The benefits of microlearning have been well-documented, and it’s proven to be a smart approach to teaching complicated information or skill sets that need to be broken down into smaller, more digestible sections. It has also proven to increase memory and retention for leaners, and it gives organizations a cost-effective, scalable, and easily updated learning experience.
But while the advantages of microlearning appeal to businesses, it can be hard for L&D teams to know exactly how to apply it to their own programs. Here are some of the best scenarios to use microlearning to help create change and drive your business goals.
- Supporting time-sensitive initiatives: Microlearning is the perfect format to help learners engage with critical concepts quickly. A microlearning course on a new system or process update can help users grasp important changes faster. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to transition from onsite to at-home remote work, plenty of teams were left feeling unsure how to navigate the new technology and processes that were now required. Microlearning can be a great training tool to help bridge these kinds of knowledge gaps.
- Driving learner engagement: If there’s an important initiative that you need to get learners enthusiastic about, keeping their attention is key. Microlearning can take a number of forms, such as one-sheet PDFs to quickly highlight features of a new product launch, short videos to demonstrate a compliance scenario, or interactive infographics to illustrate key onboarding concepts, all which can increase learners’ engagement more than a classroom lecture.
- Solving performance-based problems: Microlearning is a useful tool to help support performance goals. It can be very targeted and focused on the tangible steps to take to achieve one objective. Short videos that demonstrate a few easy ways to improve customer service interactions for better call center scores, or quick interactive modules that go over a recently updated compliance mandate, can help connect learners to the most relevant, timely, and impactful information quickly and effectively.
- Refreshing knowledge: Microlearning is an easy way to sustain learning over the long-term. If you’ve recently taken your sales team through an extensive training, having microlearning training modules that they can re-engage with periodically for a refresher of key takeaways makes it easier to keep knowledge fresh and top of mind, therefore more readily applied.
- Promoting a learning culture: It can be difficult to get teams excited about learning and development if they associate it with long lectures, lengthy reading, and other time-consuming experiences that cut into a workday that needs to be dedicated to other projects. Since microlearning modules can be digested quickly, easily, and on the go, they are an easy way to make learning a more natural part of the overall work culture and experience.
Custom learning solutions give organizations the flexibility to create the right kind of content and learning experience to address their unique training needs. Specifically, microlearning modules can be a way to enable more learner connection with specific topics in shorter time frames, helping to drive results. Microlearning won’t be the right fit for every learning objective, but it’s a very useful tool when applied effectively.
And while microlearning can often be delivered as part of an eLearning course or through an app, there are plenty of offline ways to use this delivery method for even more flexibility. In fact, even old fashioned vocabulary or multiplication flashcards could be considered examples of microlearning.
If you’re wondering where microlearning can make a difference in meeting your objectives or want to better understand how microlearning can fit into your L&D strategy, schedule a complimentary consultation with our team to find out how to make microlearning work for you.
