Learning in an Era of Micro-Moments
- Mike Peck
- Feb 23, 2016
- 2 min read
I've been very intrigued in the last several weeks maybe even months, with some concepts in marketing, branding, and business in general. You can’t speak in these areas without touching on social media and its impact on the aforementioned. One particular concept that has me thinking is the idea of micro-moments.
So what are micro moments and why do they matter to teaching? Micro moments are a series of decisions a consumer makes on the way to a decision. Not only is this term applied to products and services, but also information. One can see this clear example with the advent of advertising through social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine etc.
Follow my logic. Consumer behavior and human behavior in general has been revolutionized by mobile access. Has this change in information consumption infiltrated learning? Case and point, Skillshare. Recently Skillshare reached its millionth student, a significant achievement in an open source learning environment. Users have the ability to choose from many types of courses, but each course is broken up into 3–5 minute snippets; quiet the shift compared to 40–60 minute lectures. A perfect example for how learning can cater to new age consumer behavior. Below I have listed three take aways that educators will need to be considerate of in an age where micro moments are the norm.
1
Without a doubt one of the most important skills students today can master, involve aggregating and curating web based content. Sorting through the mess that is the web, finding what is important, and leveraging the new knowledge is going to trump necessities of the past. With the explosive growth of the Internet and with no end in sight, content curation needs to be at the forefront of much of what we do as educators.
2
Feedback loops. Video games have crushed this idea, and the popularity of the game is closely linked to the use of these loops. Frequent feedback in games and in learning can make the user or learner experience that much more rich. Long periods of time between feedback can be tough for learners to deal with. Though we must teach and emphasize grit, we should be cognizant of the fact that feedback can be powerful in terms of driving achievement.
3
Platforms are critical for success. Skillshare’s mobile platform allows for me to connect almost any time anywhere. Learning on demand needs to be an option for our students. The world is now their classroom and the access to just in time information can make or break a user experience.
This is very much just skimming the surface and in no way constitutes a complete list of considerations for teaching in micro moments. The intersection between consumer behavior and learning is just reaching a tipping point and so conversation on the topic is critical to the future of education.
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