Just How Micro Is Microlearning?

In a world of shrinking attention spans, hectic schedules, and endless distractions, talent development professionals have a lot to consider when developing training for employees. One method many turn to is microlearning, or training that is delivered in bite-sized chunks. But what constitutes “bite-sized”?  

Ask anyone in talent development how long microlearning is and you’ll get a plethora of different answers, ranging from a minute to more than 20. So how do you know how long microlearning events and activities should be?  

ATD Research recently conducted a short poll on microlearning that focused on two key questions: What’s the ideal length for a microlearning event and what’s the maximum length for a microlearning event? ATD Research surveyed 144 talent development professionals to develop an industry standard. We found that the average maximum amount of time respondents reported that microlearning should be is about 13 minutes. However, the average amount of time participants said microlearning should ideally be is 10 minutes.