When we wake up every day, we are in a rush to complete our daily chores and reach our workplace in time. We grab the newspaper and go through the headlines of the day while sipping a cup of coffee as we don’t have much time to go through it entirely. While dressing up for office, we may switch on the TV and catch up with the day’s news, and while driving to the office we may switch on the radio to listen to the top stories of the day. So, we gather the entire news in bits and pieces from different sources. This is an example of microlearning, which is widely prevalent in these modern days of stiff competition.
Microlearning at Workplace
People in this modern age are accustomed with technology and with time they have accepted and adapted with technological changes. Their needs and demands have also changed; in fact, we want things delivered to us at lightning speed and indeed, we are getting them at the same rate. A recent study states that with this change in rapid demand and rapid delivery, there has been reduction in the human attention span from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. The similar also happens at workplace where our attention span fluctuates because of the above given reasons. Employees in an organization have the unsatiating urge to gather more and more work-related information and constantly hone their skills. However, these days, they find extensive training sessions, workshops and bulky manuals boring and outdated, and want short, simple and interesting work-related contents that they can learn in their own pace and time. Employers can effectively use microlearning applications to fulfill the learning and recreational needs of their employees.
Organizations can use microlearning in many different ways including:
- Digital employee manuals
Organizations can replace bulky and huge work manuals with digital and online manuals, including multimedia presentations, videos and other engaging contents. They can also be instructed to read the contents thoroughly and complete a small quiz related to the contents within a given deadline. This makes the entire process interesting for the employees and will encourage them in participating wholeheartedly. They could access the contents anytime and anywhere as per their convenience.
- Digital modules for employees
Digital modules can be utilized by organizations to train and assist employees so that they can learn, practice and hone their skills. These can be used flexibly as per requirement at any time of the day.
- Microlearning for enhancing workplace culture
A well-developed microlearning content arouses the employees’ interest and engages them; it gives them the freedom and ability to learn and improve themselves effectively, at their own pace. This creates a sense of esteem in the employees and a feeling of being respected and trusted.
- Easy updating and real-time learning
A target employee could be easily updated via digital content directly without going through managers, making the process simple and easy. Employees receive work-related contents in real-time and can go through them whenever they get time.
Efficient Implementation
Microlearning is a very important concept in today’s corporate world. It helps in enhancing the skills and abilities of employees, which, in turn, contributes to the ultimate benefit of the organization. It is undoubtedly beneficial for the employees, but while preparing microlearning contents it should be kept in mind that the content should be suitable for the targetted employees; should be short, crisp and to the point so that they don’t get interrupted in the middle of important tasks.
An organization, using microlearning tools, can conduct regular tests and quizzes to train and develop its employees. It can regularly assess its employees’ performance levels based on the tests but should also keep in mind, that it shouldn’t distract them from their daily work. Every employee has to meet his/her personal targets, and hence, the microlearning contents should be prepared and delivered to them in such a way that they can learn and perform well at the same time at the workplace. Microlearning invigorates the employees to introspect themselves in order to figure out where they require help and also helps them to assess their efficiency in delivering against specific tasks.
Many employees may feel the work pressure and experience fear, anxiety, and stress, ultimately leading them to committing mistakes which is unhealthy for an ideal work environment. They are used to performing similar tasks everyday which puts them in a comfort zone; but, as soon as they encounter something unfamiliar, they get stressed and panic. A similar thing also happens sometimes if there is too much workload, and limited time to complete it. Pushing employees beyond their comfort zone provides them the opportunity of exploring the unknown and testing their skills and abilities. Many microlearning tools provide options of creating virtual unprecedented real-life situations. This could be used as a test by asking the employees to solve the situation using their knowledge and tools, which would make them familiar with the consequences in an actual circumstance.
The Future of Microlearning in Organizations
Microlearning is being efficiently used nowadays in most of the organizations. As per recent data, the interest in microlearning is constantly increasing over time. More and more organizations are implementing it for better results and performance. It is the need of the hour to motivate employees and improve their performances with the goal of accomplishing organizational objectives, and microlearning tools can contribute in doing so.