How to most effectively educate your audience with microlearning

People are able to access more information than ever before, and in an era of information overload, it’s important to learn how to capture AND retain the attention of your followers. Allow me to introduce you to microlearning.

Traditional methods of education, where lessons are long and repetitive, often struggle to keep learners engaged and motivated. This makes microlearning a game-changer for content creators because it focuses on delivering small, bite-sized pieces of information. Concise and highly focused lessons are meant to be easily digestible and keep people engaged for longer bits of time.

Microlearning segments can range from a few seconds to a few minutes, making them ideal for today’s fast-paced environment.

Why choose microlearning?

The short duration of microlearning modules aligns with our increasingly shorter attention spans, making it easier for learners to stay engaged and come back for more lessons later. They’re also crazy accessible because they’re less of a time commitment. People can learn when it’s convenient for them, whether that’s while they’re commuting to work, on the treadmill or during a 30-minute break from life’s 100 other distractions.

It’s not just about convenience though. Studies have shown that microlearning content enhances knowledge retention. Short bursts of information are easier to remember, so there’s less of a need for lengthy review sessions.

Plus, you can personalize lessons more. It can be customized to fit individual learner needs and content creators can tailor modules to different skills, interests or levels of expertise.

Have you ever heard of Duolingo or Rosetta Stone? Yup, that’s microlearning. The companies use short, daily lessons to help users learn languages. It only requires a few minutes each day, making the commitment manageable to ensure consistent progress.

MasterClass also offers microlearning content so renowned experts can teach about a specific skill in just 10 minutes.

How content creators can utilize microlearning

Short video tutorials are a great way for content creators to educate their audience through microlearning. Try breaking down complex topics into a series of short videos. Each should address just one specific aspect of that topic.

Visual aids like infographics, diagrams, and visual summaries are also critical for microlearning. They’re an effective way of sharing information in a concise format. Pairing audio with the infographics means you’re also appealing to visual and auditory learners. Canva is a great, free resource for creating these elements.

Try adding interactive quizzes and challenges to your microlearning lessons because they’re ways of building engagement with your audience and a method of appealing to kinesthetic learners. Kinesthetic learners would rather be performing a task than listening to a lesson. So, quizzes or challenges are a way of helping them learn by doing and can reinforce the information you taught. It could be as simple as a social media quiz or something a little more complex.

Allow me to reintroduce you to email. I know what you’re thinking – email? What century is this? But, email is a great way to deliver short lessons on a daily or weekly basis. It encourages consistent engagement and keeps you at the top of your subscribers’ minds.

How to create a microlearning course

Since microlearning is all about being succinct, preparing and developing the course is absolutely critical. Start by defining the objectives of your course. What do you want your audience to gain from the course? What specific skill or piece of knowledge do you want to focus on?

Also, make sure you’re tailoring your content to your audience. Are they beginners or is this better for more experienced people? Not every lesson is for every type of person. But, the benefit of shorter lessons means creators can put out several lessons on the same topic for different types of audiences.

Once you’ve got your content, organize it in a logical way. Sequential order is usually best and it’s important that you title your videos appropriately so people can easily find the subsequent lesson. This helps develop brand loyalty and can help attract new audiences.

Since microlearning content isn’t done in real time, people don’t have the opportunity to ask questions in the moment. So, include real world examples for what you’re teaching. This can give people a clearer picture of what you’re trying to convey and help keep them engaged.

Also, here’s a pro-tip. Test run your content on a small group of friends. This will give you a chance to get feedback on the course and remedy the pitfalls before you release it publicly. Sometimes, an expert can skip over a confusing point because they’re too knowledgeable about the topic. So, having a few extra sets of eyes on your courses can be really helpful.

At the end of the day, microlearning is a powerful tool for content creators seeking to educate and engage their audiences effectively. Its ability to deliver concise, focused content that fits seamlessly into modern lifestyles makes it a preferred choice for both creators and learners. But, it requires preparation for it to be successful. So, put the work in at the front end and you’ll be in a much better position to succeed.