Why Microlearning?
Grabbing and keeping the attention of learners today is an increasingly difficult task. But this issue is not only true for teachers, it is also true for managers in the corporate world.
By 2025, 70% of millennials will occupy the work force. And as John Eades, the president of LearnLoft notes, this is why microlearning is increasingly becoming a popular method of teaching:
''. . . look at who comprises a majority of learners. By 2025, Millennials alone will make up 75 percent of the workforce. The average attention span of the Millennial generation is 90 seconds.''
With Twitter, Snapchat, and Youtube videos, teachers are learning that grabbing, and then keeping, the focus of their students is an increasingly difficult task. This issue will be just as important in the workforce.
Microlearning then, is one example of how educators are responding to this growing reality of shorter attention spans.
Microlearning takes into consideration that instructors, and those learning, do not have all day to learn and then apply concepts.
It also understands that the human brain (see below) is not meant to absorb pages of information, or sit for hours on end, to learn material.
But microlearning is not only growing in popularity because it helps grab learners attention, it is also growing in popularity because it works.
According to Ambient Insight's The 2014-2019 Worldwide Mobile Learning Market report, mobile learning, becoming more and more synonymous with microlearning, reached revenues of $ 8.4 billion USD in 2014, and is expected to reach more than $ 14.5 billion by 2019, with a growth rate of over 11% yearly. Microlearning is allowing companies to do away with time-consuming training programs and replacing them with the short bite-sized bits of microlearning which can fit much easier into a worker's schedule without effecting productivity. Microlearning is predicted to be the biggest trend in Human Resources over 2017, as corporations are learning that the "traditional" MOOCs used for corporate training just do not fit in with the busy schedules of their workers.
Does it work?
In his book on Occupational Psychology, Lynne Millward stresses that the human brain evolved to intake information in smaller and more digestible pieces; and various studies conducted have confirmed this.
In a 2015 study conducted at the Dresden University of Technology, two groups of participants were asked to study the same material and answer questions on them, but both had their information delivered differently: one through a microlearning method, the other, a traditional long form way.
The study found that participants performed better on multiple choice assessment test when they absorbed their information in micro-levels versus their counterparts (who studied for the test in the ‘’traditional’’ long form method).
The human brain also retains more when forced to focus on specific information, presented in smaller sizes.
This is as true of learning in the classroom as it is in the corporate world.
Presenting information in manageable sizes, returning to that information, will better allow students to learn and retain what they have been taught.
A point which should be stressed here, is that microlearning is not a solve all approach. It is not meant to replace teaching, or make the school day a one hour event. It is meant to supplement education, whether in classrooms or the workforce (see ‘’What is microlearning?’’)
Grabbing and keeping the attention of learners today is an increasingly difficult task. But this issue is not only true for teachers, it is also true for managers in the corporate world.
By 2025, 70% of millennials will occupy the work force. And as John Eades, the president of LearnLoft notes, this is why microlearning is increasingly becoming a popular method of teaching:
''. . . look at who comprises a majority of learners. By 2025, Millennials alone will make up 75 percent of the workforce. The average attention span of the Millennial generation is 90 seconds.''
With Twitter, Snapchat, and Youtube videos, teachers are learning that grabbing, and then keeping, the focus of their students is an increasingly difficult task. This issue will be just as important in the workforce.
Microlearning then, is one example of how educators are responding to this growing reality of shorter attention spans.
Microlearning takes into consideration that instructors, and those learning, do not have all day to learn and then apply concepts.
It also understands that the human brain (see below) is not meant to absorb pages of information, or sit for hours on end, to learn material.
But microlearning is not only growing in popularity because it helps grab learners attention, it is also growing in popularity because it works.
According to Ambient Insight's The 2014-2019 Worldwide Mobile Learning Market report, mobile learning, becoming more and more synonymous with microlearning, reached revenues of $ 8.4 billion USD in 2014, and is expected to reach more than $ 14.5 billion by 2019, with a growth rate of over 11% yearly. Microlearning is allowing companies to do away with time-consuming training programs and replacing them with the short bite-sized bits of microlearning which can fit much easier into a worker's schedule without effecting productivity. Microlearning is predicted to be the biggest trend in Human Resources over 2017, as corporations are learning that the "traditional" MOOCs used for corporate training just do not fit in with the busy schedules of their workers.
Does it work?
In his book on Occupational Psychology, Lynne Millward stresses that the human brain evolved to intake information in smaller and more digestible pieces; and various studies conducted have confirmed this.
In a 2015 study conducted at the Dresden University of Technology, two groups of participants were asked to study the same material and answer questions on them, but both had their information delivered differently: one through a microlearning method, the other, a traditional long form way.
The study found that participants performed better on multiple choice assessment test when they absorbed their information in micro-levels versus their counterparts (who studied for the test in the ‘’traditional’’ long form method).
The human brain also retains more when forced to focus on specific information, presented in smaller sizes.
This is as true of learning in the classroom as it is in the corporate world.
Presenting information in manageable sizes, returning to that information, will better allow students to learn and retain what they have been taught.
A point which should be stressed here, is that microlearning is not a solve all approach. It is not meant to replace teaching, or make the school day a one hour event. It is meant to supplement education, whether in classrooms or the workforce (see ‘’What is microlearning?’’)