Creating Micro-Learning from Long-Form Content: An Essential Guide for coaching and consulting Businesses

In today’s fast-paced world, micro-learning has gained quite a lot of popularity. With limited time and decreasing attention spans, it has become more crucial these days to break down complex content into digestible bits of information that can be easily consumed and retained by users. 

What is Micro-Learning?

Micro-learning involves breaking down complex topics into small, easily digestible chunks of information that can be quickly and conveniently accessed by learners. Micro-learning courses are designed to meet the needs of people who want to learn in small increments, on their own schedule, and on the device of their choice. 

Micro-learning can take many forms, including short videos, infographics, quizzes, and games, among others. This approach can be particularly useful for coaching and consulting businesses, where people are often short on time and need a flexible solution to absorbing information quickly and efficiently. 

Here’s a guide for your coaching and consulting business to creating micro-learning from long-form content: 

A Guide to Creating Micro-Learning from Long-Form Content

Identify your long-form content

Start with identifying the long-form content that you can repurpose. This could be a whitepaper, blog post, video, or any other form of content that contains a lot of information. For example, if you choose a whitepaper, begin by reading through the white paper and identifying the main topics and subtopics. These will become the modules and lessons of your microlearning course as you start building it. 

Identify the Key Takeaways

Once you have identified the main topics and sub topics, break it down into smaller sections. Ensure that each course you create is no longer than five minutes. For each section, identify the most important points that you want learners to take away. These could be key terms, concepts, or ideas. Some examples for key takeaways cane be: 

• For a micro-course that provides tips and strategies for improving communication and collaboration with their colleagues, leading to better teamwork and productivity, they key takeaway is improved communication and collaboration
• For a micro- course that helps users to better understand the needs and preferences of their customers, enabling them to provide more personalised and effective service, the key takeaway is gaining better understanding of customer needs

Build Learning Objectives

Define learning objectives for each section that help users understand what they should be able to learn or understand from the micro-learning course. Some examples of learning objectives for micro-learning courses can be: 

• After completing this micro-learning, learners will be able to define and apply key terms related to project management.

• After completing this micro-learning, users will be able to identify the main components of a successful sales pitch and how to tailor your pitch to different audiences.

• After completing this micro-learning, users will be able to explain the basic principles of project management and how to apply them to their work

Choose the Right Format

There are many different formats you can use for micro-learning, including infographics, videos, podcasts, quizzes, and more. When choosing the right format for a microlearning course, there are several factors to consider. These include the learning objectives of the course, the type of content being delivered, the preferences of your learners, the learning environment, time constraints, and budget. By considering these factors, you can choose a format that is engaging, effective, and appropriate for your learners' needs and preferences. 

For example, if the objective is to teach a practical skill, a video tutorial or interactive simulation may be the best format. If the content is text-heavy, a more interactive format, such as a quiz or game, may be more engaging for learners. Ultimately, choosing the right format for your micro-learning course is crucial to ensure that learners stay motivated and achieve their desired outcomes.

Create, Test & Refine

Now that you have defined the learning objectives, identified the key takeaways and the format, you can start building the microlearning course. Keep it short and concise, and use visuals and multimedia elements to enhance learning. Once you have designed your micro-learning course, test it with a small group of learners to make sure it is effective and engaging. Utilise their feedback to refine the content as needed.

Launch and promote 

Once your micro-learning is ready, launch it and promote it to your target audience. To effectively launch and promote a microlearning course, it's important to set clear objectives, target the right audience, use multiple channels, highlight benefits, leverage influencers, and monitor results. This includes identifying the target audience and reaching them through targeted messaging across multiple channels such as social media, email, and online ads. 

Highlighting the benefits that learners will gain from taking the course, leveraging influencers in your industry, and monitoring results to optimise your strategy are also important.

Follow these steps to effectively break down long-form content into micro-learning that is engaging, effective, and easy to consume. This can help your coaching and consulting business reach the right audience and provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their careers.

Find out more about how Mindset can help you with effectively building your micro-learning course library, get in touch with our team. We’re here to talk.