Thoughts about micro-learning

Micro-learning as an instructional design approach has been gaining a lot of traction for a while now. While it works really well for actionable content, helps learning designers structure content in a modular way, and can increase engagement and efficiency by making the process learner-driven, it's also very easy to get it wrong.

One of the better definitions I've come across recently is:

Just for me, just in time, just enough

For a long time, too much of the focus has been on the last bit. We got hung up on duration, and by using short attention spans and limited processing capabilities as justification, I think we’ve been doing our learners a disservice.

Of course it's important to value learners’ time, but the best way to do that is by taking into account all these three elements rather than try to hit some mythical sweet spot of total run-time.

So, just for me: a.k.a make it personalized. True personalization was always a tough one to pull off because of the challenges involved in scaling, but AI and chatbots are opening up all kinds of possibilities here (once you get past the irony of a machine recommending a course on empathy).

Just in time: a.k.a content and context go hand in hand. The only way for micro-learning to be useful and relevant is for it to be pushed at the point of need / in the flow of work. 

And finally- just enough. a.k.a what is the optimal amount of information needed to achieve a specific job-related objective? What this is really about is distilling the essence of an action or behavior and serving it up as a shot of pure, unadulterated learning. 

I've been thinking about what specific type of content lends itself well to micro-learning, when a more blended approach may be a better option, and whether micro-learning itself can be blended, but it might need to be a topic for another post. 

After all, this is now well over six paragraphs long and the most our brains can handle is three. 

Just kidding.