The world with full of distraction and focus has become a lost art. Social media, with its reels and short content format, has reduced the attention span of every individual. In such a scenario, a long-hour workshop may not be useful for your employees. Therefore, the need of the hour is short microlearning modules that can hold the learner’s attention and are engaging.

Microlearning is a type of learning that offers easily digestible tiny content that doesn’t bore the learner and delivers relevant information at the right time. It is one of the most talked about and popular methods of helping employees learn and develop new skills. There are various microlearning strategies that help you to make the learning process more enjoyable. Moreover, it can help your employees to excel in their respective fields.

The article aims to provide you with five strategies to ace your microlearning initiative. But, before that, let us understand this concept and its benefits.

What is Microlearning?

Microlearning is an e-learning strategy that provides learners with easily digestible bite-size content that is engaging, informative, and interesting. Microlearning is a solution for a tedious, lengthy corporate workshop that leaves employees with bulky manuals that are of no use. Microlearning is built on the foundation that the work culture around the world is changing, and workplaces are either becoming completely remote or hybrid.

Moreover, the attention span of people is also decreasing. Data shows that the average attention span of a human is 8.25 seconds. So, hours-long workshops will not be cost-effective for you or beneficial for your employees. In such circumstances, microlearning has emerged as a way to impart new knowledge and skills to employees remotely with the help of tiny modules that are of a few minutes.

What are the Benefits of Microlearning?

Microlearning is an excellent solution to aid in the skill development of your employees. Let us look at some of the benefits of microlearning:

• Bridges skill gaps

The skill set required for a particular job keeps changing. 75% of employers say they can’t find the right blend of technical and soft skills for their job openings. Microlearning helps upskill your employee’s skills without requiring a significant upfront time. Microlearning modules are typically less than 15 minutes long, and your employees can watch these modules during their lunchtime or on their way to work. 

• Cultivates a learning culture

Microlearning cultivates a continuous learning approach. This form of learning enables employees to access learning material anytime and anywhere. They don’t have to sit through a workshop for hours to learn something new, helping you cultivate a learning culture among them.

• Provides a flexible learning approach

In the new era of the workplace, your team may be scattered all over the world. For this kind of setup, you need to have a learning module that is flexible and accessible to your remote employees. Microlearning provides your employees with the freedom to learn at their own pace and time.

• Boost learner engagement

Microlearning challenges employees to learn new things that can boost their engagement. It develops the quality and quantity of employee development and helps them retain more information compared to traditional training methods.

Strategies to Enhance Microlearning Experience Among Your Employees

Let us look at some of the best strategies to improve microlearning among your employees:

• Make the modules challenging: 

Make the modules challenging so that they can hold the interest of the viewers. Use action mapping or any other actionable approach to build a module that will ingrain confidence, competence, and skills in your employees. After you have built a challenging module, focus on what type of guidance they will need to successfully complete the module. Provide them with guidance and see their confidence and skills rise to another level.

• Use gamification elements and adaptive learning:

Microlearning elements such as gamification and adaptive learning make the learning experience personal and exciting. When you have gaming elements, your employees are not just learning something new. The modules are also cultivating their interest. Leaderboards, competitions among colleagues, and other features create a sense of interest to be on the top, which encourages your employees to learn more.

You can send out challenging microlearning modules weekly and allow your employees to move through them freely. This will also help you understand which employees need more attention in a particular skill.

• Give your employees incentives: 

Give the learners scores, badges, or rewards when they finish a particular challenge successfully. Even a simple acknowledgment or congratulating them on completing the module is also enough. Highlight the employees who have the top scores or those who have reached a particular level or milestone.  The goal is to encourage your employees to engage more with the content.

• Encourage your employees to develop spaced repetition:

Studies have shown that a daily learning habit can help learners retain more information. People usually forget what they have learned within hours. So, having a learning module that is short and can be watched repeatedly by the learners will help them retain more information. This is why microlearning is so essential. This form of learning is short, so learners can repeatedly watch them without wasting time. Over time, learners develop a cognitive pattern that retains the information in long-term memory. Therefore, to make microlearning more effective, ask your employees to watch the same module every few days. 

• Encourage your employees to focus on what they need:

The idea of microlearning is to provide information in small chunks. Therefore, employees must focus only on those modules that they think are important or helpful. Employers must encourage employees to spend time on the modules that will be the most helpful for them. For instance, a module on increasing sales in a company may not be helpful for someone in the finance department.

Conclusion on Microlearning

Simply introducing microlearning in your workplace is not enough. You must also ensure the program is implemented correctly and your employees are eager to learn more. For that, you can create a sense of competition, challenge, and interest among them. Microlearning is a great way to facilitate skill development and productivity among your employees. Remember that only when you focus on your employees will your organization achieve the goals that it has aimed for.