Hi, Tim!

I just started a new job as a learning experience designer for a national food distribution company after being laid off earlier this year due to COVID-19. While I’m so happy to have landed in a new job, I am finding myself overwhelmed with some of the instructional design philosophies my new manager wants me to implement; mainly microlearning.

My manager keeps throwing the term around, and so I’m feeling pressured to master it rather quickly. I know microlearning is a “thing” within our industry, but I don’t think I totally understand how to do it right. Is microlearning just another form of e-learning? Should I be trying to condense my training content into microlearning? And if so, how do I even begin doing that?!

Please help!

Hello, and thanks for reaching out! Our industry likes to reinvent itself all the time, and if I’m being honest, I think microlearning is a great example of our industry trying to create the latest shiny object for us to chase after. While you can find tons of great information and resources about microlearning on the ATD website, I don’t think microlearning is as complicated as some folks like to make it.

To answer your questions, I’ll give you some of my thoughts on what microlearning is (and isn’t) and some best practices for how to create it.

What Is Microlearning?

Over that last several years, I’ve worked with ATD to facilitate the Microlearning Certificate program, and one of the first questions I ask the attendees is to provide their definition of microlearning. It never fails to amaze me how many folks think microlearning is something that is exclusive to e-learning or video-based learning. The truth is, it’s not!

Microlearning is any learning content that can be consumed in a few short minutes and is laser-focused on a specific performance outcome. That’s it! Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, microlearning might come in the form of a short e-learning module or a video; however, it might also be a job aid, an infographic, a podcast, or anything that can be quickly consumed to help you perform a task.

How Is Microlearning Created?

The challenge a lot of folks, like yourself, face when tasked with creating microlearning is how to create it in the first place. One of the biggest misconceptions is that microlearning is about condensing your existing content into a shorter amount of time. And I can’t emphasize enough how not true this is.

Creating microlearning is not about taking what normally requires an hour of learning time and condensing it down to five minutes. Learning doesn’t work that way. If it takes an hour to learn something, then that’s what it takes. There’s no magical instructional design dust that will make it equally as effective when cut down to five minutes.

So, if microlearning isn’t about condensing information, then what is it about? Microlearning is looking at what you can teach in a short amount of time and delivering it as efficiently as possible. This might mean taking an e-learning course that was originally 20 minutes and breaking it into several shorter, easier-to-consume chunks.

I hope the answers I provided for those two questions help guide you in the right direction. As you continue learning more about microlearning, I would highly recommend checking out Designing Microlearning by Carla Torgerson and Sue Iannone. Everything I’ve learned about microlearning I learned from Carla, so I know it’s a good next step for you.

Best of luck!

Tim

What other tips do you have for creating microlearning? Share them by commenting below.

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