Article,
Outline of a Microlearning Agenda
eLearning Papers, (September 2009)
Abstract
In this paper we map the changing but ultimately convergent meanings of the term “microlearning” as they have emerged and developed over the last few years. We explore how the term works to organize and order a set of pedagogical and technological phenomena and concepts in new and interesting ways. Beginning with varying definitions of the term, we present a brief review of the research and informal literatures that have quickly developed around it. We advocate speaking of microlearning in terms of special moments or episodes of learning while dealing with specific tasks or content, and engaging in small but conscious steps.
Based on this overview, we develop the thesis that the “microlearning agenda” – as an explicit emphasis on the minute and particular in teaching, learning and technology – presents valuable lessons for research into technology and media in education generally. We reveal microlearning to be not simply as one approach among many, but instead as a perspective that applies to many aspects of education, as something that goes on continuously, whether it is an explicit focus for research and technology development or not. As such, we show that the lessons gained through microlearning have a generalized applicability to the studies of media and technology in education in the broadest possible sense.
We conclude by considering some lessons to be drawn from recent discussions of microlearning. These focus on the constraints and freedoms for learners and also on the pedagogical responsibility of teachers. The yet inconclusive and polyvocal nature of microlearning discourse is a good thing, and we believe it should be cultivated and encouraged.
