How to implement microlearning in employee training to drive significant business results?

As per the 2017 Workplace Learning Report, 27% of the companies increased the budget for talent development. Learning initiatives like this have a major impact on business growth, given that human resource is the major asset that any organization can count upon.

In this blog post, we would like to cast the focus on how to implement microlearning in employee training to drive significant business results. Before that, let’s first understand what is microlearning, to begin with.

Is Microlearning worth investing time in?

Microlearning is a popular training method in terms of Staff Augmentation, which is known to crack its way through the busy work schedules of the learners and provide effective results. In a microlearning program, small nuggets of information which carries the essence of the underlying topic are delivered to the user for quick and effective learning in a short period of time, usually 2-5 minutes.

On average, a modern learner is estimated to have only 1% of the work week available to dedicate to training and development programs. This necessitates the learning programs to be crisp and effective.

Microlearning serves as the major knowledge spread technique with major benefits like:

• An improved knowledge retention rate
• Reduced costs of learning
• Compatibility with Mobile Learning

Surprise! You can make it More Fun.

This is a widespread misconception that microlearning can only be in video clips form. Though videos are a great way to deliver information, there are other ways of microlearning which are known to be effective:

• Gamified activities
• Short Articles
• Interactive modules
• Infographics

5 Crisp yet Effective Ways to Implement Microlearning Into Your Employee Training

1. Set Training Goals

Before designing an effective training course for your employees, analyze the objective of the training program. Outline and answer a few basic questions to set the direction of your training program.

• What problems do you intend to solve with this training program?
• Which behaviors do you want to address specifically?
• How do you desire to track results?

Microlearning can be directed in any direction that you want. It might be used for quick questions that employees might have, for continuing educational modules, and for tips and tricks for success.

2. Design a Comprehensive and Cohesive Course

Once the goals for the course is decided, take a head-start to design a course which incorporates all the learning objectives. The lessons should not be fragmented or have cliffhangers. Every piece of content should deliver a complete understanding of the underlying topic.

3. Encourage Continual Use of the Course

An effective microlearning program is one which is implemented continuously and improves knowledge retention. Learners should be given access to these informational training courses any time to advance their long-term memory, and instantly find an answer if they can’t recollect it.

P.S. Few tricks to improve the impact of your microlearning program:

• Spaced Repetition: Make the learners practice a new topic over increasingly long intervals. This will deepen their memory.
• Retrieval Practice: In this practice, memory is strengthened by using questions to recollect information.
• Confidence-based assessment: This involves comparing what you think you know vs. what you actually know to improve memory and enhance self-awareness.

4. Make Microlearning Content Easily Accessible

In contemporary scenarios, the work schedules run tight and thus there is a requirement of a training course that can fit in day-to-day workflow. An easy way to make this happen is to pair microlearning courses with mobile learning which can allow learners to access and complete training courses anytime.
A great Learning Management System can help you a lot to achieve the all-time accessibility of the training programs. With an LMS in the system, you can streamline the training process and help the learners easily access the microlearning content.

5. Evaluate Results Periodically

It is essential to track results periodically to get an understanding of the effectiveness of the implemented training program. This will allow you to track the strong areas of your training program and pinpoint the difficulty areas with which you can continuously optimize the training program.
Again for effective tracking of the results, a robust learning management system has a role to play. With the analytics and insights provided by the LMS, you can easily understand the flaws and effectiveness of a training program and tweak it for betterment.

To Sum it up

Microlearning is the best fit for all your business training needs, the only underlying condition is, it should be optimized for relevancy.  Crisp targeted nuggets of information can bring monetary results in the times to come as they contribute directly to the business growth. Are you thinking of getting a Learning Management System (LMS) for your organization? Let us help you!

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