Online learning or e-learning has stood its ground and is an established learning practice used by universities, enterprises, and other entities providing education and training. Microlearning, aka microlearning or micro-learning, as an extension of e-learning, is a concept aimed at providing short bites of lessons to learners, primarily the corporate workforce, which are easy to memorize and available on time. Micro learning can be a standalone effort or it can supplement a formal learning strategy; in both cases, micro learning has been proven to be effective and efficient.
With the manifold benefits of providing quick bites of lessons, microlearning is easy to manage and deliver for organizations that want to keep their employees informed and equipped all the time, without putting an extra burden of extensive learning on them. Here we have listed some of the benefits of inculcating micro learning in a corporate learning strategy.
One at a Time
Microlearning content comes in nuggets; it focuses on a specific aspect of the subject and hence is quick to learn and easy to remember. The perfectly sized bites of information extracted from the formal lessons, which take 3-5 minutes to comprehend, are easily consumed and retained in the memory for on-time application.
On-time Learning
It’s a fast-paced life, and we have too many things to do, at work and at home. Micro learning targets niche topics and brings them to your screen for on-time consumption. They are ideal for quick reference to reinforce the formal learning, for example, to support the lessons learnt, for pre-training guides, or for a quick update.
Performance Support Tool
While going through formal training, micro learning can come in handy as a performance support tool. The on-time learning strategy is used as a quick reminder or to recap the lessons learnt, to provide extended information that could have been missed in the formal training courseware, or in many other ways.
Easy to Access
Microlearning is usually accessed on mobile devices through apps. The ease of access is a great advantage, trainees don’t have to open the laptop always and can quickly access the lesson bites on mobile devices when required.
Higher Retention
Since microlearning is not a stressful task and is taken at the will of the learner and in the comfort of a private space and time, the retention rate of the information consumed turns out to be higher than formal training. However, caution has to be taken not to overwhelm the learners; the goal of micro learning is to provide easy learning, and the lesson bites need to be tiny and exciting. Micro learning consists of rich interactive media like video, animation, infographics, and images to illustrate the training; hence, this adds to the retainability of the information consumed
Easy to Develop and Maintain
With ample benefits for the learner side, microlearning also has great advantages for the organisations. With a shorter development lifecycle, they are easy to develop and maintain. Once the app is developed, they don’t take much effort to maintain. Impelsys is a renowned supplier of technology products and services to the learning community. mon’k, the flagship e-learning platform, supports mobility and microlearning through e-learning apps and responsive web design.
Quick to Launch
Microlearning lessons are quick to launch, they can be updated quickly, and training administrators can provide continuously refreshed lessons for the learners. The lessons can, however, be saved on the client device and can be accessed at any stage of the learning cycle, thus providing even more stress-free learning for the learners.
Behavioral Change Among Employees
Mobile learning, with the freedom and privacy that it provides, is known to support positive behavioral change among employees. Micro learning leverages on this fact; the outcome is expected to be narrow but of high impact, and hence employees see it as a resourceful tool.
Microlearning comes in various formats like videos, infographics, quizzes, games, and interactive PDFs. It gives variety and is exciting for learners. With the multiple advantages, the strategy is proven to reduce the forgetting rate and give an exponential push to the learning curve; it certainly helps organisations step up their training efforts and, in turn, increase the productivity of their employees.
Elearning Trends on the Radar for Year 2018
