How Is Microlearning the Key To Corporate Success?

Microlearning is no longer just a buzzword in the learning and development (L&D) sphere, as this digital learning approach is being increasingly adopted by corporate organizations all around the world to boost employee skills and knowledge, and thus, organizational productivity and growth.

Why Microlearning?

The reason why microlearning is able to provide such results is that it is based on brain science i.e. how a human brain learns, in addition to the fact that it is completely learner-centric, i.e. designed while keeping in mind the preferences, interests, and needs of modern learners. Corporate success depends on continuous upskilling of employees in different classes of skills including hard skills, soft skills, problem-solving skills, and broad situational awareness, to name a few. Microlearning can provide this continuous upskilling, which is why it is considered so important to corporate success. But, that is not all. Microlearning is backed by stats and has lots of other reasons for being considered the key to corporate success. These will be discussed in this article.

1. Microlearning Makes Knowledge Transfer Up To 20% More Efficient

As compared to traditional classroom and eLearning methods, microlearning makes the transfer of knowledge from learning to application up to 20% more efficient, according to the Journal of Applied Psychology. The reasons behind this are the facts that microlearning is concentrated and focused, and leave out any irrelevant information which leads to better retention. In addition, microlearning is delivered on learners’/employees’ smartphones (mobile learning), which means that learners can take microlearning modules at their own pace, at a time and place of their own choosing. This makes learning even more efficient. Thirdly, each microlearning module deals with just one learning objective, which reduces the effort spent on comprehending and digesting information. Better knowledge transfer means better performance and productivity.

2. Microlearning Is Preferred By Modern Learners

The primary reason behind microlearning’s tremendous success worldwide is the fact that it is preferred by modern learners. In fact, a number of surveys conducted on employees of various corporate organizations reveal that as much as 90% of employees prefer microlearning to traditional eLearning courses as they are short (no longer than 5 minutes), focused, mobile-accessible, informal and engaging. The engagement part is what makes microlearning preferable to modern learners the most. Engagement is created in microlearning modules using engagement techniques like gamification, video-based learning, high-definition graphics, 3D models, simulations, and the like. Any learning method that is preferred by learners increases absorption and retention of information, which boosts organizational productivity and growth, and increases the chances of corporate success.

3. Microlearning Suits The Modern Individual’s Attention Span And Working Memory Capacity

As the amount of information available to the modern individual increases, their attention span decreases. The modern learner is literally drowning in information, which has resulted in their attention span and working memory capacity decreasing dramatically. Microlearning suits this phenomenon, as it uses short bursts of information to help individuals learn. No microlearning module is longer than 5 minutes, and no slide (if there are slides in the module) takes more than 20 seconds to be consumed. This means that learners will never be overwhelmed with the size of the module, nor will they be bored or distracted as they are when attempting hour-long eLearning courses.

4. Microlearning Is Developed 3X Faster Than Traditional eLearning And Costs Half

Because microlearning modules are much shorter than regular eLearning courses, they can be developed thrice as fast, saving valuable time for instructional designers. This time saved can be used to create microlearning modules for employees/learners in advance. Microlearning also costs less due to its modular nature, as it requires not many resources to design and develop except for a rapid eLearning authoring tool with a vast online library. This means that the organization can develop microlearning for its employees thrice faster at half the cost, which is the epitome of a win-win! This is a direct way of saving money and time, which are both important aspects of corporate success.

Microlearning gives an organization an extensive competitive advantage over others, which is one of the foundations of corporate success. It is the combined effort of the employees of the organization which drives the organization forward, and microlearning augments that effort by augmenting the skills and knowledge of the employees in the organization. Microlearning, thus, is the key to corporate success in the modern world when we talk about learning and development methodologies.

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