This week, Shannon and JoAnna shared their website focusing on Microlearning. “Microlearning” is a classic example of new but not new pedagogy. The following capture is from Shannon and JoAnna’s website: 
Talk about being on the cutting edge of Ed Tech!!! The ink is barely dry on the term, “Microlearning”!!! (This would explain why the spelling editors keep underlining the word in red…) That being said, my guess is a lot of educators have been utilizing microlearning techniques for years, if not decades. I know I have, at least; I just have not labelled the activities, as such. To learn the basic idea behind Microlearning, go here.
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In every course I have taken in MET at UBC, I have been able to apply the learning directly to my practice.
D.I.R.E.C.T.L.Y.
Every time I learn about something new, I try and apply its purpose to mathematics, physics, and/or general learning. Before truly immersing myself into the Microlearning website, I was pretty skeptical of its use in my practice. Math and physics are typically taught from a lecture and note taking format, as this is what works for most students (although, not all) and educators can cover a lot of material quickly.
What I am now contemplating, is how to break up the monotony of the lecture-notes format, even more than I already do. On their home page, Shannon and JoAnna picked a very compelling video to introduce the concept of microlearning:
This under 2 minute video perfectly exemplifies the power of microlearning. It teaches a new concept, in a very chunked and engaging format.
When I see a video is under 4 minutes, a little part of me says, “Thank God.”
It isn’t that I won’t enjoying watching longer videos ever, but I am not sugar-coating anything when I say, I am insanely busy these days! When my learning is chunked into bite-sized pieces, I really appreciate it. For what ever reason, I would rather climb up 10 small learning hills, than 1 or 2 learning mountains. This was not always the case… but my life has changed dramatically since having kids, teaching, undertaking a Masters and staying married. (Yes, “staying married” needed to be added to the list. Not because I am on the brink of divorce, but having been divorced once, I truly appreciate the fragility of all good relationships!)
If you do not have time to navigate throughout the entire Microlearning website, here are two highlights.
- The Collaboration Page: Has links to my classmates examples of their own microlearning lesson. Some folks had one “in the can” already; others created one for this week’s activity. I did a lesson on factoring quadratic equations. It needs some work but doing it, sparked some ideas for future math/physics lessons.
- The Resource Page: Here, you will find some technologies that people have already tried and approved of, for engineering their own microlessons.
Happy Microplanning!!!