Having well-trained and knowledgeable employees is essential for any growing business. It is your job as a learning and development manager to ensure your team is properly trained and educated. As technology and your industry changes, you will need to change the way you provide information to your employees.
For years, learning and development managers have used the power of microlearning. Rather than bogging employees down with tons of information all at once, microlearning allows team members to learn via small scenarios and packets of data. Studies show that microlearning can make the education process nearly 17 percent more efficient.
Most training experts fail to realize how hard it is to both implement and perfect microlearning. Before you can embrace this type of learning, you need to work with your team to choose the right remote desktop software. Often times, employees will want to access this information from home, which is why remote desktop software is a must. Be sure to check out the Top Free Remote Desktop Software in 2019 by DNSstuff to find out which software option works for you and your team.
The following are some of the things you need to do to successfully use microlearning.
Keep Your Microlearning Pieces Concise
One of the biggest mistakes learning and development managers make when developing microlearning lessons for their team is making them too long and bloated. Ideally, you want each of these lessons to be short and to the point. Most microlearning experts agree that these lessons should be no longer than five minutes long. If you are developing a microlearning lesson that is over the five-minute mark, work on trimming the fat on it.
When trying to do this, look at the lesson in question objectively. Boiling down the main idea of the lesson is crucial when trying to successfully embrace the power of microlearning. If you are having a hard time doing this, allow another member of your learning and development team take a look. Getting an objective point-of-view can help you see where changes need to be made.
Don’t Forget to Make It Fun
Some training experts fail to realize that keeping employees engaged during a microlearning nugget is difficult. While you may find the lesson in question riveting and informative, some team members may not share this enthusiasm. Instead of running the risk of team members lacking engagement during these learning nuggets, find a way to make them fun.
Using gamification in these lessons is a great way to keep engagement levels high. Gamification elements like peer to peer competition and reward unlocking can be effective. If your team members actually enjoy the microlearning nuggets you provide them, they are more apt to actually retain the information in them. Seeking out the help of development professionals is crucial when trying to successfully add gamification elements to your microlearning lessons.
Choosing the Right Content Format is Challenging
Not only will you have to make sure your microlearning lessons are engaging, you also need to focus on delivering this content in a variety of different forms. Employees will get bored if they are only presented with one type of microlearning content. This is why mixing it up and providing everything from written content to video lessons is beneficial. You can also provide microlearning lessons in the form of surveys, quizzes and other types of interactive content. By diversifying the type of microlearning content you provide your team, keeping them engaged and interested will be a breeze.
Review the Content Before Handing it Over to Employees
Once you have developed a new microlearning lesson, you need to put it through the paces. Making sure the content and the format it is delivered in is the right fit for your team is crucial. This is why adequately testing the content in the attempt to find errors is a wise move. The time and effort invested in this testing is worth it consider the issues it can help you avoid. The last thing any learning and development manager wants is to hand content over to employees that is riddled with errors and functionality issues, which is why this testing is so important.
What Are You Waiting For?
Now that you know about the benefits of microlearning, it is time to take action. With some professional guidance and a bit of hard work, developing microlearning lessons for your employees is a real possibility.