5 Dos and Don’ts in Microlearning to Ensure Effective Corporate Training

What if someone asks you to eat food for an entire month in a single day? Well, your first thought would be that they are joking and if not, you might definitely consider them crazy!! Right? Because we know that it will do more harm than good. And more so, it is unnecessary. You require food in short dosages to gain energy and for maximum benefit. Drawing an analogy here, consuming information is something very similar. Providing corporate training that includes sessions stretching for hours does more harm than good. It leads to boredom, loss of interest, etc., among the learners. To avoid all these negatives, microlearning is an effective approach to corporate training.

But microlearning, as evident from the name, is not just about short, bite-sized courses. It is actually way more than that. Various microlearning design and development elements combine to help you put together an engaging, effective microlearning course for an interactive learning experience and positive training results.

And this blog, we’ll explore the 5 dos and don’ts that will help you navigate the microlearning journey with full confidence and maximum impact.

So, let’s begin!

What is Microlearning?

5 Dos in Microlearning for Effective Corporate Training

Keep the Microlearning Modules Short and Concise

As indicated in the name, keep your microlearning courses short and relevant to the topic. They should typically range between 7 to 15 minutes. This will help you tackle issues such as reducing attention spans, learner engagement, etc. On the contrary, concise microlearning sessions enable the learners to focus on one particular topic which in turn improves recall and retention. Moreover, short courses are easy to fit into the busy schedules of employees, thereby fostering continuous learning. In fact, they can also be leveraged for just-in-time information and performance support.

→ Download Now: Where Does Microlearning Fit in Your Learning Strategy?

Make it Interactive

Just the short duration of the training module doesn’t really cut it. It is important that you include various interactive elements in your microlearning modules as well to boost learner engagement and interactivity. You can leverage videos, images, click-throughs, animations, infographics, quizzes, audio, etc., to introduce the fun and interesting element in your corporate training. Apart from these methods, you can also consider gamifying your microlearning courses or use gamification elements like badges, ranks, leaderboards, levels, etc., to increase learner participation and motivation. Wondering what all resources are needed to get started with gamification in eLearning? Check out the video below.

Focus on a Single Learning Objective

This is a hallmark of microlearning. Getting this wrong in any way is a big NOOO!! So make sure you have a clear learning objective in place when you start designing and developing your microlearning module. Since they are bite-sized nuggets of information, keep the information relevant. Don’t try to mix multiple topics as it will most likely result in lengthy videos and even impact the learners’ understanding. They might get confused.

Make the Courses Responsive

With the advent of digital learning, responsive design and effective corporate training have become best of the buddies! And leveraging microlearning in corporate training follows no exception. You need to keep in mind that your microlearning modules adjust to the screen size of the portable device being used by the learners. It is essential because it also plays an important role in promoting accessibility and flexibility to the learner which contributes to positive training ROI and better information retention as well.

Incorporate Opportunities to Provide Feedback

Whether it is microlearning modules or eLearning courses in general, it’s a given that any training course without feedback won’t serve its purpose in the most effective manner. Therefore, you should ensure that your microlearning modules provide ample opportunities for sharing feedback with the learners. To gather data for providing feedback, you can incorporate quizzes, fill in the blanks, drag-and-drop, match the following, etc., and leverage learning analytics to identify gaps in knowledge. This will enable you to guide your learners and offer support as and when required.

5 Don’ts in Microlearning for Effective Corporate Training

Adding Irrelevant Content and Media

In corporate training and especially microlearning, time is of the essence. Therefore avoid adding unnecessary information that might overwhelm your learners and doesn’t really add value to the main learning objective that is particularly being discussed in the microlearning module. To ensure you provide only relevant, quality information to your learners, you can segregate the content on a “need-to-know” and “nice-to-know” basis.

Using Microlearning for Complex, Lengthy Topics

Evident from the name, microlearning focuses on short, easily digestible nuggets of information. It is well-suited for the delivery of knowledge and topics that don’t involve in-depth research and conceptual understanding. So you should avoid using microlearning to explain complex topics to your employees.

Using Acronyms and Jargon

I understand that the urge to use acronyms in microlearning modules can be compelling, especially when you convince yourself that it’ll save you some space. And reasons to use the industry jargon can be to help learners understand the concept. Maybe! But let me remind you that learners can come from different backgrounds. So these two things can be counterproductive to your desired training results as they might confuse learners, thereby hampering the understanding and learning process. Therefore, avoid using acronyms and jargon in your microlearning modules unless it is absolutely necessary. Instead, use simple, easy-to-understand language.

Using Microlearning as Standalone Courses

With a plethora of benefits like better information recall and retention, improved engagement rates, etc., leveraging microlearning as a standalone course might seem the wise thing to do. But sadly, it isn’t! It is more effective when you use it as a supplement to other training methods like classroom training, Virtual Instructor-led Training (VILT), or even eLearning courses. The reason why you should avoid this is that using microlearning as a standalone course may not provide your learners with enough context or depth of information to fully understand the topic.

Simply Chunking the Content into Smaller Modules

Microlearning indeed refers to short and concise training modules. But that doesn’t simply imply breaking down the large eLearning courses into smaller ones. This practice can badly impact the training ROI and employee performance and productivity too! Therefore, you should not just divide the content into smaller bits and pieces, rather try to redesign the information as per the training and learner requirements. For this purpose, you can consider elements like the target audience, learning objectives to be accomplished, etc.

Wrapping It Up!

To ensure effective corporate training results, it is integral to design your microlearning courses with great care and understanding. So what are you waiting for? You already know the dos and don’ts in microlearning for effective corporate training. To add to this understanding, here’s a valuable eBook to help you decide where microlearning fits in your learning strategy. Check it out now!