employees when used as a tool to reinforce learning. Where microlearning is not used, employees can forget between 50% and 80% of what they learn. If attention spans are diminishing, it’s reasonable to suggest that long lectures and course material may no longer be suitable for today’s learners.

3. Microlearning Provides a Solution to One of the Big Barriers of Workplace Learning

A 2019 LinkedIn Workplace Study found that the biggest barrier to learning in the workplace was, unsurprisingly, time. Employees are missing out on L&D opportunities due to their hectic work schedules, and microlearning could solve this issue. With microlearning materials, a spare ten minutes in an otherwise busy day becomes an opportunity for employees to advance their learning. With microlearning activities typically being under 10 minutes long, this is the perfect way to overcome the time barrier and account for learning opportunities.

4. Learner Results Have Been Shown to Improve With Microlearning

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to delivering learning. One of the benefits of microlearning is its versatility. There’s a natural connection between gamification and microlearning—together, they create a fun and personalized solution for the user. But adding elements such as instant feedback, rewards, and progress tracking can help to improve learner results and boost engagement.

Research conducted into the effectiveness of different teaching methods found that students who were educated with challenge-based gamification raised their performance by up to 90% (89.45%) compared to those who were only taught with lectures. Similarly, a study undertaken by Australian Catholic University into the effectiveness of video learning found that when higher education students were exposed to highly edited video clips alongside more traditional teaching methods, their grades rose from B to A.

5.The Ability to Track Engagement and Comprehension

Using a learning management system to deliver your learning means that you can track learner progress, use analytics to understand where any skills gaps lie, and quickly update and distribute content as necessary. Delivering short bursts of information makes it easy to fill any skills gaps as they arise. Those skill gaps will clearly be individual to each learner. The ability to target extra resources at individual learners in real time is hugely beneficial to the rate at which training can progress. Consequently, building adaptive learning into your strategy quickly addresses any gaps in knowledge and helps learners progress more effectively. This makes the whole learning experience a far more engaging one.

Microlearning also helps learners to personalize their own experience in terms of how they engage with the materials. Through technology, individual journeys can be tailored to suit individual needs and styles of learning, and all materials can be accessed in the LMS.

6. Microlearning Can Reduce Training Costs

Using microlearning as an alternative to or to supplement other learning and development resources can help to reduce your costs. Clearly, there are fewer overheads compared to traditional learning, there’s no need for a classroom or equipment. There’s no need to schedule valuable work time for learning since most microlearning is undertaken independently by learners. It’s also easier and less costly to update digital resources.

Author: Elearn team, Elearn magazine elearnmagazine.com