In the era of infovore, we humans constantly hunger for more knowledge. Micro-learning refers to short-term learning activities on small learning units. In our contemporary mobile/web society, micro-learning pertains to small pieces of knowledge based on web resources. Micro-learning falls into the group of informal learning processes. The existing web and mobile services have great potential to support informal learning processes, especially micro-learning. However, several specific aspects need to be considered. In this paper, we propose a micro-learning model based on three technical aspects: (i) ubiquitous learning resource acquisition; (ii) cloud-based data management; and (iii) tag-based regulation of learning processes and content. A micro-learning prototype consisting of an Android application and a web browser add-on is evaluated in the use case of bilingual vocabulary learning. The initial prototype evaluation study shows promising results in enhanced flexibility in personal learning content creation and increased efficiency in filling knowledge gaps.

1. 10th International Conference on
Web-based Learning
Learn-as-you-go:
New Ways of Cloud-based
Micro-learning for the Mobile Web
Dejan Kovachev, Yiwei Cao,
Ralf Klamma & Matthas Jarke
Informatik 5 (Information Systems), RWTH Aachen University
Bonn-Aachen International Center for Applied Information Technology
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-1
December 8th, 2011
Hong Kong

2. Agenda
Introduction
 μLearn Tools Suite

– ubiquitous learning resource acquisition
– cloud-based data management
– tagging approaches to learning
Initial Evaluation
 Related Work
 Discussion and future work

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-2

3. Introduction

The long tail of personal knowledge in life-long
learning
High-quality, specially designed,
learning materials like books or
course material
Gaps in personal knowledge
identified mostly by real-world
practice
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-3

4. Information Gap Theory
(Lowenstein 1994)
when we come across something new that is not
explained by our previous knowledge or experiences,
an information gap is formed
 the power in medium sized information gaps is that
they inspire curiosity
 that knowledge is not indispensable, but it feels like a
mental itch. We try to fill the knowledge gaps
because that is how we scratch the itch

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-4

5. Micro-learning (Hug 2005)

Micro-learning deals with
– relatively small learning units (micro-content)
– small or very small units, narrow topics,
rather simple issues, etc.
– short-term-focused activities
– relatively short effort, operating expense, degree of time
consumption, measurable time, subjective time, etc.
– example
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-5
– memorizing a word, vocabulary, definition or formula
– selecting an answer to a question
– viewing a flashcard

6. Micro-learning
in the Mobile Web Era


A learning activity on small pieces of knowledge based on web
resources
Micro-learning consists of
–
–
–
–

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-6
fast, convenient and instant capture of the self-identified knowledge gaps
understanding them with the help of web resources
unobtrusive creation of a learning object out of these web resources, and
integration of that learning object into small learning activities interwoven into our
daily life
Micro-learning ≠ micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter)
– micro-blogging is about disseminating information (a single resource)
to other people
– micro-learning is about collecting personally relevant information (several
resources) from many sources and using that collection to cover personal
knowledge gaps

7. Some Considerations
Web content as a primary inexpensive source for
personal knowledge enrichment
 Loosely regulated learning processes for
heterogeneous content
 “Eternal beta” of micro-learn content
 Disparity of the periods (and available devices) when
people encounter the knowledge gaps and when they
have time to learn and reflect
 Minimize distraction and interruption at knowledge
gap identification

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-7

8. Use Case Example

Simultaneous learning of two non-mother tongues
– “a German in China”: English for career and Chines for daily life
– long time and constant effort process





Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-8
Mastery of a language involves series of micro-learning such
as vocabulary, idioms, phrases, etc.
Use smartphone for instant capturing language knowledge
gaps at any place anytime
Sync learning content in the cloud
Understand and enrich learning content on desktop PC
Learn on a smartphone while commuting in the metropolis

9. μLearn Tools Suite
Set of mobile and web based tools for ubiquitous
micro-learning
 Motto
“Never leave behind a knowledge gap”

Unobtrusive ubiquitous content creation
and enrichment
 Cloud data management
 Tag-regulated learning processes

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-9

10. Ubiquitous Learning Content
Creation and Enhancement



Micro-learning is related to relatively small learning units
(micro-content), and
Small learning activities interwoven into our daily life
Therefore, the tasks of creating of micro-content should be
fast, convenient and unobtrusive
– smartphones allow photo/sound/video recording
– web browsers support extensions which can be used for
manipulating web content
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-10

11. Ubiquitous Learning Content
Creation and Enhancement (2)

Mobile OCR input
– high usability for Arabic and Asian scripts
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-11

12. Ubiquitous Learning Content
Creation and Enhancement (2)

Web content scrapping
– web browser add-on uses client side DOM-parsing web
scraper to ease the selection of content fragments from
multiple web pages
– The tool highlights the information chunks on the web
page and lets the user select only relevant parts (text,
paragraphs, divs, images, videos, etc.)
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-12

13. Cloud Data Management

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-13
Ubiquitous access to multimedia content

14. Tagging-regulated Microlearning


Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-14
Micro-learning content has arbitrary structure and is heterogeneous
Tagging is a powerful and flexible approach to organizing the content and the learning
processes in a personalized manner (Gillbert 2007)

15. μLearn in Action
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Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-15

16. Evaluation
User study with 10 students that learn two nonmother tongue languages at the same time
 Results

– positive feedback for
– supporting bilingual vocabulary learning,
– synchronization of learning content,
– usage of online resources for learning content creation and
enhancement, and
– usage of multiple strategies for vocabulary learning (time, tags,
language, difficulty, Ebbinghaus)
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-16
– issues with OCR on color print-outs

17. Related Work

Personal information management on the Web
– Link based: social bookmarking tools (delicious.com)
– Webpage fragment based: Note taking tools(Evernote, Springpad)

Web content scrapping
– Amplfy.com, Piggy Bank (Huynh at al. 2005), Mining web records
(Liu et al. 2009)

OCR and object recognition on mobile phones
– Google Goggles, Pleco, Kooaba, WordLens

Tagging in TEL
– Wang and Gao (2008), Gasevic at al. (2011), Vuorikari et al (2011)
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-17

18. Conclusions & Outlook





Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-18

Micro-learning based on mobile web learning is a new trend
for future learning
Improvement of user experience and minimize distraction
when micro-learn activities are interwoven with other primary
activities, but
Never leave back knowledge gaps to achieve mastery in
some domain
Improved OCR
Content sharing and collaboration
Detailed long-run system evaluation

19. Feedback? Questions?
Thank You!
kovachev@dbis.rwth-aachen.de
@dkovachev
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Informationssysteme)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
I5-KCKl-1211-19