The Rise of Microlearning

Have you heard of micro learning? Learn how this new corporate learning trend can benefit your employees and your company.

The Rise of Microlearning

“Microlearning” is the new trend in corporate education. A recent survey by ATD Research found that 92% of learning professionals expect microlearning to increase within the year. The technique includes taking small pieces of information and spreading it through a variety of formats, including videos, book summaries, articles and more. Microlearning is designed to be completed in less than 10 minutes a day so that employees can continue their education, without sacrificing their daily to-do list.

Why Implement Microlearning?

Investing in employee development is always a good idea. Giving your employees the tools that they need to develop their skills will not only benefit the company, but it will help increase their individual satisfaction at work. The business climate is constantly changing, and continual learning is one of the best ways to stay ahead of the game.

However, as many busy professionals know, it can seem impossible to find the time to develop critical competencies. Corporate learning once meant spending days at a training session while your work piled up at the office. This tactic is not only wasteful, but ineffective.

Employees retain more knowledge when the lessons are broken up into small pieces and can be ingested on a daily basis, as opposed to trying to learn (and remember) everything in one session.

This is where microlearning steps in. Microlearning is designed to be consumed in five to ten minutes a day. Employees can watch a quick video while on their lunch break, or read a short book summary between meetings. When these lessons are consumed on a daily basis, it reinforces the information, helping employees to retain their knowledge.

How to Create a Successful Microlearning Plan?

It is important to remember that not all microlearning is created equally. To implement a successful microlearning strategy, you must provide meaningful content that reaches your employees at their time of need.

Keep in mind that your lessons must be:

• Accessible: Ensure that your microlearning plan is easy for your employees to access. A devoted microlearning platform, loaded with all of your employee development content, may be the best way to reach your employees.
• Mobile: All lessons should be made responsive so that employees can access them on their mobile phones or tables. An important aspect of microlearning is that it can go anywhere with your employees.
• Short: Each lesson should be designed to be read or watched in under five minutes. Focus on quick videos, condensed articles and book summaries.
• Informative: Every piece of content that you supply should teach something valuable, without being overwhelming. To engage your employees, use outside voices such as business thought leaders.

There are different ways to implement microlearning at an organization. Some companies prefer to create lesson plans on a specific topic (e.g., teamwork), while others allow their employees to choose their own path, focusing on the competencies that are of most importance to their particular roles. Only you will know what will work best for your company, but there are tools that can help no matter what approach you choose.

Introducing Accel5™

Regardless of how you see microlearning at your organization, EBSCO’s new corporate solution, Accel5, can help. Accel5 is an informal solution that features information about critical soft skills that employees can put into practice in minutes. It features business book summaries, videos and articles from the top minds in business.