How Can Organizations Integrate and Connect Learning with Work?

[Excerpt] Over the last few decades, workforce management has evolved to become complex and dynamic due to an increasingly competitive business landscape, the digital revolution and the mix of employees that now includes a multigenerational workforce. Work roles are expected to keep evolving requiring employees to keep up with new knowledge and upskill to remain employable; and as this happens, the ways of learning change as well. Research has also shown that companies that invest in the development of their employees are 2.4 times more likely to hit their performance targets, hence, organizations need to be proactive about adopting effective strategies that will enable them to manage the development of their employees in a way that supports the business priorities

Microlearning: The “OG” or Hot New Trend?

Noteworthy events and innovations highlight the development of microlearning into one of the fastest-growing educational trends today

The effectiveness of micro-learning in retail banking

In order to remain competitive in a global technological revolution, the learning and development departments of businesses are focusing on the emerging concept of micro-learning, to support the fast-paced, multitask orientated and digitally savvy learners. A survey was conducted among 7 673 employees of one of the major retail banks in South Africa, to determine the effectiveness of micro-learning and establish whether micro-learning is effective, as well as identify gaps and recommend strategies to close them. Through inferential statistical analysis of the data, it was concluded that learners reacted positively to micro-learning, the acquired relevant knowledge using micro-learning which improved work performance and business metrics. Although the micro-learning programme was deemed effective for the vast majority (80%) of the participants, two gaps were identified, namely, micro-learning did not fully embrace the social tenet of learning, and it is also not exempt from the distractions that learners experience. It is recommended that any organisation pursuing a micro-learning programme should incorporate a social knowledge-sharing element into the programme and provide users with tools to develop self-control and self-regulation habits needed to conquer constant distractions

Nurses Perception of Instructional Design Elements of Microlearning for Professional Development Training

Microlearning is a relatively new educational technology that allows students to learn through short, direct segments using various modalities. The nursing profession has used microlearning to provide continuing medical education (CME). The problem addressed through this study was that instructional designers who create microlearning for medical professional development training have yet to readily access nurses’ feedback and preferences for learning in this modality to may improve the training they develop for nurses. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore nurses’ perceptions of the microlearning they participated in for professional development training. The technology acceptance model was the conceptual framework used to answer the research questions of benefits, challenges and suggestions related to microlearning. Twelve U.S. nurses who had participated in microlearning-based CME were purposefully selected. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts from the semistructured interviews. Results showed that nurses perceived microlearning to be concise and fit their learning styles and be flexible for their busy schedules. Challenges included a lack of interactivity or hands-on elements, limitations related to technology, and suboptimal quality. Nurses believed microlearning could be improved by better appealing to their learning styles and updating content. The insights gained from this study have the potential to influence positive changes at individual and organizational levels, ultimately leading to improved instructional designers’ use of educational technology for improving microlearning that might better support nursing practice and patient outcomes

Microlearning as an Alternative Teaching Model: Influence of COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean

The article focuses on the use of Microlearning as an educational response during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean. It highlights how Microlearning, which consists of breaking down educational content into small, easy-to-understand units, has become an important trend. During the confinement, education systems adapted traditional methods to provide educational content in Microlearning format. Social networks played a crucial role in the delivery of microcontent and collaboration among students. Teachers’ roles varied, but their ability to manage technology was essential. Digital infrastructure also influenced the success of Microlearning. The most relevant keywords are Microlearning, COVID-19, Distance education and social networks

Social Marketing for Digital Transformation: Digitalizing Social Action for the Development of Women at Risk of Exclusion

The third sector, key to social and personal development, needs to evolve and adapt to the technological revolution and digitalization that accelerated due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. Social marketing offers strategies and tools that allow digitalizing processes of female empowerment in contexts of poverty, violence, inequality, and social exclusion. People living in these contexts were the ones that suffered the most from the pandemic, both due to the number of deaths coupled with a lack of access to quality health care, and an increase in interpersonal conflict. The latter aggravated by the mandatory isolation measures imposed by the governments, which made it practically impossible for civil society organizations (CSOs) to intervene. This article presents a case of social marketing oriented to the development, implementation, and evaluation of a people-centered protocol (EduQualitas SM) for the digitalization of empowerment and positive personal development, based on interpersonal relationships and reflexiveness. Through qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the study analyses the impact of its application in a social marketing campaign (Orientación Familiar Digital - OFD) that aimed to improve the quality of life of women in the area of ​​greatest social exclusion in Argentina. The implemented campaign sought to digitalize the formative processes of an international CSO and develop empathy, a fundamental capacity for the quality of life and the reduction of both structural poverty and violence against women. The impact assessment of EduQualitas SM was of a mixed design that included a quasi-experimental intervention without a control group, based on the Argentine adaptation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).   This research presents one of the first Latin American cases of CSO digitalization strategies for the development of empathy of women in situations of social exclusion

