Overview

The Microlearning concept promotes the use of relatively small learning units, known as micro courses, that are designed to be consumed in small 5-10 minute chunks rather than traditional multi-hour courses. These micro courses are an ideal instructional approach for many situations especially for skill development and on the job training.

Adding micro courses

A micro course is a very lightweight course that provides the learner with access to its module/sections and no other tabs. In all other aspects, micro courses are the same as conventional courses. They can be part of a learning path and can be sold via the Course catalog.

If the portal administrator enabled Microlearning, you can start adding micro courses. Hover over the Courses tab in the left bar, then click Add.

Select Course from the Add course pop-up.

Enter the name of the course, then select "Micro course" from the Style drop-down and enter the duration of the course. After you entered all the information, click Save.

From an instructor's perspective, a micro course looks the same as a conventional course. Note that newly created courses are not published in the Course catalog by default. To publish your micro course, click "publish" in the Admin section of the course landing page.

In the Course catalog, micro courses include "Micro course" in their description.

After the micro course is created you can start adding modules and sections. To learn how to add modules click here.

Access codes

An access code is an automatically-generated site-wide unique code. If you select the access code option when creating a course, its access code is displayed on the course main page in the Admin area. To change the current access code, click the reset option next to the access code.

If a course has an access code, learners can enroll in the course by clicking Enroll button from the top right and then selecting Course.

Here they can enter the access code.

They can also enroll by clicking Courses/Catalog, selecting the course in the catalog, then entering the access code and clicking Enroll.

Configuring micro courses

To start configuring the micro course, go to the micro course and visit Admin/Configure.

The steps of configuring a micro course are the same as in the case of conventional courses. To learn how to configure a course visit the Configure topic.

Note that in the case of Micro courses only the most essential tabs are available, such as Admin, Modules, Scores, Mastery, TAs, and Automation.

Course completion

For more details on completion, visit the Course completion topic.

Here is how the completion of a course is calculated:

You can set if you want modules and sections to be completed in order by clicking Admin/Configure from a course, then visiting the Modules section.

For learners, there are icons that are displayed next to modules and sections.

The icons indicate the following:

Deactivating micro courses

You can deactivate micro courses that are no longer active. They don't show up in the list of active courses, but you can still access their modules, assessments, and scores. To deactivate micro courses, select them, then click Archive.

To see a list of the deactivated courses, visit the Archive tab. To reactivate micro courses, select them and click Reactivate.

To learn more about course deactivation, visit the Courses topic.

Deleting a micro course

To delete a course, click Admin/Delete.

A new window will open where you have to confirm deleting the course. If you delete a course, all of its assessments and scores are also deleted.

Learner view

When a learner enrolls in a micro course, this is also indicated on the course dashboard tile.

When a learner enters the course, the left navigation only displays content navigation and the current section. The sections can be HTML, SCORM, and assessments, just like a regular course. Instructors can use automation to award certificates of completion, just like other course types.