This is a guided template for the Microlearn LearnBrix template. It shows a potential flow and content blocks for a Microlearn, along with some worked examples to spark ideas.
Use this section to set the context for the Microlearn.
You may also want to include a video that sets the stage and grabs participant’s attention. Possibly you want to promote a learning mindset or to spark interest in the topic with a thought-provoking video. Alternatively, you may choose to include a welcome video from a member of the teaching staff that sets the stage for what’s to follow.
If you have a video you would like to use, simply change the link to the video source below.
Learning outcomes
Use this space to outline the learning or performance outcomes for the Microlearn.Sharing learning or performance outcomes at the start of a LearnBrix helps focus participant's attention and frame what's to come.
For example:
In this module you will learn how to use the LBS LearnBrix Builder to create a Microlearn LearnBrix.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Use the LearnBrix Microlearn template to create and share a digital, asynchronous, multimedia Microlearning.
2. Understand a design workflow that can be used to create high quality LBS LearnBrix Microlearns.
3. Use the LearnBrix template content blocks to present different types of content and organise them into a suitable flow.
4. Edit content blocks to tailor them to your specific programme needs.
You can add additional introductory text here if needed.
What is an LBS LearnBrix Microlearn?
It’s a short, asynchronous digital learning experience based around a specific learning or performance outcome, that participants complete on their own.
By combining your programme development skills with the convenience of curating high quality assets from the digital asset register, it’s easy to create a Microlearning LearnBrix to meet your project or programme needs.
A single LearnBrix Microlearning can:
In this guided template you’ll see several examples of how to combine different content blocks to create a teaching sequence.
Our aim is to spark your thinking…. but like all building bricks, they can be reconstructed in as many ways as your imagination allows, based on the programme and project needs.
Let’s start with a couple of simple models that could be used to create a simple but effective LearnBrix learning sequence.
A simple LearnBrix Microlearn model:
In the next few sections, you'll see examples of how you can use the LearnBrix Builder content blocks to design each of these types of content.
In this example, we’ve used a sequence of content blocks to present new information on the 4th industrial revolution and an introduction to Growth Mindset.
4th industrial revolution -The content blocks used are:
Growth Mindset - The content blocks used are:
Tip: Notice the use of graphics to explain the concepts, rather than just as ‘eye candy’.
Edit the text, images, and multimedia sources in the sections below to match your presentation content flow. You can also add and remove content blocks as required.
Technological innovation is occurring with a speed and on a scale that is historically unprecedented. We are facing just the beginning of what Klaus Schwab, founder, and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has called ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (World Economic Forum, 2015).
The increasing use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to perform easily automated tasks is not only replacing the need for human workers, but fundamentally altering the nature of work as we know it.
For people in the workplace to keep up with the rate of change today, harnessing the power of curiosity, experimentation and learning has never been more crucial.
According to the WEF’s 2018 Future of Jobs Report, the top ten skills required in organisations of the near future will include the following:
To harness the power of learning, we need to become curious about what we don’t know. It is only in the confrontation with the unknown that we open ourselves up to the possibility of change.
In her 2006 book, Mindset: The new psychology of success, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck compares the difference between ‘growth’ and ‘fixed’ mindsets.
Simply put, a growth mindset is the belief that we can develop and change our level of skill, ability, or intelligence with effort over time, while a fixed mindset believes that, to a large extent, these capacities are predetermined – more a result of genetics or “deep-seated traits”, than hard work (Dweck, 2006).
In her decades-spanning research on the topic, Dweck found that this difference in mindset led to radically different behaviours. As you can see in the image above, belief in the fixed mindset inspires ‘safe’ behaviour and stifles the desire to learn, while belief in the growth mindset inspires curiosity, allowing individuals to take more risks and so leads to “ever-higher levels of achievement”.
Herminia Ibarra, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS, has used the concept of a growth mindset in her research on career transitions, where she has challenged more conventional theories about the way we learn. As opposed to learning theories that privilege thinking and introspection, she argues for a more experiential model of learning, where we act our ways into new ways of thinking.
Watch the following video to learn more.
In the previous sequence you saw some ways to present participants with new concepts and information. It’s time to use activities that encourage participants to actively engage with the content and begin the process of sense making.
