Optional embedded microlearning challenges: Promoting self-directed learning and extension in a higher education course

In higher education, learners often look to instructors to guide their learning process along a prescribed path. This case study explores how 85 students, and their 5 instructors, experienced a microlearning system consisting of microlearning challenges and corresponding micro-credentials. These microlearning challenges were embedded in a higher education course to engage learners in brief, self-directed learning tasks that served as extensions of course content. The microlearning system in this case study, called “tech-flex challenges,” was optional and implemented across five sections of an educational technology course for preservice teachers at a public university in the United States. Findings show that students had favorable perceptions of the system, but low participation rates. Students who completed microlearning challenges enjoyed them and were more likely to engage for learning purposes than to earn a micro-credential. Instructors also viewed the challenges favorably, but suggested that they should be woven into the course as a mandatory element to foster greater attention and participation.