A Bite-Sized Guide to

Microlearning
Ellen Burns-Johnson
Senior Learning Experience Designer
Brent Gwsdalla
Studio Executive and Senior Learning Experience Strategist
Intro

You're here because you've heard the term #microlearning. In the spirit of making "short and sweet" learning content, this
Maybe you're a training and development professional, looking e-book is organized into short sections, each independent of
for a primer on the topic. Perhaps you're a content developer one another. You can read the sections in order, read them out
or instructional designer, looking for guidance on creating of sequence, or only read some sections. Each provides a
short, focused learning experiences. You might be a training foundation of knowledge in the following topics:
manager or instructional strategist, pondering how
Is microlearning a good fit for your organization?
microlearning could fit into your organization's overall learning
Delivering microlearning
strategy. This e-book is a summary of the recommendations I
Planning a curriculum with microlearning
make to my clients at Allen Interactions and practices they
Designing good microlearning experiences
have implemented in their organizations. These are insights
into what makes for successful microlearning gleaned from The rest of this introduction discusses the definition of
experience working with varied companies and organizations. microlearning and explores what we know about its effectiveness.

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What is microlearning?

There are lots of definitions out there about microlearning.

Some say it has to be in video format and others add that it
It has to be short.
has to be less than three minutes. I absolutely believe it's Microlearning lessons are short enough so that completing
helpful to list platforms that work for microlearning delivery them "on the go" doesn't negatively affect the learning
and outline some guidelines for how long such experiences experience. Microlearning can be completed during a coffee
tend to be, however, I don't think creating hard lined rules break or on a subway ride.
create a safe, fun, and experiential environment for learners.

Rather than define microlearning by the clock or by the media

used, let's define it by its core characteristics:
Make it focused and curated.
A single microlearning lesson focuses on one skill or topic. If

It has to be short. you were creating microlearning on the basics on boxing, you

Make it focused and curated. might create one video lesson on how to throw a good right

Each lesson should stand on its own. hook. Uppercut punches would be a separate lesson. Each

Make it convenient and referenceable. lesson should also be curated so that it can be experienced
quickly, efficiently, and pleasantly.

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What is microlearning?

Each lesson should stand

on its own.
Each lesson should provide value, even if it's completed in
isolation from the larger curriculum. If a learner only has time
to complete one lesson, they should still feel a legitimate sense
of progress and accomplishment.

Make it convenient and

referenceable.
When designed thoughtfully, microlearning can serve double-
duty as a learning experience and as performance support.
Learners should be able to access the microlearning easily
when they want it or need it.

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Is it multiplatform?

When learners want to engage with microlearning systems, it In an earlier edition of this e-book, we included "multiplatform"
can help if the lessons are multiplatform: available on mobile, as a core characteristic of effective microlearning. We've since
tablet, laptops, and desktops. This enables learners to access removed it; our experience since the first edition has shaped
microlearning in contexts that may be more convenient (e.g. our beliefs, and we think the revised design principles are
on the train) or closer to the moment of need (e.g. right before superior in that they're platform-agnostic. Organizations that
a client appointment). don't need, can't produce, or won't benefit from multitplatform
learning may still find microlearning to be a good fit for their
However, creating high-quality multiplatform content can be a learners' needs.
challenge for many organizations. Not all organizations have
the security infrastructure, design staff, and development
expertise to enable multiplatform deployment. Moreover, not
all organizations have the culture required to really maximize
the benefits of multiplatform learning.

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Why is microlearning trending now?

You’ve also been here before. Training and development as an But rarely do these new tools and ideas live up to the initial
industry is all about trends, it seems. There’s always some new hype and result in the learning revolutions that fans hope for.
idea about designing learning that vendors and talking heads
claim will revolutionize the way learners acquire skills and Microlearning is appealing because it's a reaction to how
knowledge. Each new development tool seems to create a consumers have come to interact with Web content. It makes
tsunami of excitement and social media shares. sense—the most popular Web content is short.

This isn’t strictly negative; after all, the enthusiastic discussions The ideal blog post (2,400 words) will take the average
that can be sparked by the release of a new tool or the reader about ten minutes to complete.
emergence of a new process can help every participant The average YouTube video length is about 12 minutes.
improve his or her practice. TED and TEDx talks and performances top out at 18
minutes, though speakers are often asked to present for
only 3, 5, or 9 minutes.

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Examples of microlearning

Because Web consumers expect content to be short, there is already a host of microlearning available for public access. Some of it
published well before the term "microlearning" grew its own hashtag.

