Microlearning

 Microlearning is an educational strategy that breaks complex topics down into short-form, stand-alone units of study that can be viewed as many times as necessary, whenever and wherever the learner has the need. Microlearning instructional modules are designed to be consumed in about five minutes and address one specific skill or knowledge gap topic. 

The convenience of microlearning, from both the learner and the educator’s point of view, has made this type of instructional delivery  popular in corporate learning environments. Scientific research suggests that a self-directed, modular approach to talent pipeline development improves knowledge retention. It also empowers employees by giving them the opportunity to build new skills directly in the context of the job they are being paid to do, without having to take time away from their job to attend training.

Although microlearning is most often associated with independent learning, modules can also be strung together to create guided learning experiences for individuals or small groups. The small chunks of instructional content can be tagged with metadata for easy search, access and reuse.

How does microlearning work?

In any given module, the learner is typically given 3-6 minutes to learn one specific objective by completing an action item such as: 

1. Watching a short instructional video and answering a question.
2. Playing an online learning game designed to teach a specific task. 
3. Reading an executive summary and answering a short series of questions. 
4. Viewing an infographic and answering a short series of questions. 
5. Using virtual flashcards to prepare for a quiz.
6. Virtually participating in a scenario-based simulation.

Microlearning modules are most often accessed as the need for knowledge arises, but they can also be assigned as part of an employee’s monthly or quarterly goals. Instructional modules, which are tagged with metadata that describes the module's learning objective, are typically stored in a library that is accessed through a mobile app, learning experience platform (LXP), public website or proprietary online knowledge base.

Advantages of microlearning

A microlearning approach to staff development can successfully address the problems of monolithic training platforms in a more natural manner. Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of microlearning is that the student can conduct a learning session at any time, from anywhere, using any type of computing device. 

In the past, a lot of e-learning initiatives were built around a macro-learning format that is commonly referred to as a MOOC (massive open online course). In corporate settings, MOOC content was often video-focused and the content was delivered through a learning management system (LMS) overseen by the organization’s human resource (HR) department or Chief Learning Officer (CLO).

While long-form presentations seemed to work well for high-level introductory material, employees often found it challenging to retain the information they received during marathon training sessions. Some HR managers also received pushback for this type of “just-in-case” training because it required employees to be pulled away from their daily work.

Another advantage of using a microlearning strategy is that short-form content is easier to update than long-form content. Having the ability to easily update learning modules is an important concern for educating employees in highly regulated industries such as finance and healthcare, because information in these two vertical industries constantly changes. When educational content is created in small, bite-sized modules, it can easily be updated to reflect new laws and regulations. 

Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission determined that a firm can be guilty of security compliance violations for simply having an ineffective training program. Ensuring that the organization's training materials are always up-to-date  is another important driver for microlearning in the enterprise. 

Disadvantages of microlearning

Though microlearning is an effective learning strategy for reinforcement and retention, it is an inefficient approach to education for learners who need to gain mastery over a broad topic in a short period of time or acquire knowledge about a concept that cannot be broken down easily. 

In this type of learning scenario, a microlearning approach might even be harmful, especially if the learner lacks the necessary background to supply context and relate one learning objective to another.  Consider a university-level course in organic chemistry, for example. If every learning objective was broken down into lesson chunks of ten minutes or less, it’s likely that many students would struggle to master the material.

Security Training

 Humans are considered as the first line of defence in the cyber security posture of organisations today. By offering security awareness training programmes, businesses can educate their employees about a range of growing cyber security risks and what to do if they notice one.

With cyber criminals increasingly targeting businesses and their employees, security awareness training is more important than ever. But despite this, users often pay little attention to cyber training and end up putting their organisation’s security at risk as a consequence. So, how can security teams get employees to take training seriously?

Developing a security culture

Getting staff to understand the importance of security training for themselves and the entire organisation is a major challenge currently faced by employers. Security training, obviously, is a difficult one to tackle. It often has a negative connotation associated with it and so trying to convince employees that this training is important not just for the organisation, but also helpful for themselves, could itself be a challenge.

