4 Golden rules of microlearning

Microlearning is sweeping the L&D world for good reason: delivering small, easy-to-remember, topical lessons is far more effective than face-to-face training or sitting someone in front of a long, eLearning course. But you still need to do it right. Here are four golden rules of microlearning.

Golden rules of microlearning

1. Mobile first

A great deal of free eLearning software is compatible with mobile but the user experience is poor and fiddly. A key rule for microlearning is that it should be designed to operate on mobile devices first. If learning resembles and operate like a regular phone app or game, then you won’t need to provide any usage instructions – it will be intuitive. A good responsive design will then allow microlessons to also be performed in desktop and laptop web browsers.

2. Reinforce everything

Reinforcement is a major golden rule when it comes to microlearning. Microlessons have a limited time to deliver their message so make sure your learners remember what’s important. If they get the answer wrong, quickly reinforce the message to ensure they remember the right answer. If they got it correct, reinforce it to embed it. See how expert L&D professionals recommend you should create a good microlesson plan.

3. Golden rule: Keep microlearning short

Microlearning works because it doesn’t overload learners with information. Short-term memory can only hold several pieces of information before being overwritten or shunted out. Long lessons also get tedious so break any subject up if they take more than a few minutes to complete.

4. Interactivity and gamification

The template driven nature of microlearning means that it’s simple to create interactive and gamified microlessons just by uploading content, answers and questions to existing templates. These make it possible for anyone to produce engaging and effective microlearning without starting from a blank page. It’s an important golden rule.

You may be interested in our microlearning infographic. Click here to check it out or copy the link, https://training.safetyculture.com/blog/microlearning-infographic/.

More on microlearning

If you’d like to know more about implementing a microlearning L&D strategy, get in touch at enquiries@edapp.com. You can also try SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Mobile LMS and authoring tool for free by signing up here.

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