Achieving Effective Micro-Lecturing using Micro-Tutorials and Micro-Learning-Patterns

Abstract

The traditional micro-lecturing process consists of a micro-lecture followed by an assignment. The complete micro-lecturing process aims to impart understanding skills to students. According to Bloom's taxonomy, the prime objective of a lecturing process is to nurture students' memorization, understanding and application skills. However, due to short lecturing time, micro-lectures often fail to impart application and memorization skills to students. Can we design a micro-lecturing process capable of imparting all three skills to students? This research uses micro-tutorials and micro-learning patterns (MLP) to address this problem. This research explains how the traditional micro-lecturing process can be modified using micro-tutorials and MLP's to enhance students' all three skills simultaneously. // A micro-lecture aims to explain a topic. On the other hand, MLP's provide a systematic way to (a) understand a topic, (b) memorize essential elements associated with the topic and (c) allow learners to apply the gathered knowledge to solve associated problems. These MLP's are implemented using an ordered triplet consisting of micro-lectures, micro-tutorials, and assignments. In this ordered triplet, micro-tutorials are sandwiched between micro-lectures and assignments. So, this ordered triplet can be considered as the modified version of the traditional micro-lecturing process. This modified micro-lecturing process nurtures students' all three skills simultaneously. This happens because, in the modified micro-lecturing process, a micro-lecture explains a topic, nourishing students' understanding skills. This micro-lecture also provides pointers concerning different application areas associated with the topic. Micro-Tutorials uses these pointers to enhance students' application and memorization skills. At the same time, assignments help students to practice and apply their skills to solve different sets of problems. // To prove the validity of our proposed approach, we floated a twenty-day-long 'C' programming course for 62 registered students. We used the modified micro-lecturing process to teach registered students and observed excellent results. For example, we observed a hike of more than 25% in students' problem-solving, application and programming skills. We strongly believe that this research help educators to design pedagogically effective micro-lectures and micro-lecturing systems.