Micro-Learning
New approaches to education have burst onto the scene in the past year. Micro-schools is one. Why I’m Investing in Schoolhouse describes one decentralized learning startup.
Tiago Forte describes the Schoolhouse micro-school formula. To me, it’s like:
Great teacher + “gamification” = micro-schooling
Forte's own “2021 Year in Review” course, which I attended, provides a simple example of the micro-learning formula. The two-day course had four one-hour sessions. Each session had 45 minutes of lecture and 5-10 minute mini-projects for 2-3 people. The projects put theory into practice. Upon return, the group came back to the main Zoom room to share findings. About 500 students attended from all over the world.
Micro-learning is a simple idea, but it requires planning, skill, and the deft use of collaboration tools. Forte's team used Slack, Zoom breakout rooms, and Google Docs templates. The tools made it easy and fun to learn, collaborate, share, and participate from home, and globally. The experience is more like a multi-user game.
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Colleges are in. This month’s Duke Alumni magazine says “students at play is a path to sociocultural understanding.”
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I hope micro-schooling catches on.
But is professional education catching on? The conventional training formula in the corporate world seems to be:
Smart person + camera = learning
In other words: I’m smart, here's my video, have at it.
I hope corporate education adopts ideas from micro-schools. If it does, COVID will have produced another silver lining.
ENDNOTES
1. My favorite micro-learning courses I’ve discovered during COVID include Schoolhouse by Brian Tobal, Forte Academy, Write of Passage, and Akimbo. Have others? I’d love to hear from you! Connect via social media, below.
