Introduction

First, foremost, and most distinctively, microlearning design involves

(1) reducing the overall volume of learning content in courses and

(2) segmenting recorded learning sessions into bite sized instalments that are easy to digest and access.

This ‘less is more’ approach aims to reduce unnecessary cognitive load as an impediment to learning so that focus can shift to prioritising the most essential skills and knowledge. This makes learning materials less overwhelming and as such more inviting, attractive and engaging. It also allows students to manage their learning and at their own pace.

This ‘how to’ guidebook is a practical resource for lecturers, teachers, trainers and instructors. It shows how microlearning design and delivery principles and techniques can be applied to your learning materials and teaching delivery in ways that are basic and easy to implement, yet powerfully effective. Much of the power of microlearning come from one of its key design objectives, to simplify the learning process by making everything as clear and direct i.e., to-the-point as possible.

The book is aimed at those interested in getting ‘up and running’ with microlearning as quickly and easily. Insights into the nature of microlearning and its design principles will help you develop ways to apply them to your own educational packages.

Microlearning has become well established, and it is continuing to grow rapidly, gaining ground over other contemporary pedagogies like Flexible Learning and e-Learning (Alias & Razak, 2024; Olivier, 2021). Its popularity in universities and in industry training continues to pick up pace (Hogle, 2021; Pandey, 2020). It has accumulated a strong track record as an effective way to increase student engagement and learning performance, with results often visible in a short time (Corbeil et al., 2021; Leary et.al., 2020; Kuzminska et al., 2022).

Microlearning has also amassed a large body of theoretical literature and branched into many forms (e.g., apps, software), many being highly specific. However, in this book I confine microlearning to a broadly applicable approach based on my own development and application of microlearning, which includes the fields of Public Relations and Communication, along with an interest in what others are doing in other fields.

While microlearning depends on the digital technologies that are widely available today, I view it as fairly ‘low tech’ because you can apply microlearning without advanced technological knowledge or specialised technologies. I draw on my research and experience to show how elements of microlearning can be adopted with modest effort, especially if adopted incrementally.

This first chapter introduces key principles for understanding microlearning design, and how and why it works. Microlearning targets above all student engagement, as engagement is a well-established pathway to learning success. Research shows that increasing engagement leads to increased learning performance and as such increased completion rates (Kahu et al., 2020; Kamel, 2018; Torgerson, 2021).

Microlearning’s ‘bit-by-bit’ small-form, chunks-of-learning approach creates a gateway to engagement with its capacity to generate continued and increasing engagement (i.e., can create its own momentum).

Learning environment: challenges and trends

Universities today, especially the many now in the online learning space, face challenges. While on one hand there are more students studying today, with the accessibility of online education being a positive factor, students are also struggling more than ever before. High non-completion and dropout rates show this.

Why are so many students struggling?

Firstly, study, is by nature hard. It is cognitively demanding, often to the point where it is overwhelming. Motivational strains and challenges need consideration, including lifeload impacts which take a toll, for example, many are studying part time while also working full or part time and have caring responsibilities. These can be further compounded by factors like financial constraints, disability, chronic disease and mental health (Nelson et al., 2017). ‘Time poor’ students can become strategic learners with a focus on efficiency based on working out the minimum they need to do to pass, while some become so overwhelmed they fail to complete.

Traditional course materials and classes appear to lack value for these students, if they are not made clear, focused and interesting. Students often describe study content as pointless and boring when they have difficulty in connecting the content to their lives, especially when resources are not made sufficiently relevant and when sheer volume makes them seem overwhelming. Study can seem alienating and hence far from engaging, let alone empowering.

A common adjustment hurdle for students starting university studies is underestimating the time and effort study requires. This is another barrier we need to think about and try to manage: ‘What can we do to ensure our learners can transition easily into study?’ Well – we can make what is required of them explicit and show them how to achieve what is required in ways that are effective and ethical.

Our technological and social environment is another factor. We are immersed in a digital, online and social media environment. The demands and pace of life today have increased pressure on people’s attention resources and shortened concentration spans. Conventional long-form lecture delivery and pages of dense text are no longer effective delivery methods for many.

It is in this context that we are competing and even struggling for the attention and engagement of many of our students. What is also important to realise, is that they too are in this struggle.

What can we do?

• What can we do to reduce the volume of learning materials, so they are not overwhelming?
• How can we make materials more manageable?
• How can we make content more attractive and appealing?
• How can we make learning a more engaging, enjoyable and empowering experience?

