THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT…MICROLECTURES
Scenario
Gretchen is one of 300 students registered for Dr. Gordon’s
virology course. Before the fi rst class session, she reviewed
three short videos of Dr. Gordon describing virus structures
and explaining virus replication. As he made his fi rst point
in these microlectures, a drawing appeared in the display,
illustrating the structure of a virus. Gretchen always studies
with a notebook at hand, but when she started to copy the
illustration, she considered that the videos will be accessible
all semester. With these microlectures, she can listen
without distractions and can later check the drawings and
hear Dr. Gordon’s explanations of them whenever she likes.
As the semester progresses, Gretchen notices di erences
between Dr. Gordon’s microlectures and his classroom
presentations. In class, he adjusts the direction and pace
of the lessons based on questions from students and
often includes hands-on activities. By contrast, the microlectures
are sharply focused on foundational concepts.
Students can view the microlectures anytime during the
semester. Gretchen likes viewing them immediately before
class discussions of the topic. She often watches on
her tablet device, but enjoys the portability that allows
her to view or listen on her phone when she is on a treadmill
at the rec center or on a bus to campus. Dr. Gordon’s
lectures—in either video or audio format—direct students
to a URL where they can submit questions or other responses.
Before each class session, he checks for questions
that relate to the current topic and initiates class
discussion by addressing those issues.
Three weeks before the semester’s end, Dr. Gordon posts
an audio lecture called “Final Exam: What to Expect.”
Gretchen listens to the summary of what will be covered
in the exam and realizes she can use the microlectures for
much of her review for the test. As she watches and listens
to these presentations again, she replays key points to
make sure she has them right and practices drawing many
of the sketches that Dr. Gordon uses to illustrate his points.
They are much easier to see on her tablet than they were
on a distant whiteboard in the lecture class.
At the end of the week, she arrives for her fi nal exam
feeling confi dent she knows the material. Better yet, she
leaves the fi nal three hours later feeling just as confi dent.
2. What is it?
A microlecture is a short recorded audio or video presentation
on a single, tightly defi ned topic. Used as a component of
online, blended, or face-to-face teaching, these brief lectures can
be interspersed with learning activities that reinforce lecture topics.
In addition, microlectures provide a self-help resource for students,
either at the time of the lesson or later for review, explaining
key concepts or demonstrating techniques that might be di cult
to master. The abbreviated format of these lectures can be highly
e ective by focusing students’ attention on a single topic for a
short time, limiting the opportunities for distraction. Because students
control the playback, they can refer to the instructor’s presentation
as often as needed.
2. How does it work?
Microlectures are typically produced by an instructor,
who might begin by drafting a rough script—containing just an
introduction, a list of key points to cover, and a conclusion—perhaps
with help from instructional technologists. The lecture is
then recorded, often with a webcam but possibly with only a
microphone. Video content may feature the instructor as a talking
head or may display other types of visual information to
accompany a voiceover: a slide presentation, a screencast, or
perhaps an animation. The result is uploaded to the LMS, a dedicated
media server, or a public site like YouTube, Vimeo, or
iTunes U, depending on campus infrastructure options. The title
of each microlecture can be specifi c to the concepts discussed
to ensure students are able to locate the lectures they need, and
keywords and metatags can also be added.
3. Who’s doing it?
Public microlecture sites such as Khan Academy and
TED-Ed have made the microlecture format a familiar staple
of informal learning, and colleges and universities are also integrating
the microlecture into formal coursework. In 2009, an
early example emerged at San Juan College in Farmington,
New Mexico, where brief recorded lectures, each with an introduction,
a few key points, and a conclusion, were developed for
a new online degree program in occupational safety. While the
microlecture is still seen primarily as a tool for online learning,
it is also seeing application in hands-on activities in the classroom
and lab. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
students in Animal Science learn the appropriate technique for
milking cows. Previously, the professor taught this skill by lecturing
as he demonstrated the procedure, but as class size
grew, some students had to stand on tiptoe to see over the
heads of their colleagues. A microlecture and demo, deliveredvia iPad, provided novices at the dairy barn with e ective oneon-
one, on-location, just-in-time training. On the same
University of Illinois campus, faculty at the College of Business
use microlectures in graduate and undergraduate studies for
courses taught online, blended, or face-to-face. Most of these
lectures are recorded informally by faculty using their desktops
or tablets. Surveys have indicated that particularly in
large-enrollment courses, students appreciate the fl exibility of
microlectures, which allow them to revisit material as needed
to reinforce learning.
4. Why is it signifi cant?
These short lectures encourage a self-directed model of
learning, allowing students to select lessons to watch and to
move through them at their own pace, stopping and replaying
a recording as needed to ensure understanding of the content.
At the same time, the format encourages instructors to be concise
in their presentations. A microlecture can focus on a single
important point, providing a self-study opportunity for foundational
concepts and those that are di cult to understand.
Microlectures can be used with any pedagogical approach to
explain basic concepts and thus free some portion of classroom
time for problem solving and application. In this way, they provide
particular support for the fl ipped class model, where online
lectures are viewed outside of class and in-class time is reserved
for review and activities so that instructors are available to assist
when necessary. The perception of one-on-one interaction that
microlectures provide to viewers can create a sense of instructor
presence, as if he or she is speaking directly to the student—
something that may otherwise be limited in large lecture halls,
crowded classrooms, or online courses.
5. What are the downsides?
Microlectures require a certain kind of performance that
not all instructors are comfortable with—speaking in front of a
camera or even creating a scripted audio recording. While simple
microlectures can be produced without much preparation
and with no more complex equipment than a smartphone, highly
produced lectures with complex visuals and animation take
much longer to prepare and might require additional campus
resources. While the microlecture is useful for reinforcing classroom
discussions, instructors employing it must adjust to a new
dynamic. While this dynamic o ers opportunities to use inclass
time for application and in-depth discussion, the transition
isn’t necessarily an easy one. Because by defi nition the
microlecture is short, it does not o er much scope for depth or
complexity, and because it is recorded, it does not allow for ad
hoc questions.
6. Where is it going?
The microlecture is an appealing option for mobile
learning, which lends it a foothold in the educational landscape.
Instructors seeking to involve their students in authoring class
materials could assign microlectures as class assignments, and
students could use almost any mobile device to create them.
These individual or collaborative student projects might even
serve as responses to questions posed in class. Animation may
become a more common element of the microlecture format as
users experiment with cartoon-style. visuals added to a lecture.
Finally, the microlecture might become a standard element of online
programs that award digital badges to recognize achievement
or online certifi cates to validate completion of specifi ed work.
7. What are the implications for teaching and
learning?
Microlectures are easy to integrate into the curriculum because
they can be used in a variety of ways and are short enough to
fi t almost anywhere. They can be posted as a trailer in a course
site to be viewed by students before the course begins. Prior to
class, they might introduce a topic, raise awareness, or pique
curiosity. Afterward, they might cover points only touched on in
the session lecture, going beyond the facts to explore implications.
Activities or written follow-up assignments can easily be
embedded in a microlecture to ensure that students understand
the material presented. The brevity of the form. gives instructors
the ability to make quick fi xes, tweaking or updating course
content as needed. In some instances, particularly where they
cover basic concepts, these brief lectures can be a reusable resource,
available in more than one course or to more than one
instructor. Where the content covers di cult concepts, students
can view these lectures multiple times in a course, wherever iteration
is useful to learning. For institutions or individual faculty
members looking to move beyond traditional lecture format,
microlectures o er a new instructional approach.