Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights
1.
2. Please download the Actionbound
app to participate in our short
digital activity.
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 2
@HelenDixon10
3. Making the most of microlearning:
Ideas and insights
Dr Helen Dixon, Northern Regional College
@HelenDixon10
4. Be sociable and share!
Contribute to the Padlet Join in theTwitter chat
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 4
https://padlet.com/hmgdixon/micro
@Jisc
@helendixon10
@NRCDLT
6. From resources to courses
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 6
Self-contained microcontent
and activities
Can be aggregated into
macrolearning
@HelenDixon10
7. Microlearning strategies
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 7
Self-directed
learning
Activity-based
learning
Problem-
based
learning
Social
learning
Scaffolding
Spaced
practice
Game-based
learning
Mobile
learning
Work-based
learning
@HelenDixon10
9. Benefits of microlearning
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 9
Learners
• On demand
learning
• Flexibility
• Control
• Accessibility
• Less time
consuming
Educators
• Rapid
development
• Shareable
• Platform
mobility
• Easy to
update @HelenDixon10
10. 1. Start with a goal
What do you want your learners to
be able to do?
@HelenDixon10
11. Start with a goal
Learn about Office
Mix
Create an interactive
presentation using
Office Mix
@HelenDixon10
12. 2. Supply the toolkit
What skills will learners need in
order to achieve the goal?
@HelenDixon10
13. Supply the toolkit
Design (or curate) a series
of microlearning objects
that will help learners
develop the skills needed
to achieve the goal
@HelenDixon10
15. 3. Make it personal
How will learners track their
progress?
@HelenDixon10
16. Track their progress
Suggest learning
pathways but give
learners ultimate control
Use progress bars or
checklists to keep track
of learning @HelenDixon10
17. Keep them motivated
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 17
https://www.checkli.com/checklists/
helendixon/microlearning-checklist
@HelenDixon10
18. 4. Keep them motivated
What incentives are there to keep
learners going? @HelenDixon10
19. Keep them motivated
Use incentives such as
levels or points to
encourage participation
Promote social
interaction
@HelenDixon10
20. Keep them motivated
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 20
https://quizlet.com/_3ixwja
Password: micro
@HelenDixon10
21. 15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 21
@HelenDixon10
Are you social media savvy?
https://quizlet.com/214151475/match
22. Keep them motivated
Social microlearning
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 22
Share images/videos and
messages
Create hashtags
Hold ‘Tweetchats’
Good for searching
Share images or
very short videos
Add annotations
or limited text
Create ‘stories’
Share images or
short videos
Add text
Create hashtags
24. Reward achievements
Issue badges or
certificates to
acknowledge success
Create a leaderboard
that reflects
engagement @HelenDixon10
25. Reward achievements
Create and issue your own digital badges! https://openbadges.org/
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 25
@HelenDixon10
26. Key features of microlearning
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 26
Short but self-
contained
activities
Accessible via
a permalink
Formatted for
mobile
learning
Suitable for
social sharing
Can be
aggregated or
repurposed
Supports
flexible
learning paths @HelenDixon10
27. Activity mapping
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 27
Learning
goal
Activity A
Tool?
Activity B
Tool?
Activity C
Tool?
How will you track progress?
How will you
acknowledge
achievement?
How will you
keep learners
motivated? @HelenDixon10
28. Please take part in our Actionbound
challenge by scanning the code.
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 28
29. Further reading
» Buchem, I. and Hamelmann, H. (2010) ‘Microlearning: a strategy
for ongoing professional development.’ eLearning Papers, No 21,
September 2010.
» Souza, M. and Amaral, S. (2014) Educational Microcontent for
Mobile LearningVirtual Environments. Creative Education, 5, 672-
681. doi: 10.4236/ce.2014.59079.
» Wasiuk, C., Soper, K., McAllister-Gibson,C. and Meadows,C.
(2017). ‘1minuteCPD’: Connecting digital presence and
professionalism through experiments in micro-learning. Spark:
UAL CreativeTeaching and LearningJournal, 2 (2).
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 29
30. jisc.ac.uk
Thank you for your participation!
Questions/comments?
Dr Helen Dixon
Northern Regional College
Helen.Dixon@nrc.ac.uk
@HelenDixon10
15/6/2017 Making the most of microlearning: Ideas and insights 30
Hinweis der Redaktion
Microlearning or microtraining is a way of delivering learning content in small bursts or chunks.
Rather than developing an entire course, the focus is on creating resources that can be loosely coupled or interconnected.
This is a great way for anyway who is new to online learning to get started as it doesn’t require a lot of commitment in terms of time or resources.
You can get started straight away by creating a single microlearning asset and sharing it with your colleagues.
Or, if you’re more confident at creating online content, you can play a series of microlearning assets to cover different aspects of a topic.
