Why Microlearning is Here to Stay
About a year ago, I decided to add a backsplash to my kitchen. Armed with tile, a newly purchased wet saw, a slew of Pinterest photos for inspiration, and one lengthy how-to guide I read, I naively thought, “how hard can this be?” A few hours in with a stack of incorrectly cut tile pieces and mortar in my hair, I realized I needed a new approach.
Like any millennial would, I found my answer from a YouTube channel that contained a series of 2-3 minute videos, each focused on a single step in the process. These quick, focused clips broke this behemoth of a project down for me into digestible chunks and allowed me to focus on the exact content I needed to know as I needed it. Watch, learn, apply, repeat. Without knowing it, I had stumbled on a specific learning strategy - microlearning.
What is Microlearning?
Microlearning is a teaching strategy that delivers content in small, manageable pieces. Rather than overwhelming learners with long, dense lessons, microlearning focuses on concise, targeted segments that are easy to digest. These segments typically focus on a single objective that is immediately applicable, ensuring learners grasp key concepts without becoming overwhelmed.
The beauty of microlearning is its adaptability. It can be delivered via videos, quizzes, infographics, and even interactive scenarios. It’s designed to be consumed quickly—often in just a few minutes—which makes it ideal for people with busy schedules who need to learn on the go.
“Think about how you typically scroll through your social media feed—short, snappy videos, bite-sized posts, and easily digestible images. Microlearning mimics this pattern of content consumption”
Is Microlearning Effective?
In short, research says, yes. But why? For starters, traditional learning models are often plagued by something known as “the forgetting curve”. As described by Shail MS, the typical forgetting curve suggests that “learners forget over 50% of newly learned material just 20 minutes after the lesson end”. Retention continues to drop substantially after one day, one week, and one month (Shail, 2019). In essence, without reinforcement, most of what we learn evaporates pretty quickly.
Microlearning combats this through spaced repetition—small, regular doses of learning over time, which helps prevent information from being forgotten. The shorter duration of microlearning lessons also means that mental fatigue, which can occur during longer sessions, is less likely to set in. This makes each learning session more effective, allowing learners to remain focused and retain information better.
Another benefit, as Thillainadesan and colleagues point out, is that microlearning can be embedded into the moment when the learner needs it most (Thillainadesan, 2022). Whether you’re in the middle of an important task, like tiling a backsplash, microlearning allows you to quickly reference and apply what you’ve learned right when it matters.
Why is Microlearning the Best Fit for 21st Century Learners?
Microlearning isn’t new. But in today’s day and age, long gone are the days when most people could sit down for hours of uninterrupted study. Social media, news, work emails, and personal responsibilities all compete for our attention. Microlearning is uniquely suited to address the needs of modern learners because:
On-the-go Learning: Microlearning fits well with the devices we have in our hands. Devices that we might not have had in our hands 20 years ago. Whether you're waiting for a train, standing in line for coffee, or waiting for the pasta water to boil, you can easily fit in 3-5 minutes of learning. Its mobile accessibility means that you don’t need to carve out large chunks of time or a dedicated space—you can learn wherever and whenever it’s convenient for you.
More Aligned with How We Consume Content: Think about how you typically scroll through your social media feed—short, snappy videos, bite-sized posts, and easily digestible images. Microlearning mimics this pattern of content consumption, delivering educational content in a format we’re already comfortable with. In fact, microlearning can often feel more engaging because it mirrors how we interact with content in our everyday lives.
In a world where time is precious and attention spans are shrinking, microlearning is a solution that aligns with the needs of the modern learner. By delivering concise, focused content that can be consumed on the go, it helps combat the forgetting curve, reduces cognitive overload, and fits seamlessly into our daily lives.
P.S. - For those concerned about the current state of my kitchen, the backsplash turned out beautiful!
Works Cited
Shail MS. Using Micro-learning on Mobile Applications to Increase Knowledge Retention and Work Performance: A Review of Literature. Cureus. 2019 Aug 2;11(8)
Thillainadesan J, Le Couteur DG, Haq I, Wilkinson TJ. When I say … microlearning. Med Educ. 2022 Aug;56(8):791-792.
