Microlearning in the Workplace

For my research methods class, I performed a qualitative study on the efficacy of microlearning based on a cross-sectional survey that I sent to my colleagues at my current company. The results were interesting!

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Microlearning involves small units of learning with bite-sized pieces of information and activities that are very short in duration. These short bursts can also be linked together for concepts that require more than a single session to fully explain. 

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Hug (2012) related that microlearning as a learning theory “has been used since the beginning of the twenty-first century mainly in the context of e-Learning” (p. 129). It is used quite often in professional contexts, as it allows companies to direct learning for employees in short bursts, and allows employees greater control of how to manage their learning and their time.

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Microlearning as a learning theory is still expanding, but has been of great interest for my company and for others that I'm familiar with. Many of our employees are either on the road a lot, or don't have a lot of free time available for training, and we've heard the same from our customers. Offering information in bite-sized chunks can help fill in travel time or small amounts of downtime, thereby ensuring that learners still get the training they want or need.

I've included this project not only to highlight the learning theory, but also to show the efficacy of microlearning in a professional environment, specifically my current company. A PDF copy of the research paper is included below.

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Reference:

Hug, T. (2012). Microlearning. In: Seel, N.M. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning
(pp. 2268-2271). Boston, MA: Springer.