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Gamified microlearning, as an approach that collaborates microlearning and gamification theory is widely adopted nowadays. Users report positive feedbacks on its utilization in various sectors. This paper provides a review of previous and current research to synthesize theory about gamified microlearning, including features, framework, and gamified microlearning benefits by using Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as a method. Reputable journal databases included ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Scopus were discovered to conduct the SLR. As many as 24.689 articles were found by specific keyword and filtered to 20 eligible articles with good quality and high relevance with gamified microlearning research. This study found 15 main features of gamified microlearning in four main categories, seven frameworks used to develop gamified microlearning platforms, and seven interesting benefits of using gamified microlearning in several various sectors. From the SLR conducted, the use of a gamified microlearning platform in the learning process has increased the motivation and engage students to learn. It also motivates students to voluntarily contribute to learning and supporting gamified microlearning because of its fun environment.

Understanding learner behavior is the key to the success of any learning process. The more we know about learners, the more likely we are to personalize learning experiences and provide successful feedback. This paper presents a feedback rules model called SECA: (i) Scenario, that defines the context behavior in a microlearning environment, (ii) Event, provided by a predictive model, (iii) Condition, that evaluates the events, and (iv) Action, that provides the learner’s feedback. The proposal is achieved through a controlled experiment in which a microlearning environment is available to collect data from a ubiquitous context, and predictive analytics are applied to guide the definition of a set of feedback rules intended to support the learner’s learning process. In the end, we presented an exemplified set of feedback rules, which could be used to provide automatic recommendations and improve the learner experience. Thus, the experiment allows us to analyze the learner behavior in a ubiquitous microlearning context from a feedback perspective.

This lightning talk describes the authors' initiative to deliver effective and enjoyable online learning of programming-basics to middle-school and beyond students with no programming background. With the COVID-19 long-term implications that have driven school systems to online learning, students face new challenges as they struggle to maintain their focus during long online sessions, with some experiencing physical impacts (e.g., 'zoom fatigue'). Microlearning, a set of small (5-8 min of length) learning units targeting small learning objectives and usually delivered online, appears as a promising direction for educators to face these challenges. However, because of its fragmented nature, and difficulty to provide immediate 'value-based' feedback to the learner, it is hard to apply microlearning in complex domains such as Computer-Science and programming. We are looking to develop a task-driven online microlearning environment for learning programming-basics. The environment will include motivating microtasks as well as formative feedback per microlearning unit. In a pilot study, we included short recorded lectures and project-driven activities. For the learning Integrated Development Environment (IDE) we used the application Tinkercad, which enables building programmable electronic devices. This learning IDE enabled the students to exercise 'micro-projects' (involving software and simulated hardware) in which their code had to 'operate' electronic device. We believe this concept can inspire a pedagogical framework that utilizes Microlearning for teaching programming and we will welcome the audience's input.

Cloud computing is a highly disruptive paradigm transforming the way we interact with technologies. Cloud platforms and services have become the predominant choice for any real-world storage and computation intensive applications such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), making it a must-have skill for undergraduates across many disciplines. Cloud technology, services and applications are evolving rapidly and it is challenging to design an academic syllabus that encompasses a comprehensive and up-to-date body of knowledge in an engaging way. This paper describes our approach to designing a new module to provide a broad overview of Cloud Computing and practical skills in developing solutions using services offered by a cloud platform, in this case Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Computing undergraduate students at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), UK. We describe the rationale for the syllabus design and outline the lectures, practical activities and assessments that were developed. The practicals were designed to be executed on the AWS platform as bite-sized tasks providing hands-on learning to reinforce prior lecture content. The first syllabus delivery at GCU shows that the students performed well, found the content engaging and easy to assimilate, and had a fulfilling learning experience. The issues involved in using `live' cloud platforms for teaching are also evaluated.

In ubiquitous (micro)learning, any place is a potential learning environment, be it a couch at home or a noisy place in public. For an optimal experience, learning should, therefore, be adjusted to the learner’s environment and needs in a specific environment, e.g., with respect to available attentional resources. At the same time, changing environments provide a unique opportunity as a source of immediately relevant learning material, e.g., context-based vocabulary in language learning. In my thesis, I explore environment-triggered learning from both perspectives. I investigate how a learner’s physical location or mental state can trigger learning activities at a suitable moment and keep learners engaged. On the content side, I investigate how session content can be matched to the learner’s surroundings. In these two areas, I conceptualize and evaluate tools that utilize context to improve the environment-based learning experience. This paper is presented at MobileHCI 2020 Doctoral Consortium.

