Introduction

I came across the EdApp when I was reviewing resource in the second week of ETEC 523. I got curious about this app that allows us to deliver learning on the mobile.

As I searched more for a mobile LMS, the concept of “microlearning” kept coming up. This is how I got interested in the topic of microlearning and looking into EdApp (a mobile LMS) to see how it works.

This resource will provide some background for microlearing and the concept of it, a brief review of the EdApp, then looking at some examples of how microlearning is used in education.

You are welcome to navigate this site in sequence or focus on the parts that interests you.

Outlines

This resource will cover the following:

Increasing access to mobile phones,
Profile of a modern learner,
Brief introduction on mlearning,
More details on microlearning,
Review of the EdApp (a mobile LMS),
Uses of microlearning in Education,
References and additional resources.

Increasing access to mobile phones

2018 ECAR survey found 95% of students has access to mobile phones. (EDUCAUSE, 2018).

StatCan reported overall 76% of Canadians owning a smart phone in 2016 , highlighting 94% of 15- to 34-year-olds owning smartphones (Statistics Canada, 2017).

Top 10 countries has the smartphone penetration over 70% of the population (Wikipedia contributors, 2019).

With such an increased access to mobile phones, seeing people looking at their phones in all sorts of situations has become a norm.

Do these scenes look familiar?

Hanging out with friends?

Source: Eyal (2017). Friends having tapas at restaurant. [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nir-eyal/why-people-check-their-ph_b_9399364.html

Or Using the phone while you cross the road?

Source: Morgot (2012) A woman text messages while walking across the street in San Francisco. [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0730/Distracted-walking-Smartphone-wielding-pedestrians-stumble-into-danger

Insights into modern learners

Bersin by Deloitte has created an infographic providing insights into the modern learner at the workplace, it indicated that they are distracted, overwhelmed and impatient! They only have 1% of their work week time to focus on learning and development (Grovo, 2016).

1% means 20 minutes per week for learning!

A more recent blog post from Elucidat, an elearning company's featured a profile of modern learner in 2018 (Greany, 2018)*, see the images below:

*Embedding the infographic on this site did not work well, so I've remixed it here.

Just in time high quality personalised learning

Need flexibility for learning

M-Learning

Given the limited time of a modern learner has, not just in the work place. Our students are also becoming quite busy juggling work, study, family and other commitments. Flexibility around learning is important.

Couple this with the increase in mobile phone access, it makes sense for learning to be made available via the mobile devices to allow flexibility. Hence the concept of m-learning.

Basak, Wotto and Bélange (2018) listed a number of definition for m-learning, mostly involving learning through a mobile device or technology, maybe with wireless connections.

eLearning Industry article on "4 eLearning trends you can't miss in 2019", suggested that mlearning will become a "must-have (Vysokomornaya, 2019).

Simply move the same learning content onto a mobile device is not a considerate approach to support learning through such devices, even for most online courses. We've seen many LMSs offers a mobile app for the students, such as Blackboard and Canvas. Not all content render well in these apps.

What can we do? We can combine mlearning, with "microlearning". Next section talks more about microlearning.

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