A relatively new strategy for building skills, microlearning focuses content into highly digestible chunks so that they are more easily absorbed by learners, as well as easier for learners to build into their schedule and mix and match to fit their needs (Morrison, 2017 Oct 9). Instructional designers can spin up new content faster and get learners up to speed more quickly - and results show that learners absorb the microlearning content better than longer-format content (Morrison, 2017 Oct 22).
In creating the infographic for the Andragogy section of this website, I learned how to make infographics in Canva. I have used this tool before for other kinds of visuals (presentations, posters, charts, social media graphics, logos). Canva works with relative ease while still offering a wide range of applications and elements, even with only the free version.
I decided not to start with a template for my infographic, even though several templates were available. I found many of them distracting either in color palette or in layout/quantity of elements; other templates had a clean basic layout, but the effort to substitute graphics and text in felt burdensome. Building upon the experience I have of with infographics in general, and of using Canva for building visuals, I started from scratch but with my experience in mind to make up a clean, attractive layout. I used intuition based on analysis of infographics and Canva for other uses in order to guess where elements would be, how functions would work, and how to troubleshoot them, where my experience did not provide me the obvious answer.
As I created my infographic, I used the functions for inserting text, icons, and lines; for grouping elements; for choosing fonts and sizes; and for aligning elements. I not only used my prior experience with infographics and Canva, but also my prior experience with other tools that offer similar functionality for inserting, formatting, and arranging, such as most Microsoft Office products. Based on my experience with other tools, the quality of the functionality in Canva is high, both from the appearance of the end result and the ease of the overall workflow when using the tool.
Every time I build a new kind of visual in Canva, my skill with the tool increases, which means that I can continue to share and advise on the use of the tool with my network, increasing the quality and diversity of information I can provide them.
I like Canva because I can immediately reap the benefits of what I create, and the creation doesn't eat up a ton of my time or energy. I use the tool when it is relevant - when simplicity is key and the visual nature is a primary need. I still use Microsoft Word for long documents and Microsoft Excel for complex tables, because they are better suited to that purpose, based on my experience. Whenever I use the tool, I build better skill in it - solving the problem of producing visuals quickly and with high quality while also solving the problem that required a visual in the first place.
My motivation to use the tool comes from my understanding that great visuals help audiences internalize ideas better, and from a need to make good use of my time while producing a high quality outcome.
Morrison, S. (2017, October 9). Microlearning essentials: the what and why. Elearning Inside News. Retrieved from https://news.elearninginside.com/microlearning-essentials/
Morrison, S. (2017, October 22). Corporate microlearning examples: real-world case studies. Elearning Inside News. Retrieved from https://news.elearninginside.com/corporate-microlearning-examples/