Hello everyone,
We all recognize the support teachers need, especially after the pandemic. With increasing demands on teachers, such as the need to keep up with rapid changes brought about by technology disruption, adoption of learner-centric methods, and differentiated learning approaches needed to develop 21st-century student competencies. I combined micro-learning, social learning, and machine learning to envision an app that would close the gap between teachers, instructional designers, and educational researchers.
Minima combines two important categories:
Your Learning Journey: Learn the latest techniques and gain insight from the latest research in education by learning on the go.
Your Personal AI Instructional Designer: Transform your data into modern and multi-modal learning materials.
Minima is an idea that came to me while experiencing DALLE-2, which is an AI software that transforms texts into visual images. Minima would take the same concepts but transform learning materials into multi-modal and modern ones. I named the app “Minima” for its micro-learning “mini” strategies.
Here is a one-page scroll website that I’ve created for Minima.
You can also watch the intro video here (you can find the video on the website):
Aria, I appreciate that your A3 was easy to navigate between the video and the web page via the phone. Your idea is excellent and practical. I especially like the idea of up-to-date research being available. I have experienced something similar; the Canadian Government created something similar for the LINC instructors last year. The main difference is that the AI supports the system and does not run it like yours. Also, our learning management system is attached to the site. Would you also consider having an area where human users could exchange ideas?
Sorry for dropping the “M” in your name, Maria.
Maria, I was very impressed with your proposed app. I appreciated the introductory questionnaire offered to the instructor to understand the type of content they were looking for, introducing instructors to a community of practice, and providing training. Lack of teacher training in the use of technology can be a significant barrier to adoption. Through your app, instructors can create student engagement with the material through multiple channels. I access and enjoy micro-learning on topics of interest throughout the year and see the value. I found your presentation navigation intuitive and visually pleasing. I, like Rika, tried to download your app!
Thank you, Tamaka! It’s pretty funny that you and Rika tried to download the app! I am glad that I was able to transfer my ideas into a visually pleasing website because I am a visual person and I think visuals are crucial in presentations.
Hi Maria:
First off, awesome graphics and I love how you set it up as an actual application and advertisement for your application. I really did think it was a real app you created and tried click on download a few times!
I connected with your idea as a struggle I had as a new teacher or teaching new grades over the last 4 years was that I wanted to connect with other teachers and check what lesson plans they were doing for certain units, what strategies they used with different students who struggled to learn the content, what resources they use, etc. The connection to other teachers would be awesome! I would offer that this can be personalized to grade and district as different districts may follow different curriculums.
it would also be great if this micro learning can be connected to Additional Qualifications that are recognized by our certifying group (In Ontario it is ‘Ontario College of Teachers’). This would also be a motivator for teachers to learn and differentiate it based on the learning styles of teachers. As motivation to complete micro-learning courses has been a challenge, what do you think your app has to offer to combat this challenge?
i can foresee that such an application that includes learning to support teachers in assessment or report card writing for instance would also be a sure win. It seems to be a struggle of teachers no matter how many years of experience.
Great work!
i can also see that this application would be especially helpful to new teachers.
Thank you, Rika! I did not expect anyone to click on download, I should’ve linked it to a troll picture haha! You mentioned how teachers would be motivated to use the micro-learning courses, and I don’t think teachers need the motivation to efficiently do their work, however, I believe learning on the go, mini-lessons (5 minutes), gamified content, and choosing the desired modal are definitely motivating. Another point is that teachers need an app similar to Minima because we are integrating more and more technology into the classrooms.
Hi Maria. Great work! The graphics are nicely done and I appreciate how professional everything looks and is presented. Isn’t Wix great? Since I started using it early in my MET journey I never went back to other web design platforms. I think the Minima is a great idea and something any instructor would be interested in. The multimodal micro-learning approach would be attractive for 21-Century learners, and I appreciate how you also incorporated a social and creative component assisted by AI into the platform. It creates a community of learners/teachers that creates learning experiences that are relevant to our time. Nicely done!
Thank you, Eduardo. I love Wix! Google Sites is also good, but I felt that it’s a bit basic and it wouldn’t convey what I wished to present. I incorporated microlearning in the app because I believe that it will be an essential technique in learning skills and professional advancement in every enterprise and educational environment.
Wow! Your presentation is very professional and informative. I think there is a true market for apps such as yours, and a lack of available resources like this. I love the ability to be able to choose your learning style, a very modern and multimodal approach! I also love the ability to upload lessons to the app and get ratings and recommendations. I am always open to adapting and changing my lessons to best suit and engage my learners. Thank you for this innovative idea!
