Microlearning: how to implement it in your day-to-day life

Imagine you've gone to the bakery closest to your home. As you approach the window below the counter, a Belgian chocolate cake jumps out at you. Your mouth immediately starts salivating. Even if your desire to eat the cake is very high, it doesn't have to be the whole thing. You order a single piece, pay at the till and enjoy your cake.

Microlearning is an equally satisfying experience.

What is microlearning?

Microlearning is the ability to break down content into several smaller, highly relevant chunks. This content is delivered at exactly the right time for learning while performing a given task. This allows students to consume high quality content at their optimum learning speed. This is what we call "knowledge pills".

What it isn't: Tedious, boring, hours-long training sessions, endless manuals, workshops lasting days and days. Today, these practices have been replaced by high-value micro-content.

It may seem like a new idea, but it's not. You've come across this type of learning at some point.

Your brain and microlearning

We're not talking about some crazy theory here. The practice of microlearning is accompanied by many studies in the field of neuroscience. The way we consume information and the attention span dedicated by the brain is the main focus of these studies.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for everything in your cognition. Next to it you have the amygdala and the hippocampus. These two play an important role in learning, but they react much better to microlearning.

The hippocampus is directly responsible for processing information and how important it is. After all this process, which is independent of your will, it sends the main content to long-term memories, which can be accessed later. The information is kept in the hippocampus for about twenty minutes, after which it becomes a memory for future access.

In short, if you try to learn a lot, for many hours at a time, you're bound to learn bits and pieces of the information that your brain has deemed important. The rest, you need to study again more succinctly.

Since we can't map this distinction correctly, microlearning focuses on what you can learn quickly and then use.

How long is "micro"?

Once we understand how the brain works, it's easy to imagine the size of the content to be considered microlearning. There is a prevailing opinion on the subject, which considers 10 to 15 minute modules to be a good pace for learning. This is not a rule, more a recommendation. There are contents that need more time and the teacher, or you yourself, have this freedom. 

Always remember your mind's ability to stay with something. You get much more engagement with a shorter video, for example. 

A common thought when designing a module or separating content for future study is that if the whole text fits on a small piece of paper or mobile screen, it's small enough. This makes any content easy to access and revise whenever necessary.

Thus creating a menu of information available whenever you need it. This is "micro" enough to remain effective.

Autonomy in learning

It's like a fast food drive-thru. You assess what you want at that moment and choose the order that best suits you. Allowing this level of autonomy for the student and for themselves puts them back in charge of their own journey.

This creates a habit of researching and cultivating a knowledge base of your own that is easily accessible whenever you need it. With comprehensive keywords and clear organization, you can access a small piece of content that solves an apparent problem at any time.

Now that students are more actively involved in their own learning, this makes them more engaged and concerned about their progress in the workplace. Therefore, having a "microlearning attitude" towards knowledge makes it easier to create learning routines.

Implementing microlearning

The idea of starting to create highly relevant pieces of content is to shorten the work your brain would do in processing the importance of each piece of information.

Try watching short videos, up to fifteen minutes, every day on a particular subject. You'll notice a significant improvement in your ability to concentrate and cognize that subject.

When you start reading a book, don't worry about finishing it in a few hours. Reading smaller chunks and reflecting on each one afterwards helps your brain to store the information.

Microlearning may be a small attitude or tool among many other ways of becoming more productive. But I can assure you that it is very effective.

If you need help finding out more about the subject, we at Hotscool are at your disposal.