When I say … microlearning

Short abstract

In the latest “When I Say…” instalment, microlearning is defined with illustrative examples as a valuable pedagogy characterised by short duration and focused content.

1.

Microlearning is a buzzword in the corporate and e‐learning worlds. Initially coined in 2003 as ‘learning in small steps’, and embraced by Web 2.0 applications, microlearning has become a trending pedagogy. The concept of learning in small steps is not new to educators. Breaking content into smaller focused tasks is an established instructional design strategy to manage cognitive load. ¹

Microlearning is attractive to industry because there are increasing numbers of deskless workers, whose training must be delivered via mobile devices to be accessible. Moreover, resources and time lost for training are reduced with microlearning. ² Microlearning is also attractive to today's learners. Easy access to the Internet via smartphones and tablets gives learners limitless opportunities to access focused information on the go at their time of need. ³ , ⁴ Millennial and Gen Z students and professionals are particularly suited for microlearning as they are the ‘Internet generations’. They multitask and have shorter attention spans, and digital technology is their preferred learning infrastructure. ² , ⁵ Finally, effective learning often occurs close to when it is needed—just‐in‐time learning. This is also not new, but technology has made this more possible and therefore expected.

Little has been published in medical education about microlearning and its definition. A PubMed search generated fewer than 50 publications on microlearning. A scoping review on microlearning in health professions education found only 17 relevant studies up until 2019. ⁶ All were published after 2011, indicating that interest in microlearning within medical education is quite recent. This review found none of the studies provided a definition of microlearning. All 17 studies featured microlearning that was short (less than 15 min) and had microcontent.

One of the barriers to the application of microlearning has been the lack of a consistent clear operational definition to guide instructors. ⁴ Microlearning has been seen as poorly defined jargon that describes a miscellany of teaching interventions that focuses on technology rather than content and educational outcomes. ⁴ Yet, there can be little doubt that most medical education programmes, medical students and trainee doctors utilise microlearning: some deliberately and most without realising that such a term exists. However, uncertainty about the definition of microlearning and its overlap with other educational strategies mean that it is likely to be frequently overlooked.

Theo Hug is considered to be one of the founders of modern thinking on microlearning, a word he promoted in 2005, along with the main features that characterise microlearning. ⁷ He emphasised that microlearning is short, focused on a single objective or ‘knowledge nugget’, undertaken when needed (‘along the way’) and harnesses multiple different types of media. ⁷ Despite the lack of an established and precise definition in the broader educational literature for the word microlearning, we believe that some of the characteristics described by Theo Hug can be useful for identifying microlearning in medical education. These are listed below with illustrative examples:

Microlearning is short. Although there is debate about how long or short a microlearning activity can be or should be, most studies suggest a duration of a few minutes is typical of microlearning.

A medical student has been asked to assess a patient with aortic valvular heart disease and present the findings at their tutorial. To prepare for this, the student listens to a 5‐min podcast on the most common causes of aortic valvular heart disease and an App that has recordings of aortic valve murmurs.

Microlearning focuses on a single learning objective. The single piece of information or learning objective that is delivered is sometimes called an information snippet, nugget or microunit. To avoid cognitive overload, other information about the topic is not provided to the learners. Additional information is clutter that impedes the key learning objective.

A geriatrician is asked to give a short update on delirium to interns in their first week in hospital. A few cases are discussed, but there is a single learning objective, which is to ensure interns know how to assess for delirium using a validated tool. All other information about delirium (such as pathogenesis, investigations, treatment and prognosis) is either minimised or excluded from the presentation.

Microlearning can be achieved on the go when the learner wants it or needs it. Microlearning is asynchronous, which means that different learners can access the microlearning resource at their preferred time and place. Importantly, the learner can achieve microlearning when they need it.

A junior doctor on night duty is asked to insert a radial arterial cannula in a patient that is rapidly deteriorating. The junior doctor has experience in inserting arterial catheters but wants to check the recommended antiseptic agents and tapes used to secure the cannula. The hospital has a series of videos on clinical procedures on the hospital website. The junior doctor watches the 3‐min video on their smartphone before inserting the arterial cannula.

Microlearning resources are most commonly and effectively delivered via digital technology (but microlearning is not defined by technology). Media for microlearning include slideshows, pdfs, podcasts, infographics, quizzes, videos, e‐learning modules, blogs and social media apps. ⁸ Many of these media are also self‐contained reusable learning objects. The Internet‐connected smartphone is a major driver of microlearning because it provides access to learning on the go (i.e. mobile learning) and is nearly always accessible to most people. Regardless which medium is used, it should be harnessed to support the features of microlearning—short, focused on a single learning outcome and available anytime and anywhere. Microlearning on Web 2.0 applications also offers the benefit of a collaborative learning space. ⁸ Web 2.0 refers to those websites that support social media and encourage user‐generated content, interaction and participation. In this way, the learner becomes an actively engaged self‐determined learner as they co‐create educational content, known as heutagogy, ⁶ and peer‐to‐peer learning is facilitated.

A group of medical students about to start a term in obstetrics creates a closed Facebook page where they discuss coursework and clinical experiences and share a range of media including links to podcasts and short obstetrics history and examination videos that the students watch on their smartphones, mostly while commuting to hospital each day.

Microlearning is an emerging pedagogy that enables students and clinicians to engage in short, focused, asynchronous and just‐in‐time learning. The time is ripe for medical educators to develop resources for microlearning. As part of the growing movement towards microlearning, higher education institutions are also chunking their learning programmes into short, often skills‐based courses, known as micro‐credentialing. ⁴ Each short course earns an accredited professional credential. This recognition of short courses aligns nicely with delivery of short snippets. Evidence indicates that microlearning in health professions education leads to learner satisfaction, improved knowledge and attitudes. ⁶ It is yet to be established which knowledge and skills are best suited for learning in focused snippets and whether microlearning in medical education ultimately improves behaviours and patient outcomes.

Thillainadesan J, Le Couteur DG, Haq I, Wilkinson TJ. When I say … microlearning. Med Educ. 2022;56(8):791‐792. doi: 10.1111/medu.14848