A phone call, an incoming email, a trending new video, a work emergency. Today, our attention spans are dwindling as we are pulled in various directions. In fact, recent data from Statistic Brain reveals that in 2015 humans have an attention span of 8.25 seconds, which decreased from 12 seconds from 2000. Due to attention span loss, content producers must adapt and create content that captures the attention of learners quickly and efficiently. The new elearning trend, microlearning, addresses the dilemma of shortening attention spans.
Microlearning is comprised of condensed courses, each consisting of one sole learning objective, typically three to five minutes long. For example, the ‘Principles of Accounting: Fraud’ course has embraced microlearning as part of a series of short courses each concentrating on a smaller concept that may be strung together as a longer lesson. With shortening attention spans, microlearning overcomes the challenge of holding the learner’s attention by allowing for them to focus on the content of the course without feeling overloaded with information or becoming distracted. Buyers invest in elearning courses for companies in order to add value to the company and drive results. The purpose of the elearning courses is defeated if learners do not pay attention, thus resulting in a decrease in value to the company.
As an elearning creator, how can you most effectively create microlearning courses that will make a lasting impact on learners?
1. Keep it Short
Embrace the microlearning trend and keep the course to a time constraint. This allows for learners to focus their full attention on the course and increases convenience. Learners seek straightforward information with minimal repetition in the courses.
2. Ensure that real learning takes place
OpenSesame strives to sell courses that are engaging and interactive in order to ensure that the buyers have been provided with real value. To prove that learning has taken place, make the course interactive. Creating a quiz can be effective, but push learning assessments one step further by asking the learner to complete an assignment that uses the tools they learned from the course. This strategy provides the learner the opportunity to apply the new knowledge in a more personal way, which will increase retention of the information.
3. Create a Story
Stories allow learners to connect to the information, capture their attention, as well as increase memory retention from the information they read. As humans, the emotional connections we make stay with us. By creating a story in your course, learners will be able to make those connections and better recall what they learned in the course.
The microlearning trend is increasing in popularity in the elearning industry as learners are retaining more course knowledge. Apply these tips to your next course to further engage learners and have them coming back for more!