The Microlearning Meetup Newsletter #8

The Definition Of Microlearning Is...A Melon? Well Not Quite!

There are many definitions of microlearning providing a variety of interpretations, but essentially it all boils down to one unit of learning that is short. That unit of learning might take many forms including infographic, video, document, text message, picture, podcast amongst others. And so I was intrigued when I came across a new offering from Sanne Fouquet and Melon AI .

Melon markets itself as a 'next-gen microlearning' platform. By next-gen, we're talking about Gen Z. According to Fouquet, Melon is a:

...platform designed specifically for mobile-first young professionals who want to learn and grow professionally and personally. It's a fun and effortless way to organize your digital content and insights, connect with like-minded individuals, and upskill. No more juggling 30k screenshots or endless "to-check-out" links, just a seamless, community-driven experience.

In short (keeping with the microlearning theme), Melon is a community-driven experience for mobile-first young professionals who want to learn and grow. It's fun and effortless. Sounds compelling. So behind the marketing-speak, what does this mean and aren't we overlooking one thing? Oh yes, the microlearning?!

Essentially, the Melon app allows you to temporarily save bookmarks to the content you are interested in to a 'queue'. You can then, at your convenience, either permanently save the bookmarks you want to keep into your collections or discard the bookmarks you're not interested in. The bookmarks you keep appear in an infinite Pinterest-like grid you can scroll through. And it is these saved bookmarks (to the original content) that are shared with the community.

Just so we're clear, you're not saving the original piece of content into your collections, but the bookmark, so when you want to actually view the original content, you are taken off the Melon app to the site where the content originally appeared.

Again, I can hear you ask the same question I did: What about the microlearning?!

So here's the twist, and what I think is really clever (if not a little sneaky!): The content that you share is the microlearning!

So now I hear you asking quizzically: But is this microlearning?

For microlearning purists, I have some sympathy, the definition is stretched, but at the end of the day I say: Who decides what is and isn't microlearning? And equally, I think we need offerings like this to provoke and cajole, to force us out of our comfortable complacency, to constantly push new and different boundaries, to create new assumptions. I can hear the academics and the purists knocking the door down!

To Sanne Fouquet and Melon AI I say well done, keep pushing your boundaries, and in pushing your boundaries, you'll naturally push and stretch the definition of microlearning into new and different territories. The purists can continue to have their debates! Win-win for everyone.

Enjoy The Microlearning Meetup newsletter.

guy

PS. Sanne Fouquet I'd love to interview you for this newsletter about what you're doing at Melon and your take on microlearning. Let me know if you'd be open to this.

#microlearning #themicrolearningmeetup

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. WHAT'S ON

Bit of a nod to Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. Here's the sessions on microlearning.

Improve Learning Transfer Through Chatbot-delivered Smart Nudges, [Weds 12 April, 10:45 - 11:45] presented by Vince Han at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session you’ll learn that there are two core pillars in making an effective nudge. First, you have to actually be able to reach the learner with your nudge. Second, the nudge has to be written in a way that resonates with the individual learner.

Create Bingeable Content [Weds 12 April, 10:45 - 11:45] presented by Vanessa Milara Alzate at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session, we are going to look at what makes for bingeable content (ie. TikTok, Netflix) and discuss how to utilize each principle in a learning program. We are going to talk about storytelling, creating short, relevant content, knowing your learner, speaking to their pain points, and more importantly, talk about how to edutain to keep your learners engaged and motivated.

Maximizing Microlearning [Weds 12 April, 10:45 - 11:45] presented by Robyn A. Defelice, PhD at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. This session will focus on providing perspective on microlearning and contextualizing the possibilities of its use for your organization.

BYOD: Mastering Microlearning: Crafting a Plan for Impactful Implementation [Weds 12 April, 13:00 - 14:00] presented by Carla Torgerson, MEd, MBA at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session you will create a plan for going micro with the greatest impact in your programs. You will work with your own content while being guided through an activity.

Reimagining Microlearning with a Practical, Practice-first Approach [Weds 12 April, 13:00 - 14:00] presented by Jennifer Long and Jennifer St. Amand at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session, you will learn how to create effective soft skills microlearning experiences, beginning with how to create a content “spine” that supports a robust and effective design. 