Learners can then pick and choose from the resources, as and when they need them, to take more control over their learning – in effect, it is ‘just-it-time’ learning.
The idea is to create self-contained microcontent or activities each of which will address a single learning outcome or objective.
This allows the learner to focus on a particular skill or piece of knowledge.
Video content is particularly conducive to this type of learning and tends to be popular with learners.
As you add more microlearning content, you can look at ways of aggregating it into macrolearning or short courses.
Microlearning is an extremely flexible way of transferring knowledge and can be incorporated into a variety of different learning strategies.
Content can easily be repurposed, so it can be used as part of a formal course, or for informal learning through social sharing.
The only limit is your imagination!
Some examples of microlearning that you may have come across include the 1 minuted CPD series which is an excellent resource covering a wide range of digital topics in short bursts.
The 10 Days of Twitter programme provided training in how to use Twitter for academics and the 12 apps of Christmas encouraged participants to try out different apps throughout December.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, these are all worth checking out.
So microlearning holds several benefits for both learners and educators.
It’s on demand format allows learners to access the resources when they need them, giving them more flexibility and control over their learning.
Microlearning is also suited to mobile learning and the light format should allow increased accessibility. Learners can study in the café, on the train or in a waiting room.
The short format also encourages us to get to the point quickly and cut out unnecessary detail, making learning less time consuming for everyone.
Microlearning is also more flexible for educators and developers, allowing us to quickly create content and get it out there.
The concise nature of the assets make them ideal for sharing over social networks and between different platforms.
And in this rapidly changing world of technology, they are easy to update should systems or processes evolve.
As with the development of any learning object, it is important to start with a goal.
So the first thing you need to consider is ‘what do you want your learners to be able to do?’
A good source of ideas is to think about the things that learners repeatedly ask you about.
For example, if you work in a library, it might be how to use a particular database.
Or if you work in IT support, it might be how to print in colour.
Identifying your key messages or frequently asked questions, should give you a range of ideas for microlearning content.
When you are defining your learning outcome, try to focus on one objective or skill.
To learn about Office Mix would not be as effective an outcome as to create an interactive presentation using Office Mix.
When you have decided what your goal is, you need to identify the skills that learners will need to achieve that goal.
These will be the topics for your individual microlearning assets.
When you have identified the different skills or pieces of knowledge required, you can design or curate a series of microlearning objects that will help learners develop the skills needed to achieve the goal.
A useful way of doing this is to create a mindmap, perhaps using Coggle.
We need to look at our learning outcome and see if it can be subdivided into different parts.
For example, to create an interactive presentation using Office Mix, learners will need to be able to download Office Mix and create a presentation.
They may want to add a quiz or screen recording and record a narration.
They will also need to know how to share their Mix.
By subdividing the process into the different activities, we are allowing learners to option to choose exactly which skills they need to learn.
For example, they may already have downloaded Office Mix and know how to create a presentation so they can skip these learning objects.
Or they may not need to add a screen recording this time, so they can leave that one until later.
By dividing the learning into chunks, we can allow learners to acquire the skills in the most efficient manner for them.
With any learning, it is important to allow learners to personalise and track their progress.
Even with a single learning object that learners are encouraged to repeat to practise a skill, they will want to know if they have improved each time they complete the activity.
If you have a series of interconnected learning objects, learners will want to be able to quickly identify which activities they have completed and which they have yet to do.
If you are creating interrelated microlearning activities, it is useful to suggest a learning pathway but still allow users to have control of which activities they complete and in which order, if possible.
And try to include tools such as progress bars or checklists to help learners keep track of where they have been and where they can go next.
Most learning management systems will have built in tools like progress bars.
If you a creating a microlearning programme outside of a VLE, you can create your own checklists, for example using Checkli.
Like any learning programme, you will need to consider how you will motivate learners to practise the skills or move onto the next learning activity.
It is important to build in incentives or use gamification to appeal to learners’ competitive nature.
Again, most learning management systems will have built-in tools such as level ladders or points systems that can be used to encourage participation. The more a learner engages with the system, the more points they gain or the further up the ladder they climb.
Social interaction is also an important motivator for learners. Using discussion forums or other social media tools can keep learners engaged and allow them to reflect on their progress.
Even if you are creating a stand-alone learning object, you can use gamification to encourage learners to practise the skills and beat their score.
Social media is a great way to engage students and encourage them to share their ideas.
Choose the social media tool that is right for your content and your learners.
Finally, you need to consider what the ultimate prize will be for the learners – apart from expanding their capabilities, of course!
Most learning management systems allow you to create digital badges or certificates which can be issued automatically when a learner completes an activity or programme.
You could also create a leaderboard to reflect engagement and stir up that competitive spirit again.
Visit Openbadges.org to find out more about digital badges.
So to summarise, the key features of microlearning include