5 Ways to Create Continuous Learning Materials

Yesterday I challenged learning professionals to find ways to create a week’s worth of learning materials that can be absorbed in 20 minutes or less.

Now I am going to show you how you can do this.

Today’s employees have 24 minutes per week to learn at work. In this type of environment, it is critical to find ways to create learning content that employees can actually consume.

The work environment may have changed, but the learning goal is still the same: to support employees so that they are successful in their jobs and careers. Achieving this goal in the new workplace is simpler than it looks – it just takes a shift in how learning content is created and delivered.

1. Short, digestible content

Scale down content to focus on one specific objective, and keep it short. Studies on microlearning have shown that people learn better when content is delivered in short bursts. They are also more likely to remember what they learned, and in turn apply it on the job. And shorter content has a bonus for learning professionals: it’s easier to update.

Source: Raytheon

Note that there is no standard length to aim for – different research recommends different times, from less than a minute to up to 20 minutes. Instead, learning professionals should determine what format and length are best for their audiences. Bonus No. 2: Content format and length can be adjusted as needed.

2. Write once, publish many

Not all learning audiences are created equal. What may work well for one group may completely bomb with another group. A simple solution is to publish learning content in different formats.

The idea is to keep the content the same, but to change the output format to suit the diverse needs of employees. This lets learning professionals quickly deploy the same content to employees without having to rebuild content in other software or systems.

For example, one group may prefer video so that they can see recorded actions taken in a system; while another group may just want a quick visual that highlights the change. By switching the output from mp4 to gif, both groups get the same information in their preferred format without any additional work done by the learning team.

The “write once, publish many” concept also ensures that employees have nearly on-demand access to learning materials that are relevant, fresh, and delivered in a format that suits their needs. It’s a win-win-win!

3. Easily rearrange content to suit different audiences and needs

Microlearning and republishing content into multiple formats gives learning professionals a large content library to work from. Smaller segments can be packaged together to create learning paths. They can also be rearranged in a variety of ways to train different audiences. This creates a customized learning experience for employees, since both the selected content and format will meet their needs.

Bonus No. 3: Grouping such content also minimizes the need for learning professionals to develop new content packages with each learning request. Just reuse and recycle existing learning content!

4. Mobile enabled

Make learning content easy for employees to access. Work environments are varied, even in the same company: people travel from job site to job site; some use their phones as part of their job; while others may not have access to their phones until their break or when they leave work.

Source: SHIFT eLearning

Mobile learning is increasing at enormous rates. All learning content should be accessible on mobile devices and the experience should be parallel to that on desktops. Regardless of their environment, every employee should have the same opportunities to learn at work.

5. Use formal training only when the skill is new

Formal training, such as instructor-led training or eLearning, takes a lot of time for employees to complete. Which is difficult for them to do when they don’t have much time to learn. This is why formal training should occur only when the skill being learned is new to the employee, or when the consequences of failure are critical.

When someone is learning something for the first time, they need time to absorb the change, they need to be able to practice or apply the skill, and they need guidance from people who are experts in the same skill. Formal training methods work very well under these circumstances.

Formal training fails when employees are already skilled, when they have limited time to learn, and when they need to be able to immediately apply the skill on the job, or if performing the skill incorrectly has minimal consequences. In these circumstances it is better to use other approaches, such as embedded learning support or microlearning.

Conclusion

The workplace is changing, and learning approaches need to continuously change and evolve to meet the needs of employees. These are only a few ways that learning professionals can adapt their strategies to support employees. There are many other opportunities to explore and invent, and I encourage all learning professionals to try them to find what works best for their employees.