Microlearning Activities

Everybody is into microlearning. Most of my colleagues are designing and delivering microlearning events.

The term microlearning means different things to different people. When I recently interviewed 11 of my colleagues, they came up with 15 different definitions.

Here are some of the key elements in their definitions:

  • The learning session lasts for a short period of time (usually between 10 seconds to 10 minutes).

  • It can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from initial learning to final review, motivation, or coaching, or reminder, or assessment.

  • It can be delivered at any place, at any time.

  • It deals with a principle or procedure that can be immediately applied to the workplace.

  • It focuses on a specific objective. This objective is related to some performance that produces business results.

  • It can be accessed through a smart phone or some other electronic device.

  • It incorporates elements of gamification.

  • It is integrated in the workflow.

Is microlearning a new approach? Not to me. I have been using many of its key attributes in early 1960s in the form of Skinnerian programmed instruction. This approach to teaching used these critical elements:

  • Small frames of instruction

  • Behavioral objectives

  • Self-pacing

  • Inserted questions

  • Active learner responses

  • Correct answers to provide immediate feedback

Message and Activities

Most of the training sessions that I recently attended focused on his how to craft clear and concise microlearning messages. The spotlight was on creating crisp content. The activities that incorporate this content messages were frequently ignored.

I am a firm believer in the importance of learning activities. Therefore, I focus on the design of microlearning activities. I design these activities at the beginning of the project concurrently with the creation of the content message. I spend a lot of time in selecting and applying a suitable learning activity.

Here is a detailed description of a type of microlearning activity.

Headlines

Study the message. Present the microlearning message to the participants. You could deliver the message as a brief lecture. Or the participants could watch a video or listen to an audio recording.

Example:

In a recent microlearning event on giving effective feedback, we gave the participants a card with this guideline as a printed message:

Share your feedback through a two-way conversation. Encourage the person receiving the feedback to talk back. Co-create suitable steps for improving future behaviors.

Reflect on the message. Ask the participants to study the message and think of its potential applications. Also ask them to mull over the personal implications of applying this idea.

Write a headline. Ask the participants to think of a suitable headline for the message. Tell them to write down this headline, making sure it is meaningful (incorporates the key elements) and memorable (easy to recall).

Play with the headline. Ask the participants to improve the clarity and usefulness of the headline. Invite them to create alternative headlines.

Display earlier headlines. Invite the participants to go to a web page with a collection of headlines contributed by earlier participants, along with headlines from subject-matter experts.

Revise the headlines. Ask the participant to compare their headline with the others displayed in the web page. Ask them to borrow useful ideas to improve their headlines.

Add to the collection. Ask the participants to send their headlines in an email note to you. Explain that you would include these headlines to the collection.

A Menu of Microlearning Activities

In the Headlines activity we described above, the participants the process the message and come up with suitable headlines. We have successfully used several other activities to encourage careful study and processing of the message. Eighteen of these activities are briefly described below. You are invited to choose and use any of them:

1. Imagine an Application. Plan how you would use the message in your workplace. Create a scenario with someone receiving the feedback. Write down the scenario.

2. Rewrite the Message. Write it in your own words without losing the key ideas. Provide a clearer explanation.

3. Script a Drama. Imagine that you are going to produce a short video segment to demonstrate the appropriate application of the message. Create a list of characters and specify a suitable dramatic situation.

4. Specify Possible Applications. Think of different situation in your workplace where you would personally apply the message. Make a list of different applications.

5. Apply the Message. Think how you would apply the key idea in your workplace. Add this application to your To-Do list for today.

6. Become Paranoid. Frighten yourself by thinking of possible ways in which the application of the message may backfire. Make a list of precautions that would prevent misuse or abuse of the idea.

7. Rate the idea. On a 5-point scale, appraise the usefulness of the message. Justify your rating in a couple of sentences.

8. Imagine the Future. Come up with a futuristic story about the positive impact of applying the message.

9. Plan for Different Time Scales. Write down how you would benefit from applying the message for the next 30 years. Continue to think of possible results in 30 months, 30 weeks, 30 days, 30 hours, and 30 minutes from now.

10. Adapt the Idea. Rewrite the message so it would make sense and appeal to a 7-year old child.

11. Shrink the Idea. Transform the message into a slogan, a catch phrase, or a t-shirt message.

12. Personalize the Principle. Come up with real or fictional examples of how you have used the idea in the recent past.

13. Translate Artistically. Draw a picture that captures the key element of the message.

14. Send an Email. Forward the idea to a colleague or a friend. Clearly explain how the idea would benefit them.

15. Construct a Rating Scale. Create a rubric or a questionnaire to assess how effectively a person has applied the message.

16. One Word View. Write down a single word that captures the essence of the message.

17. Emotional Effect. Describe how a person would feel when applying the message in their workplace.

18. Create a Job Aid. Design a checklist to help a person to effectively apply the message.

An Immediate Application

Just to keep you on your toes, conduct Activity 13 (Artistic Translation) to the micromessage about using an illustration to capture the key idea. If you don’t like this activity, select and apply any of the other 17.