In everyday life and at work, it helps to approach large projects step by step. This is how microlearning works: small learning bites create real learning transfer! Check out examples of microlearning now – as an alternative to complex instructions in everyday life and as online support for training.
Update September 2020
The Ultimate Microlearning Guide for Online Courses
Start your own microlearning course now! In our new guide, you will learn how to build your own microlearning step by step. With many tips and examples.
The Idea Behind Microlearning: Short Learning Bites
Microlearning, bite-sized learning or Bite-sized Learning – all these terms aim at one idea: Simplifying the learning process by breaking it down into small bites. This works in corporate training just as well as in everyday life when you want to operate a device for the first time.
Update August 2022: Are you interested in the topic of learning bites? Then read the article about Learning Nuggets (definition + examples) on our blog! 💡
The idea of microlearning: breaking down learning content into small bites, making it easier to process.
If you want to offer content in the form of microlearning, ideally you should start directly with small bites. I described how this works some time ago here: Microlearning – 3 Rules for Creating Learning Bites.
Today, I present to you concrete examples of microlearning. Here’s how short learning content can look in everyday life and at work:
In everyday life: as an alternative to undesirable instructions
At work: as an online course for corporate training
Example Course for Microlearning
Test the microlearning concept in the online course now! Join our free example course and experience for yourself how short impulses together form a complete online training.
1. Example: Microlearning in Instructions
When did you last read an instruction manual? I mean – really read it? It’s probably been quite some time – at least that’s what a study on our behavior regarding instruction manuals suggests. “Life is too short to RTFM” is the name of the study: Life is too short to read instruction manuals.
The findings of the scientific study do not surprise us, but they provide us with nice statistics on the topic of learning:
People only read about 25% of instructions for devices in everyday life.
The more educated a person is, the less they read instructions.
The younger a person is, the less they read instructions.
The reason: Instructions are often too complex and we associate them with negative emotions: Takes too long – Doesn’t help anyway – Doing it myself is faster! The trend is toward “learning by doing” – particularly among educated and younger people.
To not leave customers completely alone, more and more companies are reverting to the concept of microlearning. Often, not only is a detailed instruction for rereading a specific problem provided, but also a very concise, usually illustrated quick-start guide for the first steps.
Microlearning in everyday life works best as a quick-start guide: as few steps as possible, presented in a simple manner!
Microlearning Example: Instructions for the Rocket Pack – Card Game for Blended Learning
The Rocket Pack is a card game for trainers seeking inspiration for their blended learning. Along with a booklet of detailed descriptions, there is also a card included that allows the user to start immediately – in accordance with the microlearning principle:
Three small steps
Little text, simply phrased
Clearly illustrated
Very action-oriented
Starting directly is more enjoyable than first reading the instructions. More about the rocket pack at blink.it/rocketpack!
2. Example: Microlearning in Training
Our behavior with instructions shows how important learning in small bites is in all forms of learning. However, the content is not always as easy to understand as in the Rocket Pack card game. For long-term behavioral changes in corporate learning, a training participant often has to process many complex contents.
Trainers often find it difficult to summarize their knowledge gathered over years in two minutes. And don't worry: Microlearning is not about cutting so much that only an empty shell remains! On the contrary: Content for microlearning is not only short but also very action-oriented.
Just like in this example from trainer Wolfgang Schneiderheinze, who addresses the topic of "filler words" in his online support in the form of microlearning: In just over a minute, a problem, a solution, and a practice task for the participants are packed – very brief, yet full of content:
This is what Microlearning as Online Support Looks Like
The video just shown is a piece of micro-content that is part of a complete online course. The idea: to offer many short learning impulses following a traditional face-to-face training.
This way, the training participant gradually processes small contents – ideally spread over several weeks to enhance learning transfer.
When integrated into a complete online course, microlearning looks like this:
Example of microlearning with the learning platform blink.it: Green micro-contents have already been viewed by the user; blue ones are unlocked but still unseen.
This is How Microlearning Works in the Online Course for the Participant
Basically, each tile (“Blink”) is a piece of micro-content, meaning a small learning unit. It can be a video, a small text, or a quiz. What’s important is that each Blink in microlearning is associated with a concrete call to action and is really quick to process.
The participant begins with the first Blink and gradually works through the entire course – always with their own timing, embedded in their own everyday life.
Now View 40 Examples of Microlearning
The blink.it Rocket Pack is not just a card game for blended or microlearning. It contains not only 40 printed cards but also 40 online examples for each learning method.
How you can utilize these methods is illustrated in the following examples of microlearning. Here’s how the methods “Look forward to,” “The virtual discussion,” and “Tickle the detective in you” look when implemented in an online course:
1. Microlearning Example “Look forward to…” (Category: Supporting)
2. Microlearning Example “The Virtual Discussion” (Category: Reflecting)
3. Microlearning Example “Tickle the Detective in You” (Category: Understanding)
The result in all examples: Short learning bites with compact content that are perfect for microlearning!
Online course
Example Course Microlearning
Do you want to see what an online course for microlearning can look like? Then simply join our example course now!
Join Example Course Now
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