eLearning at home - upskilling in your downtime with bite-sized learning
Today we find most of us working from home, no long commutes, rushing home to collect the children. This is not to suggest that we’re less busy, but the blurring of work and home life has necessarily forced adaptations and flexibility to where, when and how we are working and learning.
If, like me, you’re finding busier periods are happening later in the day, but you’re still very much in ‘office mode’ during the traditional 9-5 period, it may be time to consider the ways in which we add value to these less hectic moments.
Microlearning at home
In simplistic terms, within the world of eLearning ‘Microlearning’ refers to breaking down traditionally more substantial course content into easily digested, bite-sized learning modules. The idea is to deliver the content without overwhelming learners, thus ensuring that key information is retained.
However, there are other significant advantages to the format, many of which make the approach ideally suited to upskilling at home in our current situation:
- Learning ‘on-the-go’ – Today’s technology means that course content can be accessed wherever and whenever we find convenient through Game eLearning. Previously, this would make the microlearning approach ideal for people looking to make their travel times more productive. Now, with mobile apps for gamified learning making content digestible in minutes, we can find short pockets of time to learn, engage and have fun with remote colleagues – even if it’s just while we wait for the kettle to boil.
- Needs-based learning – It may sound obvious, but we need knowledge when it’s relevant, not on the prescribed day of classroom-based learning scheduled 6 months from now. The hyper-targeted nature of microlearning content makes it ideal for self-directed learning, meaning that individuals can recognise a skillset deficiency within themselves and address this quickly and efficiently. This can range from technical knowledge or soft skills through to, if you’re anything like me, a sudden realisation that working from home is more difficult than you thought and brings its own unique frustrations.
- Flexibility – I’ve mentioned the ability to learn within whatever timeslots we see fit above, but browser-based learning also allows us to dictate the physical environment in which we learn. When content can be accessed through your workstation, tablet or phone there’s no need to be desk-bound (in my case sofa bound – no home office here) while we learn.
The Access learning library includes 1000+ courses, with topics ranging from; highly-specialist governance, risk and compliance, health and safety, cyber awareness, legal compliance and professional development (as well as the capacity to produce custom eLearning content). Many of our courses can be accessed online and in the necessary bite-sized chunks described above.
