Optimizing Education Through Microlearning Using Games
This book chapter is on optimization of education through microlearning while engaging and adaptive learning strategies such as games. Microlearning is a way of teaching and delivering content to learners in bite-sized, 3-5 minutes bursts at the point of need, with focused and specific learning (Zhang, J., & West, R. E., 2020). In such a case, the learner is in control of whatever they are learning and when they are learning. MicroLearning theory has been in existence from the middle of the 2000s,’ much as its roots go back to the nineteenth century. In recent years, however, microlearning has become popular due to it being an incredibly effective way of learning, retaining, and applying new knowledge. According to (Zhang, J., & West, R. E., 2020) as the volume of information continues to increase in the world requiring real life situations and experiences, people prefer receiving information in short, concise bursts, something which educators should have been doing right from the start. The idea of microlearning arises from the need of the modern learner, as the modern learner does not seem to be able to handle subject-heavy teaching methods. To optimize quality of microlearning, the author has brought in the interplay between games and microlearning or game based learning as a pedagogic tool.
Microlearning has its basis in science and is learner-centric. It is becoming the first choice of learning style for the modern learner. Unlike traditional learning, the courses in microlearning are short, and so easier to design, but still bear all the attributes of the teaching model of curriculum-pedagogy-assessment. The microlearning process does do away with all irrelevancies and focuses only on the essential elements of crisp content, pedagogies and possibly visuals. In the age of digital, infographics, videos have dominated microlearning with a maximum of 5 to 7 minutes long learning period. Ready-made templates are available but would have to be validated for the game learning task.
Game-based learning means using games in educational contexts to meet educational objectives. The games could be entertaining or educational games. While entertaining games are mainly designed for fun, entertainment and recreation, educational games are a subgroup of games that are designed for educational purposes or for acquisition of knowledge and skills. According to Connolly et al., (2012), the main goal of game-based learning is learning and behavioral change desiring competencies of cognitive function and metacognition. Game-based learning is often used in the same context as serious games Boyle et al., (2016). However, serious games are often comprehended in a broader sense. More often, the broader purposes of serious games link to governments, markets, various sectors such a health, communication and education (Sawyer and Smith, 2008). The application of games is diverse contexts covers a wide scope. The interest in this chapter is on microlearning with gaming in the education sector.