Digitization is experiencing an incomparable boom today. A vast majority of companies and organizations have understood that tomorrow will not happen without investing in digital. So why is a new dynamism at work today?
This new wave is mainly due to two factors:
- the simplicity of the new tools, which was far from being acquired during the 2000s.
- the economic advantage offered by digital.
This alloy is particularly applicable to microlearning, whose development is international. InTeach has selected 6 benefits directly related to its use.
1 - The hegemony of the smartphone and its stability
1.5 billion smartphones were sold in 2016. There have been more than humans on Earth for several years now. In all services, from medicine to finance, including workers on construction sites, the telephone no longer escapes any hand, whether its use is professional or personal. Microlearning is now fully combined with the functionality of the smartphone. The good news ? Everyone (or almost) has the right tool to access microlearning. A definite advantage knowing that accessibility remains to this day the first obstacle to education.
2 - Millennials are already using it
Rarely has a generation been so determined by its technical character. Resourceful, curious, innovative, millennials master smartphones better than anyone. This new generation is in need of practical skills and digital technology meets this need to know that the School has not always been able to meet. Microlearning is today the optimal solution to acquire a skill and apply it immediately. This is the real strength of microlearning: getting straight to the point by alternating theory and practice. Take the example of a course on code where the learner is invited to create his own site throughout the lesson. Learning can no longer be conceived without application.
3 - Bring trainer and learner together
In recent months, the impressive expansion of chatbots has shown that digital is not an enemy of relationships. At InTeach, this conception of technical progress is essential. Microlearning must promote social and educational profitability. Speed and productivity do not necessarily rhyme with Taylorism because the uniformity of the tool - the smartphone was mentioned above - should not be confused with the diversity of learners. The à la carte courses and adaptive learning demonstrate this consideration. Also, it is essential to include direct discussion channels in microlearning solutions. The regular distribution of lessons establishes a permanent relationship between the learner and the trainer. It is also the opportunity to go further, to dig into a subject. Microlearning offers a horizontal approach that aims to get the learner out of passivity and invites them to explore knowledge according to their personality, and therefore their unique expectations.
4 - Spaced repetition, gamification and evaluation
Microlearning combines different methods that have proven to be effective. In particular, he understood the issues inherent in new generations of learners such as concentration, the need for direct assessment and the simplification of content (not their values). Also microlearning does not hesitate to use effective techniques. Spaced repetition, recurring in microlearning, has for example demonstrated its ability to boost memorization.
5 - A first path to adaptive learning
Within companies and organizations, the skills required in one person are much more numerous than a few years ago. An individual A capable of implementing new knowledge in a short time will probably be favored over an individual B with a better diploma but less able to evolve. Microlearning could well reduce inequalities of assimilation by giving everyone a chance: knowledge is unique but the possibilities of accessing it are multiple. That's good news since adaptive learning fits perfectly into microlearning and promotes tailor-made training. More efficient necessarily.
6 - Updating content
In a world where knowledge has never evolved so quickly, microlearning and its fine granularity correspond to an educational format that is easy to update. While LMSs have content updating functions, microlearning concerns lessons that are shorter, simpler and therefore less expensive to modify.