What is the best training technique?  What will most efficiently reach all employees no matter their own individual learning style?  An article on elearningindustry.com suggests that employers start using “micro learning” or “chunked learning” to best reach all employees.   Over the ears with the use of the internet, smart phones and on demand technology, our attention spans have gotten shorter.  We like the important information given to us quickly and efficiently.  Long seminars and large manuals may quickly loose employee’s interest where as short and intense snippets of information may be digested more effectively.  That is the idea of micro learning.  While not all training can be done this way, some safety training as well as safety changes can benefit.

The article suggests three ways to ensure that micro learning works for your employees:

• Make sure that all learning modules and updates are compatible with mobile devices
  1. Flexibility is key. Learners will want to be able to access lessons and updates from any mobile device with fast load times in easy to understand segments that take between 5-10 minutes to process.
• Use less information at a time for better results
  1. The brain can absorb small bits of information at a time most efficiently, for example flash cards are very effective for learning math facts. Graphics and videos are great ways to condense information for learners and should be used in micro learning.
• Get the learner to interact with the training
  1. Interactive games or quizzes are great learning tools. By including these in your micro training employees may walk away with more information than a passive reading or listening session.

Changing the way we thinking about training is important as the way we all process information is changing and will continue to evolve.  Giving something like micro training a chance might work out well for the ever evolving workplace safety culture.

“Why Micro Learning is the Future of Training in the Workplace.” http://elearningindustry.com/micro-learning-future-of-training-workplace