Are tired of being told how, what and when to learn? There is a way to teach yourself and improve your skills in just 5 minutes. Microlearning uses a variety of activities to improve your knowledge retention and learn the skills you actually want to learn.
Microlearning is a set of small learning activities or videos for learners to absorb at their own pace. These activities can include anything from quizzes to games. This type of teaching is more affordable, easier to teach, more flexible and more engaging to the learners. In addition to naturally increasing knowledge retention through spaced repetition. Spaced repetition is when you test information you already know less and less. Similarly to flashcards where you move the cards you already know to the back of the deck.
Traditional Learning in the Classroom vs Microlearning
When comparing 7th graders in the traditional classroom to those in a microlearning classroom. The 7th graders in a traditional classroom had a passing average of 65% across five subjects. While the 7th graders in the microlearning classroom had a passing average of 84% across the same 5 subjects. When polling the microlearning students about their motivation to learn with the tools used in microlearning the motivation ranged from 92-97%. The lowest being telling stories and highest being playing and activities.
Application in the Workplace
When looking at it’s application in the workplace some examples are Cathay Life Insurance and the Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy. Both workplaces found that it was a good supplement to the classroom and the web based training reinforced the concepts taught. Videos that were around 3-5 minutes helped first time users immensely.
In addition, they found that this system led to a positive feedback loop. Which led to fast development in the staff’s learning and led to more specialized skill sets. These skill sets were rich, precise, and geared for their specific tasks. However businesses are dedicated to delivering their products or services not learning. When looking at the microlearning system employees could achieve productivity and increased learning in only 15 minutes. In addition, when doing competency based learning around problem solving communication and critical thinking. It increased the workers’ performance. This develops a work environment where everyone is learning throughout the company not just at the top. Industries like technology, healthcare, videography, animation, and manufacturing have already implemented microlearning into the workplace.
Can you learn solely with Microlearning?
When comparing the effectiveness of microlearning for learning on it’s own the limitations became clear. Microlearning was not good at teaching in depth or complex topics. However sites like Khan Academy, Skillshare, and Duolingo have risen to prominence with their adjusted microlearning setup. While these sites’ popularity and praise have produced positive results for people. It is not conclusive to whether or not microlearning is better than traditional learning. In addition to these sites some influencers have adopted a similar teaching style on their paid courses but the extent of their success is unknown. If you want to read about more learning techniques you can read 3 Easy Ways to stop Procrastinating or How to stay motivated.