Microlearning activities enhance retention of knowledge and allow employees to sharpen up on skills when it is most convenient for them. In this blog, we’ll look at eight surprising ways to incorporate microlearning online training activities into your business eLearning program.
- What is microlearning?
- The Advantages of Suitable Microlearning Strategies
- How to apply microlearning activities in corporate training
- #1 Evaluations of Task Performance
- #2: Convert Everyday Tasks Into Serious Games
- #3: Infographics Illustrating Regulatory Issues
- #4: Branching Situations with Real-time Decisions
- #5: Demo Videos Created by Employees
- #6: Social Media Team Building Ideas
- #7: Micro webinars planning
- #8: Qualitative Self-Evaluations
- Conclusion
What is microlearning?
Microlearning is a self-directed part of education in which knowledge is presented in short content sections that can be visited on-demand. Needless to say, it allows people to quickly absorb new information and acquire new skills.
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The Advantages of Suitable Microlearning Strategies
Microlearning is far superior to traditional training programs that last for hours. Implementing appropriate microlearning strategies can benefit your company in the following ways:
- Employees must remember smaller bits of information every time. As a result, they’re more likely to remember it.
- Microlearning content provides staff with clear information about a specific question. And when employees get the answers they need, they are more likely to be involved in the training content.
- Employees can apply what they’ve learned on the job, which helps the productivity of your company.
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How to apply microlearning activities in corporate training
#1 Evaluations of Task Performance
The first microlearning activity is evaluating your employees’ performance in a new way.
Involve employees in microlearning simulations centered on work-related tasks. Then, immediately provide feedback emphasizing areas for improvement as well as personal strengths. This serves as a virtual replacement for traditional on-the-job evaluations.
Rather than having a manager observe and then assess an employee’s performance, the learning management system analyzes each step of the process. Based on their performance, it can also point them in the right direction. For example, to improve their competency, suggest microlearning online training modules or infographics.
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#2: Convert Everyday Tasks Into Serious Games
The 2nd microlearning activity is to turn work-related challenges into a multi-level game world.
Overcoming commonplace obstacles can be enjoyable. A well-written plot, noteworthy characters, and effective game mechanics are all that is required. Because they are entertaining, engaging, and highly interactive, serious games are ideal microlearning activities.
Employees, for example, must successfully resolve the customer’s complaint in order to advance to the next point in the game. Concentrate on one learning objective or goal at a time to avoid cognitive overload and keep it in the microlearning category.
Furthermore, you should highlight the practical applications or rewards from the start. Otherwise, the game may receive priority over the desired outcomes.
#3: Infographics Illustrating Regulatory Issues
The 3rd microlearning activity to consider is using infographics for regulatory issues illustration.
Infographics are a must-have microlearning online training tool because they provide a thorough overview of the subject or trend in an easy-to-understand format. They also cater to various learning styles. Create infographics of corporate policies that highlight various compliance applications, organizational guidelines, and processes.
One infographic, for example, incorporates the fire safety guidelines while blending pictures with facts and statistics to enhance retention of knowledge. Employees can use the image to freshen up their memories or refresh their knowledge before taking a qualifying examination.
These microlearning online training tools are also excellent for onboarding. New hires can concentrate on one policy, accumulate the key points, and then move on to the next without experiencing information overload.
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#4: Branching Situations with Real-time Decisions
The 4th microlearning activity to consider is to make real-time decisions in branching situations. Create brief decision-making branching situations that put employees’ ability to deal with work-related stress to the test. They must make the right decision within the time frame given based on the information provided as well as their work experience. Just be careful not to implement excessive pressure.
The final goal is to assess employees’ reactions when they are pressed for time, rather than to stress them out to the point of feeling frustrated or defeated.
#5: Demo Videos Created by Employees
The 5th microlearning activity you may need is to have demo videos created by staff members.
Enable employees to create their own demo videos highlighting products, tasks, or compliance requirements. They can save these video content to a learner-generated microlearning online training library, which their peers can access at any time and from any location.
Customer service representatives, for example, have a different list than warehouse workers. As a result, everyone is able to focus on their field of expertise while also providing useful information to work colleagues.
#6: Social Media Team Building Ideas
The next microlearning activity is building social media teams from your staff. Share social media advice to improve team dynamic behavior and peer-to-peer collaborative effort.
Provide suggestions on how staff members can streamline their working process and communicate better in group situations, or submit links to videos, editorials, and guidance that they might find helpful. They can also share their own tricks and tips to assist coworkers in navigating everyday challenges and improving their comprehension.
To make things even easier, consider creating separate social media groups for each division or offering an online training course. As a result, instead of searching the document for tips that pertain to them, staff can access the group that relates to their duties or gaps.
#7: Micro webinars planning
The 7th microlearning activity to add is planning micro webinars. Webinars don’t have to be one-hour affairs that cover every element of your online training course.
In fact, webinars are most efficient when they are brief and focused on a specific online learning sub-topic, like how to cope with a difficult customer or how to quicken the refund process. Organize micro webinars lasting 10 to 15 minutes and then follow them up with additional eLearning activities.
For example, a social media discussion that goes deeper into the subject and allows employees to share details. You can even ask employees to host their own mini-events to share their expertise.
#8: Qualitative Self-Evaluations
Simulations, branching scenarios, and other interactive online training tools are also excellent for qualitative evaluations. Employees can test their abilities and task mastery on their own. As a result, they can identify the gaps that are preventing them from progressing and seek out early interventions, such as online courses or modules.
In 2017, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) launched a new video-based training program in which new kitchen staff learns how to make fried chicken in a virtual kitchen instructed by the meticulous Colonel himself.
KFC employees are locked in a virtual training escape room where they learn how to make the signature fried chicken recipe of KFC. They can only leave the room by following the steps for preparing the chicken in the right order.
The key is to make them micro so that they can be evaluated quickly and easily. Encourage staff to conduct self-assessments on a regular basis to track their progress. They can also use the ever-popular microlearning online training library to improve their performance based on the results of their qualitative assessment.
Conclusion
Microlearning is popular among brains for good reason: breaking content down based on relevance, time constraints, and learner autonomy stimulates learners’ neuro pathways. Small pieces of information may appear insignificant, especially when compared to content-heavy training strategies, but bigger isn’t always better for the brain.
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