Skip to main content

Week 4, Post 1: Microlearning Challenges

 In my exploration of this week's articles, the first one to catch my attention was about the use of microlearning challenges to promote student self-directed learning. This article was particularly interesting to me because I value the use of microlearning in an educational context. With all the new learning trends going on, microlearning has been increasingly utilized due the its flexibility, motivational elements, engagement, and other things like shortness. So when I noticed this article being on the list, I was interested to learn more about the impact that this form of learning is having in our Higher Education Institutions. 

With any type of learning, it is very necessary to have certain guidelines in place for how learners need to participate or go about their learning. Microlearning is one of those instances where learners still need some type of reward for participation which in this case is making it a requirement within a course. In the case of the article, we see this with the badges that were awarded to students based on challenge completion. At the same time, students get to take the lead for how they go about their learning based on the time flexibility, options for learning, and finding ways to incorporate what they're learning within a given course. 

Something I noted was that the researchers talked about how "Motivating voluntary learners is one of the biggest challenges of any optional learning experience " (Dennen et.Al p.176). This is a great point that was brought up, considering that learners tend to focus on required course materials and assignments. It is certainly a challenge to have people do something that is optional, which is why some sort of reward would be helpful in promoting participation. 


Reference

Dennen, V. P., Arslan, Ö., & Bong, J. (2024). Optional embedded microlearning challenges: Promoting self-directed learning and extension in a higher education course. Educational Technology & Society, 27(1), 166-182. https://doi.org/10.30191/ETS.202401_27(1).SP04 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 5, Post 1: Universal education

For the blog this week, the first article that caught my attention is "Open Educational Resources : Enabling universal education." In the article, it was my first time learning about OpenCourseWares (OCWs), which are online resources that provide access to educational materials from courses in universities (Cite here). This initiative was not one that I was aware of, but is a great development that was initiated by MIT.  I do support the availability of course materials for all the people who lack the resources to purchase some of those materials, those who may not be able to access them in person, and the global learners who want access to them.  Distance education is becoming increasingly popular and has more affordances than traditional education. With the ability to access education anywhere, and the availability of wifi, we can continue to expand our education through online learning environments. With additions of movements such as OCWs, we are making social impacts in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 5, Post 2: Tools Exploration

 In my exploration of tools this week, I got to learn about a few new ones that I have never used or heard of. the most interesting one to me this week was MERLOT, which is a collection of online learning resources. A tool like this should have been more common and shared in general but this is my very first time learning about this. I did some searches to find out what ways this tool could be benefecial for learning uses. I ended up browsing a few article and found one that was related to the effective use of MERLOT.  Link: https://contentbuilder.merlot.org/toolkit/html/stitch.php?s=65391682894334 The link above is a brief overview of how different types of users can utilize MERLOT for content-building purposes.  For the student aspect, I learned about creating e-learning portfolios to showcase learning and how one can organize their content to be used by others.  I did some research into instructional design on Merlot and noticed there were many links leading ...
2 comments
Read more

Week 6 post 2: Technology & Pedagogy

 The Salomon article was an interesting read and basically discusses the importance of balancing technology and education. Indeed, there has been an influx of online learning strategies and techniques being utilized, but there is also concern about maintaining the primary focus of education. Education aims to provide knowledge, allow collaboration, and continue to grow our fundamental knowledge of particular topics.  Because of the many technologies that have been developed, some have lost sight of the importance of pedagogical approaches to learning. Salomon mentions failed approaches such as the one in Los Angeles, where a $1.3 billion iPad initiative resulted in poor usage and did not support education as was hoped. The article argues that this occurred because of the lack of proper implementation or pedagogical techniques to ensure proper use and practice. While technology is expected to change education, unlike other subject areas, education is not responding well to thos...
Post a Comment
Read more