This information will summarize all the things you want to learn about microlearning and begin creating your personal microlearning movies. We’ll clarify why microlearning is helpful, strategy scripting and storyboarding, and lay out a path so that you can get began.
- What’s Microlearning?
- 5 Advantages of Microlearning
- Why Your Firm Ought to Create Microlearning Movies
- Steps to Creating Microlearning Movies
- Easy methods to Script a Profitable Microlearning Video
- Ideas for Creating Animated Microlearning Movies
- Creating Animated Microlearning Movies
Let’s dive in:
What’s Microlearning?
Microlearning breaks the fabric down into quick, simply digestible parts (usually round 30 seconds to a couple minutes in size) that sort out a single studying goal.
You’re arguing together with your mother and father over politics, and also you decide up your cellphone to Google the specifics of a current invoice.
You’re on a flight to Rome. Earlier than you land, you utilize an iPhone app to learn to say “extra pasta” and “double espresso, please,” in Italian.
You don’t know tie your bowtie earlier than a proper marriage ceremony, so that you hearth up a fast YouTube tutorial in your laptop computer.
What do these three issues have in widespread? They’re all examples of microlearning.
“Microlearning permits for learners to obtain the data they want, after they want it, within the related context,” says Lauren Freeman, M.A.
Watch the primary video in Lauren’s microlearning video collection under, and browse her full Grasp’s report on microlearning right here.
More often than not, microlearning experiences in our each day lives — say, watching a tutorial on lower a pineapple or Googling a stat to resolve a dinner desk argument — go unnoticed. However as we incorporate microlearning into our common routines, we inevitably anticipate it to be obtainable to us throughout extra formal pursuits of data as nicely.
Particularly, microlearning has highly effective purposes in in the present day’s workforce, the place workers “are anticipated to continuously purchase new info to remain present,” in keeping with Freeman. Conventional studying experiences — assume textbooks, lengthy lectures, and even PowerPoint displays or PDFs — are sometimes prohibitively time-consuming and static given the quick tempo of the trendy office.
5 Advantages of Microlearning
More and more, corporations are adopting microlearning as a core element of their L&D methods. In a current survey by the Affiliation for Expertise Improvement, 38% of corporations reported at present utilizing microlearning, whereas 41% plan to implement the technique inside the subsequent 12 months. Of these organizations delivering microlearning, 63% have utterly changed formal studying with microlearning.
Microlearning gives quite a few advantages, in that it’s:
- Versatile. Microlearning experiences are a lot simpler to personalize for every learner’s preferences and desires. By creating quick chunks of content material devoted to a single studying goal, organizations can simply swap out content material for particular person learners or create new modules because the curriculum evolves. That is in stark distinction to conventional coaching curricula, which are sometimes costly to create and tough to change with out overhauling the entire program.
- Accessible: As Close to-Life places it, “studying must be accessible in in the present day’s world to make sure there aren’t any obstacles for learners to entry studying content material.” Microlearning can happen throughout quick home windows of time and on all kinds of units (computer systems, tablets, telephones, and so on.), enabling flipped lecture rooms, blended studying, and on-line instruction.
- Simply-in-time: It’s 3pm, and you want to stand up to hurry on pivot tables in Microsoft Excel earlier than a 4pm assembly together with your boss. Enter microlearning. A fast YouTube video can let you know precisely what you want to know, proper now — with out forcing you to take a seat by way of additional minutes or hours of irrelevant materials.
- Sticky: Learners’ short-term reminiscence (often known as working reminiscence) “can solely retain a certain quantity of knowledge concurrently,” writes Christopher Pappas of The eLearning Business. Chunk-sized movies and different quick modules assist enhance information retention and forestall cognitive overload, notably when coping with advanced subjects.
- Cumulative: Ideally, every microlearning module has its personal studying goal, but in addition represents “a small win on the best way to a bigger aim,” in keeping with Alex Khurgin, Director of Studying Innovation at Grovo. Learners can be taught what they want, precisely after they want it, whereas on the similar time constructing their information over time to achieve mastery over the topic at hand.
