When you think about microlearning, think about a YouTube video or a TedTalk or Khan Academy. The audience will learn one thing or focus on one topic. It has a single design focus:
- A call to action with a sense of urgency or
- To teach you how to do something
Think about it. This is what microlearning is about. It is quick, what you need to meet the goal. Reinforced by doing, solving a problem or answering a question. A couple years ago the socket to my low beam headlight on my car melted. I was going to have to pay over $200 for the headlamp assembly almost $500 if the dealership installed it. I found information on YouTube. I purchased a set of racketing wire stripper and crimping tool, shrink tubing, assorted wire ferrules and terminal ends, and a replacement socket (ceramic, not plastic). I watched a YouTube video with the single purpose of learning how to repair my headlight socket.
The traditional academy style learning was is called the sage on the stage. The all-knowing teacher pouring information into empty vessels. As we learned more about how people learn, we moved from the sage on the stage to the facilitator model. The course is deliberately designed for a journey and the teacher assists or serves as a bumper in bowling to keep the learners moving forward (nudging them back onto the path as needed).
When you design your online course, do not move from being a sage on the stage to a sage on the page. Do not just place content in the course site and call it a learning experience. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule has been named after Vilfredo Pareto, an economist and an inventor of this principle. Centuries ago, he observed that 80 percent of the wealth in Italy was in the hand of 20 percent of the population, and that 80 percent of the peas in a garden was grown out of 20 percent of the pea plants. I figured that this rule could be applied to education, also. My thinking is that 20% of the course should come from the content provided and 80% from applying the content. I Googled “Paret’s Rule and Education” and this popped up in the search. It summarizes my point. “…20 percent of the content creates 80 percent of the impact. Determine the most important and impactful 20 percent of your overall content, using your passion and creativity. Of course, this takes time. It is a fact that 20 percent of the content you make students learn accounts for the 80 percent of the effect on the understanding and grades of the students[i] Once you find out the 20 percent of the content delivering 80 percent of the impact, your burden will be radically reduced while covering the content the entire year. [How this translates to the learners is,] Completing the high-impact tasks in lesser time and with efficiency also boosts your energy and confidence. Instead of feeling like you are running on your knees, you will feel more accomplished and focused. After applying and practicing 80/20 rule, you get a motivation to go ahead. Start practicing 80/20 rule in everything and you will soon begin to accomplish twice as much as normal”.[ii]
[i] https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/how-to-use-the-80-20-rule-pareto-principle/ (Links to an external site.)