Overcoming Microlearning Myths [Thurs 13 April, 07:30 - 08:15] presented by Asif Rehmani at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo.

The Evolution of Microlearning: Contextual Microlearning [Thurs 13 April, 13:00 - 14:00] presented by Asif Rehmani at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session we will discuss and then show examples side-by-side of what microlearning versus contextual microlearning looks like. 

Macro To Micro: Turning Big Concepts Into Small Content [Fri 14 April, 08:30 - 09:30] presented by Shannon Tipton at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo. In this session, we will explore ways that core micro content can be folded into workplace training programs to augment larger learning initiatives and connect lessons, learning, and action.

And we've also go the next episode of the MicrolearningConf from Christopher Lind and Kate Udalova :

MicrolearningConf Episode 8 [27 April, 16:00 - 17:30 ET] featuring Samantha Tripp , Mike Taylor Learning, Design & Technology , Josh Cavalier , Megan B Teis . Always a lot of fun. Register here

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2. BOOKS ON MICROLEARNING

Not that many books out there on microlearning, but these four should be able to provide you with a solid foundation. In chronological order from most recently published.

Microlearning in the Digital Age: The Design and Delivery of Learning in Snippets (2021), edited by Rene Corbeil, Ed.D. , Badrul Khan , Maria Elena Corbeil, Ed.D. . Microlearning in the Digital Age explores the design and implementation of bite-sized learning and training in technology-enabled environments. Grounded in research-based best practices and a robust, eight-dimensional framework, this book applies the latest developments in mobile learning, social media, and instructional/multimedia design to one of today’s most innovative and accessible content delivery systems.

Microlearning: Short and Sweet (2019), by Karl Kapp , Robyn A. Defelice, PhD . Your Microlearning Primer Microlearning. Is it a text message or a video? Does it need to be shorter than five minutes? Do you just "chunk" a longer course into smaller pieces? Find the answers to these and other questions in this concise, comprehensive, and first-of-its-kind resource that will accommodate the most- and least-informed about microlearning. 

Designing Microlearning (2019), by Carla Torgerson, MEd, MBA , Sue Iannone, CPTD . Designing Microlearning guides practitioners through the four main uses for microlearning: preparation before a learning event, follow-up to support a learning event, stand-alone training, and performance support.

The Didactics of Microlearning (2007), by Theo Hug . This book is a comprehensive and articulate introduction to the emerging field of microlearning. This link (Google Books) provides you with the opportunity to preview some of the content.

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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. THE SECRET TO WRITING A BLOG POST ABOUT MICROLEARNING

I'm unburdening a bit, getting things off my chest about microlearning. So this week I thought I'd turn my attention to top tips (at least 3, 5 or 7) about how to write a killer post on microlearning. Buckle in for the ride!

1. Liberally use words and phrases like - buzzword, revolutionary, modern learning challenges, modern day solution... - even better if you turn it into a rhetorical question whilst looking wistfully off into the distance in the hope that someone will provide an answer that you're not really looking for, because you don't really ever answer the question! Let me give you a few examples here - Is microlearning nothing more than a trendy buzzword? Is microlearning the revolution to learning that we've all been waiting for? Please do conveniently ignore the fact that microlearning has been talked about for decades, but for some reason it has not cast off the idea that it is new, a populist fad, a buzzword...
2. Use cases: Onboarding, Sales, Customer Service, blah blah blah. Please try to talk about other use cases.
3. What is Microlearning? Make sure to include a section about this. It's not as if there aren't enough of them already in existence. The thing is the longer you spend on writing about the history of microlearning (without ever mentioning Theo Hug), the less you need to spend on actually writing anything significant or different about microlearning. When did you actually read anything about microlearning that really made you sit up and think about it? Be honest now!
4. You need the following sections: What is [the aforementioned] microlearning?, definitely a section on benefits, use cases - tick, a few hackneyed tips, don't forget about challenges, a shortish section on measuring aptly titled - Measuring the impact of microlearning (definitely add a few ROIs in there as well)...and the obligatory Call to Action - Please do get in touch if you want to transform into a modern day learning organisation, microlearning will help you do that in 7 easy steps!
5. Learning theories: What's that? I can't even pronounce 'andragogy', that first 'g' gets me every time. Sounds complicated, don't mention any theories apart from something called The Forgetting Curve. Provide useful link to Wikipedia and someone called Ebbinghaus. This immediately lends a degree of credibility to the blog post.
6. Mention Josh Bersin, either 'flow of work' or something about employees only having 24 minutes per week. Why not mention both (is that overkill?), and don't worry about citing any sources. Live on the edge, why don't you.