Why Your Firm Ought to Create Microlearning Movies
Benefits of microlearning video
Whereas microlearning can take quite a lot of different types (textual content, video games, podcasts, PowerPoints, and so on.), analysis means that quick microlearning movies are the simplest and fascinating medium.
People are drawn to movies.
The human mind is wired to reply to video. We all know a lot of the data transmitted to the mind is visible and that visible aids have been discovered to enhance studying. It’s going to additionally come as no shock that workers are 75% extra more likely to watch a video than learn textual content, and that video conveys extra highly effective messages than written communication.
Why? Video is uniquely well-suited to storytelling — and people love tales. “A story works off of each knowledge and feelings, which is considerably simpler in participating a listener than knowledge alone,” writes Cody C. Delistraty in The Atlantic. Delistraty cites Stanford professor Jennifer Aaker, whose analysis exhibits that folks keep in mind knowledge integrated into narratives as much as 22 occasions greater than when the info is given by itself.
Video can interact workers on a visceral stage by replicating a face-to-face connection. Learners are more likely to attach with a story and visible depiction of an individual guiding them by way of a course of than they’re to a block of static textual content (or a static picture) explaining the fabric. Video additionally offers in the present day’s learners the sense of management they crave over materials — they will watch it anyplace, anytime and may pause, decelerate, velocity up, or rewind as many occasions as they see match.
Video will increase long-term retention.
Analysis means that movies are uniquely suited to maximise the retention of fabric when in comparison with different media.
“Multimedia displays (comparable to narrated animation) usually tend to result in significant studying than single-medium displays” (like static visuals in a PowerPoint or an audio recording like a podcast), say researchers Richard E. Mayer and Roxana Moreno within the Instructional Psychology Evaluate.
That is based mostly partially on twin coding idea, which holds that people retailer audio and visible info in two separate areas of the mind. Watching a video engages each channels of the mind, which work collectively to strengthen the fabric. “The cognitive technique of integrating is almost certainly to happen when the learner has corresponding pictorial and verbal representations in working reminiscence on the similar time,” in keeping with Mayer and Moreno.
With the intention to retailer info in our long-term reminiscence, our working reminiscence should first course of that info. However our working reminiscence’s capability (cognitive load) is proscribed, and if we overload it, we’ll retain much less from the exercise at hand. Microlearning movies assist deal with this downside in two methods: a) they’re quick, so they supply our brains a break to course of info and refresh working reminiscence capability, and b) by participating each visible and auditory channels directly, they unfold the burden for processing the data throughout these two channels, offering extra room for processing and retention.
4 Preliminary Steps to Creating Microlearning Movies
Earlier than you make a micro-learning video
Microlearning movies are a quickly rising element of many organizations’ eLearning methods. In keeping with a survey by the Affiliation for Expertise Improvement (ATD), 72% of organizations plan to create microlearning movies within the close to future, in the event that they aren’t already.
Able to get began?
Step one of any profitable microlearning video (or video basically) is pre-production — a.ok.a., planning. It might be tempting to skip this step in favor of going straight to the execution stage. Don’t!
Steps to Creating Microlearning Movies
1. Set targets.
First, explicitly establish the principle coaching targets on your studying program. Then, take into consideration how this microlearning video (or collection of movies) will align to these targets.
Think about questions like:
- What particular goal are you attempting to speak with this video?
- What targets are you attempting to speak with the bigger collection this video will probably be part of (if relevant)?
- Who’s your viewers for the video (e.g., all workers or workers in a sure job perform or division)?
- How will the video be utilized in your coaching program? E.g., is it a complement to an in-person coaching session or a stand-alone lesson? Is it an optionally available or obligatory element of this system?
- How will you measure success (e.g., viewership, engagement, assessments, and so on.)?
2. Establish the scope.
Earlier than diving into making a microlearning video — whether or not you’re planning to make one quick video or tons of — contemplate:
- What’s your price range (each for the coaching program total and for the person video)?
- What’s your timeline for creating the video(s)?
- Who’re the principle stakeholders within the challenge, and what approval processes do you want to comply with? Involving decision-makers early on and clearly setting expectations about the way you anticipate to share drafts and obtain suggestions will stop complications down the road.
