Your Chief Virtual Learning Architect

Learning to Performance

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Custom Design & Delivery

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Predictive Evaluation

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Enterprise Learning Strategy

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Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

Predictive Evaluation

The Dos and Don’ts of Creating Microlearning Content

Microlearning has become a practical way to support busy employees, reinforce key skills, and extend learning beyond a formal course. A short lesson can fit between meetings, inside a workflow, or alongside a larger development program. Its value, however, depends on thoughtful design rather than brevity alone.

Effective microlearning content gives people one clear opportunity to learn, practice, or apply something useful. It should connect to a business need, respect the learner’s time, and make the next action obvious. When short training becomes a collection of disconnected tips, it quickly loses relevance.

The strongest approach treats learning bursts as part of an enterprise learning strategy. Each asset should have a defined audience, purpose, measure of success, and relationship to broader capability development.

Start With A Specific Performance Need

Do begin with the behavior employees must demonstrate. “Improve communication” is too broad for a five-minute lesson, while “use a three-step structure to give a project update” gives the designer a practical target. A precise objective keeps the content focused and makes evaluation easier.

Do connect the objective to a real business outcome. Microlearning may support safer decisions, faster software adoption, better customer conversations, or stronger manager performance. Defining that connection helps learning teams prioritize topics that matter instead of producing content simply because short videos are easy to create.

Do not treat microlearning as a smaller version of a full workshop. A long presentation compressed into several short segments usually feels rushed and cognitively dense. Break a broader capability into meaningful moments, each with its own purpose and application.

Keep The Experience Focused And Actionable

A strong learning burst usually addresses one decision, behavior, process, or concept. Use plain language, short examples, and visual emphasis to help learners identify what matters. If the content includes a model, show how it works in a realistic situation rather than presenting it as a list of abstract principles.

Do include an opportunity to retrieve or apply the information. A scenario, brief reflection, drag-and-drop activity, or decision question can turn passive viewing into active learning. For complex skills, realistic practice is especially important; workplace simulation design can help instructional designers mirror the judgments employees make on the job.

Do not fill every second with narration, animation, or text. Decorative movement can compete with the message, while excessive on-screen copy encourages learners to skim. Every element should clarify the decision or behavior the learner is expected to remember.

Design For Access And Retention

Microlearning should work across the devices and environments employees actually use. Responsive layouts, readable typography, captions, transcripts, keyboard access, and clear audio controls support different needs and usage conditions. A short asset is still ineffective if people cannot access it comfortably.

Spacing and reinforcement are equally important. A single exposure rarely creates durable capability, so use follow-up prompts, recurring practice, job aids, or manager conversations. For leadership topics, short lessons can complement virtual leadership development by giving participants a focused concept to apply between live sessions.

Do not assume that shorter means easier to understand. Learners may need context, an example, feedback, or a link to a deeper resource. Keep the primary experience concise, but provide optional depth for people who need additional explanation.

Match The Format To The Learning Goal

Different formats support different outcomes. A short video can demonstrate tone or procedure, an interactive scenario can test judgment, a checklist can guide performance, and a spaced quiz can strengthen recall. Select the format based on the behavior and context, not on production trends.

Learning goal	Useful format	Design priority	Common mistake
Recall a policy or term	Brief explainer and quiz	Clear distinctions	Presenting too many details
Follow a process	Screen demonstration or checklist	Accurate sequence	Omitting exceptions
Make a judgment	Scenario with feedback	Realistic consequences	Giving obviously correct answers
Practice communication	Branching dialogue or reflection	Tone and response choices	Treating interpersonal skills as scripts
Reinforce a skill	Spaced prompts and retrieval questions	Timing and repetition	Sending reminders without application

Do not force every subject into a video. Audio, text, graphics, and interactive exercises may be faster to produce and more effective for the task. A well-designed content ecosystem often combines several formats rather than relying on one delivery channel.

Measure Adoption And Business Impact

Microlearning analytics should go beyond completion rates. Track whether employees open the content, finish it, answer practice questions correctly, return to it, and apply the target behavior. Participation data can show reach, but it cannot by itself demonstrate capability or business value.

Define evaluation measures before launch. Depending on the program, useful indicators may include system usage, quality scores, manager observations, cycle time, customer outcomes, or error reduction. Predictive Evaluation can help learning teams forecast adoption and connect training evidence with organizational results rather than waiting until the end of a rollout.

Do pilot the content with a representative group before releasing it broadly. A pilot a training program process can reveal unclear instructions, technical barriers, weak scenarios, and gaps between intended and actual use. Early feedback is usually less expensive to act on than post-launch criticism.

Avoid Common Microlearning Traps

The most frequent problem is content fragmentation. When a curriculum is divided into many tiny pieces without a coherent path, learners may remember isolated facts but fail to build a usable skill. Organize related assets into a sequence, performance pathway, or searchable resource collection.

Another risk is overproduction. High-end visuals cannot compensate for a vague objective or unrealistic example. Prioritize instructional quality, relevance, and ease of use before investing in elaborate animation or custom effects.

Practical Design Recommendations

Define one observable outcome for every learning burst.
Use workplace examples that reflect real decisions, constraints, and consequences.
Include retrieval, practice, or feedback instead of relying on passive viewing.
Build accessibility features into the first design, not as a final revision.
Select adoption and business measures before publishing the content.

Review each asset periodically as processes, systems, regulations, and employee needs change. A short lesson that becomes outdated can create confusion faster than a longer course because learners often treat concise guidance as authoritative.

Microlearning works best when it is purposeful, applied, and connected to a broader learning strategy. Organizations can strengthen the return on every learning burst by pairing sound instructional design with pilot testing, accessible delivery, and evidence-based evaluation. Explore how a focused microlearning initiative can support measurable capability and business results through Dave Basarab Consulting’s learning consultancy services.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.