About Microlearning

So, you all know what Microlearning is by this point. You have read the articles provided in the course, you listened to Brent’s discussion of the concept, so I am not going to get into any of that. How about we just focus on why Microlearning should be used as the primary learning format in the workplace, or corporate world.

 

Think about your job. What did you do today? How many tasks did you work through? How many emails to you respond to? Who came by your desk and interrupted you with an urgent question while you were in the middle of working on something else? How many meetings did you sit through? Ok, the picture could vary person to person, but I would imagine that each of you reading this encountered at least 1-2 situations from this paragraph today… maybe all 6? Maybe more? You get the picture.

 

Now your manager comes by and says, “Hey, we need to pivot our approach and focus on Y instead of X. I want you to read these 12 articles and take this 60-minute training at 2pm so that you become familiar with Y. Your inner monologue might go something like this, “…but I have all to do all of these other things too. I don’t have time for this.” Enter Microlearning.

 

According to Bottom Line Performance (2015), the modern employee is overwhelmed with information. Flexibility in where and how a person learns is extremely important. Think about how much time you spend a week actually learning; time that is dedicated to learning. Is it 20%? That is incredible if so. 10%? You are being modest. Studies have shown that it is actually about 1-2%, tops (Boller, 2015). Think about it. With all of the competing priorities you deal with on a day-to-day basis, what does it take to actually accomplish learning, whether for professional development or required work-related knowledge? Do you have to push everything else aside and fall behind on work?

 

Microlearning should be used by Learning and Development professionals in the workplace to create tools to give employees those bite-sized chunks of information or knowledge quickly, and digestibly in order to minimize the amount of interruption that typical training courses or classes require. Would you rather review a 4-5 minute video or eLearning module or a 60-minute one? How much of the information would you retain from each?

 

You still aren’t on board? Well, let’s look at it from the perspective of “SH!FT Disruptive eLearning”, a company focused on providing eLearning solutions to major corporations including Toyota, Microsoft, Roche, Home Depot and even Subway (no wonder they make sandwiches so fast!). Here are the results of their exhaustive research on why Microlearning works in the corporate world, summarized in 5 points (Gutierrez, 2015).

 

1. Microlearning makes the transfer of learning 17% more efficient.

2. 8 out of 10 L&D professionals favor microlearning because their learners prefer it.

3. Microlearning creates 50% more engagement.

4. Learning in stretches of 3-7 minutes matches the working memory capacity and attention spans of humans.

5. Microlearning courses can be produced in 300% percent less time and 50% less cost than traditional courses.

 

There is not too much else to say on this one, so I’m just going to end it here [mic drop].

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