Microlearning: Is it the Answer to All You T&D Needs?

Microlearning: Is It the Answer to All of Your T&D Needs

Elizabeth Spann Department of Education, UMBC EDUC 671: Principles of Training and Development Dr. Zane Berge May 7, 2020

Abstract Microlearning is an emerging trend in training and development. Rather than gathering employees in classrooms to listen to an instructor present slides for a few hours (or more), there is growing popularity for learning modules that take less than ten minutes to complete. However, the question arises as to the effectiveness of this bite-sized learning and whether it provides a sound return on investment. A review of the available literature indicates that microlearning is well-suited to modern learners who are developing shorter attention spans in response to the fast-paced world of the internet and social media platforms. However, researchers also caution that microlearning is not a panacea. Overall, my research found that microlearning is best for reviewing and reinforcing knowledge that employees already have gained. Long-form instruction will still be needed for more nuanced and in-depth knowledge or skills.

While microlearning can facilitate innovative e-learning opportunities, it cannot fully replace traditional training and development for employees. This paper aims to identify what the most appropriate uses for microlearning are and to determine how to create microlearning opportunities that are effective and efficient.

Key words: bite-sized learning, microlearning, training and development, online-learning, elearning

Microlearning: Is It the Answer to All of Your T&D Needs The traditional image of training and development features a classroom or conference room with an instructor presenting a lengthy deck of informational slides. Instructors of these traditional training events use lists of five to ten learning objectives that they cover over a matter of hours or even days. Trainees struggle to maintain focus as they take notes. Microlearning, also known as bite-sized learning, is completely different. Microlearning modules are delivered electronically on PCs or mobile devices and take mere minutes to complete. “The concept of bite-size learning is simple. Instead of delivering “macrolearning,” or training over a continuous course, you break it into bite-size chunks so learners can easily fit it into a vacant time slot in their busy daily schedules” (Bahrami, 2015, para. 4).

Employees can check their email in the morning, then slip in a microlearning module between meetings.

This allows greater flexibility in scheduling trainings and can even allow employees some choice in how, when, and what to learn next.

This paper will address many aspects of microlearning: whether it is here to stay or is merely another fad. It will examine how trainings that are only minutes-long can produce learning that sticks.

How microlearning produces behavior change in trainees. And how bite-size learning should be developed, if it is going to be used. I will examine how long modules should be and whether microlearning the answer for all your training and development needs. Finally, I will discuss the benefits and drawbacks as well as the current trends in microlearning.

Microlearning: A Fad or the Future While microlearning may seem like a new, web 2.0-driven fad, the truth is the concept dates much farther back. The term “microlearning” was first published in 1963 in the book ‘The Economics of Human Resources,’ by Hector Correa but “[m]icrolearning started its journey to eLearning stardom with the domestic use of the internet in the mid-1990s. The internet revolutionized the way the world was

able to learn. Suddenly we could stream our lessons online, or upload learning modules in the space of an afternoon” (Lovell, 2019, p. 2). However, it wasn’t until the advent of smartphones that the world was truly primed for microlearning to take off. With electronic devices always in their pockets, or more accurately, the palm of their hands, consumers of media have a never-ending supply of new content.

Users had to learn how to engage with new platforms and types of content and the developers of these new forms of media quickly trained people in how to use them with microlearning modules of their own. These training modules were so well-integrated into the software and platforms, that they barely felt like training modules at all. Soon, the practice moved from startups to more traditional boardrooms as microlearning was adopted by professionals all across the training and development world.

One thing that microlearning allows trainees to do is to constantly be learning by engaging in very small training modules. “Continuous learning is a great solution for better knowledge retention, and microlearning is the perfect method of instruction, taking into account the fact that employees have less than 25 minutes per week to actually stop and learn. This makes microlearning the solution for corporate training” (Peterson, 2020, para. 6). Training professionals know that they must capitalize on the limited time that trainees have to spare and are increasingly turning to microlearning to achieve this.

In 2016, ATD Research conducted a poll of 596 professionals; 40% reported that their organization currently uses microlearning and of the remaining respondents, another 41% reported that their organization planned to start using it within the next year (Cole, 2017). This indicates that the rate of use of microlearning is, indeed, increasing. “The global microlearning market size is expected to grow from USD 1.5 billion in 2019 to USD 2.7 billion by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.2% during the forecast period” (Singh, 2019, para. 1). Microlearning is not a fad that should be ignored; it will take a large share of the training and development market and this share will only continue to grow.

What remains to be seen is whether the quality will grow along with the quantity, ensuring high-value products for trainees.

