Microlearning


Microlearning is strongly gearing up to be the buzzword for 2018 in instructional design and L&D circles.

Sometimes also called as bite sized learning, Microlearning is an easy enough concept to understand. It is learning in small doses. It is learning along a very narrow and very specific learning concept. So, for example, a traditional eLearning course might be an hour long but in Microlearning we are talking about a learning aid that might take 5-10 minutes.
But how much can a person learn in 5-10 minutes you ask? Apparently heaps or at least enough to do the job. I had recently purchased an old guitar with a couple of strings broken. Now I did not know the first thing about repairing broken guitar string. So, the first thing that I did was fire up my computer, go to YouTube and look for a video that deals with this subject matter. After watching a 3-minute video I was able to repair both the strings. That is Microlearning and its benefits in a nutshell for you.

There is nothing new about Microlearning and its increasing importance can be attributed to the fundamental shift going on in our world. This is with regards to the Internet and the digital development going on in our lives. Some of the things that make Microlearning so useful are:

Attention spans - We now have much shorter attention spans which makes going through lengthy eLearning a challenge.
Distractions – The online world presents lots of distractions. One moment we are checking our Facebook feed, the next we are looking up someone on LinkedIn and the next we are posting to our Instagram and the next retweeting ad so on and on we go. In this sort of atmosphere, it is difficult to sit through something that we do not really feel inclined to in the first place. A 5-10-minute learning chunk makes things a whole lot easier compared to an hour-long learning course.
Smartphones – Learning on Smartphones is not exactly new anymore but considering that even the largest smartphones have a smallish screen makes microlearning a far more practical idea then a full fledged online course. You can do a full online course using your smartphone but it may not be very convenient. Microlearning however presents specific information that you can conveniently go through using your smartphone.
Relevance – The beauty of microlearning lies in its relevance. It is short and to the point which makes it very useful when you quickly need to look up something or have a quick refresher.

Hope this has been useful. Let me know if there are any other topics that you would like to know more about and I can make a quick bite sized learning chunk of it for you like this one.

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