Thank you, Megan! I also loved the feature of rating and recommending materials from a trained AI instructional designer.
First off, what a tremendously designed website! I am thoroughly impressed with how presented what the app would look like on a mobile device – it looks fantastic! I think the idea of the app is great as well. I often spend time searching for resources to connect my physics concepts with real-world applications for the students to connect to. Assuming this app was cost-effective (free), I would download it to make these searches more efficient. One thing I was missing as I read your OER was a connection to educational research.
Thank you, Michael! I would definitely prefer the app to be free for teachers. While creating the concept of the app, I did not realize the need to present research on the necessity of professional growth for teachers and introduce topics that have already been discussed in ETEC523. I certainly conducted my own research on micro-learning and teacher training and should have added some of the findings on the website. However, there weren’t any resources on AI being the center focus of designing multi-modal materials for teachers. Additionally, my goal from the OER was to introduce an actual existing app. I would have definitely connected some of the ideas to educational research if I was given the chance to edit my OER.
Maria, I was really impressed by your video and how professional it was! How awesome to have an AI instructor to support teachers with instruction. I appreciate that we both focused on supporting teachers through the demands of maintaining on top of innovative pedagogy in the classroom. I also appreciated how you accompanied your promotional video with a page to scroll with key information for people to consider. As an educator, we spend a sufficient amount of time seeking out our own professional development, along with school districts also searching for quality professional development for teachers. When considering purchasing your app, I thought of how school districts would find value in purchasing a district-wide platform and assigning teachers to it. That way, they can input the goals of their school district and the AI instructional designer can support them with this. As someone who has worked with finding professional development on a school district level- this would be an excellent pathway for your app to go. Mobile learning really is shifting us away from everyone attending the same professional development event, to differentiating our needs, levels etc. as professionals. Also, the open sources professional development is critical in your app as well. Great work weaving in course themes. The wonder I have for you is how you see the app developing over the course of 5, 10, or 25 years. Do you think the time it takes to interact with the microlearning modules may move towards being incorporated with BCI (brain-computer interfaces)?
Thank you, Agnes! I struggle greatly with finding and creating materials for my students while researching and learning about the effective methods of teaching a skill. I could definitely see Minima working as an instructional designer and a guide for teachers that can be assigned by a school district since it has the feature to create your own multimodal, micro-learning courses. Regarding the future of Minima, I envisioned the possibility of accessing the first category (Your Learning Journey) in the near future, however, the second category (Your Personal AI ID) that enables the creation of teaching materials within minutes would be available in the far future. It takes substantial time and effort to create, train, and code an AI that would replace instructional designers. In regards to BCI, a whole new world is going to be introduced to us as educators, but I can see BCI working great with gaming and education.
Maria, I just looked at another application that also included teacher-focused engagement and I am happy to see this one as well because I find that can be a market that is lacking when it comes to real and genuine tools to help educators. Often times I feel lost in where I should go to learn about topics I am interested in to implement in my own classroom. I teach older kids so it can be work to keep them engaged. I think one of the best parts of your design is that you can choose your learning style through podcasts, slides, videos, and even gamification. I personally would choose video or slides but I know so many would appreciate the other types of modals.
Thank you for your comment, Sonia. I definitely agree with you that the market is lacking when it comes to teacher training and helping educators learn more about a topic to help their learners. I spend hours a day looking for effective multimodal materials for my classes and it could be overwhelming and frustrating, it could also take a long period of time to create materials (if you’re a perfectionist haha). I hope Minima becomes a real app in the future to facilitate professional growth for teachers and give access to materials within minutes.
Maria, the design elements of your work are beautiful and the evidence of ETEC523 content is evident throughout. I have become interested in micro-learning throughout the course, but moving to the production of said content seems daunting. With your proposed app, I would be more willing to engage in starting to move some of my teaching to this type of approach. The mobility of Minima would also make it possible for students to learn wherever and whenever is convenient for them, increasing their agency and motivation to learn. Do you think that there would be a potential for integrating other technologies, such as virtual or augmented reality, that could enhance your proposal?
Thank you for your comment, Braden. Micro-learning is becoming increasingly valuable for obvious reasons and I believe that it could be the future of learning skills. Minima is designed for teachers to enhance their practice, teaching methods, and materials in the classroom to personalize them for their learners. I did not envision teachers using XR environments to reach their goals, however, they will be trained, educated, and given materials to practice AR and VR for the purpose of using them with their students. Can you elaborate more on how teachers would use these technologies to professionally grow besides the need to use them with their students?