2. Leverage Spaced Learning in Conjunction with Microlearning in Practice Tests
Practice tests are the most crucial elements of digital certification training. Before your learners head into their final exam, practice tests offer them a chance to see where they stand and what information they might need to review.
While practice tests are essential, they don’t necessarily fit neatly within the context of your microlearning strategy. Traditional practice tests can take upwards of two hours, making them difficult to incorporate into daily life.
Your microlearning objectives can instead leverage short-form practice tests or exercises to prepare learners for a longer mock exam. They’ll build confidence as they complete these mini-tests, proving they’ve retained the information necessary to pass the final.
Practice exercises help identify your strengths and weaknesses when preparing for professional certification. We tend to focus on our accomplishments while ignoring our shortcomings. Learners must kick this habit—the only way to improve is by identifying and working on your weaknesses. Practice exercises provide instant feedback, telling you which areas could benefit from the additional review.
Practice exercises are also an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the final exam. Ideally, they use similar software and question types: fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, short answer, or essay questions. Imagine a football player running plays at practice. If they simulate an actual game setting (offense vs. defense), they’ll have an easier time transitioning from the practice field to the stadium. However, spacing these practice exercises is just as important as taking them.
Spaced Repetition Reinforces Content
Spaced repetition feeds the brain. Your lessons teach and test the same information several times over a given period. The variety of mediums then gives the brain several angles on the same information. The more often the brain sees the same thing, the longer it holds onto that information.
Spaced repetition is as crucial with practice tests as with the lessons themselves. But how long should those intervals be? Well, the answer is different for everyone. One of the best spacing practices is to delay until you’re on the brink of forgetting the material. Then, go back and review it.
Spacing also depends on the certification and how long it’ll take to study. Some courses take six weeks—others might last six months to a year. Ensure you provide your learners with planned study guidelines based on the certification. For a more regimented day-to-day schedule, they can consider reviewing material:
- Right after the session (after taking a short break)
- Later that day or the next morning
- Three days later or at the end of the week
- To reinforce every few weeks
With a spaced repetition schedule in place, learners can leverage microlearning best practices to take supplementary practice tests, such as:
- Mobile access to practice exercises and modules
- Single-concept lessons (trimmed of “fat” or excess/unnecessary information)
- Relevant visuals for reference, reinforcement, and feedback
- Customized learning and test-taking environments
Providing learners with a well-populated question bank allows them to build practice exercises based on their weaknesses. They can choose how many questions they want to study, what topics to cover, and what types of questions and content they wish to see.
Your certification program admins can also curate exams if learners desire a little more direction. These may include 10 bite-sized exercises that take 15 minutes each. From there, they could recommend that learners do daily practice exercises for 10 days.
Spaced practice also depends on how much time learners have to complete their certification training. Busy professionals need more time, perhaps only completing their practice exercises once per week. On the other hand, learners with more flexible schedules could take short practice tests every few days—if not daily. Ultimately, one’s continued education schedule should be personalized to their unique situation.
3. Use Microlearning as the Building Blocks For Your Mobile Certification Training
Many on-the-go professionals prefer to carry phones and tablets instead of laptops. Similarly, most learners prefer using their phones as their primary content source. Put those two data points together, and you realize that your microlearning initiatives must meet learners where they are—on their mobile devices.
Modern Learner Characteristics
A modern learner is not a specific age or demographic. Most modern learners encompass one or more of the following traits:
- Impatient. They’re used to instant information and gratification from a simple Google search. Their preferred content is personal, relevant, and of high quality. Modern learners will rarely give you a second chance if your content lacks in one of those three categories.
- Easily distracted. Everything outside your lessons is trying to steal the modern learner’s attention. Think of all the notifications, alerts, and emails they get every minute of every day. Your training programs must keep them engaged, or they'll close the app and open their social media pages.
- Curious. It may seem like modern learners don’t care, but they’re actually hungry for knowledge. They just aren’t willing to sit through boring, hours-long lessons to get it. Impatience doesn’t hinder curiosity—but it will filter anything that doesn’t come quickly enough.
- Social. We’ve never been more connected than we are now. Modern learners are social creatures; they crave interaction, idea-sharing, and feedback from the community.
With these traits in mind, it’s clear why mLearning programs driven by microlearning strategies are the most effective way to reach modern learners where they are. They’ll be able to learn on familiar devices in comfortable, self-controlled settings. They’ll be free from (most) distractions and can engage with others in their learning community.
How to Incorporate Mobile Learning Techniques
- Borrow from the mobile pros. When building your mobile program, steal as much as you can from the titans of attention-holding mobile apps—social media. Most people use their phones with one hand, using their thumb to click on navigation buttons. Make sure they can easily pinch, press, or zoom their screens without losing functionality.
- Leverage audio and video. Websites like YouTube and Vimeo make it easy to upload and share informational videos. Learners who prefer visual engagement will retain more information from watching a video than from listening to a lecture or reading an article. Podcasts and other audio-heavy mediums are crucial for on-the-go learners. They can easily pop in their earbuds and listen to a microlearning lesson while on a jog, at the gym, on the bus, or eating their lunch.
- Design for small screens. In the design phase, build your program with mobile habits in mind. Long screens with fewer clicks are better than multiple screens with several clicks. You must also consider the “fast scroller” who’ll inevitably scan text-heavy sections. Make sure the most important pieces of information stand out.
Incorporate Microlearning with BenchPrep
Adult learners looking to achieve digital certifications will boost their retention through microlearning lessons with spaced repetition. And while retaining that knowledge is crucial on exam day, the lessons learned must carry them throughout their careers.
Whether they’re studying for their real estate license, a law Bar exam, or other career certification—learners will flock to exam prep providers who can engage them through microlearning. Providing engaging, bite-sized content to boost retention and learner confidence is the future of eLearning. Of course, implementing microlearning strategies is no easy feat.
In order to achieve this feat, leading education and training companies can rely on the BenchPrep platform to use spaced repetition and microlearning to enhance their digital certification training program. After all, the two are often considered "two peas in a pod" because of how nicely they work together.
Want to learn more about how spaced repetition and microlearning go hand-in-hand, and how they can help learners achieve mastery in your learning program? Check out the blog below!