'Microlearning' features five-minute courses
How do you train people who gulp down information in 10-second bites then move on?
Thanks to smartphones, on-demand entertainment and social media, the average attention span in North America dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015, according to a 2015 Microsoft study. Attention span is the time a person can stay focused on a single task and filter out distractions.
So, large employers are using microlearnng apps and websites to deliver training in short lessons. The practice is becoming favored because workers who want the training take less time out of their work day to get it.
Some that develop the programs are Linkedin, Lynda.com, Grovo and Duolingo for language skills.
They include a mix of video and interactive lessons that take under five minutes and include a quiz. Companies make the lessons available to users whenever they want to access them online or with their smartphones.
Duolingo is used by Uber Technologies in Mexico and other South American countries. Uber offers it to drivers who want to brush up on their English so they can attract more fares.
Microlearning encourages workers through spaced repetition, which is more effective than cramming a lot of content into a long in-person seminar.
