DEVELOPING A MICROLEARNING STRATEGY WITH OR WITHOUT AN LMS

Abstract

Microlearning, the learning strategy that focuses on delivering training and performance support in small focused chunks, has been a concept floating around in our industry since the lexicon of reusable learning objects was first introduced by Cisco to the learning space over fifteen years ago. Large on promise, this strategy has been short on benchmarkable solutions due to the large number of barriers encountered by learning practitioners taking on this approach. Although these barriers are diverse and tend to vary greatly from one organization to another, the most common obstacle for adopting microlearning has often been tied to the confusion around how to manage this type of content within a traditional LMS (Learning Management System) implementation. LMS-delivered content is most often composed of courses and modules that can run anywhere from minutes to hours in terms of seat time and requires participation in the somewhat formal confines of the platform. The advantages of typically more informal nature of microlearning content are in peril of losing some or all of their value if they require the same process for access. To assist learning practitioners in addressing this and other common barriers to microlearning implementation, this presentation will provide: strategies for leveraging your organization's learning transformation initiatives as a catalyst for introducing microlearning; examples of how to use common LCMS features to support role-based microlearning offerings; a pedagogical framework for disambiguating between appropriate learning modalities and appropriate content chunk sizes for all learning offerings; a sample decision framework to determine what types of content can or should be delivered directly from the LCMS/Digital Repository; and use cases presenting how xAPI can play a pivotal role in making the most of your microlearning offerings.