Micro-eLearning and 7 Ways to Micro Your Training

Hey David journey here we have another commonly asked question what is micro eLearning now we're not talking about tiny size courses here micro relearning based modules or instructional animations allow a learner to meet their performance goals in a very short amount of time. Actually that raises a good point though my very learning doesn't mean the creation of e-learning that is shorter than it should be it is certainly about time length but also about after course performance with busy work days commuting being mobile and just-in-time knowledge needs it isn't any wonder why micro e-learning which can often be called micro learning short courses chunk learning bursts bites and even elearning snacks have been becoming so popular there's no definitive time requirements for my furry learning but they're often between 1 and 5 minutes long and don't be surprised if 10 to 15 minutes works best for you and of course your audience the key is that they feel short and manageable to the learner because of the short seat times Mikell relearning tends to be very focused on what information reaches the performance goals and what doesn't it means we want a presentation method that rapidly presents information encourages understanding is less overwhelming without information overload and raises retention which all leads to meeting those performance goals and keep in mind that it's not always feasible to meet the objectives of a course a curriculum with micro a learning do your best be creative and don't forget to make sure your lms supports your micro relearning approaches regarding navigation scoring and tracking so how do we create micro eLearning here's where our instructional and creative design skills really come in handy the intention isn't just a cut out material so instead of a 30 slide course it's a 15 slide course although sometimes that might be the best option we want to create a course that engages or connects to the learner while meeting those performance goals in a short amount of time so we should take a step back and be ready to think differently about what the end result might be every project is different and so it is up to you to gauge what's in what's out and what might be a different approach altogether to connect the information to the learner empower and prepare them to succeed that said here are a handful of ideas and approaches to consider throw them in feet-first it's common to start off projects with introduct slides overviews history and definitions consider skipping all these and just throw the learner right into an important situation or scenario get them using their brains right away in common situations and provide feedback or additional knowledge when they need it and not if they don't phrasing don't start without the parts can be a lot more memorable and click to learn then we recommend that you do not start assembly until you make sure you have all the parts available tweak your sentences reduce create phrases even memorable slogans be creative focus on the learning gaps it's common to see a process explained by giving equal time to each step if we have five steps at two minutes each we have a 10 minute project but if all the steps are extremely straightforward aside from let's say step 4 perhaps each step needs 30 seconds with step 4 ending up at a longer 3 minute explanation now we end up with a 5-minute course instead of a 10 minute course and of course much more focused on the learning gaps stoplight editing a trick for finding what information is relevant read through all your material and market green if it seems absolutely necessary to know or a building block for additional information yellow if it might not be needed you're not sure and red if it's not absolutely important delete the red then iterate after a few times you'll significantly reduce your material you can keep editing it changing it around and then keep going through it again and again using the stoplight trick present it differently don't get stuck presenting the same way you always have been be creative about it consider animating out the story or make it a game or both use audio and simple imagery to connect more memorable images to simple audio by its street unique requirements that might limit the time and focus and just get creative see what you can come up with throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what sticks set your own seedtime goal if you decide your project is going to be 5 minutes in length maybe a decision you've made or you recognize this through other data you have or surveys whatever it might be stick to it stick to that 5 minutes you will find all kinds of creative ways to shave off what is unnecessary and engage your audience in new ways split it up finally consider splitting your course up into individual learning points consider that a 10 hour long movie may run a little long but 10 one-hour long episodes in a miniseries is perfect well we're not necessarily reducing material the smaller chunks smaller bites can make learning much more manageable and focused so have fun reinventing your shorter more focused micro elearning projects happy learning

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