Microlearning: how to make learning more effective for the modern busy employee

Does size really matter?

As the amount of data we receive rises our ability to digest it falls, so it’s inevitable that we seek out learning that matches the scale and pace of every other aspect of modern life.

To quote Herbert A Simon, “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”

But we can’t lay all the blame on big data or emerging technology. As this HBR article points out, “human brains are wired to seek completion and the pleasure it brings — a tendency termed “completion bias.”

We are rewarded for completing even a small task with a hit of dopamine. This release of feel-good neurotransmitters improves attention, memory, and motivation, creating a positive cycle that motivates us to work harder going forward.

So, why don’t we just build mini goals into longer learning experiences? Nice try, but according to the research, we are more likely to work through a series of micro learnings than revisit a larger experience, as we find it hard to forget incomplete tasks and, as a result, will struggle to give full attention to other activities. Completing small individual tasks frees up the cognitive resources we need to tackle other activities.

Some apps, such as Noom, have recognised this and actively lock content after just a few minutes of reading per day, rewarding you for hitting your daily target.

Employers can save time and money by empowering their employees to manage their development with short bursts of microlearning around their work schedules and at the point of need.

How low can you go?

I recall a recent news article about the Microscopic Handbag. Smaller than a grain of salt, the bag made by New York-based art collective MSCHF, sold at auction for over $60,000.  

MSCHF said of their creation: “As a once-functional object like a handbag becomes smaller and smaller its object status becomes steadily more abstracted until it is purely a brand signifier. Previous small handbags have still required a hand to carry them – they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their ‘wearer’. Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewellery, all its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, useability is the angels’ share.”

It sounds like the only thing that Microscopic Handbag and microlearning have in common is their size. Workplace learning is not a luxury item. It cannot shrink so small that it loses its function, purpose or usability. Whilst I’m sure the new owner of Microscopic Handbag is not expecting it to hold their keys, phone and wallet, learners have much higher expectations of microlearning. It needs to work hard and deliver fast.