Demonstrating training results with microlearning

Microlearning is an excellent approach to designing, developing and delivering better training experiences. As part of a continuous learning journey or as a complement to employees' learning cycles, it creates efficiencies throughout the training lifecycle and delivers effective learning experiences.

How can we improve training results through microlearning interventions?

The forgetting curve

Attention spans and the “forgetting curve” contribute to learning fatigue and less impactful training.

According to Hermann Ebbinghaus's theory, people tend to forget what they have learned over time. For example, if a training session takes place today, after 7 days learners may retain around 10% of what they learned.

This is known as the “forgetting curve”. It shows how quickly we forget information over a period in which no attempt is made to retain it.

Illustrative image of review and mobile learning.

The 70:20:10 model

The 70:20:10 model also states that learning is most effective when a person devotes only 10% of their learning to formal training, whether in-person or online courses. 20% comes from informal learning: learning from other people, such as colleagues, teammates, mentors or other professionals. 70% comes from time spent working and experience.

Why, then, do organizations still invest so much money and resources in formal training? Mainly because training has followed tried-and-tested models derived from more academic approaches to teaching.

Greater use of microlearning, however, can be a powerful tool for improving understanding and retention of concepts, while encouraging social learning and the practical application of what is being learned.

The power of microlearning

Microlearning focuses primarily on very small, specific objectives and supports an organization's main training by removing anything unnecessary.

It is an action-oriented or task-oriented approach, offering bite-sized learning that gets learners to study and practice. It improves understanding and therefore retention of the concepts learned.

Microlearning can be delivered just before an in-person session to spark learners' interest, or a few days after formal training to reinforce key learning. It will undoubtedly help learners remember the concepts.

It also makes it possible to update or refresh knowledge delivered through other methods that has become outdated or has been forgotten because it has not been revisited for a long time.

Easy access and highly focused content, complemented by proactive and engaging platforms, make microlearning a powerful part of a learner's continuous learning journey. It delivers results that are difficult to achieve through traditional methods: course completion rates above 90%; 85% of learners finishing courses in less than a week with very little effort from the organization; and deployment four times faster than traditional eLearning courses. It also offers learning experiences much better suited to each person's busy life.