Microlearning and Micro-courses in Library Spaces

An innovative and effective way to help students grow as researchers

Posted on September 30, 2024 in Blog Posts

Microlearning is an old-new learning approach that has gained ground as a method for library instruction. In part, this is due to younger people’s shorter attention spans, but older adult learners seeking efficient, cost- and time-effective learning may find microlearning an ideal method for acquiring new skills.

Microlearning may seem like a new idea considering its rise in popularity in corporate and academic environments and its relevance to modern, social-media-influenced, always-connected lifestyles. In fact, this educational approach has existed since the 1960s (Hunter, 2020), though an analysis of scholarly literature has revealed an increased interest in the topic beginning in 2015 (Samala et al. 2023). The aftereffects of the pandemic-era mass online migration and transition to hybrid in-person/online-friendly operations in libraries continue to fuel interest in adopting microlearning for information literacy instruction and library professional development (Samala et al. 2023).

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What is microlearning?

There are many definitions of microlearning in the scholarly literature and elsewhere. The essential working description includes frequently cited characteristics that prove to be nearly universally described when defining microlearning (and micro-courses). Instructional content in this format is purposefully and strategically condensed into small, easily digestible, “bite-sized” chunks, and commonly made accessible to learners in some type of online format for greater ease of use (Mery 2022; Samala et al. 2023). Brevity is at the heart of the microlearning concept, although quantifying the ideal time interval from start to completion appears to be a topic of discussion in the literature. Ten minutes or fewer seem to be a commonly accepted completion time frame, despite evidence suggesting that learners tend to lose interest (at least in instructional videos) after about six minutes (Hunter 2020; Mery 2022).

Adopting microlearning and micro-courses

Efforts before 2020 to leverage microlearning for information literacy instruction in the forms of micro-courses or tutorials for higher education students demonstrated the utility of micro-courses in library settings (Stark & Stoeckel 2019). The three primary characteristics of microlearning design consist of content, pedagogy, and technology. Together, they form a starting point for designing effective micro-courses (Alqurashi 2017). Ideally, micro-courses teach a well-chosen topic supported by thoughtfully curated learning content and pared down to the most relevant concepts for learners to consume in ten minutes or fewer and apply immediately.

The type of focused, narrow topics best served by the microlearning approach necessitates that each micro-course should be tied to a single, well-written learning outcome (LaMotte 2020). Micro-course series with complex topics broken into smaller, focused subtopics need not be sequential and ideally have the capacity to function as stand-alone micro-courses or tutorials. (Mery, 2022). Micro-courses can be used in several ways in combination with other learning modalities. For example, they may function as part of the lesson plan in a flipped classroom, or supplement regular synchronous instruction (Alqurashi 2017).

Despite the apparent simplicity of the concept, in practice creating microlearning entails a bit more than producing a single video or learning object and making it available to learners. To be considered a complete learning experience, microlearning needs to include instructional content and other components to create an entire lesson sequence. Mery (2022) noted the following elements as essential for defining a complete lesson: instructional content, opportunities for learners to practice what they have learned, opportunities for learners to practice reflection, and some sort of mechanism for learners to receive feedback during the learning phase.

Micro-courses should be delivered in easy-to-use, accessible platforms in order to engage learners. The importance of choosing a familiar, easily navigable online platform for your intended learners cannot be stressed enough. Some examples of possible platforms in academic library environments might be your university’s LMS (Canvas, Blackboard), your institution’s website, or LibGuides. Recent research suggests that the perceived ease of use is the strongest motivator for learners’ acceptance of microlearning (Isibika et al. 2023).  Typically, learners invest smaller increments of time to learn relevant topics, but in return expect to apply what they have learned immediately after completion (Mery 2022; Samala et al. 2023). Choosing a clunky, difficult-to-use platform to host your microlearning could potentially be a serious motivation-killer for your learners.

Microlearning benefits

The benefits microlearning offers to learners are many. Multiple studies have noted the connection between the higher learner engagement and lessened cognitive load afforded by this approach. Rapid information acquisition combined with higher completion rates ideally means more engagement, less boredom. The nearly immediate applicability of the information transmitted through microlearning, along with the possibility of creating repetitive activities or micro-courses, lends itself to easing the so-called “curve of forgetting,” which posits that forgetting newly learned content is most rapid in the 24-hour period after being introduced to information (Samala et al. 2023). As stated before, microlearning and micro-courses mimic current popular modes of interaction somewhat similarly to micro–social media like TikTok. As such, it appears to have relevance for both older and younger learners (Samala et al. 2023). Microlearning in the form of micro-courses can also lend itself well to rapid implementation, if well organized.

The next two blog posts in this series will present an outline for a six-week path from a micro-course concept to launch, based on my colleagues’ and my experiences partnering with first-year faculty to create a series of five micro-courses grounded in the ACRL Information Literacy Framework, which was adopted by the entire first-year seminar program at our university.

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).

Isibika, I. S., Zhu, C., De Smet, E., & Musabila, A. K. (2023). The influence of user-perceived benefits on the acceptance of microlearning for librarians’ training. Research in Learning Technology, 31.

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.

Samala, A. D., Bojic, L., Bekiroğlu, D., Watrianthos, R., & Hendriyani, Y. (2023). Microlearning: Transforming Education with Bite-Sized Learning on the Go–Insights and Applications. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 17(21).

Stark, A., & Stoeckel, S. (2019). Librarians as Threshold Guides: Blazing the Trail with Competency-based Micro-courses. LOEX Quarterly, 45(4), 6.

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