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Larry Mutenda | What are good examples of microlearning videos? Microlearning videos are short training or learning videos that teach one skill or idea, usually in under five minutes. Good examples include WorkSafeBC’s 28-second ladder safety short, the World Health Organization’s handwashing video and short animated lessons for trade instructors. Each one teaches a single thing the viewer can use right away. |
A microlearning video teaches one skill, rule or idea in a few minutes or less. Staff and learners watch it when they need it, often on a phone, and then get back to work.
This list covers 13 microlearning videos, from a 16-second lesson for trade instructors to a five-minute TED-Ed lesson. It moves between our own animated training videos and short lessons from health and safety organizations. Each entry gives the maker, the runtime and what the video teaches.
Every video on this list runs under five minutes. Most are complete lessons. A few are teasers or openers for a longer lesson. Third-party videos had to be official uploads from the organization that made them. Where a maker has published a result, we include it. Where no result exists, we say so.
Six of the videos are ones we produced. For those, we describe the communication challenge and the creative approach behind the script. If you want longer lessons for schools and universities, see our educational video examples.
| # | Video | Made by | Topic | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UDL for Trainers | UBC Canada District | Teaching methods | 0:30 |
| 2 | Stepladder Safety in Three Steps | WorkSafeBC | Ladder safety | 0:28 |
| 3 | What Safety First Means | New Gold | Safety culture | 1:03 |
| 4 | How to Handwash | World Health Organization | Hand hygiene | 1:26 |
| 5 | How to Practice Effectively | TED-Ed | Learning and practice | 4:49 |
| 6 | How to Stop the Bleed | American College of Surgeons | Bleeding control | 2:04 |
| 7 | Giving Feedback | UBC Canada District | Mentoring | 0:16 |
| 8 | Prescription for Exercise | Mayo Clinic | Exercise and health | 0:58 |
| 9 | The DMAIC Method | Lean BC | Process improvement | 1:29 |
| 10 | How to Use an AED | American Red Cross | First aid | 2:59 |
| 11 | MMR Vaccine | HSC Public Health Agency | Vaccination | 1:44 |
| 12 | Hands-Only CPR Course | American Heart Association | CPR | 1:33 |
| 13 | The Learning Styles Myth | UBC Canada District | Training myths | 0:16 |
Client: UBC Canada District.
Project type: 2D scenario-based animation, 0:30.
Communication challenge: Introduce Universal Design for Learning to trade instructors who have run the same session many times.
Creative approach: The script puts the viewer in the trainer’s shoes. The safety session is ready. The slides are ready. Then you look around the room.
One apprentice is focused on the task. Another is zoning out. Someone mutters that he never gets this stuff until he sees it on site. The line “Same training, different results” sets up the idea in under 30 seconds. It is not always what we teach. Sometimes it is how we teach it.
This is one of six short microlearning videos we made for UBC Canada District’s instructor development program. Each one covers a single concept. The UBC case study shows how the series was scripted, storyboarded and animated with one cast of characters.
Stepladder Safety in Three Steps is a 28-second short from WorkSafeBC, the workers’ compensation board in British Columbia. It gives three rules. Clear the area of clutter and distractions. Make sure the ladder is fully opened and locked on a firm, level surface. Keep three-point contact.
WorkSafeBC posts it as a companion to its full ladder video, which runs 2:45 and covers choosing, inspecting and securing stepladders and extension ladders. The short gives the rule. The longer video gives the reasons. It is a useful model for cutting microlearning videos from a longer course.
By the numbers: WorkSafeBC reports that it accepted 876 time-loss claims for injuries from ladder falls in 2024. Of those, 309 were serious.
Client: New Gold, a gold mining company.
Project type: 2D animation, 1:03.
Communication challenge: Explain what “health and safety is our number one priority” means on the job, so the phrase is more than a slogan.
Creative approach: The script asks the question out loud. “But what exactly does that mean?” Then it answers with plain rules.
If a job can’t be done safely, it can’t be done. If one of us is unsafe, we are all unsafe. Stop work when it isn’t safe, and respect colleagues who raise a hazard. The close moves safety out of the checklist and the morning meeting. It asks every worker to lead by example and have the courage to care.
