Microlecture free essay sample

Digital media can be used to support learning activities in and out of school in both formal and informal situations (Ficheman and Lopes, 2008). Typically students are interested in using new technology like mobile phones, tablet computers, game computers, iTunes, video recordings, iPhones, iPods, iPads and social media programs like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flicker. Therefore there is a demand for the creation of tools that enable students to learn according to their current habits, at their own pace and time. (Bagarukayo et al.  2011). This is where the term micro-lecture comes into play. The micro lecture is not used here to refer to micro-content for micro-learning, but to actual instructional content that is formatted for online and mobile learning using a constructivist approach. A micro-lecture is a short recorded audio or video presentation on a single, tightly defined topic. Used as a component of online, blended, or face-to-face teaching, these brief lectures can b e interspersed with learning activities that reinforce lecture topics. In addition, micro-lectures 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 difficult to master. The abbreviated format of these lectures can be highly effective 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. Micro-lecture’s influence in teaching and learning in higher-level education There are lots of reasons why micro-lectures are a great addition to the classroom and have influence on teaching and learning in higher education. It is useful because, most students in higher education are workers and as such majority of them cannot make to lectures. The reason being that, their schools and jobs are not in the same town so with micro-lecture in our institutions, it will help make knowledge accessible to all. Also, according to Ficheman and Lopes, (2008) it is believed that using new technology for learning may enhance the students’ learning interest and motivation since it is easy to use and enables students learning outside the classroom. Today’s students engage in learning activities in different spaces, time and situations. When used interminably some of its influence on teaching and learning in higher-level education are as follows: Micro-lectures are easy to integrate into the curriculum because they can be used in a variety of ways and are short enough to fit almost anywhere. They can be posted as a trailer on 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 the implications. Activities or written follow-up assignments can easily be embedded in a micro-lecture to ensure that students understand the material presented. The brevity of the form gives instructors the ability to make quick fixes, 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. They can be used to explain or reinforce a difficult concept; students can view these lectures multiple times in a course, wherever iteration is useful to learn. * They can be used as a review of material that should have been mastered in previous courses. * They can be used for providing additional examples of working out a problem, or for sharing the answers to a test. * Students can replay them multiple times if they don’t understand something the first time. They can be used as a component of class flipping. * They can be reused for several years and/or several classes. * Lectures can be viewed at any time and multiple times as needed. * Recording the lecture allows the instructor to incorporate content that may be difficult to use in the classroom such as videos shot on locations that you would be able to take the students to. * For the instructor lectures can be reused from semester to semester. If a lecture can be reused more than one time more time and effort can be spent on prepping each lecture. Micro-lecture offers flexibility in the mixing and matching of flipped lecture content. This way the instructor can repackage and organize the brief videos by stringing the micro-lecture nuggets with descriptive text or quick webcam â€Å"connecting† content. * Review videos or podcast that highlight the salient points of in-class lectures or readings. * Videos or audio segments that provide supplementary instruction for difficult to understand concepts * Videos that move narrative portion of classes online to free up face-to-face class time for non-lecture activities. Stand-alone short lecture modules with guided web-based activities to teach particular skills not covered in the face-to-face class. * Brief, showpiece lectures as in the TED Talks, to promote a course, program, department, or instructor. * Student work that can be used as learning objects are examples of A+ work. * Another way is the instructor putting in ‘learning breaks’, where he may teach a body of knowledge for a few minutes, and then suggest the listener to stop the podcast, and using the knowledge just covered, attempt to answer a question. Then when they restart the podcast, the instructor can give an answer and justification for coming to that answer. This can make a passive podcast into a more interactive learning asset. Digital media are believed to motivate the learners and engage them in the learning process. The use of digital technology like micro-lecture may also make teachers work easier since teaching overcrowded classes is an uphill task (Ficheman and Lopes, 2008). Also when used interminably lecturers will not have to deal with large lecture halls crowded. Therefore, students are able to access the lectures anytime, anywhere and can study at their own pace. For institutions or individual faculty members, looking to move beyond traditional lecture format, micro-lectures will be a new instructional approach. When used interminably there will be no need for attending lectures and education will be accessible to all in the comfort of their homes and offices. Lecturers and students will also have more time for research. There are a growing number of universities worldwide recording lectures on video for students to access at their convenience. There is a great increase in the amount of audiovisual teaching resources freely available on the Internet which is usually very interesting, allowing students to attend a class regardless of time, pace and place (Arias et al. , 2011). With educators seeking more active learning environments, the micro-lecture format seemingly offers great potential. Not only will the process allow students greater ownership of their learning, the more open-ended nature of the follow-up materials should provide greater time variation opportunities for students who may need such time. But as with all educational developments, the process clearly is not one that can be used for all classes. It clearly will not work for a course that is designed to feature sustained classroom discussions. And while the concept will work well when an instructor wants to introduce smaller chunks of information, it will likely not work very well when the information is more complex. The micro-lecture format similarly requires teachers to get the key elements across in a very short amount of time. Most importantly, it forces educators to think in a new way. Lecture recording before a live audience and providing the recorded audio stream, video stream and slides over the web is becoming more and more popular, because it provides for time independent learning (Zupancic and Horz, 2002) therefore micro-lecture format when used interminably will ditch the traditional notion that all students must spend the same amount of time in class to receive credit. The concept focuses on what is to be learned and it allows, in the online environment, students of various skills and abilities as much time as they need to digest the learning objectives related to the micro-lecture. Also video recorded lectures provide a convenient and effective way to archive lectures for future reference (Heck et al. , 2006). The videos are a permanent resource for students who enrol for the courses even after several years. The videos offer a self learning alternative to traditional classes (Arias et al. , 2011). References apt. rcpsych. org/content/9/4/308. full Tubbs (2012) Microlecture Equal Big Learning Opportunities. Retrieved 10th on December.