Why microlearning is huge (no pun intended…)
Microlearning is an emergant learning strategy that is transforming the way we educate ourselves and grow our businesses. Microlearning offers digestable, focused content (typically 3-5mins or shorter) designed to meet very specific learning objectives. Why is this method of learning sending the business world into a tizzy? Because people actually REMEMBER what they have been taught after microlearning. The key issue is that conventional learning strategies do not encourage retention; employees typically forget 80% of training after 30 days. Microlearning crucially recognises that giving learners large chunks of content – with the expectation that it can be fully absorbed – is counterproductive. We are not robots.
The microlearning study
Researchers at Dresden University of Technology in Germany released a study that compared whether learners answered follow up questions better when they a) watched many small pieces of content and answered many corresponding questions, or b) when they watched big chunks of content and saw few assessment sections.
The results were as follows
- The small content group took 28% less time to answer their assessment questions AND did 20% better than the chunky content group.
- The chunky content group actually had to re-read more than 3x the number of sections in comparison to the small content group.
- Overall, across three scoring measures, the study indicates that small content drives over 20% more information retention.
The results are crystal clear. Microlearning is a much more productive way to deliver content. Not only does microlearning influence higher knowledge retention it also increases efficiency during the learning process.
Why should microlearning matter to me?
By 2025, millennial’s will become 75% of the global workforce. The average attention span of the Millennial generation is 90 seconds. Microlearning is MADE for this generation and businesses need to be prepared for the “millennial arrival” in their establishments. There is no time like the present. Please see here for useful tips on how to create your own millennial microlearning content.
This article used the helpful information published by Grovo in their useful blog on microlearning which you can find here