- What assets do you’ve got obtainable to assist with content material and manufacturing? Do you want to rent a topic knowledgeable, or request time from somebody inside your group?
- How lengthy will your video be?
- What number of movies will there be within the collection, if a couple of?
3. Resolve what sort of video you intend to make, and the way.
Your targets, price range, and scope will assist decide what sort of video it makes most sense to create. Will your video be live-action, animated, or a mix of each? When you’ve got employed exterior consultants or have a manufacturing staff on workers, it is a resolution you may make collaboratively.
Drag-and-drop animation is a superb choice for organizations of all sizes seeking to create movies — particularly if these movies must be created rapidly and cost-effectively. Animated video gives all the advantages of live-action, with far fewer useful resource necessities (e.g., no actors or studios or units). Even organizations with bigger budgets usually select animated video as a result of it’s simpler to replace coaching modules whereas guaranteeing stylistic consistency throughout a video collection.
No matter what sort of video you select, now could be the time to type out logistical considerations. What software program program(s) do you intend to make use of? Do you want to hire or purchase gear or studio area? Do you want to rent or practice extra individuals to provide the movies?
4. Brainstorm and description.
Placing collectively a artistic temporary on your video is an efficient solution to kick off the manufacturing course of. Right here’s a video temporary template from Act-On Software program that is likely to be useful as a place to begin. Remember to embrace targets, subjects, and takeaways in addition to who’s accountable for every element of the method.
Then, develop an overview. Take into consideration questions like:
- Is that this a scenario-based video? Will you’ve got a story? Is there interactivity?
- What’s your essential studying goal, and the way do you intend to speak this within the video?
- What conditions or storylines may assist convey your essential level dwelling?
- Will you’ve got a narrator? Characters? Each? If a narrator, what’s going to his/her character and objective be? If characters, who’re they’re and what’s going to their story arc be? How will you utilize them to coach and interact your viewers?
Bear in mind, microlearning movies are “micro” for a cause. Every video you create ought to deal with one essential studying goal. Attempting to tackle an excessive amount of in such a brief time period is antithetical to the principle advantages of microlearning, comparable to decreasing cognitive load, maximizing engagement, and enhancing retention. Give your self permission to create an expansive first draft, then be ruthless about making cuts. Bear in mind that you would be able to at all times produce a number of movies if you want to talk a number of studying targets.
Easy methods to Script a Profitable Microlearning Video
Scripting for Microlearning.
When you’ve accomplished the pre-production work on your microlearning video — together with figuring out targets, scope, and format, in addition to making a primary define — it’s time to start out scripting.
Listed below are a couple of greatest practices to bear in mind when writing your script:
One video, one goal.
Particularly with a really quick video, all the things in your script ought to tie again to your essential goal. It may be tempting to incorporate enjoyable tangential particulars, however be ruthless — the effectiveness of your video depends upon it. Bear in mind, you may at all times create extra movies later or embrace embedded hyperlinks to extra content material.
Inform a narrative.
Making a narrative and growing characters will show you how to join together with your viewers and body your video in the simplest manner potential. The way in which you inform this story will differ relying on the model and goal of your video.
For instance, an explainer video may characteristic a simple narrator introducing an issue and describing the steps to take to unravel this downside. A video centered on extra summary themes may as a substitute use fictional characters to attach with the viewers and elucidate the principle takeaways.
Both manner, have in mind conventional story construction. Your video ought to have a transparent starting, center, and finish, and every part ought to relate again to your goal.
Maintain it easy.
Bear in mind: you’re writing a script, not a time period paper. Maintain your sentences quick and candy, keep away from pointless adjectives and adverbs, and use the lively tense. Your script ought to look and sound like a dialog.
You need to be slicing most of what you may embrace in a written format and summarizing key factors. Maintain it high-level and centered on the important thing factors. Learn it out loud to keep away from producing one thing that sounds stiff or overly formal.
Not all the things must be spoken.
Consider your script as a assist system for the visuals in your video (we’ll talk about storyboard these visuals in a future publish). The language you select ought to complement fairly than compete with these photographs.
