What if you could learn everything in under 10 minutes? (Yes, really!)
Well, that’s microlearning for you!
It can boost student engagement by a whopping 50% because it precisely matches the memory capacity and attention span of college students. Still, it isn’t really a new concept, even though it’s recently been gaining a lot of popularity online.
Microlearning means dividing learning material into small chunks to make difficult concepts more digestible. This “bite-size” approach allows students from different backgrounds to grasp textbook concepts more quickly and retain them longer in their long-term memory.
So, if you want to have a bigger impact, maybe you should start thinking small!
What is Microlearning and Why Care About It?
Did you know we forget 80% of what we learn within 30 days?
The solution? Microlearning.
But wait – what is microlearning, and why should you care about it?
Microlearning is a short burst of information targeting a specific learning outcome or concept. This can be in the form of text, images, videos, audio, tests, and even games. Basically, it tries to flip the forgetting curve into a retention curve by catering to the specific needs of the modern student. In the era of busy schedules and instant gratification, college students are especially busy. They’re often juggling several responsibilities at the same time, which means studying starts feeling like a chore, too – but can you even blame them?
College students need a quick-fix learning method to help them understand content faster. Luckily, they can access student success platforms that supplement microlearning with personalized and adaptive learning strategies to help them learn more quickly and remember longer!
How Does Microlearning Work?
Before we dive into the benefits of microlearning, let’s first consider how microlearning works.
Basically, microlearning adopts a student-centric approach with short content pieces to help students understand complicated topics in 10 minutes or less. This often includes scenario-based learning, storytelling, or gamification to further boost student engagement. Instead of reading thousands of words in their textbooks, students can spend a few minutes understanding everything about a particular topic. So, microlearning works by removing barriers to learning and allowing students to learn at their convenience.
At SimpliTaught, we use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to deliver microlearning tidbits. Our AI model hunts the web for study materials relevant to the students’ textbook concepts. Alongside this, our ML model records the students’ learning behaviors and then personalizes future content recommendations to suit their unique academic needs – and this can especially help college students with learning disabilities.
Benefits of Microlearning
They say, “less is more,” and we absolutely agree! Why spend hours learning a concept when you can understand it just as well in 10 minutes?
The most obvious benefit of microlearning is how you can study faster – but that’s not it! In fact, we’ve compiled a list of the benefits of microlearning to help you make the most of your study time!
#1 Reduced Cognitive Overload
Cognitive overload is a real problem for college students. They often need to balance part-time jobs, family and relationships, and grades all at once! This means they have very little brain power left to fully focus on studying. It’s not that they don’t want to study – their brains are just so exhausted from everything else, which is why they need a personalized and adaptive microlearning approach to simplify core concepts.
Microlearning successfully reduces overwhelm by breaking down complicated information into shorter chunks and presenting it concisely. So, college students can better absorb information that’s easier for their brains to process and store in long-term memory. This boosts student efficiency by streamlining learning and presenting it in a student-friendly format. Plus, a study by APA PsycNet Articles also found that studying in “successive small bites” improves performance output compared to learning the same information in a longer format – and do you really need another reason to spend less time studying? We know we don’t!
#2 Better Knowledge Retention
Another benefit of microlearning is that it significantly improves knowledge retention, so students aren’t just studying faster; they’re also remembering information longer. According to psychology, students will forget 50% of what they learned in class within the same day – it’s called the forgetting curve. So, no matter how well you understand in class, you’ll still forget everything you learned eventually – unless you adopt a microlearning strategy. Since microlearning reduces mental fatigue or cognitive overwhelm, it allows the brain to focus on one concept at a time. Plus, reviewing previous concepts helps the brain transfer this information to long-term memory, where it’s less likely to be wiped out. This is why we recommend microlearning in classrooms to help students actually retain information.
#3 Flexible & Accessible
Microlearning can be applied to almost any concept, which means students can learn difficult concepts without having to spend a lot of dedicated study time. What’s more, most microlearning courses are designed to enhance flexibility. Students can access them on multiple devices and study anytime, anywhere. Some online learning platforms for students even offer drive space to help students keep their study materials organized in one place to access at their convenience – like a digital backpack!
#4 Higher Student Engagement
The attention span of an average college student is between 10 to 15 minutes. This means students must actively redirect their attention every 10 minutes or so when studying. That’s HARD. So, it makes sense why college students often look for shortcuts and easy ways out. Luckily, with microlearning, learning is not such a hassle. The material is effectively broken down into small chunks, which maintain student engagement. Ultimately, this translates to a better student understanding of the topic, plus a higher overall student retention rate. So, online learning for students should also adopt a microlearning approach to help students learn and retain information.
#5 Student-Centric
Microlearning is very student-centric in the sense that it gives students complete control of their learning process. Students have the freedom to choose where and when they want to study. They can also (at least mostly) choose between different modes, like audio, video, text, and more. Plus, it doesn’t take up too much of their time, and they can get more done in less time! And the best part? Many online learning platforms (like SimpliTaught) combine microlearning with personalized learning to accommodate diverse student learning behaviors! This means that you’ll also get smart recommendations for content according to your unique learning patterns, which is obviously great!
#6 Faster Learning
If we told you there was a way to study at twice the speed, would you pass up the chance? (We wouldn’t either!)
Well, that’s microlearning for you!
Since microlearning-based courses are shorter than traditional courses, learning is much faster. Plus, breaking down content into shorter parts means simplifying it so it’s easier to understand. Your brain also doesn’t feel overloaded and is more receptive in that sense. So, what we’re trying to say is, microlearning can help you learn much faster, meaning you’ll cut down on study time – and less study time means more time doing the things you love!
What Are Microlearning Best Practices?
Microlearning makes studying easier to start and quickly finish, but you need to know about microlearning best practices. And you know what? We’ve made a list just for you:
Make it Multi-Modal
One of the many great things about microlearning is that it offers several different modes, including text, audio, videos, and images. This means students can choose the type of content that suits them best while educators can accommodate different learning behaviors to engage a maximum number of students in their class.
Incorporate Gamification
Gamification is fun, and incorporating it into teaching and learning methodology makes them fun, too. So, it can further supplement the efficiency of a course.
Combine it with Personalized Learning
Personalized learning means adjusting study materials to adapt specific student learning behaviors. Microlearning coupled with personalized learning is like an arrow that never misses its target – so, basically, a must-do for educators!
Find the Right eLearning Platform
The right elearning platform for students should include microlearning, personalized learning, and adaptive learning methodologies to ensure that students not only learn but ALSO retain important information.
SimpliTaught is the best online learning platform for students which uses AI and ML to give smart microcontent recommendations. Additionally, it personalizes these recommendations to suit individual student learning behaviors.So, if you’re ready to go small to achieve big results, contact us at info@SimpliTaught.com, and we’ll take it from there!