Creating Training that Sticks How can training that lasts only minutes create learning that sticks with the learner? This is a challenge for microlearning and macrolearning developers, alike. While traditional learning modules produce lasting change in only 20 percent of trainees, microlearning is much more efficient. “Bite-sized learning is proved to produce 17 percent greater transfer and is 30 percent cheaper than a traditional approach with less time out of the office and lower delivery costs. It also delivers twice the return on investment” (Bailey, 2016, p. 66). Microlearning must still be planned and developed with a great deal of care and thought in order to ensure that the lessons stick. Sebastian Bailey outlines seven methods to ensure that lessons stick with learners. Many of them apply to both micro- and macrolearning, such as building belief in the value of the change learners are being asked to make, creating emotional arousal using positive stress to encourage people to pay attention, and telling a story rather than reciting facts to win over the learner. However, he also includes a call to using microlearning, arguing that “we learn and remember more when taught in smaller chunks [and that] a little-and-often approach gives participants more opportunities to practice what they’ve learned” (Bailey, 2016, p. 66).

Another reason that microlearning is more “sticky” than traditional macrolearning is that people’s attention spans are shrinking. “The average attention span—the amount of time a person can stay focused on a single task filtering out distractions—in North America dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015, thanks in large part to smartphones, on-demand entertainment and social media infiltrating people’s lives, according to a Microsoft Corp. study (Kolodny, 2016, para. 3). This fact is reported with amusement by many authors who point out that goldfish have longer attention spans.

But, this does not mean that microlearning sessions must be limited to a handful of seconds; “What this means in layman’s terms is that you only have eight seconds to get the employee’s attention, and if the instruction or information you that you’re presenting takes more than 20 minutes, you’ve lost them” (Islam, 2013, para. 3).

However, the more surprising result of the Microsoft study was that, while attention spans are shrinking, humans’ attention is becoming more effective. According to Alyson Gausby, the Consumer Insights Lead for Microsoft Canada, “tech savvy consumers are actually getting better at processing information and encoding that information to memory (Microsoft, 2015, p. 2). This indicates that not only is microlearning better suited to keeping learners’ attention, but it is also more efficient for learners committing new information to memory. The implications of this are far-reaching. If microlearning is best-suited for reinforcing previous knowledge and skill, it will be able to help speed up change as trainees retain more of the content more quickly.

Defining Micro- in Microlearning How short is short enough when it comes to developing microlearning modules? “In early 2016, ATD Research conducted a short poll of 144 talent development professionals that asked for the maximum length of time microlearning should take and the ideal amount of time it should last. The results indicated that microlearning should average about 10 minutes, with a maximum length of 13 minutes” (Cole, 2017, p. 5). In fact, for microlearning to be effective, it is almost exclusively delivered via e-learning, and must work on any device. While instructional designers may get hung up on times for microlearning, it is more important to focus on what is being taught, rather than how long it takes.

“Instructional designers may feel pressure to make learning fit a specific timeframe, but learning programs should only be as long as is necessary to relay the most pertinent information, while cutting out any extraneous details” (Cole, 2017, p. 8). “You have a short amount of time to convey essential messages. Make them clear, concise, and free of corporate jargon. Focus on the need to know over the nice to know” (Greene-Margol, 2017, p. 8).

Microlearning can be encouraged by including retrieval practice, challenging learners to recall information they already know. Including social learning by encouraging learners to talk with each other

about their relevant experiences helps to cement lessons in learners’ memories. Using interleaving includes mixing up types of information in unexpected ways in order to keep short attention spans primed (Murphy-Paul, 2016). “The L&D community has a growing interest in brain science and research on memory, specifically related to spacing and repetition. Research shows long-term memory of knowledge significantly increases when 1) learning and study sessions are spaced over time, and 2) content is repeated over time” (Boller, 2015, para. 4).

Rather than focusing on five to ten learning objectives, with microlearning, the learner is only focused on one very narrow objective. In order to create good learning objectives for microlearning, think of a single skill or piece of knowledge that it is imperative for your trainees to know. Focus only on one thing for each learning object. “A good rule of thumb for microlibrary assets is to craft a specific, precise learning objective for each learning asset. Do this by isolating the skills. It may be tempting to put a lot of content and objectives into a bite-size asset, but this won’t work” (Greene-Margol, 2017, p.

6). If you cannot simplify the subject to a single skill or bit of knowledge, it is likely not a good subject for microlearning.

When Microlearning is NOT the Answer While microlearning is growing in popularity, not all learning can be delivered in short bursts.

