Microlearning Practices In Blended Educational Contexts: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

On average, the modern learner is believed to check one’s mobile screen nine times an hour. Post-2020, online education has become the most experimented phenomenon with newer forms of pedagogical paradigms emerging consistently claiming better efficacy than the previous one. Mobile learning facilitates flexibility and convenience unlike any other and has made unending possibilities in teaching, assessment and learning. One such attempt is the need to re-engineer the desired content as micro-modules (three to five minutes of video content, shorter nuggets of information to read, quick quizzes and elements of social learning like discussion forums) that can aid learning through mobiles. Microlearning Instructional Design calls for overhauling current e-learning practices considering the specific content and the target learning outcome. To create a purposeful microlearning experience, it is necessary to incorporate a variety of mediums and timeframes of chunked content. Hug’s (2007) three levels of instruction: macro (program level), meso (curriculum level), and micro (bite-sized within a module) posit microlearning as bite-sized information which can be learnt at short bursts and retained by learners through repetition. This paper presents a case of learning conversational skills speaking in English among 60 first-year learners pursuing Electronics and Communication Engineering at Anna University. The instructor’s efforts to integrate microlearning practices in the classroom through appropriate instructional design are documented. Learners’ perceptions are qualitatively analysed to measure the efficacy of microlearning as part of online out-of-classroom learning. By highlighting the big idea using images and texts, learner interest and involvement are enhanced and even granular objectives can be achieved by infusing differentiated instructional techniques. Factoring the heterogeneity of the classroom, the content is re-engineered and segregated into need-to-know and nice-to-know categories which open options to learners who seek additional support.