Coffee Chemistry, as Microlearning Content for Public Courses at Universities’ MOOC System, A Preliminary Attempt

An attempt to have a scientific course for the public from higher education institutions was done by preparing a good set of contents for one particular topic of interest, which is also a science topic. Coffee chemistry is the topic chosen and some content was developed, including videos, audio-embedded social media, infographics and motion graphics packed with 8 topics. The choice of coffee amongst many sciences’ topic is considered strategic in bringing science to all audiences of society. Science content must explain nature as the object in wholistic concepts, starting from smaller parts of each division, including chemistry. The microlearning approach is employed in the MOOC platform from The State University of Malang, Indonesia. This also is one of the three main tasks of higher education institutions which can be delivered in the MOOC system.

Digital learning application for clinical dentistry – a pilot study

Background: Microlearning is a growing trend in education which can have a positive effect on learning motivation and outcome. In health education, it has been shown to increase student knowledge and confidence in clinical procedures. Little research has been done on implementing digital learning solutions specifically aimed for clinical dental studies. Unifractal is an existing digital learning platform on which students and supervisors can easily create and share learning content. Objective: In the present pilot study, we cooperated with Unifractal to develop and test the value of implementing such a tool in dental education. Methods: Content, based mainly on clinical instruments, for the application was made by two fourth year dental students. It was tested by third year dental students at the simulation clinic at The Arctic University of Norway – UiT. Also, a questionnaire survey was developed to evaluate user experience. Here, students and supervisors participated. Results: The survey analysis showed that students appreciated the content provided and experienced the application as a potentially useful learning tool. However, the use of the application seemed to be limited by the relatively sparse amount of content available. Conclusion: This study shows that a digital learning platform, such as Unifractal, holds the potential to be an important and useful digital learning tool for dental students. However, more content needs to be developed in cooperation with students and supervisors to reach a satisfactory level of usefulness

A study of learner experience design and learning efficacy of mobile microlearning in journalism education

With the increasing number of mobile technologies, people rely on smartphones to connect with the world and obtain news and information. The emergent use of mobile technologies changes the way journalists produce and disseminate news. It is important for journalism educators to know how to support journalists' digital skills development, particularly digital skills of mobile technologies, and understand which new forms of learning are suitable and feasible for those learners in the journalism sector. Previous research has shown that mobile microlearning (MML) can be a promising learning approach for specific learning needs. Mobile microlearning basically means learning no more than five minutes of lessons that are distributed on the smartphone. However, there is only a little evidence on the design and effects of MML in the context of journalism education research. Hence, this dissertation aims to examine whether MML can be a useful approach to facilitate mobile journalists' digital skills learning with smartphones. Adapting a sociotechnical-pedagogical learner experience framework with a usercentered design process, a four-phase formative research cycle was conducted in this dissertation: Phase 1, a systematic literature review of mobile microlearning (Study 1), Phase 2, a needs assessment for an understanding of mobile journalists' learning needs and requirements (Study 2), Phase 3, an iterative design and development of a mobile microcourse and studying its usability and user experience (Study 3), and Phase 4, an examination of the learning efficacy (i.e., effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal) and learner experience of the developed mobile microcourse (Study 4). A mixed-method data collection and analysis approach was applied throughout this dissertation. The results in this research provided evidence-based findings and indicated that MML is a feasible and effective approach to support mobile journalists' just-in-time learning when the MML designs follow four sequential design principles: (a) an aha moment to help with the learners connecting their previous experiences to the importance of current learning topics, (b) interactive content, (c) short exercises, and (d) instant automated feedback. Lastly, the dissertation discussed the results and addressed insights and implications of the MML design to improve learner experience and learning efficacy.Includes bibliographical references