At about a minute, the video is short enough to play at the start of a shift. It carries one message and no procedure. That keeps it easy to repeat.
How to handwash? With soap and water is a 1:26 training video from the World Health Organization. It shows the steps of washing your hands, one after another, so the viewer can follow along.
The idea is simple. WHO calls hand hygiene an easy, inexpensive and effective way to stop the spread of germs. A procedure like this is hard to learn from text. Watching the hands move makes each step obvious. The video does one job and ends.
How to Practice Effectively… for Just About Anything is a TED-Ed lesson by educators Annie Bosler and Don Greene, animated by Martina Meštrović. It runs 4:49.
The lesson defines practice as “the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement.” Then it explains what practice does inside the brain. The animation turns an invisible process into something you can watch.
The video is only one part of the lesson. The TED-Ed lesson page adds five multiple-choice and three open-answer questions, further reading and a discussion. The short video carries the idea. The questions check it.
By the numbers: The TED-Ed lesson page shows more than 15 million views and more than 80,000 questions answered.
How To STOP THE BLEED is a 2:04 demonstration from the American College of Surgeons, led by Dr. Megan Quintana. It teaches three actions for a bleeding emergency: apply pressure, pack the wound and use a tourniquet.
The American College of Surgeons says a person with severe bleeding can die in about five minutes. Nobody will look up a manual in that time. So the lesson is cut down to three actions, and a surgeon shows each one on camera.
By the numbers: The American College of Surgeons reports that more than 5 million people have been trained through STOP THE BLEED.
Client: UBC Canada District.
Project type: 2D scenario-based animation, 0:16.
Communication challenge: Make giving feedback on the job feel less awkward for mentors in the trades.
Creative approach: Name the awkward part first. Then give a model with a clear name: SBI-I, for situation, behaviour, impact and intent.
This is the short version of the flagship episode in the series. In 16 seconds it makes one promise. Feedback can be clear, respectful and helpful when it follows the model.
It shows how short a microlearning video can be. A short version like this works as a hook in a learning portal, an email or a team huddle. That makes it a teaser, not a complete lesson. The full episode does the teaching.
Mayo Clinic Minute is a series of short health news videos from Mayo Clinic. In this 58-second episode, Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic nutrition expert, explains why many doctors now prescribe exercise. Vivien Williams reports.
The episode makes one claim. Exercise can be as important as most of the medicine you take. A named expert and a news format give the claim weight. The series name promises the length before the video starts.
Client: Lean BC.
Project type: 2D animation, 1:29.
Communication challenge: Explain the DMAIC problem-solving method to staff who have never used it.
Creative approach: Open with questions staff already ask. “Why isn’t there a better way to do this?” “Why does everything take so long?”
Then the script walks through the phases in order. Define the problem and who has the knowledge to fix it. Collect data from customers, employees and systems. Hold a Kaizen workshop to map every step and time it. Build a new process without the unneeded steps. Then track it with the plan, do, check, act cycle.
A method with five phases could fill a half-day workshop. Here it is an overview in 89 seconds. The video tells staff what to expect before they walk into the room.
How to Use an AED on an Adult is a 2:59 how-to video from the American Red Cross. It teaches the steps for using an automated external defibrillator.
The Red Cross steps are short. Turn the AED on and follow its voice prompts. Attach the pads. Make sure no one touches the person while the device checks the heart rhythm. Deliver a shock if the AED advises one. Then start CPR right away. The video’s real job is confidence. A viewer who has seen it once knows the device will guide them.
By the numbers: The Red Cross states that for every minute CPR and AED use is delayed, the person’s chance of survival drops by 10%.
Client: HSC Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland.
Project type: 2D animation, 1:44.
Communication challenge: Explain why two doses of the MMR vaccine matter while measles is spreading, without causing panic.
Creative approach: Open with the question parents are already asking. “Why is the MMR vaccine important for you and your family?”
The script then moves in a clear order. What measles does. Who is at greatest risk. When the vaccine was offered at the time: free at 12 months and again at three years and four months. It closes on safety. More than 500 million doses have been given over the last 40 years in over 100 countries.