So a culture shift is needed to solve this problem. In that a security culture is developed within the organisation. This will help employees get onboard with security-related efforts such as training.

Outcome-based contracting sees uptick post pandemic

 Outcome-based contracting has become more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as organizations look to share risk with service providers.

Industry executives reported increased interest in this contracting approach, which links some, or all, of a service provider's payment to meeting performance objectives. Outcome-based contracting has existed for decades but appears to be gaining ground in the COVID-19 era. That contracting shift could affect service provider business models.

Forty-seven percent of the 200 senior executives polled by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) expect increased use of outcome-based contracts. The management consulting firm's study, "Postpandemic Outsourcing Trends for CEOs," noted that companies "have to change the nature of contracts so that they share more risks and rewards with service providers."

'Skin in the game'

If partners have yet to encounter outcome-based approaches, they may soon. The BCG report found that 62% of respondents are likely to renegotiate their service provider contracts in 2021.

Business continuity and resiliency are among the outcomes companies look for as they respond to COVID-19 and prepare for future disruptions with adaptive strategies.

"There is a lot more emphasis on how the vendor and service provider can put skin in the game in terms of keeping the lights on," said Hrishi Hrishikesh, partner and director of digital transformation at BCG and one of the report's authors. "That is more important with COVID."

Customers are structuring contracts in a couple of ways to share risk and reward with service providers, Hrishikesh noted. One method puts fees at risk. That is, a portion of the service provider's fees may not be paid if the provider fails to meet or deliver the contract's specified outcomes. The other approach is gain sharing, in which a customer agrees to share a portion of the upside if the provider exceeds the agreed upon outcomes. The gain sharing fee is over and above the provider's fee for satisfying the contract's basic requirements.

In both contract structures, outcomes could be outputs such as the number of user stories delivered per agile sprint or business outcomes such as quicker processing times, Hrishikesh said. Customers often measure outcomes using specific metrics, with targets and thresholds explicitly written into contracts, he added.

At IOpex Technologies, an IT services firm based in San Jose, Calif., the pandemic has led customers to ask for help with improving systems or processes. A call center automation project, in which digital workers are deployed to collaborate with the human workforce, can result in a leaner operation and significant cost savings, IOpex chief digital officer Nagarajan Chakravarthy said.

"Such projects naturally lend themselves to an outcome-based engagement model in which the customer lets IOpex take a share of the cost savings through risk/reward-based contracts," Chakravarthy said.

This approach has emerged in digital transformation engagements, especially as the pandemic accelerated automation- and cloud-based projects, he added.

Due to the push around automation-led transformation, the company launched its OpexWise toolkit. The offering brings together automation, operational platforms and cloud adoption to facilitate digital transformation, according to the company.

IOpex sees many initiatives that involve robotic process automation, chatbots, application modernization and cloud adoption to drive digital transformation, Chakravarthy noted.

Outcomes as a service

Paul Wilkinson, executive vice president at 1901 Group, a Reston, Va., MSP and wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, equated outcome-based contracting with as-a-service purchasing among public sector customers. Agencies are turning to enterprise IT as a service, divesting themselves of capital expenditures for items such as network infrastructure, endpoint hardware and software, and end-user support, he said.

In this context, public sector customers are buying "outcomes" -- managed desktops, managed storage, managed compute, managed enterprise networks, and managed voice and unified communications, to name several, Wilkinson said.

The public sector as-a-service trend has taken off over the last three years, but COVID-19 fueled its growth. "The pandemic has certainly increased demand for [cloud services providers], with new resources being acquired for data analytics, VPN, collaboration solutions ... and remote support," he noted.

While the as-a-service model is the general direction, buying patterns can vary. For example, agencies may want to use fixed-unit-rate or firm-fixed price contracting, according to Wilkinson. A fixed-unit rate provides elasticity, because the price per unit can increase or decrease based on consumption. A firm-fixed price, meanwhile, generally lacks elasticity. This approach may be used to deliver a defined type and quantity of service where the price doesn't change -- a reserved instance of a cloud service, for example.

"We see a variety of [as-a-service contracting], and it is on the rise," Wilkinson added.