Qstream
How Microlearning Boosts Engagement, Knowledge, and Performance

The problem in our digital age isn’t the need for more content, it’s engagement, getting learners to pay attention and remember new information. When done right, it will make the learning experience more enjoyable. And once people are engaged in learning, it gets them to learn, retain information and then apply those concepts. The solution to the engagement problem is to incorporate gamification into learning programs. It makes people want to engage with content and gets them to return for more learning, which results in that knowledge to stick. But this isn’t the way learning is being done today. Unfortunately, traditional training methods that companies rely on to hone knowledge and skills are too often considered confusing administrative burdens that are therefore ineffective.

For better learning outcomes, organizations must transform their strategy into continuous learning programs. This is where Qstream comes into play with its robust mobile microlearning application. Qstream leverages the power of gamification to engage employees for job-critical training and improve work performance through long-term knowledge retention.

Spaced education pioneer and Qstream co-founder, Dr. B. Price Kerfoot invested millions of dollars toward Qstream’s microlearning solution to assess the efficacy of online educational methods in 22 randomized, peer-reviewed clinical trials at Harvard University. He proved that the spaced education methodology combined with game mechanics is an effective and well-accepted means of educating important information and is a reliable and valid method to assess knowledge. The same trials also demonstrated that spaced education methodology coupled with adaptive game mechanics increases learning efficiency by over 35 percent. These results have transcended into a winning formula for Qstream as it strives to boost workplace performance through engagement, knowledge reinforcement, and analytics.

Qstream’s mobile microlearning application is built on this science of spaced education, which presents employees with small units of information—specific to their respective jobs—and reinforces the concepts in questions over defined time intervals. Content is delivered through a mobile device as scenario-based Q&A challenges which are designed to be appropriately challenging for the learner to help with decision-making and critical thinking skills. At the core of Qstream’s approach to game mechanics and gamification is an effort to energize the learning programs with functionality that encourages people to compete, activate their brains, retain information over time to get better learning outcomes that will have an effect on an employee’s performance.

“Instead of feeding too much content at once, our aim is to keep employees engaged with the right proportion of information for longer knowledge retention while creating a deeper impact,” says Rich Lanchantin, CEO of Qstream.

Qstream’s microlearning application uses scenario-based Q&A challenges to assess learners' proficiency levels and help them improve it over time by providing real-time explanations and feedback on their responses.

Our aim is to keep employees engaged with the right proportion of information for longer knowledge retention while creating a deeper impact

Deploying learning programs as a competition using gaming components like leaderboards makes people return for more learning and it allows managers to continue to have visibility into employees’ job-centric knowledge. Microlearning is a shorter and more streamlined approach as opposed to long-established training methods. “The traditional model of learning is all about throwing more content at people. This causes people to disengage and forget the necessary knowledge they need to do their jobs well,” adds Lanchantin.
Qstream engages the user by posing challenging questions, in a way that is quick for people to interact with and respond and by using this time-economical approach doesn’t affect productivity. Using microlearning combined with gamification makes learning and training relevant to their role, makes it engaging and is proven to hold the learners’ attention. If you change people’s mindset with training and make them “want to” do training as opposed to “have to” then it makes it a continuous and effective program.

The uniqueness of Qstream’s microlearning solution has led to many large enterprises across a variety of industries like pharmaceutical, medical device, healthcare, financial services, and technology companies to adopt this type of learning technology to achieve higher engagement, knowledge retention, and performance from their learning programs. Qstream supports the learning programs of over 600 customers and partners to improve employee performance and help achieve business goals. Being in a rapidly growing market and company, Qstream is honored to be part of changing the learning ecosystem and solving obstacles that corporate learning teams face.