Digital microlearning (videos, PDFs, short interactive modules) can also be used to support and reinforce instructor-led training programmes. You might already be more familiar with microlearning than you realise. Popular learning apps, like Duolingo, encourage users to log in everyday to practise for just a few minutes.
Microlearning suits the shorter attention spans of Gen Z learners (though you’ll still need to make sure your content is engaging), but it makes scientific sense for the rest of your learners too. In the 1800s, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus found that we typically lose 80% of the knowledge we’ve learned within a month! It’s inevitable: when we take on information that we don’t consider critical, the knowledge gradually degrades over time.
This is where microlearning comes in. And recalling phone number brasil different parts of it over time can help improve knowledge retention. In Ebbinghaus’ memory retention graph, you see that when we first learn something, we retain all of that information. As the days pass, memory retention begins to drop. But if we regularly review information, we retain more and more of it.
Graph. On the Y axis memory retention is mapped in percentage. Recalling time is mapped on the X axis. There is a peak for each recall time (1 to 5). The peaks get smaller each time indicating a lower percentage of recall as time passes.
Check out this magnificent guide to microlearning from Valamis for more information.
Gen Z are… Natural information seekers
We should always remember that we’ve got more in common than we think! And one trait that both Gen Z and their older millennial colleagues possess is that they automatically google anything they don’t know.(6) What they definitely do know is how to find the information they need quickly.
Both millennials and Gen Z are used to learning things from the internet, whether that’s crocheting, cooking or quantum physics. In fact, a recent Pearson study found that YouTube is Gen Z’s preferred learning method.(7) So, it’s hardly a surprise that a Barnes and Noble study concluded Gen Z students flourish in any learning environment where they can “flex their aptitude for self-reliance and their ability to self-educate”.(5)