{"id":42342,"date":"2021-02-06T08:24:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T13:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/?p=42342"},"modified":"2026-01-05T06:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:41:28","slug":"microlearning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/microlearning\/","title":{"rendered":"Microlearning: A Pathway to Effective Training Retention and Behavioral Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Microlearning<\/p>\n

Carefully-designed microlearning modules makes information easier to digest and support employee behavioral change over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It can also be gamified to boost employee engagement and community building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, designing a microlearning module is more than chunking materials into short pieces. Effective microlearning modules require systematic design and process.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article will bring you on a journey to explore factors that impact learning, best practice of microlearning, key components of microlearning modules and ways to gamify microlearning–all based on my decades of research and consulting practice in learning design.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also partnered with Venngage, the simple design solution for learning and development<\/a>, to provide you templates so you can easily create your own microlearning modules.<\/span><\/p>\n

What impacts learning?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Training at its core is not only cognitive change but also behavioral change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The process of learning is simplified into three steps:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Learners intake sensory information through various senses, such eyes and ears.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. They process this sensory information in their short term or working memory.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Through various opportunities to make meaning of the learned information and practice information in various contexts to identify patterns, learners will code such information into long-term memory and truly learn the information.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Information<\/p>\n

    Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

    Factors such as limited working memory, \u201cforgetting curve\u201d and short attention span impact learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Training, such as webinars, workshops, and e-learning modules, tend to focus on sensory and short-term processing. This bias forces learners to pile most of the information in the short term or working memory.<\/p>\n

    Related:<\/b>\u00a0How to Create a Successful Employee Training and Development Program Using Visuals<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Unlike long-term memory, which has nearly unlimited capacity, short term or working memory only has limited capacity. When information is beyond its capacity, learners get cognitive overloaded and training effectiveness drops.<\/p>\n

    Research showed that learning effectiveness is the highest in the first five minutes and drops dramatically after 15 minutes (<\/span>Burns,1985<\/span><\/a>). And for a 16 minutes video, participants will only process information from the first three minutes (<\/span>Guo, Kim & Rubin, 2014<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

    In addition to the limitation of working memory, learning is also impacted by the \u201cforgetting curve\u201d and short attention span. After we have learned something new, how much do you think we can still remember tomorrow? Most of it? Probably not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, discovered that we usually remember 20 percent on the next day. He called it the \u201cforgetting curve.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"forgetting<\/p>\n

    Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

    Moreover, we now have a shorter attention span. The average song length on the Billboard Hot 100 now is around 3.5 minutes. Some hit songs are even shorter, around 2.5 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In a traditional classroom, an adult learner\u2019s attention span maxes at 18 minutes (<\/span>Murphy, 2008<\/span>). In an online learning environment, the attention span will be much shorter due to multitasking and distractions (<\/span>Rothman, 2016<\/span>). We may tune into a recorded session or scan through an article while looking up websites, jogging, cooking, or waiting in line .<\/span><\/p>\n

    Microlearning is a modern approach to overcome those challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

    What is microlearning? A definition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Microlearning delivers short and focused content bites at various intervals, such as days, weeks or months. Such spaced repetition effectively overcome memory loss caused by the \u201cforgetting curve.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"projected<\/p>\n

    Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

    Managers usually prefer microlearning because it provides on-demand and up-to-date information and training.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Effective microlearning always fits well into people\u2019s daily workflow and motivates them to engage with it voluntarily. Ultimately, it shapes how people think and behave (<\/span>Dolasinski & Reynolds, 2020<\/span>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Microlearning best practices<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    An effective micro learning unit usually lasts no more than three to five minutes (<\/span>Fox, 2016<\/span>; <\/span>Dolasinski & Reynolds, 2020<\/span>) and fits naturally into the daily workflow. It also motivates employees to engage with it voluntarily and progressively adapt the content to support employees’ behavioral change that impacts specific business results.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n


    \n<\/a>    Each microlearning module usually is used in combination with a series of other microlearning modules over a period of time to support a larger training goal (<\/span><\/a>Kapp & Defelice, 2019<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    You can use each microlearning module:<\/span><\/p>\n