Microlearning delivers training content to employees in bite-sized chunks, usually lasting three to five minutes – the attention span of YouTube viewers.
Compliance training often involves large amounts of complex information, from legal requirements to organisational policies. Microlearning offers a powerful solution by delivering small, focused content that makes it more accessible and engaging.
This guide explores the benefits of microlearning, practical implementation strategies, and tips for overcoming common challenges.
Microlearning involves delivering small, targeted lessons focused on specific skills or knowledge areas. These can take the form of videos, infographics, quizzes, or short articles, typically lasting five to 10 minutes.
In compliance training, microlearning allows organisations to present essential information in digestible formats, making it easier for employees to retain and apply their knowledge.
Short, focused lessons help learners concentrate on one topic at a time, improving understanding and long-term retention.
Interactive and visual content, such as videos or gamified quizzes, captures attention and keeps learners motivated.
Microlearning fits into busy schedules, allowing employees to complete training at their convenience, whether on the job or during breaks.
Compliance requirements change frequently. Microlearning modules are easy to update, ensuring your training remains current.
What is intelligent learning?Intelligent learning is an advanced, data-driven form of microlearning. It delivers short, targeted content by assessing what a learner knows using a pre-course assessment, evaluating confidence levels, and skipping what they’ve already mastered. Based on that, content can be personalised and adapted. You can also collate analytics, showing employees a detailed breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses while enabling you to identify knowledge gaps, spot red flags and feed into future training initiatives. |
The “forgetting curve” is a concept coined by Herman Ebbinghaus that describes the rate at which we forget things we’ve learnt. As time passes, we remember less. According to Ebbinghaus's theory, we forget more than 80 per cent of what we learnt 30 days ago.
He also argued that our ability to retain information decays very quickly at first, then more slowly as time passes. So after just one hour, most people forget about half. That’s a scary thought! And it’s why supplementing training with microlearning can be so powerful.
Start by identifying the key subjects your compliance training needs to cover. Divide them into smaller subtopics for individual microlearning modules.
Microlearning thrives on variety. Combine videos, quizzes, infographics, and interactive activities to keep learners engaged.
Microlearning is ideal for mobile platforms, enabling employees to complete training anywhere, anytime.
Gamification elements, such as leaderboards, badges, and points, motivate learners and make compliance training more enjoyable.
The compliance function has shifted from reactive to proactive, leading to a discussion about push versus pull learning.
The more traditional, structured approach, where the company/instructor (often supported by a learning management system – LMS) determines what the employee learns and when, including training content, schedule, objectives and activities.
Here, learners are ‘pushed’ information, often in mandatory training sessions or e-learning courses. This method is useful for delivering foundational knowledge and ensuring compliance.
On the other hand, pull learning is a more modern, learner-centred model where the employee determines what they want to learn and when. It’s useful for targeted, complex topics, because individuals can focus on areas most relevant to them, enabling deep, critical analysis.
The person is self-driven and flexible, accessing learning resources on demand, such as articles, online courses, videos, or a company's internal wiki for troubleshooting documentation. Moreover, pull learning allows you to voluntarily engage with others, including experts, for assistance and support.
Below is a table to help differentiate push and pull learning:
|
Feature |
Push learning |
Pull learning |
|
Who controls the learning? |
Organisation and instructor/trainer (often alongside an LMS) |
Learner |
|
When does learning take place? |
At predetermined times |
At the learner's convenience |
|
What is the learning format? |
E-courses, lectures, in-person workshops and direct communication (emails/notifications) |
Online courses, articles, videos, websites and podcasts |
|
How is learning assessed? |
Mandatory Grades, tests, quizzes and knowledge checks |
Self-assessment and by measuring engagement, competence and application |
Push learning is the route companies go down for numerous reasons:
Overall, pull learning facilitates a more concentrated learning experience. Three key benefits are:
Engagement and motivation: Allowing employees to choose what and when they learn creates a more appealing, personalised experience.
Flexibility: Employees learn at their own pace, and in their own time.
Additional advantages include higher knowledge retention, quickly gaining new skills or refreshing knowledge, and cost-effectiveness (removes the need for expensive, one-size-fits-all compliance training)
Microlearning works for both styles and can be easily incorporated into e-courses. Essentially, the best learning approach depends on the individual's needs and preferences. Indeed, sometimes a hybrid model is used.
Compliance Bites is a collection of concise, engaging videos that delve into various compliance topics. Our library covers a range of key topics, including bribery prevention, AML, risk, GDPR, and modern slavery.
Many engaging and compelling microlearning formats can supplement annual compliance training. Most suit all types of devices and can be made accessible to everyone. Here are some of the ways you could include microlearning in your compliance training.
Microlearning is just one of the six most well-established learning theories we've examined to help improve your outcomes. The others are:
Let’s dive into Storytelling in a bit more detail. Storytelling in L&D involves integrating narratives into compliance training programmes to engage staff and simplify complex ideas. A well-crafted story can capture attention, make lessons relatable, and leave a lasting impression.
This approach is particularly effective in workplace training because it mirrors real-world scenarios, allowing learners to visualise how to apply their knowledge.
Why is storytelling effective in L&D?
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To integrate storytelling into training programmes:
And to overcome challenges in storytelling for L&D:
Make stories inclusive
Balance storytelling with time constraints
Avoid overly complex plots:
For example, a compliance training story could follow an employee navigating ethical dilemmas and showcase the consequences of their decisions. For leadership development, use stories to illustrate key challenges, such as resolving team conflicts or driving change.
And for customer service training, craft narratives around difficult interactions to teach problem-solving and communication skills.
Click the links above for information about the other key workplace learning theories.
Yes. Microlearning can be effective for compliance training, particularly around reinforcing key policies, regulatory requirements and expected behaviours. Short, focused modules can make complex topics easier to understand, while regular refreshers help keep knowledge up-to-date.
Microlearning can complement, rather than replace, traditional compliance training. Some subjects will require longer courses, detailed guidance or instructor-led training. A blended model works well.
Yes, microlearning can be used effectively for mandatory compliance training.
If you’re looking for focused training, browse our courses – we offer a complete solution for your compliance programme. Our topics include:
Our e-learning courses are designed to engage employees, including our microlearning library, which supports knowledge retention.
Our Compliance Portal also features a range of tools to digitise and automate your compliance learning. These include our:
If you’d like to access leading insights and compliance tips, browse our free resources by topic to find guides, modules, compliance bites and more.