The Microlearning Meetup Newsletter #7
Counting Crows, Neurodiversity & TikTok...
So I'm sitting here in March 2023 listening to the opening lines of a song by one of my favourite bands The Counting Crows titled - A Long December:
"A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last..."
And as I see the long stretch of 2023 ahead of me, I wonder whether this will be the case with microlearning: Will 2023 be 'better than the last'?
Microlearning offers so much - scale, adaptability, affordability and more. Its short-form reflects not only how people consume and create information nowadays, but also that sense of convenience and being in control. AI looms large on the horizon, with lots of experimentation going on around 'nudge prompts', and the possibility of speeding everything up from creating learning objectives and content to designing actual microlearning.
And yet, I can't help but feel, that microlearning, or at least the potential of microlearning still lies on the peripheries of corporate learning: part novelty, somewhat misunderstood, still dealing in that 60 minute video cut down to 10 six minute 'microlearnings'. In a way, however, whether corporate learning gets microlearning or not is irrelevant. My sense is that learners will increasingly forge their own learning path: microlearning will benefit no matter what.
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are mine, and are in no way connected to my employer, or any individuals or companies that may be mentioned in this newsletter.
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1. RECORDINGS
The latest 7Taps MicrolearningConf Episode 7 featured three sessions with:
Lisa Nguyen (Learning & Development Specialist at Pliancy), How To Enhance New Hire Onboarding Process With Microlearning.
Heidi Kirby, PhD (Manager, Learning Content at Pantheon), Scenario-based Microlearning.
Microlearning Hacks: How To Grab People’s Attention with Mike Taylor (Learning consultant at Nationwide), Christopher Lind (VP, Chief Learning Officer, ChenMed) and Kate Udalova (Founder of 7taps Microlearning).
Sidekick By Arist Webinar. Sidekick is Arist's new AI-enabled microlearning builder.
Microlearning vs Deep Learning, by Eduflow . Kate Udalova , Dr. Luke Hobson Blog and Podcast , and William Cronje explore this topic in more detail.
The Evolution of Microlearning: Contextual Microlearning, by Eduflow . Asif Rehmani discusses and then shows examples side-by-side of what microlearning versus contextual learning looks like.
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Recommended by LinkedIn
2. INTERVIEW
In my latest interview, I met up with Aya Long to talk about microlearning and neurodiversity. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Note to self: Remember it's a recorded webinar (not a podcast): shave!
For our other videos or to view this video in YouTube, please jump over to our YouTube channel here.
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If you'd like to join The Microlearning Meetup ['TMMUP'] group on LinkedIn, we'd love to see you there. You'll find lots of interesting articles, videos, and opinions on microlearning, as well as more about the regular online events we run. Just click on the link to join - bit.ly/tmmup
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3. ROUND UP
Mobile Coach And ChatGPT, a post by Vince Han about how ChatGPT affects Mobile Coach's chatbot platform.
A new microlearning platform, founded by Sanne Fouquet is in the development phase - Melon - described as a 'gen-Z microlearning platform'. Raised £1.2 million pre-seed funding in 2022.
Founder & CEO Saurav Chopra , raised $5.7 million in a seed round for 5Mins. Although this was a few months ago, it does show there is funding around.
7Taps has gone all AI as well, so you can now create your microlearning in seconds rather than minutes!
Making the Most of Microlearning [Podcast], featuring Robyn A. Defelice, PhD , explaining how to think about microlearning as part of your overall training goals and not just a way to deliver training.
The State of Microlearning 2023 [Report] was published by The Learning Guild. Pamela Hogle 🇮🇱 delves into the views of eight learning leaders to uncover where they overlap and where they diverge. The report paints a picture of what microlearning is and how it’s used today, hints at where it might take us in the future, and offers tips and best practices that you can use to improve your understanding, design, and use of microlearning.
Articulate has added the ability to create microlearning content via its Rise360 platform.
A Review Of The Trend Of Microlearning, by Leong, Sung, Au & Blanchard (2020). I highlight the following two sentences from the conclusion, and leave you to draw your own conclusions: "Therefore, according to the findings of publication trends and Internet searches, we suggest that the microlearning could mature and develop into a critical mainstream issue in the future or become a major trend in its own right." and "As a result, we suggest that microlearning will become an even more important work-based learning topic in foreseeable future."
Using TikTok in Education: A Form of Micro-learning or Nano-learning?, by Khlaif, Salha (2021). Regardless of whether you believe in nanolearning as an actual thing, or whether TikTok should be mentioned in the same breath as learning, it's time to recognise what TikTok offers education - engagement, interaction, entertainment. I think corporate learning could learn a lot from TikTok!
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LINKS FOR THE MICROLEARNING MEETUP:
Guy Stephens, really appreciate the boldness of the line "And yet, I can't help but feel, that microlearning, or at least the potential of microlearning still lies on the peripheries of corporate learning: part novelty, somewhat misunderstood, still dealing in that 60 minute video cut down to 10 six minute 'microlearnings'." We seem to be stuck in many ways in corporate L&D around the misconception of microlearning and its value over more traditional long-form education. In my mind, the examples we often cite around effective microlearning (TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, FB, etc) all rely on their technologies pervasiveness in day-to-day life. Access to eyeballs + ease of use + instant results = success. And yet outside of Learning Management Systems and Intranets or Slack, corporations seem very slow to pick up on this idea that microlearning is not just a shift in how to conceptualize education but how to effectively deliver it and reinforce it with employees. Thank you for continuing to drive this conversation. It's much needed!