The Unstoppable Rise of Micro-Learning!

How many times in the past 24 hours have you used Google or Chat GPT to learn something new? Your browser history, or the saved questions in Chat GPT will give you a hint.

Personal confession time. For me this is often a few searches every hour of work time. My browser knows my thoughts better than anyone else (Even close family or friends). And these days I use Chat GPT from everything ranging to workout plans to improving leg strength for a trek I am committed to in April.

The rise of micro-learning or short form content is changing the way we learn. Micro-learning enables us to learn bite sized ideas several times a day... Often just when we need it most.

There are at least three reasons why micro-learning is on the rise. And why we think this is here to stay.

In fact it is quite likely that as AI enabled LnD systems get more and more sophisticated, we will receive targeted learnings across our day, just as it senses the projects we are focused on.

It is not hard to imagine a recommendation engine that anticipates our needs even before we are able to articulate these.

1. Learning in the flow of work: First coined by Josh Bersin in 2018, learning the flow of work is the idea that employees should have access to the right knowledge at the right time – to support their learning goals and needs without significantly disrupting their daily workflow.

For instance, if you are working on building a sales funnel, you would perhaps benefit from bite size learning nuggets that will enable a better engine. OR if you are launching a new campaign to popularise your new line of clothing, you will may be hungry to learn all that you can about tips to make your digital campaign more successful.

Learning in the flow of work makes sense because it helps you solve the problem at hand now. And for that – micro learning or short form content is ideal as it can be integrated into the natural course of work.

2. Improved Retention: Fun fact. Before there was micro-learning, there was micro-teaching. The idea of micro-teaching emerged from the finding that in fact we tend to forget most of what we have learnt in the next few minutes.

An hour later we remember less than half or what we have learnt. A sobering thought for two year MBA programs where just a fraction of what was learnt in the first year may be remembered by the time you join work.

However, if we frequently review what we are learning, it does get coded deeper into our memories and stays longer.

The original intent of micro-teaching was to take small individual pieces of learning and repeat them often soon after the initial learning so that they were coded into our memories.

Surprised? Well it turns out there was merit to the number of times you had to repeat the multiplication table in third grade. You may find you remember most of it even today because the repetition had etched deeper grooves in your brain.

Micro learning can enable retention if the learning is quickly followed by application. In the workplace combining micro-learning with learning in the flow of work enables us to do just that.

Becoming a very powerful tool for up-skilling.

3. Employees want to learn, BUT at work, not just apart from work.

One of the big challenges of the past few years is the expanding work hours. This means that there are simply fewer hours in a day left after work essentials are taken care of. Given the very significant amount of up-skilling each of us will need, it just makes sense that short form information is far easier to integrate into the day.

One of the biggest needs in the "Future of Skills" is the need for continuous up-skilling. According to the World Economic Forum, the future of jobs is all about a massive up-skilling as almost 40% of the content of current roles is expected to change between 2020 and 2025. Given that several of us seek to successfully manage that while also managing the day to day and the rest of our lives, micro-learning is likely to be a very very helpful friend.

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References.

1. A new paradigm for corporate training: Learning in the flow of work. Josh Bersin

2. A review of the trend of micro-learning.Kelvin Leong, Anna Sung, David Au, Claire Blanchard, Journal of Work- Applied Management

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(About me: I lead Unqbe, a think-tank and advisory firm around building future organisations. We track change through commissioned and primary research. We help leadership teams build Workplace 2.0 with a current focus on building level 3 cultures; building future-ready competencies; and future-oriented people practices.)