As bite-sized learning rises in popularity is long-form L&D dead?

Would you want your heart surgeon to have learnt their craft off a YouTube tutorial or an app enabled bite-size learning session? Possibly not, but for many professionals, the joy of sitting on a bus while learning ‘something’ in the 15 minutes or less that’s available is a lot more appealing than committing to a classroom for a half or full day which probably isn’t either palatable, time or desire wise.

So, is long-form L&D dead?

My attention span is short, I don’t mind confessing to this. I work off two screens with multiple tabs open; I dip in and out of content and open my phone far too frequently for a further communication tipple or a doomscroll on social media. Why? Because I can and my mind needs a constant hit from different angles. I’m not quite sure, however, when my inability to focus on one thing went on the slide so badly but it has and I’ll admit it.

I used to be the child that devoured books under the duvet and while I imagined myself as part of Mary Norton’s Borrowers, living a life behind the skirting board or indeed under the floorboards (just me, hey?) I could focus on that and that solely. That was of course, before the phone became glued to my hand and I know I am not alone. There is no-way I could sit all day long in a training room, nor would I want to – my yo-yo mind just would not be able to manage or cope with that. So it was that when I threw my comments into a L&D firepit that I was hit unsurprisingly with some shall we say ‘mixed responses’ to my summation that long-form learning is dead. But first let’s start with those like me that are into snack-based learning.

‘Bring on the short, sharp bursts’

Naomi Grossman, Learning and Content Manager, VinciWorks says, “Who can argue with the virtues of bite-size learning in workplace L&D programmes?

With its micro sessions, focused content, on-demand access and interactive elements, this approach fits seamlessly into our fast-paced, smartphone-centred culture. It’s rapidly replacing the traditional long-form sessions that come laden with slide decks, handouts, and one-size-fits-all curricula.

“Will employees even sit through full-day workshops or multi-day seminars anymore? And even if they do, does anyone remember what they learned in those mammoth sessions?”