A current educational trend is to divide learning content in relatively small and independent learning units, referred to as learning nuggets. These “bite-sized” nuggets often rely on patterns in order to reuse these patterns within highly diverse curricular structures like lessons, presentations or demos. In this paper, we explore how virtual reality (VR) can be utilized as a medium for learning purposes similar to learning nuggets. We present a nugget-inspired VR system design and dovetail the pattern-oriented nugget concept in relatively small VR systems. We call this authoring approach with VR nuggets forging. Furthermore, we propose a VR authoring system for these VR nuggets – the VR forge. The system design for realizing VR nuggets and the authoring system are presented and implemented in Unity. For an example we utilize a set of basic patterns from the educational domain. In an expert user study, we use the resulting bite-sized VR applications to evaluate four critical aspects concerning VR and nugget-like usage and show that the educational experts accepted the VR nuggets. Within an additional study, we indicate that our authoring system which reflects the simplistic pattern-oriented content creation paradigm of learning nuggets has potential for general laymen authoring of VR application.

The purpose of this study was to describe the effectiveness of using living books (mobile leaning and augmented reality) within the context of microlearning approach to promote vocational students' computational thinking. The participants were 97 vocational students that included experimental group (n=52) and control group (n=45) vocational college who enrolled in the basic of mathematics career in 2nd semester of academic year 2018. The instruments of this research include learning materials: mobile learning and AR book, the lesson plan of surface area and volume topic in basic mathematics career subject, pre and post-tests, and the computational thinking assessment. The results showed that the students' learning achievement of experimental group employed microlearning approach using living books, the control group employed traditional learning was statistically significant at level of .01. In addition, the result of students' computational thinking in the experimental group using of microlearning living book have been the computational thinking at the high level.

Business analysts and human resource executives consider MicroLearning and Gamification as two of the currently hottest topics in corporate learning and workplace learning. MicroLearning is seen as a solution for the limitations in dedicated learning time of employees, already stressed in their daily work routines. Gamification fosters users engagement and creates higher intrinsic motivation to learn. In this case study, we report and analyze the learning behavior of 175 employees using gamified MicroLearning over the course of seven months. The study setup allows observing behavior with and without the extrinsic motivation of an employee competition. While we observe a large increase in activity compared to groups studied in previous work, we did not see an increase in the amount of average daily learning sessions. However, we could identify a shift in learning times from working hours towards high attention periods in evenings and weekends. Consequently, we regard gamification as a means to raise user engagement, which yet bears challenges for the deployment in corporate environments to shape learning behavior as intended.

Learning a foreign language is a daunting and time-consuming task. People often lack the time or motivation to sit down and engage with learning content on a regular basis. We present an investigation of microlearning sessions on mobile phones, in which we focus on session triggers, presentation methods, and user context. Therefore, we built an Android app that prompts users to review foreign language vocabulary directly through notifications or through app usage across the day. We present results from a controlled and an in-the-wild study, in which we explore engagement and user context. In-app sessions lasted longer, but notifications added a significant number of "quick" learning sessions. 37.6% of sessions were completed in transit, hence learning-on-the-go was well received. Neither the use of boredom as trigger nor the presentation (flashcard and multiple-choice) had a significant effect. We conclude with implications for the design of mobile microlearning applications with context-awareness.

Mobile technologies hold great potential to make studying both more effective and more enjoyable. In this work we present a mobile, microlearning application. Our system is designed with two goals: be flexible enough to support learning in any subject and encourage frequent short study sessions in a variety of contexts. We discuss the use of our application to assess the feasibility of microlearning for non-language learning and the relationship between the physical location of study sessions and information retention.

Many long-term goals, such as learning a language, require people to spend a small amount of time each day to achieve them. At the same time, people regularly browse social news feeds in their spare time. Our system, FeedLearn, teaches vocabulary in the context of Facebook feeds, by showing users interactive quizzes they can answer without leaving their feeds. It is implemented as a Chrome extension, as Facebook's API does not currently allow developers to insert interactive content into feeds. In our preliminary user study, we compared Japanese vocabulary learning rates when interactive quizzes were inserted directly into feeds, versus inserting links that lead them to quizzes. Our results suggest that users learn more and engage more with microlearning tasks when quizzes can be done without leaving their feeds.

Flashcard systems typically help students learn facts (e.g., definitions, names, and dates), relying on intense initial memoriztion with subsequent tests delayed up to days later. This approach does not exploit the short, sparse, and mobile opportunities for microlearning throughout the day, nor does it support learners who need the motivation that comes from successful study sessions. In contrast, our MemReflex system of adaptive flashcards gives fast-feedback by retesting new items in quick succession, dynamically scheduling future tests according to a model of the learner's memory. We evaluate MemReflex across three user studies. In the first two studies, we demonstrate its effectiveness for both audio and text modalities, even while walking and distracted. In the third study of second-language vocabulary learning, we show how MemReflex enhanced learner accuracy, confidence, and perceptions of control and success. Overall, the work suggests new directions for mobile microlearning and "micro activities" in general.