From Micro-course Concept to Launch: A Six-Week Path to Quick Implementation (Part 1)

Your go-to guide for creating a micro-course from scratch

Posted on December 9, 2024 in Blog Posts

Part One: Weeks 1–3

In my previous piece, “Microlearning and Micro-courses in Library Spaces,” I covered the definition, benefits, and uses of microlearning as a learning approach to library instruction. Microlearning involves breaking down information into bite-sized, accessible chunks for easy viewing. As I mentioned there, microlearning using the micro-course format can be implemented quickly for use in library instruction programs if planned well and organized efficiently. The condensed, six-week plan presented here is based on the experience my colleagues and I embarked on as we collectively envisioned, produced, and launched a set of five micro-courses grounded in the “Searching as Strategic Exploration” frame of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Framework within a tight, six-week timeline.

In this blog post, we’ll focus on tasks for Weeks 1 through 3 of our six-week timeline, which takes us from the very start of the process up to the halfway point. Ideally, before beginning the six-week plan, you (and your team) would already have a good understanding of microlearning, micro-courses, and the benefits of this approach in academic libraries to help inform your project planning.

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Week 1: Defining and Identifying Project, Student Needs, and Technology Resources

The journey begins in Week 1 with information gathering and planning to ensure a timely and smooth implementation of your planned micro-course project.

Identify Your Project’s Scope

Create a first draft of the anticipated scope of your microlearning or micro-course project. Do you envision creating a single micro-course, or would you opt for a series? Do you intend to use your final product as a tutorial, embedded in classes, or part of a flipped classroom scenario (Alqurashi, 2017)?

Assess Student Needs to Determine Micro-course Topic(s)

Start with a specific student population, class, or program. Then generate a list of information literacy topics relevant to that group and prioritize key topics. Alternatively, generate a list of narrow information literacy topics that you teach and prioritize those. Feedback from individual faculty or program heads is an invaluable resource for identifying specific needs for your chosen student population.

Inventory Available Technology and Resources

Take stock of the technology, knowledge, staffing, and equipment you have available for your micro-course project, and then create an inventory. It’s also useful to list other factors that might affect your project. As a starting point, here are some example questions to ponder as you generate your inventory set up as a copiable Padlet.

Meet with Stakeholders

The knowledge gathered in the previous tasks may prove useful when crafting an initial pitch or justification to stakeholders such as library leadership and faculty. Plan to meet with stakeholders at this stage in the process to gain their input on student needs and to ask about specific outcomes that stakeholders would like to achieve with your planned micro-courses.

Week 2: Lesson Planning and Instructional Design

Week 2 goals focus on instructional design and lesson planning tasks to build and develop instructional content and create assessments to measure both student learning and micro-course effectiveness.

Determine Micro-course Elements

Several instructional elements must be present in micro-courses to create a complete learning experience. Begin planning your micro-course instructional content, narrative, videos, and activities for learners to practice what they have learned, create ways for your learners to receive feedback, and build opportunities for your learners to practice reflection (Mery, 2022).

Ground Micro-Course in the ACRL Framework

Choose one or two frames relevant to your micro-course topic from the ACRL Framework to ground your micro-course. You’ll use those frames to build your learning outcome, create your assessment, and focus your learning content.  

Establish a Learning Outcome

Characteristically, micro-courses have only a single learning outcome focused on a narrow topic and feature concise, pared-down content intended to be consumed within 10 minutes or less (Hunter, 2020; LaMotte, 2020). Typical tools for building effective learning outcomes include Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Backward Design Model.

Plan Micro-course Assessments

Assessments can take many common forms; the general goal is to measure whether micro-course learners are learning the content presented to them. There are many wonderful resources online and in print to browse for assessment activities. 

Week 3: Pre-production and Stakeholder Check-in

Week 3 is the halfway mark in the six-week plan, and this week’s tasks relate to creating and planning for active production of video content in Week 4.

Storyboarding

Storyboards can be easily created in a platform like Canva, using templates found on the internet or drawn by hand. They function both as a visual planning document and a first draft of planned video content. Storyboards can also be useful tools for sharing progress and eliciting feedback during stakeholder and leadership meetings.

Stakeholder Check-in

Connect with stakeholders during Week 3 to share video storyboards you have developed. This ensures that stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input on video content before it is created and keeps them informed on the progress of your project.

Scripting and Rehearsal

A well-written, concise script is essential for creating quality videos. Exercise care to keep video length under six minutes to keep learners engaged (Hunter, 2020). Plan rehearsal time for yourself or assistants to refine wording, flow, and timing. Be prepared for the script to undergo revisions based on practice and rehearsal.

Pre-production Preparation

Gather and organize the technology, software, and equipment you’ll need for next week’s production phase. Don’t forget to book labs or studio spaces for yourself or student assistants. Organize assets like stock footage, animations, audio files, and royalty-free music using your storyboard and/or a shot list.

Stay tuned for the upcoming final blog post in the series that will include Weeks 4 through 6 to complete the six-week timeline!

References

Alqurashi, E. (2017). Microlearning: A pedagogical approach for technology integration. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 16, 942-947.

Hunter, R. (2020). Can you teach research in 10 minutes? Embedding information literacy micro-sessions in module programmes. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (19).

LaMotte, A. (2020, May 25). 3 tips for creating effective Microlearning courses: Articulate – community. E-Learning Heroes. https://community.articulate.com/blog/articles/3-tips-for-creating-effective-microlearning-courses/1133257

Mery, Y. (2022). A case for microlearning. Library Technology Reports, 58(5), 10-13.

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