How the 3 Es of Microlearning Can Drive Continuous Learning

Microlearning is hardly a new concept, but in this tumultuous pandemic period, it has proven to be more advantageous than ever before. At a time when employees and learners worldwide have been forced to adapt to virtual learning, L&D teams are relying on a host of innovative instructional strategies that were perhaps adopted at as lower pace previously.

Microlearning is one of them!

Small Learning Solutions to Drive Big Results

As we live in a world where people check their smartphones 9 times an hour, and there are so many things vying for our attention, it’s hardly surprising that a format like microlearning has become more popular.

As the name suggests, microlearning is learning delivered in the form of short, crisp nuggets. It’s most often content that is under 10minutes, sometimes even as short as three to six minutes, and is usually designed in rich media formats directed towards a particular learning result. Microlearning offers a learner-centric approach that delivers on-demand learning, on any device of the learner’s choice.

Unlike traditional training methods, microlearning is smarter and offers multiple benefits to the modern workforce. In fact, it works well to suit the current times when Zoom fatigue and work burnout are glaring issues and the average learning session times have decreased significantly. Besides, modern learners want to access training courses on their mobile devices, anytime, anywhere, on-the-go and at the point of their need.

If you want to gain the best uptake for your content, you should make the most of these windows of opportunity and microlearning fits in this picture perfectly. Microlearning can be created in several online formats, such as video, audio, PPTs, games, quizzes or even assessments.

The 3s E's of Microlearning and their Impact on Learning

In these times of rapid changes, the world of learning and development is at a stage where the ‘what’s in it for me’ element brings a major pull for learners. Microlearning borrows greatly from the theory postulated by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus about human memory. According to Ebbinghaus, people only retain 21% of what they learn within a month – something he theorized as the ‘forgetting curve’ illustrating how much information the brain can retain over a period of time.

When L&D teams include microlearning in their learning strategy, they need to strategize on how the module will leverage the very base of Ebbinghaus’s theory. They need to make the most of microlearning’s ‘little and often approach to provide learners with short digestible pieces of information that they are likely to retain by revisiting on a regular basis.

If you are thinking of implementing microlearning in your L&D strategy, you can consider the 3 E's that are its key features and use them to your optimum benefit to drive continuous learning:

ENGAGING: At a time when learner engagement is an urgent need, microlearning is an effective solution to combat cognitive overload. Since it follows memory retention best practices, it allows the learner to focus on one idea or concept instead of having to absorb a hostof information in one go. Besides, keeping the content concise gives learners the freedom to choose the topic they wish to focus upon to keep themselves engaged.

ENJOYABLE: Microlearning is an alternative to conventional, long training sessions as it propagates the idea of learning through a series of smaller, focused, and more enjoyable modules. It ends up continuously entertaining learners by ensuring that they are comprehensively involved in the learning experience.  

ENLIGHTENING: One of the best uses of microlearning is to reinforce the knowledge and skills gained by the learners. A microlearning module is short and crisp which is an ideal way to reinforce important information that was passed previously to employees during a training program.

In Conclusion

As we view a post-pandemic world with a certain optimism, virtual learning is no longer an aberration as businesses worldwide have already embraced it wholeheartedly. The benefits that microlearning can lend to buttress learning and development programs are undeniable. It’s conversational and hence a much better choice for today’s world of work.

If you find yourself getting lost in the process, make sure to consult an experienced e-learning partner to get access to the right solutions.