Update: Northern Ireland changed its childhood schedule in January 2026. It now uses the MMRV vaccine and has added an 18-month appointment. The timing depends on the child’s date of birth. See the Public Health Agency’s schedule change notice.
It covers one topic and leads to one decision. That is the core of a microlearning video, whether the audience is staff or the public.
Welcome to the Hands-Only CPR course is the 1:33 opening video of the American Heart Association’s Hands-Only CPR course. It tells learners what they will cover: what Hands-Only CPR is, the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest, the signs of a heart attack and how to use an AED.
The course teaches two steps. Call 911. Push hard and fast. The Association also says plainly that the course is an awareness activity and not a certification. An opening video that sets expectations saves confusion later.
By the numbers: The American Heart Association reports that more than 350,000 people have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year. It says immediate CPR can double or triple their chance of survival.
Client: UBC Canada District.
Project type: 2D scenario-based animation, 0:16.
Communication challenge: Correct a belief that many trainers and apprentices hold, without talking down to them.
Creative approach: Start with lines everyone has heard. “I’m a hands-on learner.” “I’m more of a visual guy.”
Then comes the turn. This kind of thinking is common in training, but it comes from a myth: an old theory called learning styles. The 16-second version stops there. It creates a question the full episode answers.
Together with the feedback and UDL videos above, it shows how one series can cover six topics with one look. Trainers can use each video on its own or run the set as a course.
The microlearning videos above cover very different subjects. They share five habits that come from the script and the production plan, not from the topic.
Each video on this list has one job. Wash your hands. Use a stepladder safely. Give feedback with a model. When a script tries to cover two ideas, it usually needs two videos.
The UDL video opens in a safety session. The DMAIC video opens with “Why does everything take so long?” The New Gold video opens with a slogan workers have heard many times. The viewer recognizes the problem before the lesson starts.
Handwashing, bleeding control and AED use are physical skills. The videos from WHO, the American College of Surgeons and the Red Cross show the hands doing the work. For a procedure, showing beats explaining.
WorkSafeBC pairs a 28-second short with a 2:45 video. Our UBC series has a short version of each episode, 15 to 30 seconds long. TED-Ed wraps a five-minute video in questions and discussion. Plan the short cut and the full cut at the script stage, so each one is written for its length.
Six UBC videos, the Mayo Clinic Minute and the AHA course all work as sets. A series lets each video stay short, because the next topic has its own video. One visual style across the set also makes it feel like one program.
Microlearning videos are short videos that teach one skill, rule or idea. Most run from a few seconds to about five minutes. They are used for workplace training, onboarding, safety reminders and public education.
Long enough to teach one thing. The videos on this page run from 16 seconds to 4:49. A single rule, like a ladder check, fits in under 30 seconds. A method with several phases, like DMAIC, needs closer to 90 seconds.
Topics with one clear takeaway work best. Safety rules, first aid steps, a single soft skill like feedback and an overview of a process are all good fits. Broad subjects work better as a series of short videos than as one long one.
Live action suits physical skills that people need to copy, such as handwashing or using an AED. Animation suits ideas you can’t film, such as bias or how practice changes the brain. Our guide on how to make a training video covers the choice in more detail.
Yes. Split the course into single concepts, then script one short video for each. That is how we turned UBC Canada District’s instructor development program into six short animated videos, each on one topic.
The microlearning videos on this list come from trade training programs, a mining company, medical organizations and public health agencies. Most follow the same rule. One video covers one thing, and it starts where the viewer already is.
If you are planning microlearning videos, list the single ideas your learners need first. Then decide which ones need to be shown on camera and which ones need animation to explain.
Larry is the Founder and Producer at Mammothic Films, with more than 15 years of production experience. He leads a team that creates story-driven videos for businesses and brands. A marketer, designer, and animator, Larry has overseen the production of more than 1,500 videos for Fujitsu, Logitech, Warner Brothers, NFL, Blockdaemon, Astronomer, Canonical, and 370+ other companies in Canada, the United States, and around the world.
Larry is a devout Christian who believes in placing God first, and that everything else is a blessing that comes from serving Him. When he’s not working, he’s hanging out with his wife and three kids, playing the piano, or sightseeing.