What? - What is microlearning?

Microlearning is a way of acquiring knowledge online in short-lived "pills", which offers users maximum freedom and flexibility.

Why? - Why does microlearning work?

Microlearning offers a training proposal of short duration, concentrated and targeted, often aimed at consolidating the knowledge learned and easy to use for the user. For this reason it is also well suited to e-learning.

Microlearning provides an intuitive path of information and training that does not take too long for a user who often does not have much time for training, especially inside the company (where it is often possible to dedicate only 1% of the work week to training), so that the idea of engaging in a long traditional training course may not be particularly appealing.

How? - How to use microlearning?

Professional corporate microlearning is therefore the answer to the needs of company employees, as it can be easily integrated with the daily commitments of the employees of a company and is easily accessible and relevant, offering adequate knowledge in times of need: the contents are often designed to be easy to memorize, fun and engaging, as well as of help for solving problems.

In fact, whether it is an infographic or an animated tutorial, the authors of courses in microlearning format understand the importance of creating a useful online presence that can provide concrete support in the users' work environment. This means that access to an online platform, for example, could enable support for content in microlearning format.

Where and when? - On which occasions is microlearning most effective?

Courses in microlearning format are flexible and perfectly adaptable to learning in e-learning mode, as they allow users to quickly obtain learning support without interrupting their activities: just a simple five-minute video or slides, much more effective a six-hour seminar, to help strengthen knowledge preservation and prevent cognitive overload, particularly when dealing with complex topics.

However many e-learning courses are structured in a traditional way, in which the student has at his disposal some material to work with in order to assimilate the contents and pass the course, do not yet seem suitable to be transposed into microlearning "pills": this is because , generally, they involve the consultation of rather voluminous materials and a learning activity that could take a very long time. This could therefore be the challenge for the future, in an increasingly digitalized and technological world in continuous and very rapid evolution. 

Article taken from eLearningLearning