I have about 30 terms/definitions I need to make available as a microlearning piece. Does anyone know/have seen any examples of microlearning teaching definitions/terminology?
Hi Alex. Is the objective just to give the learners an online resource for easily referencing these terms/definitions or is it your expectation that they need to memorize these terms and definitions? I'm asking because we have many examples of online glossaries in our E-Learning Examples hub, but they're mostly designed as stand-alone performance support resources rather than microlearning courses.
Years ago for a course with a lot of medical terms, I used crossword puzzles (definitions are the clues) and a modified version of "Concentration" with a half a dozen or so cards on the left side of the screen and a separate collection of cards on the right side of the screen, all face down. Learners turned over a card from each pile, revealing a term and a definition. They then had to answer Yes or No if the revealed term was defined by the revealed definition. If they answered Yes and were correct, those two cards cleared. The game continued until all cards were cleared.
Today, I probably wouldn't do puzzles or games of this sort because they treat the terms and definitions out of context from their use. Today I'd probably come at the problem less directly by maybe having the learner enter into a conversation or attend a meeting with characters who use these terms. You could have leveled challenges. At first, the characters' speech (on screen in word-balloons, comic-book style) could have hyperlinks to the definitions of unfamiliar terms. In later rounds, those hyperlinks disappear. Learners would have to be able to follow the conversation and take appropriate action based on their understanding of it.
I'm sure this isn't the only approach--it's just what came to mind for me first. The goal, though, is to help learners see how these terms are used in real-world situations, not just have them memorize terms and definitions as an abstract, academic exercise.
Not sure that microlearning has much impact on this approach one way or the other, but if you want to take a microlearning approach, each situation/conversation and each level (with hyperlinked definitions, then without them) could be broken out into its own small stand-alone piece.
2 Replies
Hi Alex. Is the objective just to give the learners an online resource for easily referencing these terms/definitions or is it your expectation that they need to memorize these terms and definitions? I'm asking because we have many examples of online glossaries in our E-Learning Examples hub, but they're mostly designed as stand-alone performance support resources rather than microlearning courses.
Years ago for a course with a lot of medical terms, I used crossword puzzles (definitions are the clues) and a modified version of "Concentration" with a half a dozen or so cards on the left side of the screen and a separate collection of cards on the right side of the screen, all face down. Learners turned over a card from each pile, revealing a term and a definition. They then had to answer Yes or No if the revealed term was defined by the revealed definition. If they answered Yes and were correct, those two cards cleared. The game continued until all cards were cleared.
Today, I probably wouldn't do puzzles or games of this sort because they treat the terms and definitions out of context from their use. Today I'd probably come at the problem less directly by maybe having the learner enter into a conversation or attend a meeting with characters who use these terms. You could have leveled challenges. At first, the characters' speech (on screen in word-balloons, comic-book style) could have hyperlinks to the definitions of unfamiliar terms. In later rounds, those hyperlinks disappear. Learners would have to be able to follow the conversation and take appropriate action based on their understanding of it.
I'm sure this isn't the only approach--it's just what came to mind for me first. The goal, though, is to help learners see how these terms are used in real-world situations, not just have them memorize terms and definitions as an abstract, academic exercise.
Not sure that microlearning has much impact on this approach one way or the other, but if you want to take a microlearning approach, each situation/conversation and each level (with hyperlinked definitions, then without them) could be broken out into its own small stand-alone piece.
Cheers!
-Ray
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