Microlearning is learning in short, focused bursts, usually delivered online. Think of it as High Intensity Impact Training for your brain. Microlearning benefits learners by enabling them to cut out irrelevant information, thinking only about what is important for their immediate purposes. In a rapidly changing world, increasingly filled with distractions, it may well be the only way to engage learners in the workplace. Here are some of the reasons why microlearning is the way forward.
Fluid locations
Many organisations today employ temporary staff, contractors, or freelancers, who may work from a variety of locations outside the office. Even full-time employees may carry out a large portion of their work from home or on the move. It’s no longer a simple task to organise a lunchtime training session, if your staff are scattered across the globe. Fortunately, online communications and Learning Management Systems (LMS) can more than compensate for this, if they are skilfully deployed. These tools also happen to be ideal vehicles for microlearning.
Lack of time
The demands of modern working practices can leave little time for learning and development. Therefore, it’s more important than ever before that we manage our time efficiently. If employees need to take time out of their work schedules to carry out training, we need to make sure that this time is well spent. Microlearning facilitates this, by providing targeted learning and cutting out superfluous content.
Battling with distractions
We are all online a lot of the time, exposed to distractions in the form of social media, video clips and emails. It can be difficult to clear space in our diaries to work at a single task for an extended period. Short bursts of activity are much easier to schedule, and more likely to be completed.
An expectation to access learning quickly
Most of us turn to search engines, often on our smartphones, to find near-instant answers to the questions that pop up in our daily lives. How many times have you used your phone to find out who was performing that track you just heard on the radio, or who was the actor you recognised in a film you were watching? Since we are accustomed to finding answers quickly, we are unlikely to have the patience to spend a long time getting to the point. Here is where a microlearning LMS comes into its own. It fits with our modern patterns of information-seeking, because it is likely to be accessible quickly, from a smartphone or other device.
Rapidly changing work environments
Technology is advancing apace, and so are the professional skills we all need, to succeed in the workplace. Continuing professional development has never been more important. We all need to undertake training just to stand still, let alone move forward in today’s workforce. Micro learning in eLearning can be doubly valuable here. Firstly, it can provide rapidly accessible, bite-sized chunks of essential training for busy employees. Secondly, if it is delivered online, simply accessing eLearning is a valuable learning experience, helping learners to develop their digital skills.
