Standard interactive online courses can be geared to develop skills and help thousands of professionals adapt to health crises. However, this approach overlooks the fact that, in today's information-saturated world, public health professionals everywhere are having to absorb new knowledge and acquire new skills in various areas of expertise at an alarming rate. This is where microlearning mobile application comes in. Microlearning is a type of training that uses modules lasting between two and 10 minutes to enable learners to assimilate essential knowledge on specific subjects quickly, anywhere, and often in a playful way.
To verify the relevance of integrating microlearning activities into our training ecosystem, the LST unit launched a 4-month pilot test with 50 users from 20 countries in 2023. To conduct this evaluation under unbiased conditions, we established a protocol with a dozen indicators. The learning content focused on deciding whether to notify a public health event to the World Health Organization under Annex 2 of the International Health Regulations.
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| Screen captures of a microlearning course on a mobile phone |
The result of this experiment turned out to be a success. Indeed, the indicators related to the intake of microlearning “capsules” and other aspects. Comments on the application’s discussion forum showed that the technical content available on smartphone and computer the learning model were appreciated by participants. One participant remarked that they found the interface easy to navigate and use. Another participant said that they appreciated the diversity of events in the examples. Several others praised the scenarios used saying that they were insightful and clear.