Don’t waste time with prolonged introductions or conclusions.
There’s no want for preambles in microlearning movies — workers or different viewers will know precisely what they’re about to observe from the best way it’s introduced in your coaching program or on their search engine. Attending to the purpose instantly will interact viewers and provide you with a couple of additional seconds to discover your matter.
Equally, there’s no have to waste time recapping your essential takeaways on the finish of the video — the fantastic thing about a microlearning video is that viewers can rewind a particular part and/or rewatch the entire video if and when they should.
To get began, confer with the define you have already got and fill within the blanks to display the issue, incorporate your persona, illustrate remedy the issue, and name your viewer to motion. Combining the issue and persona and getting the story “on its toes” is the place the magic occurs.
Get your story on its toes.
- Setting: The place ought to your story happen? At dwelling? On the workplace? On the airport? The place is the magnitude or urgency of the ache level at its highest?
- Characters: Who ought to inform the story? A supervisor? An worker? A narrator?
- Narrative Model: Are there characters? Ought to the characters converse to one another like they’re in a TV present? This dialog enhances storytelling, however is usually slower. Ought to there be a narrator, speaking in regards to the characters from a high view? This lets you be extra environment friendly and exact, however usually on the expense of identification with the characters.
- Construction: Must you begin at first? That is the simplest. Or must you begin on the finish, exhibiting the nice (or dangerous) consequence and tracing again to the beginning? This shifts focus towards the “how” and away from the end result.
- Metaphor: Metaphor will help convey tough ideas to life, particularly with animation. Metaphors assist us perceive new ideas by attaching them to ideas that we already know. A bit of boy utilizing a leaky bucket to convey water again from a nicely can illustrate poor price management or a defective course of. These metaphors may be spoken or visible.
(Authentic scripting ideas by Gary Lipkowitz, Vyond CEO)
Make it visible.
Video is a visible medium, so contemplate what the script will appear to be when you’re writing it.
“As you progress, you’ll start to get a greater sense of how your video will come collectively. Chances are you’ll end up adjusting some dialog or narration to higher match your deliberate visuals or timing. This give-and-take is part of the artistic course of. When issues begin actually going nicely, you’ll end up intentionally creating wealthy media moments, wherein non-verbal motion or results can “carry the tune,” as a substitute of merely wallpapering your phrases (Lipkowitz).”
Name to motion.
In the event you’ve performed an excellent job, viewers gained’t need the story to finish. Give them a solution to keep concerned whereas they’re nonetheless motivated.
What would you like them to do subsequent? Watch the following video? Learn extra in regards to the matter? Put their abilities into motion immediately? Encapsulate this into one (and just one) name to motion on the finish of the video. As soon as your script feels full. It’s time to maneuver into storyboarding.
Ideas for Creating Animated Microlearning Movies
Able to create animated microlearning movies?
Microlearning has highly effective purposes in in the present day’s fast-paced workforce, offering workers with a versatile and accessible solution to be taught new info at their very own tempo.
Movies are notably efficient channels for microlearning. Video engages a viewer on a number of ranges and in doing so can enhance information retention.
In the event you’re able to make the leap and create microlearning movies on your firm, begin by crafting a plan. There are a couple of greatest practices that apply to each animated video, whether or not you’re hiring an outdoor studio or utilizing a software like Vyond.
Maintain it easy.
Probably the greatest elements about animation is all of the bells and whistles you may add in, at little to no extra price. In Vyond, you may introduce new characters, props, and settings with a click on of the mouse. You’ll be able to add audio narration or background music or visible on-screen textual content.
However keep in mind that learners can solely course of a certain quantity of knowledge at a given time. Richard Mayer’s Coherence Precept holds that “individuals be taught higher when extraneous phrases, photos, and sounds are excluded fairly than included.”
