Microlearning
160 articles on Microlearning.
Closing the feedback loop: Managing the performance of performance management
Performance Management. Just the mention of the words brings a heaviness to the heart, and a long sigh to many. The face to face method of reviewing an employee’s performance itself could be due for a review of its own. Widely regarded as cumbersome, awkward and stressful by employees, yet so beloved of company managers, that difference alone should highlight the fact that there is a bridge to be built here. Maybe a more integrated and collaborative approach is called for. And there must be questions to be asked. Is there any real value in an annual meeting between an employee and their manager to discuss their work over the previous year? What are the barriers to employees fully engaging in the process? Can the business positively gain from the process? How do we monitor more effectively? And, of course, there is the age old question of cost. We know that performance management should be both strategic – bringing focus on corporate objectives and business goals, and integrated – ensuring that all aspects of the business are closely aligned in the interests of the long term business strategy. Through improving performance in individuals and teams, and in providing the support
New solutions for maintaining employee engagement
Its the age old question, the age old issue. The question of employee engagement, the why, and the how. The need to keep the workforce engaged is crucial to meeting strategic objectives, recognising that increased employee productivity is intrinsically linked to profitability. If employees are not engaged, with their role or with their learning and development, then inevitably, productivity suffers. In Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report, 9 out of 10 executives site the engagement of employees as either important or very important. No change there, then. The true test for organisations is to encourage not only a culture of engagement, but to assist and empower employees with incentives and feedback structures. In order for us to find new solutions, we may need to think of new methods, new ways to encourage and enthuse. Employees need to feel that greater engagement will not only bring benefits and provide them with greater opportunities, but will also improve their chances of progress within the structure of the company. A greater emphasis on constant learning and development processes, flexible and easily accessed, can help alleviate some of the pressures employees feel, by recognising their achievements and providing them with regular constructive feedback.
How to improve the performance of your business and employees
Businesses operating in the modern world have a multitude of technologies at their disposal to improve bottom-line performance. From cloud computing and automation software to digital marketing and social networking, technology can increase collaboration, boost efficiency, strengthen reputations, and enhance communication. But in spite of these essential systems and advantageous resources, the capabilities of people power is beyond compare. Even though humans are prone to errors and have bad days from time to time, an organisation’s workforce has the potential to make or break prolonged prosperity and profitability. Therefore, taking a proactive and positive approach towards people management can have far reaching rewards, especially when performance is concerned. But how can you improve the performance of your employees, and by association, your business? Well, it is all about striking the right balance between traditional means of motivation and utilising 21st century technology. Empower your employees “Empowerment is the key to making people efficient,” says Todd Ross Nienkerk, co-founder and partner of Four Kitchens. “It makes teams happy, and if they’re happy, they produce higher-quality work and are more productive.” Nienkerk also believes that if you put members of staff in control of their own destinies by establishing individual strategies and
What is the best way to learn?
According to neuroscience, the brain learns in two ways: By creating new networks – Neurons pass electrical impulses between one another. The more these neurons fire together, the more established links they create. The more links you create to an idea or insight, the better, and the more new information is presented in different ways, the more likely it is to stick. Through whole-body learning – Mirror neurons allow us to imitate the actions of others, which is how our ancestors learned to use tools. This type of learning isn’t linear and happens pre-consciously. However, new skills need to be reinforced if they are to stick thanks to strong neural pathways. With this in mind, training should be geared towards divergent teaching methods and feature a framework with which students can take influence from, such as role models or mentors. Challenges associated with a brain-based learning strategy “For learning and leadership development to be truly strategic it should of course be explicitly linked to the business strategy and culture of the company,” says Jan Hills, Partner at Head Heart + Brain. “This link is needed when it comes to needs analysis, design and positioning of events.” In a recent CIPD
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Read our blog about spaced repetition learning for apprentices on L&D website, trainingZONE. As we reflect on National Apprenticeship Week, we discuss how best to approach learning for our talented apprentices of today. You can read the post here.
Is traditional classroom training a thing of the past?
