Microlectures: How They Help You Get A Better Education

This article is an introduction to active learning, including frequently asked questions about what you can do to get you to do it. Whichever form of reflection you choose, start by thinking about your learning experiences and what you want to review or deepen your understanding of.

Micro lectures

Try combining micro-lessons with short assignments or low stakes quizzes that challenges you to memorize or apply what you have just learned. One way to integrate micro-lectures into face-to-face learning is to alternate short lecture periods with active learning activities. Micro lectures are a great way to connect with students, deliver course information in a fun and effective way, and increase teacher presence in an asynchronous or hybrid online classroom.   

The use of a short online video (micro-lecture) during the fourth year AI rotation is a feasible and actionable approach to learning additional material without reducing clinical time and responsibility. The course director piloted the asynchronous learning model in a flipped classroom to teach practical clinical knowledge through a video micro lecture. We used a flipped classroom, asynchronous learning approach to teach fourth-year medical students the key features needed for their AI to clinically contribute to patient care on the first day of the rotation.   

Active Learning

The flipped classroom requires an active learning approach in which students independently undertake extra-curricular activities and participate in active learning during classroom activities. On the positive side, students can review the learning material again, and the flipped classroom offers many opportunities for learning, ensuring interaction and active learning. In a flipped classroom, learning takes place actively, during classroom activities, students actively apply knowledge gained during extracurricular activities, only through, for example, problem solving and discussions. 

Pre Class Activities

Students can schedule pre-classes at their own time, can complete these activities at their own pace, and be able to review study material again. Students receive content ahead of time, often through instructional videos they watch at home, and are then asked to complete higher-level learning activities in the classroom, while the teacher can guide them instead of teaching (Smith, 2013; OFlaherty and Phillips, 2015). Teachers can use them as stand-alone courses or supplemental materials to assist students with integrated, location-based learning in traditional middle and high schools, technical schools, high schools, or colleges.  

Extra Curriculum Activities – Microcavities

Workshops are 1-2 hour presentation/discussion/face-to-face events designed to help staff learn more about teaching and learning. These short presentations allow students to watch at their leisure and encourage independent learning.

Micro-lessons should be 5 to 7 minutes long and have a clear learning goal, preferably one that is stated in the first 30 seconds of the video and reinforced at the end. These templates are useful for taking notes during initial viewings, and can later serve as a “pointer” when students view the videos as learning material.  

Individual student submissions should remain anonymous, but closing this loop is a great opportunity to jump in and test the process, and to thank them for being willing to take the next step in teir learning. Teachers should assign students to work with peers during extracurricular activities and provide the student with good structure by structuring goals, teaching method, and assessment.

Leverage extra-curricular activities that work well for students using learning methods such as e-learning, quizzes, learning management systems, gamification, and mobile learning.

Technology and Methodology   

In the current science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching paradigm, it is widely recognized that active learning has a significant positive impact on student grades. As the attitudes and preferences of students continue to change, providing additional platforms for teaching and learning can be invaluable to both students and educators.

Group learning has challenged our students and us, but our introduction of team learning has stimulated our classes and energized our teaching. Our decisions about how best to use this learning strategy have been, and continue to be, based on the core elements of team learning and the core components that structure the experience for our students.

The Systematic Conclusion

The preference for student group work and the level of involvement influence students’ attitudes towards learning in a flipped classroom. Some authors suggest that the effect observed by researchers on student grades in a flipped classroom is probably more related to the active learning environment in the classroom than to the flipped environment itself.

We based our selection on pedagogical considerations, recognizing that flipped classrooms can make students more active, free up classroom time for meaningful activities, offer students more flexibility to learn at their own pace, and increase student responsibility for study. Previous flipped classroom training programs using video-based short modules have positive outcome data and favorable student experiences, but few are designed for students with artificial intelligence.

Our research indicates that in many cases, the value of small group instruction time has greatly diminished. While this may present a challenge to teachers who are unable to physically teach some courses, it is also an opportunity for instructors to reallocate this time and better meet individual student needs. This concept requires specific coursework designed to deliver information in small-group settings, but the difference can be significant. The bottom line is that flipping a classroom experiences can dramatically change how students learn and what they retain.

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