Category: Free Inquiry Project

After my last update on for my project, I have further analyzed my specific interest, and have invested time into researching and exploring microlearning by looking into its impact on retention and attention span, which are two major aspects of effective learning.

Free Inquiry Project: Week 2

Can Microlearning Compete with Traditional Education?

After more research, I have found articles that look further into my interest regarding retention and attention span in the comparison of microlearning and traditional learning.

Through the article that highlights student retention and attention span I have learned that…

Microlearning enhances retention among students of the content they are learning while also accommodating the modern student’s limited attention span. Microlearning accommodates these aspects and has been shown to yield significant results in increased student retention compared to traditional learning. 

Microlearning and its Effectiveness in Modern Education (Mustardy et al,.2024)

According to Mostrady et al. (2024), Microlearning is emerging in today’s digital education due to its flexibility, engagement, increased retention, and alignment with modern attention spans. Microlearning, in comparison to traditional learning, is discussed as a means to improve long-term retention. For example, in the article, the argument is made that breaking content into short, focused lessons reduces cognitive overload and enhances knowledge retention, especially when used in conjunction with repetition and reinforcement, according to Mostrady et al. (2024). This can be directly compared with traditional learning, in the format of lectures that take more time and require students’ attention for longer periods, with a lower rate of retention compared to microlearning. Microlearning also aims to improve learning outcomes by enhancing knowledge retention and reducing cognitive load for students. Microlearning is effective because it allows learners to learn at their own pace and directly supports those with lower attention spans. 

https://learning.nd.edu/news/maintaining-student-attention-in-the-classroom/

This article discusses how teachers can plan their lesson plans, as well as displays and explains students’ attention spans. This provides a background for students’ attention spans. This article is helpful because it prompts me to consider how I can integrate microlearning into my own classroom, taking into account students’ attention spans and utilizing effective planning tools to create a successful and engaging learning environment with microlearning. As a future teacher, I ask myself: Are there specific concepts that I can use microlearning to make more engaging for students? If so, what does that implication look like? 

Here’s a TikTok that I came across, discussing microlearning in comparison to Traditional learning with a direct correlation to retention and the modern-day attention span…

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSkNJYVF/

Personal Experience:

With my background in education and my current aspirations towards teaching, I have seen firsthand students whose attention spans are very short. I also have personal experience from my schooling that I can attest to. At first, I heard my dad mention the idea of microlearning in an Instagram video that kept popping up on his feed. I immediately thought of how that could be something I could base my project on and learn more about! So, I first found definitions of what that meant and examples of how that type of learning is distributed. After I understood the basics, I delved further into the advantages and benefits of microlearning to identify what specifically interested me. I learned that I have an interest in students’ attention spans and retention from microlearning compared to traditional learning. I further gathered information from TikToks and articles to find more information about this comparison between different learning methods. 

So here’s my process of how and what I learned!

Thanks for listening and joining in on my learning about microlearning! This isn’t the end for microlearning for me, I am determined to find ways to engage my students in different ways of learning, and microlearning will definitely take part in that!

References:

Mostrady, A., Sanchez-Lopez, E., & Gonzalez-Sanchez, A. F. (2024). Microlearning and its effectiveness in modern education: A mini review. Acta Pedagogia Asiana, 4(1), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v4i1.496

Learning, A. N. (2022, November 1). Maintaining student attention in the classroom. Notre Dame Learning. https://learning.nd.edu/news/maintaining-student-attention-in-the-classroom/ 

I have an update on my findings regarding my free Inquiry topic of Microlearning. I have researched what Microlearning is and what platforms are used to distribute the learning. I have also looked at the benefits of Microlearning and how they compare to traditional learning.

Look at my last post for my original plan and what I researched last week!

Free Inquiry Project Week 1!

What is Microlearning?

Microlearning is a teaching approach that delivers content in short clips, passages, and other formats, ranging from 2 to 10 minutes. It is delivered through videos, social media, quizzes, and infographics, which are highly relevant to what current generations use daily on their mobile devices.

Some platforms help facilitate the engagement and rise of Microlearning, including Duolingo, TikTok videos, YouTube clips (such as TED Talks), Instagram Reels, and Khan Academy’s short lessons. All of these platforms are examples of Microlearning in today’s society.

Microlearning Examples

Microlearning can occur in many different ways! This video explains 4 examples of microlearning that are used today!

1: Infographic: This could include visual charts, posters, maps, or timelines.

2 : Videos: This could be a YouTube video, a Tiktok video or an Instagram reel!

3: Short Scrolling Pages: This could include apps with information pages divided by categories of knowledge.

4: Quizzes – This could include a google form quiz or a kahoot!

Benefits of Microlearning

Microlearning Benefits  

After researching Microlearning and more specifically its benefits I have further narrowed down my topic by exploring my personal interests and questions related to it. 
I have begun exploring the rise of Microlearning and whether it is something that can compete with traditional education. After researching the benefits I am intrigued by the level of student content retention and how It compares to traditional learning in terms of student attention spans. 

My plan was to further narrow down my topic depending on my interests around the topic, after looking through the benefits of microlearning in comparison to traditional learning I have gained an interest in learning about student retention and attention span. I plan to further research these benefits and how they relate to traditional learning, as well as relate on my own personal experiences of learning.

I have begun thinking about my topic for this project and have landed on the concept of Microlearning. Specifically what it is and how it relates to and compares to traditional learning that we see in classrooms. I also want to learn and research more about its benefits and limitations, as well as if and how its growing in modern society and the world of education.

I have collaborated with my pod partner and we will be doing separate Free Inquiry topics and projects, but as a pod group I believe the consensus was to work together and share our ideas that we have researched and discussed in our individual topics and collaborate for our Online Learning Topic presentation project!

My plan is to research microlearning by gathering definitions and understanding examples of platforms of microlearning. As well as find out what really stands out to me and intrigues me about microlearning that I can research specifically and compare it to traditional learning, as well as my experiences with traditional learning in my schooling years.