Please Stop Calling It Microlearning If It’s Just a Short Video
At some point in the past decade, “microlearning” went from being a useful idea to a marketing label you can stick on just about anything under ten minutes.
Short video? Microlearning.
Bullet-pointed slide deck? Microlearning.
PowerPoint exported as a PDF with a quiz bolted on the end? You guessed it, microlearning.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped talking about what microlearning is supposed to achieve and started using the word to make content sound smarter than it is. So, let’s do something radical. Let’s bring a little precision back.
What microlearning actually is
At its best, microlearning is a design strategy, not a content format. It’s an approach that breaks complex outcomes into small, standalone, purpose-built resources that support recall, application, or reinforcement.
In other words: it’s not just short.
It’s short and smart. Designed to do one thing well, at the right time, in the right context.
Hug (2005) describes microlearning as “nuggets of learning that are intentionally narrow in focus, delivered in brief bursts, and integrated into a larger learning ecosystem.” It’s the system part that most people miss.
Why this matters
When we call everything microlearning, we dilute the value of the concept. Worse, we confuse stakeholders who hear the term and reasonably expect it to mean something consistent and useful.
It becomes harder to have meaningful conversations about learning strategy when every five-minute video is treated as interchangeable with a spaced practice intervention or a performance support checklist.
You wouldn’t call every puddle a pond.
Let’s not call every short file a microlearning asset.
What to look for instead
If you want to check whether something is truly microlearning, ask:
Was it designed with a clear performance goal in mind?
Can it stand alone and still be useful?
Is it embedded in a larger strategy for support or reinforcement?
Will it work in the moment it’s needed, not just during training?
If the answer is no to most of those, it’s probably just… a short thing. And that’s fine. Not everything needs to be micro. It just needs to be effective.
Microlearning isn’t dead. But it is misunderstood.
If we want to use it well, we need to respect its purpose, not just its size. Because when everything is microlearning, nothing is.