{"id":3961,"date":"2016-06-16T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T15:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.efrontlearning.net\/blog\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2017-04-07T11:13:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T11:13:46","slug":"microlearning-with-efrontpro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/microlearning-with-efrontpro.html","title":{"rendered":"It’s the small things that count: microlearning with eFront"},"content":{"rendered":"
Small is beautiful.\u00a0We\u2019re hardly the first to notice this. The above phrase was popularized by British economist E. F. Schumacher\u2019s book of the same name, which was a huge success in the seventies — and is still used to champion small, focused technologies that can be empowering for people.<\/p>\n

In an eLearning and Talent Development context of course, “small”, “focused” and “empowering” can only mean one thing: microlearning — the practice of delivering and consuming learning material in small doses, which the learner can comprehend in a short time.<\/p>\n

Since we\u2019ve already published a few introductory posts on microlearning<\/a><\/strong> in the past, in this post we won\u2019t waste any time in a general description of what microlearning is — rather we\u2019ll go straight ahead and examine the kind of facilities there are when it comes to microlearning with eFront<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Microauthoring<\/h2>\n

Before delivering your microlearning lessons, you first need to write them<\/a><\/strong>, and eFront makes this particularly easy.<\/p>\n

In fact, if you\u2019re already familiar with eFront\u2019s content management and content creation tools, you\u2019re absolutely good to go<\/strong>. Those are the same tools that you will use to create your microlearning content, since eFront doesn\u2019t make a distinction or have a preference between macro and microlearning.<\/p>\n

What really makes the difference between microlearning and “regular” learning content creation in eFront is not the tools used, but rather your approach to content creation.<\/p>\n

Your microlearning content should focus on simple and\/or narrow topics, be able to be consumed in a short amount of time, and require little effort from the learner for any individual microlearning session.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s a small phrase or a medium-length paragraph — or even just a picture — it\u2019s up to you. Just keep the subject matter focused; what\u2019s communicated should be specific and concrete.<\/p>\n

In this sense, microlearning is not very far from flash cards — and in fact a similar approach is often followed. With eFront though, your “cards”, or lesson units, can be rich and interactive<\/strong>, especially if you take advantage of the recently added support for H5P<\/a><\/strong>, a rich HTML5-based widget library.<\/p>\n

Then there are tests<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and quizzes<\/a> <\/strong>— essential tools to gauge whether your micro-learners are indeed microlearning anything from your micro-courses.<\/p>\n

eFront provides numerous question types, from free text to multiple choice and from true\/false to drag-and-drop<\/b>, that you can use to create micro-tests (comprised of one or a small number of questions). Plus, you can always leverage its support for question pools and automatic test creation, which makes delivering customized tests to your learners effortless.<\/p>\n

\"Microlearning<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, any of the imported file types that eFront supports (images, video, audio, pdfs, presentations, etc.) can be used in a microlearning scenario<\/strong>. EncodeMagic, our proprietary conversion engine, will make sure they work fine within your lesson content, whether they are seen from a desktop or mobile.<\/p>\n

On the go<\/h2>\n

Speaking of mobile<\/a><\/strong>, while microlearning can certainly be done on a desktop, where it really shines, and where it is most useful, is when your learners are on the go.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s on their morning commute, during a break in a coffee shop, or on a flight towards some business meeting, microlearning can be a powerful tool to learn new skills, reinforce their regular (macro) training, and even pass the time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

eFront<\/a><\/strong>, of course, is an ideal tool for this, as it has been remade from the ground-up with a responsive, mobile-first design that works seamlessly across smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Offline<\/h2>\n

Of course, for true microlearning, just making your content and eLearning portal available on mobile devices is often not enough<\/strong>, nor is it wise to assume always-on connectivity.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why our programming gurus took advantage of the latest web technologies to allow learners to continue, well, learning with eFront, even when offline.<\/p>\n

By enabling offline support from a lesson\u2019s settings page,<\/b> microlearning content creators can easily make their eFront courses available for offline use.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Offline<\/p>\n

Of course they will have to be careful to avoid content that necessitates internet availability, such as YouTube videos<\/a><\/strong>. Besides, the majority of content, from text and images, to sound, rich HTML5 and embedded videos are totally safe.<\/p>\n

As for your microlearning consuming users, they just need to click the “Download” button for any lesson that they want to be able to use offline.<\/b> eFront\u2019s mobile portal is smart enough to automatically switch between offline and online mode, based on internet availability.<\/p>\n

\"Offline<\/p>\n

Having both mobile and offline access to eFront\u2019s microlearning content means that your employees can learn as they commute or travel<\/strong> — or in literally anyplace and anytime when they have a few minutes to spare.<\/p>\n

Games<\/h2>\n

Another common aspect of microlearning that we haven\u2019t mentioned this far, is that it should aspire to be engaging and fun, even more so than full-scale eLearning<\/a><\/strong>. This is because, as it takes places in a mobile and on-the-go context, it needs to compete with many distractions.<\/p>\n

Gamification<\/a> helps in this regard, and eFront has an advanced gamification engine that is customizable<\/strong>, allowing you to go from a light-gaming touch to a full-blown competition between your learners.<\/p>\n

All the common tools are there too, from points and levels, to badges and leaderboards<\/b> — and most allow you to fine-tune their behavior and even customize their graphics to fit your microlearning program even better.<\/p>\n

\"Gamification<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Microlearning is a powerful tool to have in your eLearning and Talent Development arsenal<\/strong>, and eFront<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>offers first class support for it, on par with its advanced macrolearning capabilities.<\/p>\n

By adopting the microlearning content creation philosophy and familiarizing yourself with the relevant eFront features<\/a><\/strong> and options, you will be able to design and deliver a great microlearning experience in no time.<\/p>\n