The role of the LMS in microlearning courses

Microlearning courses are a great way to deliver online content to your learners. They let you break your larger course into smaller pieces, which is ideal for busy professionals.

However, if you don't use the right LMS, it can be hard to deliver microlearning courses effectively.

In this lesson, we'll discuss which features to look for when choosing an LMS and which pitfalls to avoid when developing microlearning courses on your platform.

In an online learning environment, the LMS is the heart of a course. It provides a space where instructors can manage content and activities, and where learners can interact with each other. The LMS also makes online learning possible by providing access to materials and communication tools between instructors and learners.

For you to implement your instructional design plan effectively, there are several important tasks that need to be completed in your LMS:

So, which features should my LMS have to support microlearning?

Here is a list of features your LMS should have to support microlearning.

Support for content reuse: The ability to reuse existing content is essential when creating microlearning courses, because it saves you time during the creation process. This is at the core of learning objects. I have a course on learning objects, an essential concept for online courses.

Support for multiple learning paths: this feature lets you create different paths through your course, each with its own objectives and activities tied together by a story, narrative or concept.

These paths can be based on prior knowledge, skills acquired in other areas of the company or even external sources (such as industry standards). Since microlearning courses tend to be shorter, it's essential that your learners have a next step based on their goals.

Asynchronous learning: this means learners learn at different times and in different places thanks to technology (email, social media and so on). Learners also aren't required to finish their courses before moving on; they should be able to go back to the topics they want more information about later.

Real-time interaction: having a social component, such as messaging features or 1-on-1 conversations, in your LMS helps build better understanding among peers who may be struggling with some of the concepts discussed in class sessions. They may not ask questions publicly in a feed or during a live session because they're afraid of looking foolish in public.

Finally, here are a few things to avoid when building a course in your LMS

1) Too many clicks to reach the content. In a microlearning course, learners should be able to find the content they need in fewer than five clicks. The same goes for accessing learning objects and activities: the number of clicks should not exceed three, at most!

2) Confusing navigation. A learner shouldn't have to click through several screens, then go back to the home page, try again, click a hidden menu... and so on. This is more common than you think!

Since schools or platforms built on microlearning principles tend to have many courses, it can be very hard to find what's interesting.

Remember that learners don't have as much time as they used to. If they can't find what they're looking for in two or three clicks, something is wrong with how we designed our courses.

3) Too much red tape to join a course. It's very common for an LMS to have pre-course surveys about learners' goals and demographics. But imagine taking two or three courses in one week and each one asks the same questions. Learners can get very frustrated.

Microlearning is a powerful tool that can be used to improve learning in the workplace and in academia.

By using a suitable LMS, you can make learning more engaging and interactive, giving users small pieces of content that are easy to digest.

However, it's important not to lose sight of the big picture when developing a microlearning course. Learners should get hands-on experience with the tools you propose, but also have time for reflection. That combination is a great teaching strategy so they can develop new skills or reinforce existing ones.

This will help ensure your learners can apply what they learned in your microlearning courses when working on real projects in the future!

So we've covered the three aspects of an LMS to consider when applying it to your microlearning content.

In the next module, we'll cover the tools used in learning in general and how to apply them with microlearning.