Would you agree with me that driving a car - starting it up, navigating to your destination and back, and doing so safely would be considered a "complex task"? Given the craziness and accidents that I see every day on the roads, it certainly qualifies as complex to me!

Many of us in Education Leadership have held onto a belief that if we perceive the tasks that we are trying to teach our learners are "too complex", that they cannot be taught effectively using microlearning exclusively.  On April 9, 2017, an 8 year old boy from Ohio and his 4 year old sister decided that they were hungry, watched some YouTube videos on driving, and lifted his parents keys and made the 1 mile journey thru 4 intersections and into the McDonald's without a scratch, bump, or damaged mailbox.  The boy was able to do all the tasks needed to drive, even properly signaling and navigating his way into the drive thru!!!  

Lesson here?  Today's learners can and will find ways to learn a skill without always resorting to formal training.  They will challenge the notion that "real learning" can't happen with short, focused nuggets of information.  Or that microlearning is only suited to performance support.  The learner of today is always on, always adding to their skill set, and does not hesitate to find microlearning resources to tackle a new challenge.  

Microlearning needs to be a part of your overall strategy for customer education.  The learners of today are demanding it, and hungry for it!  

The CEdMA Training Leadership Conference is coming up May 23/24 in Santa Clara, CA.  Our Executive Council, who is comprised of the most senior leaders of education at their companies, will be leading a session on The Top Trends in Product Training.  Microlearning and the opportunities and challenges it presents is one of those trends.  Don't miss the chance to interact and network with these leaders to help elevate your companies approach to training!