And there you have it, my 7 tips for writing a killer post about microlearning!

That's only 6 tips you eagle-eyed amongst you point out. Lean in a bit closer, the seventh is this: Get ChatGPT to do it for you. It's quicker!

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4. RECORDINGS & OTHER STUFF

Micro 2022: The State of Learning Today, by Michael Ioffe (CEO, Arist ). By looking at common learning and development stacks of today and examining the top issues faced at each level, Michael provides a framework for building agile and more usable learning content into your organization.

SnapLearning: A Design Framework for a Micro-Learning System to Enhance Adult [2020] by Wisam Zaqoot, Oteng Ntsweng, Lih-Bin Oh, Tengku Muhammad Hafidzuddin Tengku Ibrahim. We bring to light the microlearning paradox, which posits that chunking lessons can both impede or facilitate learning. Against this backdrop, we develop a conceptual model - SnapLearning system - and testable propositions drawing from adult learning, behavioral economics, and motivation literature to lay out a design of micro-learning systems for adult learners.

Microlearning: A Strategy for Ongoing Professional Development [2010] by Buchem & Hamelmann. This paper introduces microlearning in online communities as a learning approach triggered by current patterns of media use and supported by new technologies, such Web 2.0 and social software. We delineate microlearning as a - pragmatic innovation - to lifelong learning due to its capability to support flexible learning that can be easily integrated into everyday activities, supporting individual learning aims and needs. Although of its time, lots of interesting

Microlearning with Cognitive Science Principles [Podcast, 50mins]. In this episode of Progressively Incorrect, Zach Groshell interviews Nidhi Sachdeva, who takes us through the process of how she designs her Microlessons.

Ever thought about your hashtag strategy with regards to your microlearning? Here's a short post with a few ideas to consider from Katy Howell , who knows a thing or two about hashtags and social: How to Create a Killer Hashtag Strategy

How To Educate & Communicate With Chatbots [Podcast, 37mins], Stephen Ladek speaks with Vince Han about how to use chatbots as an effective communication tool for learning.

What do you get when you combine microlearning + AI? [Podcast, 14mins], Brian Washburn speaks with Kate Udalova about what microlearning is, the role of AI and how the 7Taps platform is helping people to deploy “snackable” microlearning to the world.

Blended Learning in Corporate Training, downloadable ebook from Gnowbe . The last few years has brought together mobile learning, microlearning and social learning. This ebooks shows how to bring those three things together.

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5. PLAYING WITH AI

What is a definition of microlearning in 30 words or less?

Microlearning is delivering small, focused bursts of information or learning content to learners through digital platforms to help them acquire knowledge and skills quickly and effectively.

What is a definition of microlearning in 20 words or less?

Microlearning is short bursts of focused learning content delivered digitally to help learners acquire knowledge and skills quickly.

What is a definition of microlearning in 10 words or less?

Brief digital learning bursts for quick knowledge acquisition.

What is a definition of microlearning in 5 words or less?

Short digital learning modules.

Regenerate response: Short digital learning segments.

Regenerate response: Short digital learning bursts.

Regenerate response: Small, focused digital learning.

If it was me, I would have used 'units' perhaps.

It's interesting that as the words reduce each time, it refuses to let go of the word 'digital', and the word has shifted in meaning from 'digital platform' to becoming a characteristic of the learning itself, rather than the way in which it is delivered.

Can't argue with the speed with which it is happening though. But speed isn't everything!

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LINKS FOR THE MICROLEARNING MEETUP:

• The Microlearning Meetup group on LinkedIn: bit.ly/tmmup
• The Microlearning Meetup YouTube channel: bit.ly/microlearningvideos

#microlearning #themicrolearningmeetup