Microlearning aims is to address these issues. Its first and foremost objective is to reduce cognitive load by reducing volume to make learning more manageable. Reducing volume and impediments to ease the demands and difficulties of learning help make the journey more engaging and something students want to do. Microlearning design offers a range of valuable approaches and tools to suit present day modes of information access and make learning more manageable and attractive.

Microlearning tries to meet learners at their pain points, struggle points in the learning process by understanding the challenges they face, and taking their concerns and interests into account. This is achieved by reducing content and bite-sizing delivery, but then also by building in supports. Supports include positive messaging, messages to encourage students and help them to persevere and become confident and competent learners (Chapter 5).

Microlearning design

Microlearning enables the delivery of instructional content in short manageable bursts, at times that are convenient to learners. It is well matched to how people now access information through small devices, phones and tablets. These devices themselves now drive people’s preferences for sourcing and consuming information in bite-sized form, making them accustomed to doing things this way.

Microlearning is multimedia based because it draws on online digital delivery of audio-visual materials, that are then accompanied by shortened text-based learning resources. Microlearning is regarded as an online educational design and delivery method. However, learning design and delivery practices in microlearning are applicable to on-campus as well as online learning, e.g., by designing learning sessions aimed at being engaging, relevant and interesting.

• Much of microlearning is based on learning and teaching design approaches and methods that have been developed, and proved to be effective, over a very long period and prior to digital technology. These include: scaffolding of learning (i.e. incremental or segmented design) and approaches that prioritise relevance and practical value;
• In many cases learning resources for on campus and online learners now reside in, and are accessed from, the same online Learning Management Systems (LMS); and
• A great deal of on-campus learning now also takes place online, including announcements, peer-discussion and responses to learning activities.

On-campus study has also been blending with online study for some time, on-campus students now expect recordings of lectures and classes to be recorded and available online. Indeed, many aspects of day-to-day life have moved online in today’s world, like the consumption of many goods and services e.g., booking travel and accommodation.

Students today, also have high expectations that courses follow good design logic; they are becoming more accustomed to frameworks such as universal design for learning (UDL) that provide a more systematised and thus coherent learning experience. The need to embrace learning design to successfully engage students has been increasing and hastened further by COVID (Singh et al., 2022).

Growing reliance on online technology today is moving higher education teachers toward roles as content and delivery design specialists and strategists (Corbeil et al., 2021). Accordingly, microlearning is geared toward designing and engineering content and delivery to increase engagement and optimise learning.

Design fundamentals

While there is a wide range of definitions for microlearning, the following description encapsulates its key elements:

• the delivery of information and instructional content in short and focused bursts
• each designed to elicit responses,
• where each unit or instalment (burst) is linked to one, or more, specific learning objectives (Kapp & Defelice, 2019).

At its core, microlearning entails (1) reducing content and then (2) segmenting the selected high relevance material into easily digestible ‘bite-size‘ instalments. This makes information more attractive and engaging for learners and increases absorption and comprehension. It is underpinned by cognitive load theory which focuses on optimising instructional design (Gobet, 2005; Kamel, 2018; Sweller, 2010). Segmenting materials into ‘bite-size‘ instalments can be achieved through short microlecture delivery and learning sessions. Nonetheless, reducing the overall volume of course content in the first instance remains important.

A key aim of microlearning is to make course resources and delivery more accessible and attractive, and a more positive experience, as a key means to increase student engagement. Ultimately, this helps increase student success in learning (e.g., course completion, grade performance, skill and knowledge acquisition, employability) and in the process reduce dropout and non-completion rates.

Microlearning – bite-sized, digestible bits  

Microlearning uses a ‘less is more’ principle to reduce unnecessary cognitive overload and associated stress, as major impediments to learning (Corbeil et al., 2021; Kapp & Defelice, 2019). This approach makes learning less daunting and more manageable, by shifting focus to prioritising the most relevant and essential skills and content.

Instructional delivery through short, interlinked, segmented units of learning, designed sequentially is a central feature of microlearning. It is a process of incremental learning by building knowledge and skills using step-by-step instalments: it is a scaffolding approach to learning design and delivery.

In this way microlearning  seeks to optimise cogitative processes for the transfer of learning from short, to long term memory (i.e., memory retention), as well as facilitating deeper level understanding and mastery or proficiency. Through this design, learners’ abilities to apply skills and knowledge can be significantly improved (Jomah et al., 2016; Kamel, 2018).

Cognitive load and components 

Cognitive Load: an overarching term that refers to the demand on working memory capacity for a task (Lovel 2020). The larger or more complex the task or subject matter the greater the demand on cognitive load. The terms that follow are subset components for the cognitive load framework and can be understood as aspects of cognitive load and points where cognitive load can occur. Note, that the term cognitive load is often used to refer to cognitive overload even though that is not technically correct (see definition below).