Vyond professional, Keith Anderson, who beforehand managed eLearning at Orchard Provide {Hardware} (try among the firm’s animated microlearning movies right here) and is now the director of studying at Penn Nationwide Gaming says, “the human mind filters out 90% of what you’re watching. Solely put issues on the display screen which are related.” For instance, Anderson makes positive that his movies have a constant template (primarily whiteboard-based, with some colourful add-ins from Vyond’s Enterprise Pleasant animation model, and that his slides at all times transfer in the identical path to reduce distractions.
For extra on efficient visible instruction, watch this video by Michael Zielinskie, Nationwide Studying Specialist at Superior Behavioral Well being. And learn extra right here.
(GoAnimate is now Vyond)
Prioritize auditory narration over on-screen textual content.
Once more, much less is extra! It may be tempting to attempt to emphasize your details with on-screen textual content along with graphics and spoken narration. Nonetheless, Mayer’s Redundancy Precept says that combining graphics, narration, and on-screen textual content is definitely much less efficient than simply together with graphics and audio narration.
“The circulate of language is necessary, too,” says Anderson. “People usually course of as much as 150 phrases per minute, so we attempt to restrict our movies to that quantity of narration.”
Give the viewer an concept of the place the video goes subsequent.
“Each video we make begins precisely the identical manner,” says Anderson. “Having the identical introduction alerts the viewer that it’s time to enter ‘studying mode.’ It’s just like the opening sequence to a TV present.”
In keeping with Mayer, signaling — i.e., offering viewers with cues as to how the data in your video is organized — can result in a extra significant studying expertise. Along with constant intros, alerts like headings, vocal emphasis on key phrases, and nonverbal character actions will help encourage learners to direct their consideration to an important elements of your video, and higher comply with the logic of the lesson.
Spend money on audio.
Excessive-quality audio and clear vocals will make a giant distinction in your closing product. In the event you’re on a good price range or simply getting began, Vyond gives free text-to-speech capabilities in 58 languages and counting. Nonetheless, a pleasant, human voice will extra successfully interact viewers.
There are many providers that make it simple to rent knowledgeable voice artist to file your voice-over. VoiceBunny, Voice Archive, and Voice123 are a couple of choices. Or, when you have entry to a USB mic with a pop filter, file somebody out of your staff utilizing an audio program like Audacity or GarageBand.
Examine discovering the suitable voice-over expertise on your video from voice-over artist, Laura Schreiber.
Whether or not you intend to rent knowledgeable or file by yourself, achieve this in direction of the tip of your challenge to keep away from having to re-record while you inevitably make modifications to your script. We suggest utilizing Vyond’s text-to-speech characteristic as a placeholder till you’re able to file. Then make closing timing changes to your video as soon as the voice-over is in place.
Don’t overlook about music and sound results both. Identical to within the films, sound can add temper and environment to your animated microlearning movies. Vyond gives royalty-free music and sound impact to accompany any narrative. You can even buy and add specialised music and results into Vyond to create a fair richer viewing expertise.
Get began!
Probably the greatest elements about creating animated movies is the low barrier to entry. Positive, you’ll hone your model and ideal your execution as you acquire extra expertise, however even a beginner can create efficient animated microlearning movies in Vyond. Attempt it out with our 14-day free trial. For steerage, when you’ve began, attend considered one of our weekly webinars. In the event you’re already utilizing Vyond, and seeking to take issues to the following stage, watch considered one of our extra superior on-demand webinars.
Creating Animated Microlearning Movies
After you have a plan in place, the following step is to truly create your video. Many organizations flip to animation to create a number of or one-off movies. Animation is a wealthy, participating, and cost-effective medium that provides all the advantages of conventional video — with far fewer useful resource necessities.
Animated video isn’t only for children both, says Karen Kostrinsky, eLearning Developer at mortgage lender Ellie Mae. “Some individuals assume animated movies are infantile. They are often, however they don’t need to be.” Kostrinsky, who makes use of Vyond to create her animated movies, does generally use “enjoyable” themes — assume superheroes, zombies, and country-western — for inner conferences, however extra usually she tends to create practical characters in workplace settings. “My individuals appear to be individuals… I like that they give the impression of being present. It’s nonetheless enjoyable, however skilled.”
Watch an excerpt from considered one of Karen’s animated microlearning movies:
About Vyond
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