As an experienced Learning & Development practitioner, I have the attention span of my six-year-old! I am a busy working mom, wife, friend, and community member who is ALWAYS multi-tasking to ensure everything gets done daily.
Technology is my lifesaver! I can set the alarm on my iPhone to help satisfy project deadlines, set reminders to schedule recurring appointments, watch YouTube videos on setting up mealworm habitats, and so on.
Given the hectic nature of my schedule and the millions of other similar, busy professionals, our collective attention span is getting shorter by the minute due to this new digitalized era. In a recent Time Magazine article, Kevin McSpadden confirms that You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish. He ascertained from a Microsoft Corp. study, in which researchers concluded that since 2000, the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds, while the average goldfish has the attention span of nine seconds, marking a 33% drop.
Wow! So, where does this leave us? Over-processed, over-stimulated, over-tasked learning practitioners… that’s where. Microlearning would be the logical, most straightforward solution, right? Well, let’s look at microlearning and see if it really applies.
Microlearning is defined as learning through short, digestible, well-planned units.
The key here is WELL-PLANNED units of instruction. Anyone can dissect existing curriculum and rework it into short, digestible chunks of content; however, it is just that… a cluster of static, boring content. For microlearning to be successful, the content needs to be developed into a strategic, aligned, and targeted design that is relevant, contextual, and instructional sound for the desired audience. This shift in our current learning culture to microlearning is an authentic yet tangible approach designed for long-term success for today’s busy professionals.
Meridian Global LMS can help organizations provide these microlearning, bite-sized, relevant nuggets of information at the right time, frequency, and duration. Meridian’s powerful yet easy-to-use solutions are leveraged by organizations dedicated to building world-class learning solutions that inspire, focus, and deliver exceptional results. With an easy-to-use Create Courses and Content function, the platform can create, deploy, and manage eLearning with minimal work effort. The best-in-class user interface displays required courses/curricula on an easy-to-use dashboard for users to access and consume content almost immediately upon login. Meridian has a deep understanding of learning, technology, process, and integration, which allows for quicker and easier deployment of microlearning solutions.