– Element: content: anything that needs to be learned e.g., concepts, skills, processes.

– Intrinsic (cognitive) load: is the natural difficulty of the content or a subject area. Complexity of the content can vary e.g., low, mid, high.

Difficulty increases with volume of information / elements. The cognitive load for a complex recipe is higher than for a simple one as demand on working memory required increases. Intrinsic load also increases in areas where concepts cannot be understood without an understanding of related (constituent) concepts, known as element interactivity.

– Working memory: is a learner’s capacity for information in-take information i.e., processing power. Working memory is highly limited and hence a major barrier and limitation in learning. Working load memory is formally referred to as ‘germane load’. Segmenting information delivery into units that that can be processed in working memory can overcome cognitive overload to help ensure learning takes place.

– Long term memory: capacity for storage of information, and it has no known limit. Long term memory is significant because it is accepted that learning takes place when content is absorbed into long term memory.

– Extraneous (cognitive) load: arises from how information is presented, i.e., learning design, or the way learning and delivery are designed. It is an area where lecturers, educators and learning designers can work to reduce cognitive load through design by reducing volume and extraneous factors and content.

– Cognitive overload: occurs when volume and complexity of information exceeds working memory limits, i.e. exceeds a learner’s cognitive load capacity for processing.

– Cognitive overload stress: stress brought on by anxiety due to overload and also perceptions of overload e.g., “this looks too hard”.  Overload induced stress creates confusion which makes comprehension and processing of information more difficult, further compounded  by feelings of being overwhelmed. This kind of stress not only impedes learning it undermines confidence and motivation.

– Learner load: (a term I have introduced) refers to impacts, stressors and impediments associated with learners.  This includes personal and lifeload factors like the competing demands of work and family (covered earlier).

Our aim as learning designers

Our aim as learning designers, is to design learning, (which includes content and delivery), in ways that ease or lower learning design load (i.e. extraneous load). Approaches and measures covered in this chapter and those that follow, include:

– reducing unnecessary, or extraneous content e.g., clear ‘to-the-point‘ communication

– segmenting learning into smaller units

– designing learning materials, sessions and exercises that aim to appeal to, and actively involve learners: i.e., using a learner engagement-centred mindset (covered in following topic).

Cognitive overload depletes learner interest and confidence and occurs when cognitive load exceeds the capacity of working memory to process and retain information. Reducing content and streamlining design can increase attentional capacity, interest and motivation for learning (Nelson, et. al., 2017), and thus increase learning performance.

Microlearning is learner engagement-centred

Breaking learning down into small bites not only makes learning easier to digest, it provides students with increased opportunities to identify specific pieces or areas of content they see as best serving their individual interests and needs. Enabling students to engage in learning at times most convenient to them is another feature that helps them gain more control over their own learning. As you go on you will notice more and more design features in microlearning that are aimed at better empowering learners in the process of learning.

Microlearning is well aligned with how the human brain learns and naturally takes in and processes information (Jomah et al., 2016), allowing learners to seek out specific information on their journeys to build understanding and skills. In this sense it can be linked to Information Foraging Theory (Khapre & Basha, 2012). This learning as foraging perspective can help us orient our design of learning in ways that allow learners to locate and access specific pieces of information around their curiosities and interests, making learning a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. When combined with learning in digestible increments, it helps further sustain learner interest, while also, very importantly, keeping stress in check.

Microlearning is learner engagement-centred in many ways, it is multifaceted in this respect. In its quest for increasing learner engagement it seeks to identify and subsequently address students’ pain points. The box below, shows the key barriers to learner engagement to be addressed in chapters that follow and are based on research literature (Korstange, et al., 2020; Gutierrez, 2018;  Lizzio & Wilson, 2010) and also with my experiences, most notably, the feedback I receive from students.

What learners desire

Learners want information and learning to appear clear, to the point, relevant and practical while also interesting to them. This makes sense. We are all learners; this is what we all want.

What learners need

Learners also need information (knowledge) and skills that are aligned to work and employment, to ensure they are well prepared for success in work, career and in life generally. Learners will derive a sense of purpose from course content when they can see its value in: helping them understand and develop in their discipline area; supporting them to build their vocational competence; and personal development and competencies. We can help here by ensuring the criterion of ‘relevancy’ is tied to industry and job market demand (covered in Chapter 2). For content to be effective, learners also need, and desire, support, in line with their interests and needs. Microlearning provides a range of tools to help ensure this, for example, building in of practical activities in delivery and design to assess and gauge learning.