If you're looking for inspiration, here are three examples you might want to explore:

Duolingo
This multiplatform language learning application has social
media integration and elements of gamification. Each lesson in
the expansive curriculum uses interactive exercises to
introduce 8-10 words from the learner's selected language. To
pass a lesson, the learner has to complete about 5 minutes of
practice with the new words.

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Examples of microlearning

Learning Platforms
Many courses on today's leading learning platforms display the
characteristics of microlearning. If you start a course on
LinkedIn Learning, you'll likely see that the course is broken up
into chapters or modules, and then further segmented into
lessons. Each of these lessons is only a few minutes in length,
focuses on one concept or skill, and is curated to stand on its
own while also fitting nicely into the course as a whole.

YouTube™
This is certainly the Wild West of learning content, but quality
microlearning can be found out there amongst the
evergrowing body of YouTube™ videos. Extra Credits,
Food.com, and TED-Ed are three examples of learning-focused
channels that typically create their content in microlearning
format.

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Is microlearning a good fit for your organization?

The idea of short, focused experiences might be appealing to us as Make sure that you’re interviewing your learners and finding
learners, but there’s a lot more to a successful microlearning initiative out what they will actually do. Just because learners could
than the quality of the exercise or ease of use. Here’s a checklist of complete a module on the train doesn’t mean they will.
factors to explore when considering microlearning for your
organization. What devices will learners use to access the material?
Laptops, desktops, smartphones? Which operating systems
Will the microlearning be optional or required? This might affect and web browsers will they use? For mobile, is delivery
where and when learners access the content. through an app an option?

Does your organizational culture allow for small chunks of training Will learners engage with individual microlearning
time? This is an especially important consideration for companies experiences in a sequence, or in no prescribed order?
with hourly employees, who may be expected to be compensated
for learning time. If this describes your organization, examine What existing instructional design resources does your
these employees’ incentive structures. If they’re paid on organization have? If you’re lucky, you may already have a
commission, you may be better served by optional microlearning comprehensive skills hierarchy for your learning audience.
that can be positioned as a means for them to enhance their skills, The majority of our clients do that analysis from scratch at
and thereby increase their commissions. the beginning of a project. So, if you don’t have an existing
map of which skills learners need and how they depend on
When and where will your learners complete microlearning? one another, you may want to start there. Read more about
During the work day? After hours? On lunch breaks, or during this on page 11.
their commute?

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Delivering microlearning
This is another factor you should define before you begin any What data do you seek to glean from microlearning usage? How
significant microlearning initiative. While you can create often will you review this data? If microlearning is simply up and
microlearning interactions or videos one at a time and host them on available for learners at all times, you may receive a constant
your LMS like all of your big e-learning courses, this might not stream of data that you can use to guide additional training
provide the optimal experience for users or for the organization. efforts.
Even if a microlearning experience is pleasurably short and focused,
it’s only really useful as microlearning if learners can access it Security. This may be one of the biggest challenges for
without digging through layers of cumbersome access points. deploying content that is short, focused, coherent, and
Ideally, learners who were required to complete microlearning in convenient. Video is touted as a great medium for microlearning,
order to acquire new knowledge and skills will want to return to the but while there are many existing platforms for sharing video
mini-courses for remedial training or for performance support. content on the Web, it’s unlikely that you can put your content
up on YouTube™.
A law of the Internet applies here—if it’s hard to get at, people won’t
see it. So before you begin designing microlearning and pushing it So, if you’re hoping to implement true microlearning that learners
out to learners, know the following: can access anywhere, anytime, then that means you’ll have to
address the same security issues that any mobile e-learning course

Where will microlearning content be housed? would have. Many employees will want to access content from their
own devices, and it would be unfortunate if a competitor accessed
How will learners access it?
your microlearning content through a misplaced iPhone®!
How will learners know about it?

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Planning a curriculum with microlearning
Go for the small stuff.
Practicing blues scales and 2-5-1 chord progressions will help a Plus, it’s likely that these complex skills are most important for the
saxophonist get better at jazz improvisation, but she’ll still need to job, so enabling learners to practice them is essential for their
practice Giant Steps many times before she plays her solo on stage. success. You don’t want to short-change them by providing the
wrong type of learning experience, so think twice about replacing
A widget salesman’s main job is to sell widgets. To truly master the your whole curriculum with microlearning. Extended or complex
skill of selling widgets, he spends months acquiring product skills should still receive dedicated practice time, through in-person
knowledge and developing narrower skillsets, like how to ask open- or virtual classroom training, e-learning, webinars, or some other
ended questions, when to ask for the sale, and how to overcome means.
objections.
However, microlearning can be used to train or hone sub-skills—
It would be difficult to finish an entire saxophone solo or have a components of those larger, more important skills. While
robust sales conversation in the time it takes you to finish a latte. microlearning might not be a great format to help the widget
Applying these skills in their entirety requires longer periods of time salesman practice sales conversations from start to finish, it might
and potentially some dedicated space. Consequently, extended or be a good way for him to practice sub-skills like overcoming
complex skills like these aren’t great candidates for microlearning objections or matching product features to customer needs.
because the characteristics of good microlearning are
fundamentally incompatible with the requirements of the intense,
focused practice sessions required to develop mastery of such
skills.