“For the learning to be effective, HR and training professionals must carefully craft their offerings and understand that not all training and development can happen on the fly. Microlearning is best leveraged to supplement and reinforce what employees already know” (Murphy-Paul, 2016, para. 7). If you need to build in-depth knowledge or expert skill, microlearning is not the right training choice. “If you want people to be experts at something, they need time to build expertise. To do so, they need relevant practice and feedback” (Boller, 2015, para. 8). Microlearning is best at reinforcing previous learning and encouraging trainees to maintain change that they’ve already been introduced to.

Another problem with microlearning is a matter of accountability for learners’ progress. “Those who currently use microlearning indicated that the top barrier to effective microlearning is that learners are not held accountable” (Cole, 2017, p. 4). If microlearning allows extreme flexibility in when employees participate in training and how they access training modules, they need to be held accountable for following through with the training and engaging with the content. This can be addressed by spacing microlearning sessions out in such a way that content is repeated at intervals in order to reinforce learning. Appropriate use of assessments can also help to motivate trainees to engage with the content if they know that their performance reviews or opportunities for advancement are tied to their performance on microlearning based assessments.

A Skeptic Speaks Out Patti Shank, a thought leader in eLearning, is far more skeptical about microlearning. She explains that microlearning cannot be the answer to all workplace learning needs because “nothing is the solution to all workplace learning needs” (2019, para. 6). Furthermore, she argues that microlearning is not even anything new, but a repackaging of old ideas such as chunking, learning nuggets, and learning objects.

One of the differences between some of what people are calling microlearning and appropriate chunking is that good chunking shows the organization of the topic, which supports mental processes and helps people build usable knowledge. Organization also help people see the scope of the topic and connections between different parts. Disconnected chunks make these critical outcomes harder. Microlearning elements can seem disconnected so they don’t help people understand how different topics connect. (Shank, 2019, para. 13) So, not only does Shank argue that microlearning is a repackaging of tried-and-true learning methods, but it is also less effective because there is nothing connecting the separate learning modules together.

Of course, this all depends on how the microlearning modules are designed. If modules are linked

together in a logical order with appropriate segues, they can be extremely effective. Critics may still argue that those would simply be traditional modules delivered piece-by-piece.

Microlearning is the Future, So Make It Bright Microlearning may not be an entirely new concept and some may chalk it up as being just another fad, however, it is likely not going to disappear anytime soon. Dwindling attention spans, overscheduled employees, and access to mobile technology make microlearning an all-too-attractive option for the modern learner. So what are training and development professionals to do? The answer is fairly straightforward: put as much analysis and development effort into developing microlearning as you would any other mode of learning. “The fact that content will be ‘micro’ does not mean you should skip an analysis. Just as you would with traditional training, it is imperative to uncover the current state, the future state, and the gap(s) between” (Greene Margol, 2017, p.5).

Be sure that the learning objective is relevant, necessary, and timely for the learner. Creating learning objectives first helps to focus the content development of the learning module. This is just as true for traditional macrolearning as it is for microlearning. As you begin to write your objective, keep in mind the type of change the learner will need to make. In other words, what will the trainee need to do differently in the future?

Keep the content specific to the objective. “This is targeted, tactile training that uses real-world scenarios, not high-concept theory. Employees can find the exact topics they need to address the relevant business challenges they’re facing” (Greene Margol, 2017, p. 4). When the content is kept to relevant, real life problems, it works to prompt the trainee to recall prior knowledge and learning, reinforcing earlier lessons.

Select a medium for presenting information that is best suited to the content. “Is the content best suited to an infographic? Perhaps a short video? Is a checklist best? Maybe a quick game? A short

demo? Considering when and how learners will access the asset will help drive the decision around modality” (Greene Margol, 2017, p. 7). Do not be tempted to create everything as interactive audiovisuals; even if your budget allowed for this, which is unlikely, not every subject or lesson is enhanced by interactivity. If a simple one-sheet job aid will get your message across and allow the trainee to reference it repeatedly while on task, then that is the best modality for that module.

Microlearning Is One of Many Tools If training and development professionals keep these lessons in mind, microlearning can be one powerful tool in their toolbox. Microlearning cannot and should not fully replace traditional learning modalities which are needed for nuanced and in-depth learning. “No one should be expected to learn everything they need to know about leadership in three minutes. It’s not reasonable. But they can learn facts or foundational knowledge or reinforce a previously learned technique or strategy. Therefore, microlibraries need to be part of a larger, more comprehensive solution” (Greene-Margol, 2017, p. 9).

Treating microlearning with the same respect as traditional learning methods is what will ultimately keep it from becoming another would-be panacea or fad. Remembering to follow all the steps in the development process will ensure that your microlearning products are the same high quality as your traditional learning modules.

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