There are many ways you can achieve this, depending on the learning outcomes for the module. You might include activities that:
In asynchronous, individual learning, it’s important to think about how you will offer formative feedback on activities.
Model answers are one easy way to do this. Another option is video feedback. Once you have designed the activity, film an expert explaining how they would have approached this task. This is a great opportunity for experts to share insights into their decision-making process and helps participants extend their mental model.
Reinventing yourself as a leader
Here we're using an activity block to create a simple active retrieval exercise that helps participants remember the information from the video. The last question asks them to apply this thinking to their own situation.
[Example] As you will have seen in the video, Ibarra notes that as a leader you will probably be required to reinvent yourselves a few times in your career. She highlights three levers or tools that you can use to take a growth mindset approach and evolve your professional identity.
In the boxes below, identify the 3 levers and reflect on how you could apply them to your current situation.
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What is the importance of mindsets in the workplace?
Now that we have examined the potential of an individual growth mindset, let’s take a look at a practical example of how it was harnessed on an organisational level.
What is the importance of mindsets in the workplace? In the following video, Aneeta Rattan, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS, talks about why mindsets matter at work.
Watch the following video to learn more.
As Rattan mentions, “to be more creative, more agile and more able to address the fast-paced, challenging world that we live in now”, organisations cannot afford to operate with the fixed mindset.
“Back in February 2014, [Microsoft] was in danger of becoming irrelevant. The tech world had shifted from desktops to smartphones and the cloud. And while Apple and Google were reporting record market valuations, Microsoft’s stock price had flatlined”.
“In less than five years as CEO, Satya Nadella [took] Microsoft from a company perceived as a Windows-centric lumbering giant to a $700 billion (£540 billion) tech player” (Ibarra and Rattan, 2019).
Satya Nadella at Microsoft: Instilling a Growth Mindset
How did Nadella shift Microsoft’s mindset?
Having introduced the case study, use an activity section like this, to set some focus questions. This encourages participants to actively engage with the text and explore their ideas and understanding.
[Example] Having read the case study on the mindset shift at Microsoft, think about the following questions and capture your thoughts in the spaces below.
Think about how the mindset at Microsoft impacted the organisation in three different areas?
How did his life experience influence how he chose to lead the organisation?
As you consider this question think about how this was manifested at different levels of the organisation.
What can you learn from Nadella about instilling a learning culture?
You may want to offer a brief closing statement here.
Edit this section to summarise the key learning points covered in the LearnBrix. These should link back to the learning outcomes you shared at the start of the Microlearning.
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The last stage in our LearnBrix model is transfer. This is where you design activities to help participants take what they have learnt in the module and begin to experiment with it in their work and lives.
Arguably this is the most crucial part of the experience and where the real learning happens, as participants begin to try out new skills or models of behaviour in the real world.
You can support this process by designing activities that guide participants through a process to:
In this example we use a video to introduce the transfer activity, followed by a challenge section that asks participants to carry out the steps outlined in the video. We wrap up with another activity section that invites the participants to reflect on their experience and plan their next steps.
[Example} According to Dan Cable as we move into the 4th industrial revolution, organisations are looking for more creativity, engagement, and innovation. The idea of a job being highly defined and controlled by management is opening up to a more fluid state where individuals can influence and craft their own role.
Watch this video where Dan explores this idea further, and then complete the following activity to experiment with job crafting your own role.
Job crafting experiment
Edit this section to set a challenge for the participants to experiment with in their own lives.
[Example] In the video, Dan talks about two areas to focus on to help craft your job: activities and purpose. Work through the exercise below to identify one area where you will experiment in crafting your job.
What are the main activities that make up your job? What percentage of your time do you spend on each area during an average week?
List the 5 main activities in the box below.
Look through your list of activities. Which one's light you up and energise you? When do you feel you are working at your best?
List them in the box below.
How could you build in more of the activities that light you up into your weekly schedule? How might this benefit your role?
For each of the activities, think about why you do it. Repeat this question four times for each activity, or until you reach a natural conclusion.
Capture your final answers in the boxes below.
Look through the purpose behind each of the activities you spend your time on. How does this make you feel? Does it resonate and align with your values? Is there anything you’d like to craft into something that aligns more closely with your values?
You can make some notes in the box below.
Now it’s time to put your thinking into action. What’s one way you could increase the time you spend on activities that give you energy and have purpose to you?
Start your sentence with: ‘I commit to / I will / I intend to…’
You can add extra information here.
You might want to include a downloadable template that participants can use to aid transfer to the workplace or to track their progress. For example, this might be an action planner, reflective journal, or specific job aid. Add an explanation of the file here and then add a download link in the button below.
Reflect on your experience
As participants begin to apply new ideas and experiment with new behaviours in the workplace, you can deepen their learning experience by designing activities that encourage them to reflect on, and adapt their practice.
[Example] Over the last month you have experimented with spending more time on the activities that energise you and give you purpose. But job crafting isn't a one-time deal, it's something you can iterate and adapt as you discover more about what works for you.
Take some time to reflect on your recent experiment and plan your next steps.
Over the last month you have experimented with spending more time on the activities that light you up and that have purpose.
What are the top 5 activities you have spent your time on over the last month?
Take a few minutes to reflect on how far you have been able to change where you spend your time and energy and the effect this had on you.
Job crafting isn't a one-time deal, it's a process that you can continue to tweak help you find meaning and purpose in your role. Take some time to reflect on what you will do next.
Now you've given some thought to what you want to do more and less of, turn this into a clear commitment to action.
Write your commitment in the box below. Start your sentence with: ‘I commit to / I will / I intend to…’
You may want to use this space to offer further hints and tips.
In this template you have seen a number of different ways that you can use the LearnBrix Builder to create pieces of microlearning.
It's worth remembering that although LearnBrix may be a new tool to you, many of the design processes and skills are the same as those you use when designing existing learning experiences.
Let's take a look at an overview of the process for designing a LBS LearnBrix Microlearn.
Design a LearnBrix Microlearn
Now you've seen an overview of the process, it's over to you to start designing a LearnBrix Microlearn.
Here's a checklist to help you on your way.
When you first ask the question ‘Who’s the target audience?’, the initial answer is often ‘everyone’, but a design that tries to be all things to all people rarely hits its mark.
Drilling down into the Who and Why allows you to draw up a learner persona for the project, this helps target the focus the design decisions that follow.
Here are some sample questions to think about:
What's the goal of the microlearning?
Thinking specifically about your target audience, what do they need to be able to do as a result of the microlearning?
What would you be able to see them do differently if they successfully transferred the learning to the workplace?
What actions could participants take that would help them develop the desired skills and behaviours?
Think real world, multi-disciplinary challenges. What knowledge underpins this? How could they practice these skills or applying the knowledge?
Some example individual, asynchronous activities include:
Once you know what the activities are, the next step is to gather all the assets and content you need. The first place to look is in the Digital Asset Register (DAR) where you’ll find a library of existing LBS content that, with the appropriate licences and permissions, can be repurposed for new programmes.
Once you know what you need to include, the next step is to think about how you will present this in LearnBrix.
Next you are ready to start building your LearnBrix Microlearn!
It’s important to carefully check your Microlearn in the LearnBrix builder before exporting it.
Once you've finalised your content, the next step is to export it.
The SCORM file is now ready to publish.
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This section has given you an outline of the process of creating a new LearnBrix Microlearn, but if you are new to LearnBrix Builder you might want some more detailed instructions and guidance. Download the file below for a step-by-step guide.
In this LBS LearnBrix Microlearn guided template you have seen
a worked example of how to use the LearnBrix builder to:
You also saw a workflow that can be used to design and create effective pieces of microlearning. The guiding principles for this are:
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like.People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is.It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs.
You can find some checklists and templates to help you start with the end in mind in the Additional Resources section.
It's recommended that you complete these tasks offline before starting to build your Microlearn in the LearnBrix builder.
Audience needs analysis
LBS LearnBrix Microlearn one-pager
LBS LearnBrix content outline
LBS LearnBrix storyboard
Course outline
If this Microlearn is part of a larger programme you can link to the course outline here. Programmes should have a course outline providing session outlines, bios and Zoom links for all live learning.
Pre-work
If the programme has a Pre-work component you can link to it here. Pre-work LearnBrix allow you to share pre-reading and set activities ahead of live teaching sessions.
Deep dive
Perhaps you are linking a number of leadership challenges together from the LBS catalogue as part of the online learning experience. Add a signpost here.
