What are the advantages of microlearning?

• It doesn’t overwhelm the user with an intimidating amount of information to absorb.
• It easily fits around other work-related tasks as small, regular breaks that provide a stimulating period of mentally engaging activity which helps maintain productivity.
• It allows users to learn only what they want or need at that point in time in relation to their role.
• It encourages users to develop professionally and add value to your organization (in order to gain access to further learning opportunities).

Interested in what microlearning has to offer? Whilst you consider this innovative learning technique as an option for your workforce’s training, have a quick browse of the following tips on how to produce microlearning courses for your staff.

Identify all learning outcomes (before you do anything else)

As with any eLearning course production, identifying desired learning outcomes is an essential stage in ensuring your content meets its requirements and you receive a return on your investment. It’s worth stressing again because it’s perhaps even more pertinent a point in regards to the production of microlearning posts. Once learning outcomes are determined, structuring your content will be so much simpler.

Leave the design until after your content is fit for purpose

There’s no point even thinking about the design of your microlearning course until all content has been segmented, structured and exercises/activities have been formulated and implemented. Once this process is complete, you’ll be able to custom design the course around user intentions and requirements, creating an eLearning experience with usability at it’s core.

Make it responsive

Mobile learning is becoming more and more essential – none more so than in the case of microlearning. Due to the nature of this type of learning, you can’t expect your employees to be accepting of desktop-restricted learning when they could complete their necessary training on-the-fly in spare moments.

Only use visuals when they’re of value to the learning experience

In ordinary eLearning course production it’s common practice to utilize visuals to aid the intake of information. Because users will only be required to digest such small nuggets of knowledge when learning via microlearning, the role of such visuals is significantly diminished. Instead, when designing microlearning courses simply focus on using graphics that add value to the learning such as charts, tables, models, graphs and so on.

Use attachments and links to other sources to keep it concise

Don’t elaborate unnecessarily; if you’re able to keep content short then do so, and link to external resources where required to supplement learning and aid learners who require further information.

Incorporate video

Video is another form of media which allows you to squeeze the most out of your content and keep it succinct; used sparingly and only when appropriate, video media can be a real game-changer in creating lean yet useful microlearning.

Post-production, remember:

• Map out each learning outcome against every individual’s progress development; deliver specific training to each employee when required and/or when they are sufficiently prepared.
• Don’t make your candidates wait to start their next batch of training; use an automated system to notify your employees that a new learning opportunity is available.

This is by no means a guide to producing microlearning courses; there are numerous in-depth resources on the web available to you should you wish to undertake further research in this area.

The purpose of this post was to introduce you into the advantages of microlearning, what it could mean to you and your business, and what needs to be considered if you want to implement microlearning in your workplace.

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