The 6 biggest myths of microlearning
Microlearning is a unique and different way of training your employees, where you focus on providing short, bite-sized training content. It’s a relatively new concept which many seem to misunderstand and confuse with existing kinds of learning tools.
Allow us to help to get these misinterpretations out of the way:
“Microlearning is just another LMS”
Not exactly. While a Learning Management System (LMS) focuses more on managing, administrating, offering e-learnings and tracking the employees, Our microlearning platform, focuses on the training itself and on the end user. So instead of focusing on management, we focus on the end user. We encourage them to complete their training in a fun and engaging way! It’s not just about the training itself, it’s also about the learning experience and how you put that knowledge into practice!
“Microlearning is the only training solution you’ll need”
Absolutely not! Although microlearning is an effective, efficient and versatile way to empower your employees, it doesn’t mean it’s a stand-alone solution. Some materials might be too complex and elaborate to explain in a ‘Micro’ way and will need a face-to-face explanation, while microlearning would be a perfect addition to use as a retention tool.
To summarize: Can microlearning completely replace traditional learning? No. microlearning works perfectly in a blended learning plan. Some trainings can indeed be replaced by microlearning and in other occasions microlearning can be a strong retention reinforcement of your current face-to-face trainings.
“Microlearning is pretty much just e-learning”
No, it’s not. e-learning is basically any kind of training in a digital manner. Often, it’s a very extensive training which has to be completed in one go. With microlearning you focus on short, bite-sized content which is repeated every so often and which is accessible for the user at anytime, anywhere. This way you increase knowledge retention and keep the learners motivated. And that’s the core value, right?
“Microlearning is simply chunked content”
Chunking means that you divide extensive content into bite-sized elements to manage the overall cognitive load. However, microlearning can be a stand-alone piece that focuses on a specific topic. Microlearning is not only better for retention but the focus stays clear-cut and transparent.
“Microlearning should not take longer than 5 minutes to complete”
No. A thousand times no. There is no real magic number. The definition of Micro is ‘small’, meaning that people should be able to watch, learn and go. The guideline is: “As long as necessary and as short as possible”. So short is indeed the way to go.
“Microlearning is all about video”
Nope. Microlearning is all combining different kinds of visual elements, texts and questions to transfer knowledge in a fun and creative way. Videos are a great way to visualise complicated and more difficult materials, but they are just one of many ways to present your Microlearning content. In the end it’s up to you to decide which visual elements you use and combine to create the perfect learning experience.
As you can see, a little research now and then can’t hurt, and we can do that for you! If you come across any more myths, don’t hesitate to contact us. We are happy to tell the truth from a lie. You can always contact us at hello@mobietrain.com.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school” – Albert Einstein
