Microlearning

MICROLEARNING

In our work, the need to learn new elements is more continual than in most industries.

• Our ability to learn is the key factor to surviving as an organization  

That being the case, we have developed methodologies for learning for our staff that shorten the time needed to learn.

This article is about one of those methodologies - microlearning.

And yes, we realize this is a new name on a learning technique that has been use for thousands of years.  However, wonder, for yourself, if you are using this practice for yourself as often as you could.

Microlearning, in is most simple form, is about taking in new information is smaller segments and "resting" between chunks to allow your brain to do the processing necessary for storing the information in a manner that allows for more ready recall in the future.

Let's look at an example.

One of our new associates came to us with typical information technology skills.  She was proficient in using word processing applications and messaging tools.  She had some skill using spread sheet, presentation, and graphics tools.  

However, her responsibilities included loading and testing software applications.  This work required the need to:

• Understand hardware to be able to troubleshoot failures
• Be able to fix problems related to Windows operating system software
• Know how to use software for imaging computers

If you have experience with computers and software, you know these skills require a significant amount of knowledge.  And we only had a few quarters to help her develop these foundation skills.

So, we used microlearning to speed up the process.

The first step was to get a grounding in hardware and operating systems.  We used the CompTIA A+ training for this.  Most every day, our associate (we'll call her Beth because that is her name) would self study for 15 - 30 minute increments.  She used elearning and books (e.g. CompTIA A+ Exam Guide) to study.  

Once she felt she had a good level of knowledge from self study, we paired her with a subject expert to work in a classroom environment.  Because we are in the training business, we have an option available to us that is not as readily available to others - having one of our experts train her in 1 - 2 hour sessions over a period of time.

The result was that Beth was able to develop the proficiency needed to fully take over the tasks of preparing software and hardware within a few months.  We predict that this process would normally take over a year.

This method works well for us.  We continue to use it for our staff.  Of late, we have added these microlearning methods to our mix: 

• short how to videos
• blogs
• how to manuals
• reading on mobile devices while on the go

I hope our experiences motivate you to integrate microlearning into your learning processes so as to improve the speed at which you intake and recall information. 

That's it for now.  I hope there is some take home pay for you from the 3-5 minutes you spent reading this article.

Robert