a cautious step back from microlearning

the world seems to currently be in love with microlearning, positively obsessed with it even. it's being prescribed like vitamin D - for anyone and everyone, regardless of where they live and what they do! and that's where i have a problem.

so it's shorter chunks of learning. let's calm down already. this is not a stellar achievement given that even if you have a 60 minute course, if the structure chunks contents into the smallest feasible chapters/lessons you have essentially the same thing. it's elearning - the learner can close the module after a few minutes and come back to it any time they want, at any point they want. so the whole being able to see things in small bursts? meh - close, but no cigar.

am i saying microlearning is only fragmentation of larger modules? no (that would be poorly done microlearning). and that's in fact precisely from where my disagreement originates:

microlearning is alright for situations where you are not teaching complex concepts or adaptative application.

let's make this whole scene a little clearer with some concrete details, shall we? microlearning is generally a maximum of 5 minutes in length, typically just 2 minutes. really, just what caliber of learning can you expect to do in that kind of time? deep learning? hah. here's a reference point: reading a betty crocker recipe for a stuffed omelette takes ~2 minutes. and that's an omelette making procedure.

so is it really valid to think of teaching fudamental concepts of a profession through such a shallow, interrupted experience? most times, not. can you build strong declarative knowledge of moderately difficult to complex concepts with this? probably not. can you even teach a procedure with parameters to consider, performance considerations and what's set in stone vs what can be adapted? sometimes yes, sometimes no.

another commonly given reason for advocating microlearning is that learners don't have time for lengthy seat times. alright, that's a genuine constraint - but like any other constraint we need to see if it's reasonable in each situation: if there is a need for an employee to dedicate time for a longer period than the 5 minutes of microlearning, that's the organisational performance expectation: we're not getting around it by shredding the curriculum and dumbing it down to being a memory aid for procedural reference.

 so yeah. i'm going to want to look at the curriculum depth and scope before embracing microlearning for any given situation. the fashionable-ness of it makes me verra nervous about misuse!