At its heart, microlearning has a logic which is encapsulated in the associated motto ‘less is more’. A key aim is to reduce cognitive overload, that is, the high levels of difficulty and stress many students experience with learning.  This is achieved with two core approaches:

• reducing volume of content (in a course).
• reducing the length of units of learning (or learning sessions) by segmenting them into shorter, easier to manage instalments of learning.

We have touched on the second, which is segmenting delivery. But ideally we should begin with the first, reducing overall volume of content. This means cutting out unnecessary content to make learning less daunting, more manageable, and as such more inviting and attractive. This ‘selective’ reduction approach helps ensure interest, relevance and value for learners.

Microlearning’s ‘less is more’

Increasing student involvement, with engaging practical exercises, can be challenging, but achievable with the right blend of encouragement and design measures to make participation attractive and worthwhile for learners.

Other key design measures I use, and in the chapters that follow, include:

1. variance and novelty, e.g. in media, voice and delivery style, fostering positivity, use of humour
2. lecturer presence and personalisation through promotion and nudging, e.g., weekly lecturer videos and weekly messages that include advice and encouragement.

Applying microlearning design

Adopting microlearning is not difficult; it is much easier than people think. It is achievable. While it does require some effort and change, one way to make it manageable is to make changes incrementally. Doing so is actually in keeping with microlearning principles. My own case study research with a colleague on implementing microlearning at a Malaysian university, concluded that microlearning can be implemented with relative ease, that is, with modest, rather than onerous demands on time and effort for those interested in implementing (Kossen & Ooi 2021).

The more you become familiar with microlearning, the more you will notice that it draws heavily on long established and effective teaching practices. Key among these are: clear and ‘to the point’ information (i.e. clear and direct); breaking content into bite size units so it is not too mentally demanding; ensuring ‘high relevance’ practical content based on industry needs; clear and explicit learning objectives; and developing interesting activities (e.g., including those that have worked well in your classroom teaching). These points help show that a great deal of good common teaching practice is transferable to microlearning. It does not require us to reinvent our style or the essence of our approach.

So, while the term microlearning is relatively new, a great deal of what constitutes it is based on long-established and proven learning design and teaching practices. Microlearning from a teacher’s perspective is more about refining and enhancing aspects of one’s approaches rather than having to make large scale changes.

This guidebook will help guide you through your own journey from someone who has experienced it personally and with a good deal of success. The recording and segmenting of lectures, or instructional presentations, may well be the greatest change for many. Even so, this is much more achievable than it may first seem, even for those like me with virtually no prior technical knowledge.

I will provide practical guidance and examples illustrating how I navigated my way through the challenges to provide you with valuable lessons I learned to help you manage the process with greater ease. Having said this, it is also important not to oversell the idea that it is easy to implement. The extent to which you decide to apply microlearning will influence the amount of work involved.

Public relations industry microlearning presentation

The following introductory section of my presentation (below) at a Public Relations Institute of Australia (now named Communication and Public Relations Australia) Education Committee Seminar, provides an overview of microlearning. The presentation starts with a useful proposition, that: learning is, by nature, inherently difficult; or in other words, cognitively demanding. It is worth pointing out here again, that microlearning’s focus of identifying key barriers or impediments to engagement and learning, has proven to be effective as a starting point for developing ways to address and reduce them.

Microlearning critiques, considerations and pitfalls

One criticism levelled at microlearning is that its reduction of content and segmenting of learning into short units ‘dumbs down’ quality in education. Contrary to this, microlearning design aims to facilitate deeper learning and mastery of high priority knowledge and skills and is well supported with a track-record of success (Corbeil et al., 2021; Kuzminska et al., 2022; Leary et al., 2020).

Another misguided assumption is that microlearning is suited only to simple types of learning, but not more complex learning. This stems from often repeated myths that describe microlearning as learning in 3-to-5 minutes bursts. This is far too restrictive and misrepresents microlearning. Microlearning can be more accurately understood as optimising length, by taking cognitive processing capacity into consideration. It is also guided by the nature and complexity of the learning involved.

Microlearning is well suited to dealing with complex learning because of its design method of building complexity incrementally through scaffolded segments. Information delivery, and learning session lengths can extend depending on the nature and complexity of material and the level of learning required.

While microlearning has proven to be a valuable approach, well worth considering, building up unrealistic expectations about any method or approach and touting it as a panacea is unwise.

The need for microlearning approaches is greatest where overcoming learning barriers is most challenging. Examples are first year courses and those with high attrition or failure rates, often due to inherent difficulty of the subject area, and at times, poor design (structuring and delivery).

