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Digital Learning Bites Enable New and Flexible Ways to Learn and Teach
Published online: 23.05.2023
News
Digital Learning Bites Enable New and Flexible Ways to Learn and Teach
Published online: 23.05.2023
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Digital Learning Bites Enable New and Flexible Ways to Learn and Teach
By David Graff, Dean’s Office, ENGINEERING. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication
Management based on emotional intelligence. Basic chemistry. Development of reconfigurable production systems. Modern AI applications for Nvidia Jetson Nano. And so forth.
If the titles of the first Microcredentials sound like a fantastic and mixed bag, it is not a coincidence: They were developed based on the exact wishes of different teaching staff in different parts of the university. It is completely as planned, explains Olav Geil, Vice Dean for Research at the ENGINEERING faculty.
We deliberately did NOT begin by defining Microcredentials as a fixed concept with clear frameworks and rules that teaching staff had to follow. On the contrary, we asked teachers to experiment and find out for themselves what works. We chose this approach in order to best accommodate the ideas and needs of teachers.
The experiments will then be evaluated, and it’s likely that this will lead to some firmer Microcredentials standards, Olav Geil believes.
- As long as this doesn’t mean that experimentation and playfulness disappear, because it’s important to maintain commitment in order to continue to strengthen the use of Microcredentials, he elaborates.
See how the Microcredentials are produced and used!
Digital bouillon cubes of knowledge
The flexibility of the teachers' production of Microcredentials is reflected in the students' use of them: Microcredentials can be used on common digital platforms such as tablets and mobile phones, which most people always have at hand, and they are typically divided into small, short chunks. This makes them ideal to use on demand as a supplement to project work, lectures or tutorials – these are digital bouillon cubes of knowledge that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Microcredentials is a very unique concept adapted to the needs of the students. The concept gives them the flexibility to find and use researchers' knowledge directly when and where they need it.
It’s a good new way to get and learn new information that we know is quality assured by a researcher.
Good support for production
Microcredentials aim to deliver short, condensed learning bites, but limited scope does not necessarily equal correspondingly limited production time. It can take a lot to develop 30 seconds of high quality digital content if, as in some of the examples already produced, dynamic graphics are added to recordings of the instructor. But the digital designers at the Centre for Digitally Supported Learning (CDUL), who are responsible for the practical side of production, make it as easy as possible for the teachers.
The digital designers in the media production facility help us to develop Microcredentials which convey our ideas and other types of content to the students. I am sure that most students will benefit from this brand new concept, as will we researchers.
The help of the digital designers greatly reduces the workload of the teachers. The idea is that it minimizes the risk that Microcredentials are only prepared and used as a teaching tool by the highly motivated.
Microcredentials provide a valuable opportunity to foster interaction and integration across the university, because everyone can draw on each other's knowledge. That is why it is so important to spread the concept.
CREATE YOUR OWN MICROCREDENTIAL!
The production of the first Microcredentials made for experience that is now compiled in a Microcredential toolbox. The toolbox contains, for example, an overview of the stages of production, a typical division of work between teacher and digital designers, and a guide on how to prepare the good Microcredential. Contact Jonas Svenstrup Sterregaard of CDUL at 9940 9590 or jsst@iaspbl.aau.dk to get started on producing a Microcredential!
Facts about Microcredentials
Experience learning at your own pace through short learning bites developed by the best teachers and researchers at AAU. Microcredentials is the value proposition for students that will be completed as a pilot project at the end of the year and then put into operation.
Behind the Microcredentials pilot project is PBL Digital in conjunction with the Centre for Digitally Supported Learning (CDUL) and the ENGINEERING faculty.
Each Microcredential is a compact source of knowledge on specific topics using sound, images or both, often supplemented on Moodle with teasers, educational materials and guides. Microcredentials are suitable as a supplement to project work, and/or can be taken as general interest.