Looking back at your experience of school, what did you enjoy the most? For many, it will be meeting lifelong friends, having plenty of laughs in the playground, and participating in extra curricular activities like a sports club or field trip. But these cherished memories don’t take into account the setting where you probably spent most of your time – the classroom. This doesn’t mean to say that classroom lessons were pointless or forgettable, as they no doubt provided you with invaluable knowledge about various different subjects. But at the same time, being told to sit still in your seat while listening to the teacher endlessly ramble on was usually far from enjoyable. Even so, classroom-based teaching and tuition is still the preferred technique among countless corporate training courses. It may well have worked at school when impressionable and mouldable young minds were starting to build up their skillset from nothing, but in the world of work where employees already possess a great deal of verified astuteness, classroom trainees won’t react well to direct and submissive instruction. Thankfully, corporate training is starting to move away from the classroom-based teacher-centric model towards interactive-based student-centric learning, where individuals are given the opportunity
Wranx at Learning Technologies 2016
Learning Technologies was a great kick start to February and the Wranx team had a great time at the exhibition. If you didn’t get to visit our stand, here’s what you missed… This year our stand featured an amazing giant itab so people had the opportunity to try Wranx out for themselves. It proved to be very popular!! There was a great amount of footfall and we had lots of visitors throughout the two days of the event- all keen to see what Wranx was about. We also used the event to showcase some of our new features which we have been working hard on- including improved reporting features and brand new testing features. On the second day, Phillip Price hosted a seminar on behalf of Wranx on ‘Enterprise Scale Gamification’, which had a fully packed audience! Phillip handles Virtual Academy Operations at PSA Peugeot Citroen, with over 20 years of experience implementing and overseeing professional development operations. The seminar gave a real time example of how PSA Peugeot Citroen have used gamification as part of their learning strategy for both sales staff and academy learners. In this case, they needed to refine learning and development service to enable their dealer staff to sell
Do’s and don’ts of competency based learning
With most training courses, employees will attend en masse, attempt to acquire stacks of new skills or expertise, and then be tested at the end of the day to find out whether or not the program was successful. However, members of staff are rarely enthused by this type of training, get overwhelmed with just how much information is being force fed to them, and fail to reap positive rewards in the long-term. Therefore, organisations are increasingly adopting new methods of teaching such as e-learning, microlearning and spaced repetition. These can be designed and customised for the individual and feature elements such as gamification to increase employee engagement. What’s more, they are perfectly suited to competency-based assessments, which have proved to be much better at evaluating the effectiveness of training. But what is competency-based learning? How does it correlate with assessing the aptitude of employees? And what do you need to know when implementing this type of training for your own organisation? The basics of competency-based assessments Competency-based assessments allow businesses to accurately understand their workforce’s proficiency while also helping Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) to demonstrate the affect training has in meeting enterprise objectives. As opposed to traditional classroom teaching, these
What do modern day learners want?
In a world where we have access to highly advanced, fast moving technologies, learners do not have the time or inclination to sit down in a classroom and passively listen to what a teacher has to say. For this reason, corporate training is not as effective or influential as it once was. But before businesses throw in the training towel altogether, they should consider adopting an alternative approach, which embraces technology rather than shunning it. While numerous options are on the table, microlearning is proving to be the training technique of choice among modern day learners. In addition to providing learners with a solution that fits into their busy lives, offers a great deal of flexibility and the ultimate in interactivity, microlearning also affords several advantages for businesses too. It cuts down development costs, reduces time-to-competence, provides more flexibility when it comes to creating learning materials and results in greater knowledge retention. But in spite of these benefits, the training possibilities that microlearning can bring are not being fully realised by some businesses. However, the obstacles that stand in the way of implementation are actually rather easy to overcome. Microlearning recap As opposed to prolonged training programs, microlearning splits up
Will Generation Y change the way we learn?
On account of the fact that classroom-based teaching no longer provides sufficient stimulation for employees at corporate training, different ways of learning have been given greater priority in recent years, such as on-the-job and gaining knowledge through peers. The importance of both is emphasised by the 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development, which is typically credited to Morgan McCall and his colleagues Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger working at the Centre of Creative Leadership (CCL). After asking nearly 200 executives to self-report on how they believed they learned, McCall summarised that: “Lessons learned by successful and effective managers are roughly: 70 per cent from tough jobs 20 per cent from people (mostly the boss) 10 per cent from courses and reading” Lombardo and Eichinger also expressed their rationale behind the 70:20:10 model in the book The Career Architect Development Planner: “Development generally begins with a realisation of current or future need and the motivation to do something about it. This might come from feedback, a mistake, watching other people’s reactions, failing or not being up to a task – in other words, from experience. The odds are that development will be about 70 per cent from on-the-job experiences – working
Unveiling the Qualities of an Ideal Leader
In order to be a good leader, there are several attributes one must exhibit. These include the ability to delegate, strong communication skills, lots of self-confidence and a positive attitude even when the chips are down. Then again, there will be great leaders that go above and beyond their call of duty to help fellow employees. They will also be honest if talking to staff, show creativity when solving problems, and inspire others to do better. However, there is one thing that good and great leaders need to do if they want to become an ideal leader – keep on learning. Ideal leaders will always want to ask questions but never assume they know everything. They won’t be afraid to make mistakes either but will want feedback on how to improve in the future. But why is it important to keep on learning? And how can you go about increasing your knowledge or gaining a greater understanding about certain themes and topics? Learning to lead It is extremely dangerous for any leader to think they are the finished article. Even with the highest level of education possible and a great deal of real-world experience, there is still no guaranteed way
How, when, and why did microlearning become so popular?
In many respects, the theory behind microlearning is not a new one. As a matter of fact, it has been a legitimate learning technique for quite some time now. However, it has attracted a lot more attention in recent years for various reasons. But how, why, and when did microlearning become so popular? How did microlearning become so popular? The reasons behind microlearning’s popularity are fairly easy to understand. But above all else, it is an incredibly effective way of learning, retaining, and applying new knowledge, skills or information. In its purest form, microlearning is simply gaining a greater understand of something through repetition. Accordingly, microlearning might sound remarkably simple, but that’s because it is. If you have ever studied a musical instrument or attempted to learn a new language, chances are you did so in small, repeated, but increasing steps. Attempting to master these arts by diving in headfirst would not result in a favourable learning outcome. However, with a slow and methodical approach, it is possible to grasp complicated subjects or complex themes, such as playing the piano from a piece of sheet music or striking up a conversation with a Spanish local in Barcelona. But if this
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