Podcast 84: The Rise of Community Microlearning

EPISODE 84: Community Microlearning

Pete Mastin, CEO and Co-Founder, Learnie

Microlearning has been part of the organizational training playbook for years. Yet it remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in instructional design and technology.

So, what happens when you toss social learning into the mix? Does it stir up muddy water? Or does it add clarity?

These are questions I hope Learnie CEO Pete Mastin will answer on today’s Talented Learning Show.

Pete is a serial entrepreneur who’s also a passionate advocate for community microlearning solutions that improve workforce training. But exactly what does it take to make this work? Join us as we dig deeper…

The Rise of Community Microlearning — KEY TAKEAWAYS

• As the term implies, microlearning revolves around short-form instructional content that is easy to find and consume online. Although it’s not ideal for every learning need, it can be highly effective for skills training in the flow of work.

• Community microlearning elevates the classic method in several ways. By encouraging user-generated video content and social interaction, it invites people from across any group to share knowledge and skills with others so they can grow and succeed.

• Artificial intelligence also plays a role here. Rather than detracting from the human dimension of community microlearning, thoughtful AI tools can enhance learning efficiency, engagement and more.

The Rise of Community Microlearning — Q&A HIGHLIGHTS

Welcome, Pete. Since your company is fairly new, why don’t you tell us a bit about it?

Sure, John. My co-founders and I have a lot of experience in ed tech and workforce training solutions. And a few years ago, we noticed that outcomes are never as great as expected. Organizations are promised a utopian learning culture, just by deploying an LMS. But that’s not the reality.

So, we started thinking about why training doesn’t work with traditional LMSs. And we identified several key issues:

• Nobody wants to sit through long-form content. That’s why microlearning needs to be a big part of the solution.

• Companies shouldn’t struggle to capture and share knowledge from their best employees. Learning content should be non-intrusive, both to create and consume. This is where the community aspect comes in, which differentiates us from others in the space.

That’s our vision for Learnie. It’s not just a microlearning platform, but a community microlearning platform. So, in 2020, we implemented it and rolled it out. Then in 2022 and 2023 it started picking up steam. And now, here we are today.

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Let’s talk more about how you define microlearning. This term tends to confuse people…

If it were 2020, plenty of people would say, “We’ll just cut the video down to 15 minutes.” That’s microlearning, right?

Some might say so…

Well, we developed a much more radical view after studying what is happening in this field. For example, we looked closely at PechaKucha, which is a special format for producing very short-form presentations. We also researched some card systems. And then we incorporated what we learned into what we call microlearning.

Plus, I have years of experience in the video space, so I insisted on high-quality video capabilities. Actually, many microlearning platforms don’t even support video, which we think is a terrible mistake. That’s because digital video is one of the most compelling and engaging ways to communicate and develop knowledge.

So, with our platform, you can combine these things to create a short form video lesson we call a “Learnie.” This kind of lesson is typically about three-and-a-half minutes long – but it can range from 1 to 5 minutes. And then, by stringing together these short lessons into “Learnie journeys,” you can create a course.

And where does “community” fit in?

Again, that’s our biggest differentiator. Learnie lets organizations build online groups and designate certain people within those groups who can create content. These are the community leaders.

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What does this look like in a real-world setting?

Imagine you own a restaurant. You want kitchen staff to develop the right skills, so you ask your star sous chef to explain his daily prep in a Learnie. Or, say you run a coffeehouse. Your best barista can create a Learnie that teaches others how to make the perfect cortado.

Essentially, you’re tapping into people with the deepest knowledge and skill to capture and share learning content focused on what’s unique about your business. That’s what makes this different. People are actually learning about what they do that makes your organization special.

Way too many learning platforms focus on delivering generic compliance content. Nothing wrong with that. Compliance has to be there. But we’re focusing way beyond compliance.

What sectors are adopting community microlearning?

We’re seeing this in a wide variety of industries. For instance:

• Retail: Think of a sleep systems chain with a couple hundred stores and high turnover. They use Learnies for onboarding, so sales staff can quickly get up-to-pace with the product knowledge they need.

