Not possible you say? Why not?

I did NOT say 6 seconds of TRAINING content. It’s 6 seconds of LEARNING content. And yes, there is a very important difference.

If you haven’t read it in my posts, or heard me say it, I’ll repeat it here: Training is an Event. Learning is a Process, eLearning Supports Them Both, and Performance is the Goal. Or if you prefer, Learning is something you do to yourself. Training is something done to you. That one always makes me laugh.

So, we know training and learning are different.  And now that we are clear on that, do you still think it’s not possible to create 6 seconds of content that can be learned, applied, and be relevant and useful? If you think it’s still not possible then you are still thinking about training, and not learning. Perhaps this will help.

That’s the YouTube version of the 6-second Oreo recipe for a frozen treat. If you’re wondering why the video is only 6 seconds, then you’re on your way to discovering extreme micro videos. The constraints provided by micro video sharing apps that have become so popular. Vine purposefully limits video uploads to 6 secs.  Let’s call it working within creative constraints.

What do you think? Did you learn something? Would you call this eLearning? Performance support?

Are you thinking, “will it work in my learning management system?” Well, the answer is yes. But does it really need to?

What you need to know about micro eLearning is that the tools are already here. This is not just me pontificating about how nice it would be if had an authoring tool that forced us to create 6 second eLearning. That would be insane, right? Absolutely. This is simply another example of an innovative technology becoming popular. And if the audience you are trying to educate/teach/train happens to be active in it, then you might want to consider putting some learning content there.

Here is a quick outline of how I see this video trend sorting itself out.

• Long form Video – 60+ minutes
• Short form video – under 15 mins
• Microvideo – 60-90 seconds
• Extreme microvideo – under 15 secs (RIP vine, instagram)

If you have thoughts to share please send me a tweet @bschlenker.  If you have a question use the hashtag #askBrent.