Microlearning is a buzzed-about approach that even people outside the learning and development field might have heard of. But for all that talk, it’s not always clear what this term really me...
Published 9 years ago
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While I agree that micro-learning is very important, I also feel that this is the new buzzword that has taken our industry by storm and some have the wrong idea of what it really means. I attended an e-learning conference back in October and one of the presenters spoke to this topic. His primary point was that we need to keep our training as short as possible due to attention spans. I would disagree with the idea that all learning needs to change to two minute learning segments. If a concept needs ten minutes of explaining then it takes ten minutes. It is the job of the designer to keep the learner engaged and keep the content to what the learner needs to know.
Making learning segments too short could lead to confusion on how larger concepts relate or tie into each other. I would say to learn your audience before applying micro-learning to all of your coursework. I think micro-learning within a 10 minute lesson has worked best for us because of the ongoing feedback we have gotten back from our learners. You can present some short content, have an interactive knowledge check, and so forth. This allows you to present content that is very focused and then tie it all together, if needed. I feel this is especially important when training on software, which is what I am involved in. Thanks! :)
-Brian
Making learning segments too short could lead to confusion on how larger concepts relate or tie into each other. I would say to learn your audience before applying micro-learning to all of your coursework. I think micro-learning within a 10 minute lesson has worked best for us because of the ongoing feedback we have gotten back from our learners. You can present some short content, have an interactive knowledge check, and so forth. This allows you to present content that is very focused and then tie it all together, if needed. I feel this is especially important when training on software, which is what I am involved in. Thanks! :)
-Brian
- You make some really great points, Brian. I agree that it can be too easy to go all-in on a trendy approach without considering needs and outcomes, first. It sounds like the way you've implemented micro-learning is well-considered and effective. Hopefully you can lend your support and experience to other folks in the ELH community who are weighing their design options. Thanks for sharing your comment!
- Hi Brian, I was wondering how you go about demonstrating the software to your learners. Do you stick to a recording of the software in action with comments and information on screen or do you find that an on-screen presenter or simply audio over the demonstration work best? Our company is moving away from face to face training to save on expenses etc and will be relying on e-learning and documentation as its sole form of systems training so was just wondering what others approaches are. Thank You.
Shaun.- Hello Shaun,
I would be happy to answer this question. So speaking strictly from a Storyline approach because we use this type of coursework for people who are learning the software for the first time. Our approach is broken into three different offerings within a lesson. There is the actual content that goes over the learning objectives, important concepts, and specific information one needs to know before using the product. There is also a demonstration which takes a business case and applies into using the product. Some lessons also offer a simulation where the learner can complete a series of tasks similar to the business case. Note: This is more than just a click through.
We make the content portion required and the demo and simulation optional. In relation to this article, I think we apply micro-learning into our training in that we cover a topic or learning objective and then have an informal assessment. We repeat this process in the content and eventually do have the formal assessment. The demo is a specific business case that is usually 2-5 minutes long.
I am happy to hear you are moving away from live training. We offer something similar and my team has been urging other departments to move away from this and just have recorded sessions with a live QA once a week or something like that. I hope my response has helped you. One thing I did learn when we revamped our coursework two years is that our learners love screenshots. It is a pain to upkeep but it really helps with the learning of our products. Your learners know best :)
Brian Seaman- Thank you for the quick response Brian. Much appreciated. I like the sound of the live QA. I might try and incorporate something similar through our SharePoint site. Yes I agree screenshots are well liked, in documentation and e-learning. We have a lot to maintain and small changes in systems keep us pretty busy. Thanks again. Shaun.
- Hi Brian, currently I'm building a whole range of modules as part of an on-boarding process for a courier company. Whilst most content is 10-15 mins in length some topics are vast one module being 40mins! Without much time to reflect and apply the content will get lost. Due to time pressure, we had little time to prepare and had to 'get it done' - sound familiar. After the launch, it's been decided to break these monster modules and save the poor darlings from falling asleep whilst listening to accounting guidelines.
I am now more in favour of producing 1x module per discrete topic - 5 mins at most. After all the modules will serve as a reference tool post course so content needs to be found easily. I do like the idea of producing a summary module to link the content together. If out LMS had 'folders' to group modules that would help unfortunately, we have a scroll of death but that's the pay-off I guess.
