MicroLearning and Your Web Conferences

Micro learning is a short — think 2-5 minutes — targeted learning activity designed to achieve a specific outcome. It’s generally a standalone lesson rather than a part of a larger whole.

Incorporating Micro Learning into Your Web Conferences

Micro Learning and Your Web Conferences

Micro learning with web conferencing offers virtual teams a convenient way to interact despite physical distances. Whether you hold regular team meetings or periodic ad hoc meetings via web conferences, incorporating short segments into your meetings could be beneficial.

What is It?

Micro learning is a short — think 2-5 minutes — targeted learning activity designed to achieve a specific outcome. It’s generally a standalone lesson rather than a part of a larger whole.

According to an article on eLearningIndustry.com, the benefits of microlearning include:

  • Better engagement
  • Better retention of the concepts
  • Better transfer to the job
  • Faster development
  • Implementation on any device
  • Just-in-time learning 

Why Incorporate Micro Learning into Your Web Conferences?

Your virtual team could use micro learning for any number of activities such as professional development, soft skills development, or regulatory compliance. For example, if your team is working under a tight deadline, including a session on time management during your next virtual team web conference could be time well spent.

Remember, microlearning, by definition, is short, so it won’t be a huge time investment as far as the web conference itself goes. Allocate 5-7 minutes on your web conference agenda and make it a routine part of your regular meetings.

Consider using a comprehensive remote learning tool.

How to Create the Micro Learning Content

You’ll need to determine how to present the actual content. Both PowerPoint presentations and videos work well in a web conference, so consider either of those mediums. One way to quickly create content is to repurpose existing training content or your company’s policy manual, packaging portions of it into small nuggets of training. You could also assign individuals to deliver a short “talking head” presentation, sharing their insights and knowledge.

To increase buy-in and engagement, consider tasking team members to develop each meeting’s content on a rotating basis.

After the Web Conference — Create a Micro Learning Hub

Record your web conferences and use basic video editing software to cut the session into a standalone video. Upload each video to a private YouTube channel or your corporate intranet to create a library for easy access by current and future team members. Over time, this could prove to become a valuable resource.

Web conferencing brings your team together for all kinds of purposes from routine staff meetings and collaboration to brainstorming, problem-solving, and learning. Incorporating microlearning into your regular web conferences doesn’t take much extra time but could have a tremendous impact on your team’s performance by updating their knowledge and skills on a regular basis.