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Designing good microlearning experiences

A single microlearning event is short and delivered asynchronously. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when designing
If you create a curriculum that has a significant microlearning microlearning experiences.
component with many videos or interactions, that content won’t be
completed in one sitting, but spread out over time. Of course, skills
and knowledge are interdependent, but it’s impossible to fit every
Minimize introductions.
potentially relevant piece of content into one slice of microlearning Our experiences with classroom training (and much existing e-
—plus, it isn’t a good idea. Our perspective is that it’s better to make learning) makes us feel like we need to preface learning experience
another, separate learning event than to cram irrelevant content with lengthy introductions. While this is certainly a problematic
into an experience that’s supposed to be concise. practice in e-learning, it’s an untenable one in microlearning. You
only have a few minutes of the learner’s attention—don't waste it on
If your organization is truly on board with a microlearning approach, overblown introductions!
then it can make dealing with SMEs much easier. When the veteran
with years of industry expertise pushes to include just another piece Modern learners have been conditioned by their everyday online
of content because “learners need to know this,” the instructional experiences. When they enter a microlearning experience, they
designer can push back, citing the limitations of microlearning. expect it to get straight to the point. In a microlearning video, avoid
Instead of including extraneous content, offer to create another spending more than a few seconds on an introduction before
microlearning lesson that focuses on the SME's additional content. getting to relevant content. If your microlearning is interactive, let
learners immerse themselves in the activity as quickly as possible,
and only use an introduction if it’s needed to set context.

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Designing good microlearning experiences

Show, don't tell. These suggestions are written with video or interactivity in mind
(videos are not typically "interactive" because most do not require
This is especially important for videos. Should you be using them to input from the learner to advance). I don’t consider microlearning to
demonstrate a process or to illuminate a concept? This principle be limited to video and interactive media; one might create
applies to more interactive microlearning as well. Maximize the microlearning using email or web pages, with text and imagery
amount of time you spend showing or asking learners how to do available to learners.
something, and minimize the amount of commentary you include.

Try to be performance-focused.
Focus on a narrowly defined skill and context. A single
microlearning exercise on “overcoming objections” isn’t going to
give enough practice to develop the skill. Give learners multiple
scenarios so they can practice the skill in varied contexts. Create
one scenario on “overcoming objections with an impatient
customer,” another on “overcoming objections about price,” yet
another about “overcoming objections with a skeptical customer,”
and so on.

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Ellen Burns-Johnson
Senior Learning Experience Designer
@EllenbJohnson

Ellen Burns-Johnson has over a decade of experience in the education and

training industries. She has crafted the instructional strategy and design for
dozens of major initiatives across diverse topics, from classroom safety to IT
sales. Emphasizing collaboration and playfulness in her approach to creating
learning experiences, Ellen’s work has earned multiple industry awards for
interactivity and game-based design.

Ellen is also a Certified Scrum Master® and strives to bring the principles of Agile
to life in the L&D field. Whether a client is a Fortune 100 company or a local
nonprofit, she believes that the best learning experiences are created through
processes built on transparency between sponsors and developers, empirical
processes, and respect for learners.

Outside of her LXD work, Ellen plays video games (and sometimes makes them)
and runs around the Twin Cities with her two mischievous dogs (ask for pictures).
Brent Gwisdalla
Studio Executive and Senior Learning Experience Strategist

Brent Gwisdalla is a Studio Executive and Senior Learning Experience Strategist

for Allen Interactions. He has architected countless learning experiences and led
projects across a broad spectrum of content areas. For over 25 years, Brent has
worked in all phases of instructional design, talent development, e-Learning, and
blended training solutions using almost every media imaginable along the way.

He holds a master’s degree in Instructional Design from Western Michigan

University and is one of five instructors teaching the e-Learning Instructional
Design Certificate program for the Allen Academy. Brent has published articles on
instructional design in industry journals and is a visiting lecturer on training and
performance management at the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State
University. An insatiable learner himself, Brent is fascinated by brain science,
human development, and behavioral psychology.
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