Build a Microlearning Habit

Over the last few years, like many in corporate HR, I've been drawn to Josh Bersin's research and insights. He has provided us with a perspective on the modern learner. Designing workplace learning solutions for these modern learners inspires our research and development activity at Obvious Choice. It got us thinking about a little and often learning strategy to help constantly interrupted employees learn at work.

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Why we must call time on traditional training?

A Bersin by Deloitte study, claims most employees only have 24 minutes a week to focus on their own training and development. That’s just 1% of their working week. Today's time-poor workers no longer have time for traditional training programs. But they must still learn new skills for work. It feels like a suckers choice for us designing learning solutions. It doesn't have to be. If you want to keep employees motivated and engaged your business must find new ways to support a continuous learning habit.

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Humans are forgetting machines

To further compound the problem of traditional training, recent replicated studies of the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, suggest that any information employees do take in is often in one ear and out the other. In you believe in forgetting curve folklore, 50% of any new knowledge is forgotten within an hour of learning it, with this figure rising sharply to 70% within 24 hours if it is not followed up with some sort of spaced repetition.

Clearly, a traditional approach to L&D cannot cut it within these parameters. Businesses can no longer afford to spend money on training that creates waste. What is the point investing time and money in creating training programs, if employees are unlikely to retain the information or more importantly apply it on the job.

So, is it possible to teach your employees useful and relevant information in a way that fits into the flow of work? Can you start to leverage the science of learning to enhance your practice?

Question are a powerful learning tool but...

We have been focusing our energy designing questions mostly for the wrong things with very little pay-off for the individual employee or the business. eLearning quizzes are a measure of rote learning. We need to start using questions as practice retrievals events. Combining practice retrieval events (questions) with the spacing effect leads to learning that sticks, when employees need to apply or remember something or adapt performance to a job situation.

Forget Me Not is a mobile-first app that continuously builds knowledge and skills by engaging employees in regular 5-minute microlearning challenges. These challenges or practice retrieval events repeat over days and weeks until the knowledge is mastered.

1. Little and often
   Regular bites of learning and quizzing enhance knowledge retention.
2. Regular breaks are critical to embed learning
   Overloading or “cramming” the brain doesn’t create knowledge that “sticks.”
3. Questions are more important than answers
   Questions drive people to actively retrieve a piece of knowledge and this results in improved retention and workplace practice.