One pitfall to avoid is overloading courses with too many learning supports and help and ‘bells and whistles’. This can undermine the benefits microlearning’s ‘less is more’ principle brings. Loading on too much support, while carried out with good intentions, adds clutter and noise that can overload learners and undermine positive experiences and outcomes. Even though, it is tempting to squeeze in extra supports, like ‘extend your knowledge’ readings, and even ‘handy hints’ for assessments can be overdone, creating noise and clutter.

The principles of microlearning should be applied to learning resources so that they are carefully selected i.e., curated. Consideration should be given to the purpose of the support material to target it to the particular needs of your students, and checked to ensure materials are well-timed and placed, and follow a ‘less is more’ approach.

Monitoring and interpreting data and results

Features like bite-sized video presentations and interactive online classes are highly appreciated by, and benefit, many learners. But, as I have learned, there are others who prefer to focus on reading set materials and go on to perform very well in their assessments. It is often a case of providing for differing learning styles within a course. It is important we remember that many learners enrol in online learning because it allows them to learn independently without the need to attend and participate in classes. So while there may be many learners who seem disengaged, high levels of engagement are revealed later when utilisation and application of course learning resources become evident in their assessments. Early assessment is a critical tool, serving as a litmus test to gauge engagement and learning performance early on.

Measuring engagement by class attendance, frequency of access to resources including recorded classes and presentations, and responses to course forum activities, can be misleading. That is not to say that these measures and analytics (e.g., whether resources have been accessed) should not be discounted or have no importance. But they do need to be interpreted and understood holistically in relation to other indicators like increases in assignment grades, completion rates and student feedback (e.g., course satisfaction ratings and accompanying qualitative responses in course satisfaction evaluations).

Making early engagement a high priority

Again, the first and foremost goal of microlearning is to increase learner engagement, a strategy at the heart of our quest to increase rates of learning success. The importance of early engagement in achieving course engagement overall is a point that is obvious to us all. It is especially important for the complex equity groupings of students typical of regional, rural and remote universities. Positive first encounters support and help ensure a positive learning experience overall, together with overall well-being, engagement (Nelson et al., 2017) and sense of belonging (Crawford et. al., 2023).

Making a ‘splash’ at the beginning should be given high priority. ‘Welcome to the course’ messages and videos as well as first lectures, tutorials, or classes, warrant special attention in order to set the tempo, i.e., establish vibrancy, positivity, and sense of purpose and belonging. This also helps establish a sense of confidence, not only for our students, but for ourselves as well. But again, keep a student-centred mind set, they are the focus. They the centre and always the ‘stars of the show’.

The methods and strategies we can draw on to help ensure our first learning sessions are engaging are discussed in following chapters. However, an important strategy worth mentioning at this point, is authenticity at the personal level. This is different for everyone. You achieve it by harnessing your personality and conviction, the natural strengths that sit within your authentic self. You can make classes and presentations engaging in your own way, which may not involve being highly animated.

Finally, it is important to mention here that we should aim to treat students as up and coming professionals from the outset. For example, we can draw links to the rewarding aspects of a profession which they can expect to encounter and experience. In this way we can help them develop their own sense of career identity and overall sense of purpose and belonging. This also helps to sustain them through the duration of their studies.

Conclusion

Microlearning refers to the delivery of learning content in short and succinct chunks or units. Microlearning design involves reducing and condensing large quantities of information into bite-sized units of learning.  Its purpose is to reduce learner fatigue, overload and associated stress and thus encourage greater engagement and knowledge retention, which increases learning performance and resulting rates of completion.

The purpose of this book is to provide educators interested in adopting and applying microlearning with a practical resource to do this. This chapter introduced the rationale for using microlearning and key tenets for understanding its design, information important for those wanting to apply it in  developing and refining their curriculum.

It is helpful to think of microlearning as a menu of learning and engagement principles and practices which can be combined powerfully to enhance teaching and its resulting learning experiences and outcomes. How you go about choosing and applying these depends on the nature of your subject area, student cohort, type of curriculum, your teaching style, and the expertise you have when starting.

As a set of principles rather than a set of technical procedures or rules with precise and specific steps to be followed, you interpret and apply it using your own judgement, common sense, abilities you have developed and all you know about teaching. There is no need to adopt and apply all the techniques available for every lesson; but rather, choose combinations you think may work well for specific situations.

Key features of Microlearning Design

List of References

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Attributions

Kossen., C ‘ Using microlearning for increasing first year PR student engagement in online study’ Part 1 (Intro), CC-BY-4.