Tools such as flash cards have been helping students
learn for generations. Now, the idea of providing short bursts of information lasting
no longer than 15 minutes—known as microlearning—is
taking on a new focus in the digital age.
After short lessons, students at Northeastern University,
Burlington, MA, use Twitter and Snapchat to create posts of hyperfocused
content for others to consume. Research there also found that using social
media for microlearning increased student engagement, created learning
communities, and provided opportunities for information retention.
“We focus on microlearning where students sometime
consume, but often create, content,” said Lindsey Sudbury, academic
instructional technologist at Northeastern. “It’s usually created quickly after
a lot of thought and integrating what they already know.”
The Northeastern work on microlearning found that breaking
education into small pieces allows students to access content more easily and
learn at their own pace. The study also reported that it helped reduce student
burnout syndrome, which is a concern for medical students.
“With
microlearning, you’re constantly getting this information over and over again,
so it’s allowing for you to really synthesize information and connect those
dots more frequently,” said Clair Waterbury, who works with Sudbury as an academic
instructional technologist at Northeastern.