• Energy production: Imagine far-flung solar farms, where companies are teaching people how to install and inspect systems in the field.

• Insurance: Think of claims adjusters, who must learn how to safely climb on a roof and determine if there’s damage that qualifies for coverage.

• Franchising: Say you’re a bug spray franchiser, and you need to train franchisee employees quickly so they’ll perform to your standards. We’re popular with franchise companies because they have two problems we solve. They want to grow their business by adding more locations, and they want to do it efficiently. So, this lets them deliver highly engaging, effective training on a world-class learning platform that supports them as they scale.

Want more details about how to make community microlearning work better for your company? Check the Learnie listing in our LMS Directory — including a product flyover video, reviews, customer stories and more…

Good point. And many of those frontline employees don’t have a laptop or sit at a desk each day. How do you handle that?

You’re right. We do target companies with knowledge workers, but many of our customers are training a frontline workforce. That’s why we chose a mobile-first strategy. We also have a browser-based version, and they work together perfectly.

However, the mobile solution stands out because it’s a lightweight TikTok-style app that lets people easily find and use the content they need. They can even send it to someone else who needs quick access to the same information.

Cool. So, does this platform also act as a standalone LMS?

At smaller companies, Learnie is often the LMS of record. We provide all the backend analytics they need. It’s not everything you’ll find in a typical LMS, but you can see which certifications people have, and assign specific Learnies and journeys.

However, as you can imagine, most larger companies already have an LMS. So, we offer xAPI integration to plug-and-play directly with the learning record store in any major LMS.

This means these companies can use Learnie effectively for frontline workers, while also having a single pane of glass on the backend for all their reporting.

Nice. You talked about community microlearning for content creation. Can people also interact with one another as part of the learning experience? 

Good question. You can manage content creation two ways. There’s the designated creator approach I mentioned earlier. But there’s also The Wild West, where anyone can create content.

In that case, as a quality assurance and security protocol, an administrator usually approves all Learnies. And in the process of reviewing and approving content, the administrator often interacts with contributors to foster community.

In addition, chat capabilities are available within communities, so members can ask questions that others can answer.

We also provide an AI assistant that acts as another agent to help group members. People can ask it questions – even about little things, like how to use specific Learnie features.

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Glad you mentioned AI. Let’s talk about that. Microlearning platforms were among the first learning systems to use AI. But how does it fit in now with community microlearning?

It’s hard to ignore AI anymore. In fact, we’ve integrated AI into the platform in about 6 different ways. But it’s important to remember that this really is a human-generated learning platform.

Nevertheless, AI can assist in the process. For instance, we offer an AI-driven quiz assistant. So, when you create a learning journey, you or the admin can use it to automatically generate a quiz based on that content.

We also have AI-based search that relies on our AI-based content tagging. So, these two capabilities really work hand-in-hand.

How does that work?

Let’s say I’m a restaurant chef who’s creating a Learnie about how to make meatballs. Our AI content tagging function will listen to what I’ve said, watch what I’ve done and tag it appropriately. Then, if the community already includes content about how to make spaghetti, it will relate these things.

Once tagging is in place, AI search easily directs people to this related content.

In addition, we use AI for closed captioning in 120 languages. So if you create a Learnie in Spanish or Polish or French or whatever, Learnie will correctly caption it for 508 compliance.

These are just several ways we leverage AI to assist – but not replace – the human element.

What about metrics? What’s important with this kind of platform? Is it like a regular LMS, tracking things like who started, who completed and their progress?

Yes. All of that is important, and it’s in Learnie. But we go beyond that with metrics like community health…

…For complete answers to this and more questions on community microlearning, listen to the entire podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on Amazon, or right here on our site.

Find Out More About Learnie

Want more specifics about how Learnie works hand-in-hand with an LMS — or as a standalone solution — to propel community microlearning? Get more specifics in my Hot Take Review on our YouTube channel…

Interested in Creating a Microlearning Community?

Let an independent learning tech expert help you choose the best solution for your needs! Submit the form below for a free initial consultation call with me, John Leh, Founder and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning: