This document provides guidance on creating effective micro-learning materials that stimulate student learning. It emphasizes the importance of separating what students need to know from nice to know information. When designing micro-learning content, creators should focus on a single topic per unit and present the essential need to know information in diverse formats like text, video, images and exercises. Nice to know information that provides further depth or context can be included in separate, optional units as long as the connection is clear. The goal is to design flexible, engaging micro-learning that students can complete at their own pace in brief sessions to help stimulate knowledge retention.

1. ACTIVITY 1
Learning objective: I am aware that there are different ways
to present sources, depending on the source type and which
citation style I am using.
What is a citation style?
How to cite a journal article in APA 7th (or other) style?
How to find information on how a source type should be
cited in a specific style (e.g. obtain style guide)?
How to cite a tweet in Vancouver (or other) style?
How to cite a book chapter in Chicago (or other) style?
Why are different source types presented differently in a
given citation style?
How to cite a policy paper in APA 7th (or other) style?
What are the main differences between common citation
styles?
How to use EndNote (or another reference manager)?
Why are there different citation styles?
How do you know which citation style to use?
Which citation styles are common in my field of study?
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library.maastrichtuniversity.nl

2. TAKE-HOME
Student learning is: Constructive, cumulative, self-driven, purposeful,
contextual, cooperative & diverse.
Micro-learning is useful, because it is: Flexible, quick, engaging, self-
paced, personalised and stimulates knowledge retention.
To create engaging micro-learning materials that
stimulate effective learning, we have to separate what
students NEED to know from what is NICE to know.
What does my audience need?
Why am I adding this information/media?
How will they use the content (professionally)?
What happens if they don't know this information?
Does the information support this learning objective?
Separating 'need' from 'nice'
Learn more about:
library.maastrichtuniversity.nl
Information Literacy
@ UM
Design tips for
micro-learning
Information skills &
learning @ UM
Need to know information
This is the core of your micro-
learning material.
Focus on one topic per unit, and
make sure to offer the information in
diverse ways (text, video, image,
quiz, exercise, etc.).
Nice to know information
This is the in-depth and/or
discipline-specific information.
It builds on the need-to-know
information, but can be presented as
a stand-alone unit. Just make sure
the connection is clear!