Microlearning in the Digital Age

In a digital age of emoji conversations, hashtags, and 140 character limits, our attention span[1] has shortened dramatically. A study by Microsoft Corporation suggests that a digital lifestyle is responsible for our increased difficulty staying focused, with the human attention span decreasing from 12 seconds to 8 seconds – 1 second less than the proverbial goldfish’s 9 second attention span – in just over a decade (Gausby, 2015).

Multi-screening is the new norm

Contrary to expectations, although our increased use of media and digitized lifestyles decrease our ability to focus for extended periods of time, we are “actually getting better at processing information and encoding that information to memory” (Gausby, 2015). If there is no reason to remain tuned in, why not move on to the next interesting piece of information? Multi-screening is commonplace in the digital age, with more than 90% of users switching their attention rapidly and effortlessly between devices to complete a task (Taube, 2014). Thus, users are “more engaged overall and already primed for immersive experiences” (Gausby, 2015). In various studies, OMD has shown that 40% of users check their phones during the course of the day for no reason, and the average user will switch their attention between their devices (smartphone, tablet, and laptop) a “staggering 21 times in one hour.” (Taube, 2014).

Microlearning combats decreased attention spans

Tech adoption and social media usage are teaching users to become better at processing and encoding information through short bursts of high attention (Gausby, 2015). This is beneficial when asking users to learn. Microlearning takes advantage of the increased capabilities constructed by the changed information landscape. Thus, it is important for education content to be short and powerful, simplifying or breaking up complex ideas to make them easier to learn. Presenting education in the form of video or other increasingly immersive, multi-touchpoint experiences should become the priority to combat drop-off amongst learners. Visual content needs to be very well produced to defy student’s expectations and needs to be embedded in an interactive framework that maintains a learner’s attention. Overall it has been shown that a digital lifestyle decreases sustained attention in the long-term with high-intermittent bursts of attention taking precedence. As a result, users are able to identify information that they want to engage with, requiring less time to process and commit the information to memory.

The thrill of discovering something new will often make connected consumers move rapidly from one experience to another. When consumers are doing something they find rewarding, dopamine, the 'feel good' neurotransmitter, is released.

Thus, in the current digital age and environment of shortened attention spans, microlearning ensures that the important information that learners are required to know has been processed and utilized efficiently.

[1] “Attention is generally defined as a system of cognitive processes that allow us to focus on a chosen stimuli or process under varying levels of environmental distractions” (Sohlberg & Mateer, 2010).