Microlearning platforms
There are several ways microlearning platforms deliver content:
Platforms that can host microlearning courses
With a quick google search sites like Udacity, Udemy, and Coursmos appear as microlearning platforms, but these are not actually microlearning platforms. They are more of a course delivery platform, which can be used for microlearning, and it is up to the instructor to apply microlearning techniques to their lessons and courses. For example, in the review of Coursmos, we found that one lecturer simply uploaded all of their 50-minute lecture videos to their course. This definitely wouldn’t be considered microlearning and breaking his videos into smaller chunks of learning may not work for his content or delivery method. It doesn’t mean you can’t find microlearning lessons on these platforms, you just need to be aware that not all of them apply a microlearning teaching strategy.
Platforms that can host microlearning videos
The same goes for video hosting platforms. Video is one of the most popular method of presenting microlearning lessons and there are plenty of platforms that can be used to host these videos with YouTube being at the top of the list. If you do a search in YouTube for ‘how to’ videos at the time of publishing this site, there were 280,000,000 results with some having over 100 million views. Two other similar video hosting sites are Vimeo and Ted Talks. Not all videos on these sites are considering microlearning and they don’t apply any instructional design techniques that would help learners improve their knowledge, however, Ted Talks has recognized the need for checking comprehension and interacting with other learners online, so it has developed a site which allows teachers to add questions and discussions to any YouTube or Ted Talks video. You can also find already created lessons, again not all these would fit the microlearning definition of bite-sized focused learning, but many do. If you would like to see a great example of microlearning lesson on EdTed, participate in the one that answers the question, How old is your body really?.
Platforms that use microlearning principles to deliver their content
For examples of platforms that use microlearning principles to deliver content and include some form of learning reinforcement, we can look at FluentU, Duolingo, and Khan Academy. Each of these sites offers learners microlessons, either through video, images or text, on specific topics and then provide some a quiz of the knowledge acquired. You can get more information about the benefits of these types of platforms when you complete activity two.
Platforms that allow you to develop microlearning lessons
There is a type of microlearning platform that allows you to upload your own content, but ensure that you follow the basic microlearning principle of bit-sized focused learning.
Daily Bits Of, a company based out of Stockholm, which delivers daily lessons through email with text and images. You can control the days the emails are sent and for how many. As a course writer, your lessons do need to go through a quality control check to ensure that you have delivered an appropriate microlearning lesson length, however, how much of the information is fact-checked is unknown. It is a free platform that allows people and organizations to build their brand recognition and reputation. The total equity funding for Daily Bits of is now at USD $35.96k from the first round and according to Gina Horkey (2016) at Go Banking Rates, it is one of 13 startups to watch in 2016.
Go Highbrow is based out of San Francisco and also delivers daily lessons through email, however, they only allow you to sign up for one course at a time ensuring that you don’t overload yourself with content and space your learning. This encourages the learner to think about the topics they would like to study and chose the most interesting and relevant one. Companies like the New York Times build their brand identity by delivering free lessons through this platform, similar to what many do at Daily Bits Of. They have currently accrued a total of USD $150k in the first round of equity funding.
CogniBloom provides quizzes on numerous topics ranging from science to entertainment with some having a video or text intro. The major downfall to this website is that there is no fact-checking of information that is presented in the quizzes. As well, there is not always an explanation of why your answer was wrong nor an opportunity to try another answer other than taking the whole quiz again. At the end, you only receive your score and no review of the answers. At the time of publishing this site, there was no information about equity funding for Cognibloom.
Platforms that can host microlearning courses
With a quick google search sites like Udacity, Udemy, and Coursmos appear as microlearning platforms, but these are not actually microlearning platforms. They are more of a course delivery platform, which can be used for microlearning, and it is up to the instructor to apply microlearning techniques to their lessons and courses. For example, in the review of Coursmos, we found that one lecturer simply uploaded all of their 50-minute lecture videos to their course. This definitely wouldn’t be considered microlearning and breaking his videos into smaller chunks of learning may not work for his content or delivery method. It doesn’t mean you can’t find microlearning lessons on these platforms, you just need to be aware that not all of them apply a microlearning teaching strategy.
Platforms that can host microlearning videos
The same goes for video hosting platforms. Video is one of the most popular method of presenting microlearning lessons and there are plenty of platforms that can be used to host these videos with YouTube being at the top of the list. If you do a search in YouTube for ‘how to’ videos at the time of publishing this site, there were 280,000,000 results with some having over 100 million views. Two other similar video hosting sites are Vimeo and Ted Talks. Not all videos on these sites are considering microlearning and they don’t apply any instructional design techniques that would help learners improve their knowledge, however, Ted Talks has recognized the need for checking comprehension and interacting with other learners online, so it has developed a site which allows teachers to add questions and discussions to any YouTube or Ted Talks video. You can also find already created lessons, again not all these would fit the microlearning definition of bite-sized focused learning, but many do. If you would like to see a great example of microlearning lesson on EdTed, participate in the one that answers the question, How old is your body really?.
Platforms that use microlearning principles to deliver their content
For examples of platforms that use microlearning principles to deliver content and include some form of learning reinforcement, we can look at FluentU, Duolingo, and Khan Academy. Each of these sites offers learners microlessons, either through video, images or text, on specific topics and then provide some a quiz of the knowledge acquired. You can get more information about the benefits of these types of platforms when you complete activity two.
Platforms that allow you to develop microlearning lessons
There is a type of microlearning platform that allows you to upload your own content, but ensure that you follow the basic microlearning principle of bit-sized focused learning.
Daily Bits Of, a company based out of Stockholm, which delivers daily lessons through email with text and images. You can control the days the emails are sent and for how many. As a course writer, your lessons do need to go through a quality control check to ensure that you have delivered an appropriate microlearning lesson length, however, how much of the information is fact-checked is unknown. It is a free platform that allows people and organizations to build their brand recognition and reputation. The total equity funding for Daily Bits of is now at USD $35.96k from the first round and according to Gina Horkey (2016) at Go Banking Rates, it is one of 13 startups to watch in 2016.
Go Highbrow is based out of San Francisco and also delivers daily lessons through email, however, they only allow you to sign up for one course at a time ensuring that you don’t overload yourself with content and space your learning. This encourages the learner to think about the topics they would like to study and chose the most interesting and relevant one. Companies like the New York Times build their brand identity by delivering free lessons through this platform, similar to what many do at Daily Bits Of. They have currently accrued a total of USD $150k in the first round of equity funding.
CogniBloom provides quizzes on numerous topics ranging from science to entertainment with some having a video or text intro. The major downfall to this website is that there is no fact-checking of information that is presented in the quizzes. As well, there is not always an explanation of why your answer was wrong nor an opportunity to try another answer other than taking the whole quiz again. At the end, you only receive your score and no review of the answers. At the time of publishing this site, there was no information about equity funding for Cognibloom.