Increase Course Performance with These 7 Tips for Bite-Sized eLearning

• 4 min read

How You Can Deliver Highly Effective Courses Through Bite-Sized eLearning

From hectic work schedules to lack of motivation, there are plenty of obstacles that modern learners must overcome in order to build skills and absorb new information. Fortunately, they have technology on their side, and they know how to use it.

But how can eLearning professionals provide them with the bite-sized bits of eLearning they need to achieve their goals, especially when working on a tight eLearning budget?

Here are 7 tips and tricks for creating microlearning materials for your bite-sized eLearning program:

1. Stick To One Subject

The thing to remember about bite-sized eLearning is that you working against the clock. You only have a short amount of time to deliver the information, so you have to narrow down the subject matter as much as possible. In fact, it’s best to stick to just one subject and focus on the bare necessities, such as the key takeaways that learners need to know to carry out a task. Enlist the aid of your subject matter expert to figure out what information should be included and how you should convey the information. It’s also crucial to concentrate on a few learning goals that you hope to achieve.

2. Take A Spaced eLearning Approach

You need to give your learners time to properly absorb and assimilate the information before moving onto the next eLearning activity. A spaced eLearning program allows employees to go at their own pace and offers them to reflect after each bite-sized eLearning module. This helps to prevent cognitive overload and ensures that they fully comprehend every idea and concept. If needed, they can simply access the eLearning activity again in order to fill in the gaps. An example of a spaced eLearning approach might be one microlearning lesson every day. By the end of the week your online learners will learn a variety of skills and tasks by taking one step at a time.

3. Use Social Media To Your Advantage

Your modern learners are already using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube on a daily basis. So, why not use that to your advantage by incorporating social media into your microlearning strategy. If you give it some thought, social networking sites are actually the perfect complement to bite-sized eLearning. Online learners have the opportunity to share feedback, ask questions, and address their concerns with their peers. Microlearning activities are often asynchronous, but sites like Facebook can make the eLearning experience more social and collaborative. Social media sites can be used to create bite-sized eLearning content. For example, posting a link to a noteworthy eLearning article or video will give online learners the chance to expand their knowledge base.

4. Design A Microlearning Road Map

If you have a number of microlearning activities and modules floating around it may be difficult to keep track of your eLearning content. Thus, online learners won’t be able to quickly access the information they need. However, a road map can help to organize all of the bite-sized eLearning activities that are available and allow online learners to track their progress. Once they have completed an eLearning lesson or module the system will automatically highlight thatitem or change it to a different font color. Then they can choose the eLearning activity they’d like to complete next, based on their needs and goals. In fact, you might even consider creating personalized road maps for every learner.

5. Address Their “Moments Of Need”

One of the most significant benefits of bite-sized eLearning is being able to give learners the knowledge they need when they need it the most. Create microlearning online tutorials, presentations, serious games, and simulations that focus on work-related tasks and skills. For example, when corporate learners are on the sales floor or helping a customer they can quickly access the online training content they require to do their job effectively. Survey your learners to identify their performance gaps. Conduct on-the-job observations to find out which skills and tasks they use on a regular basis.

6. Include eLearning Assessments And Recaps To Increase Retention

Many microlearning strategies lack an effective eLearning assessment strategy. However, you cannot gauge how much your learners know or how far they have come if you don’t test them periodically. Since all of your eLearning activities and modules are bite-sized, your eLearning assessments should also follow suit. Create 2-minute eLearning scenarios or simulations that test their task proficiency and skills. Develop multiple choice exams to determine their understanding of a related topic. eLearning assessments give them the opportunity to identify their strengths and weaknesses so that they can get the help they need in the nick of time.

7. Have A Support System In Place

Your eLearning content may be micro, but your support system should be full-scale. Provide your learners with the additional resources they need to achieve their goals, such as an eLearning forum where they can chat with peers or a contact form where they can reach out to their instructors. If online learners are struggling, invite them to join a mentorship program or send them a list of additional online tools and websites they may find useful. Create guidelines that detail how they can communicate with their peers and facilitators and what eLearning platforms they can use to access support resources. The key is to cultivate a helpful and inclusive online community.

Whichever technique you choose, it’s important to remember that every learner has their own needs, preferences, and behavior. Thus, you have to do your eLearning audience research beforehand to find the best microlearning approach for your audience. This also allows you to determine their “moments of need” and create targeted eLearning activities.

The Docebo LMS has the functionalities you need to help you deliver interactive and bite-sized content. If you want to see more about our solution, launching a free trial is just a few clicks away.