Most college students would likely concur – fifty minute lectures can be a bit much. With current research indicating that attention spans (measured in minutes) roughly mirror a students age (measured in years), it begs the question as to the rationale behind lectures of such length.
Given that it is tough to justify the traditional lecture timeframes, it is no surprise to see online educational programs seeking to offer presentations that feature shorter podcasts. But in an astonishing switch, David Shieh of the Chronicle of Higher Education recently took a look at a community college program that features a microlecture format, presentations varying from one to three minutes in length.
The Micro-Lecture
While one minute lectures may be beyond the scope of imagination for any veteran teacher, Shieh reports on the piloting of the concept at San Juan College in Farmington, N.M. The concept was introduced as part of a new online degree program in occupational safety last fall. According to Shieh, school administrators were so pleased with the results that they are expanding the micro-lecture concept to courses in reading and veterinary studies.
One thought on “Online Education – Introducing the Microlecture Format”
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As a college student, I take issue with the premise of this — that most students just can’t handle fifty-minute lectures. We can, and do, especially with good “veteran teachers.” My history professor this semester sets up his lectures as a series of stories, and I’m usually completely absorbed for the entire hour. A memorable professor last semester kept the engaged with dialogue, interactive “clickers,” jokes, and generally interesting information for a full hour and twenty minutes. There’s simply no way any sort of complex material could be conveyed in a two minute chunk; what would result would be a furthering of this trend towards oversimplification and ignorance: news reports presented as scrolling headlines, a trend towards debate in the form of few-sentence comments (like this one!) instead of deliberative responses, etc.