The microLESSONS

Introduction to the microLESSONS

research project
In line with the IT Master Plan for Education, there is a
need to investigate how IT can be integrated fully into the
school curriculum.
Teacher training plays a vital role in the successful
implementation of the IT Master Plan. As part of the Initial
Teacher Training programme, the School of Education
(SOE) conducts training in the use of IT, especially in the
integration of IT into the school curriculum. In the IT
Foundation and Elective courses conducted by the
Instructional Science Division, trainee teachers, in
collaboration
with
faculty
members,
produce
IT
instructional materials. We call these computer-based
instructional materials microLESSONS.
The microLESSONS are focused IT-based instructional
components that are developed to teach specific objectives
within a lesson. The microLESSONS could consist of
instructional activities, simulations, games, problemsolving activities, mother-tongue materials, and teacherpresentation materials. They are developed to fit the
instructional needs of teachers and students and their
production is based on sound Instructional Design
principles.
Teachers
have
problems
locating
commercially
developed materials that are suitable to our schools'
curriculum and thus there is a need to produce our own
materials. In this project, the microLESSONS will be
developed, evaluated, selected and compiled into a
resource for school teachers and will be categorised into
subject areas and into primary, secondary and JC levels.
This R & D project will help to fill the need for locally
produced instructional materials.

Objectives of the microLESSONS research

project
1. To develop guidelines for microLESSONS development.
2. To conduct training sessions on microLESSONS
development.
3. To design and develop evaluative tools for selection.
4. To conduct evaluation and selection of microLESSONS.
5. To produce prototype microLESSONS.
6. To test prototypes for quality.
7. To evaluate the effectiveness of the microLESSONS in
schools.

Funding
The microLESSONS project started in 1998 as an NIE
funded research project (RP4/98 PW). A number of samples
of
microLESSONS
were
brought
before
various
presentations and exhibitions and the response from
teachers were very positive. In early 1999, NIE produced a
sample microLESSONS CD-ROM and response from
teachers and trainee teachers was good. In Jan
2000, Ednovation approached NIE expressing interest in
distributing microLESSONS to schools and a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 16 February 2000.
In the MOU, Ednovation will provide further financial and
technical support to develop the microLESSONS.

What are microLESSONS?

microLESSONS are IT-based instructional materials that
are used to teach specific objectives. They are small and
specific units of instruction for teachers to use within
lessons. The microLESSONS developed span many
curricular content areas, and are suitable for supporting a
wide variety of learning outcomes. The majority of the
microLESSONS
are student-centered materials
that

incorporate various computer features (e.g. animation,

graphics, sound, interactivity) that will enhance the
teaching-learning process.

1st generation microLESSONS

In the first generation microLESSONS, the projects
were mainly student-centered projects adopting a direct
instructional approach. Most of the microLESSONS
developed under this phase adopted one of these common
modes of instruction: tutorials (teach some content and
then
test
the
students'
understanding
of
the
content), drill or informational multimedia.
These
are
mainly used for transmission of knowledge in curricular
areas. Multimedia features are also used in these
microLESSONS to help enhance the learning process.

2nd generation microLESSONS

In the second generation microLESSONS, the learning
paradigm has shifted from knowledge transmission (as in
the 1st Generation lessons) to one which allows students
to explore, construct and create knowledge through
various computer-based learning activities. Generally,
these microLESSONS consist of two parts. In the first part,
students are presented with some multimedia instructional
materials and these could be in the form of an ill-defined
problem, a case study, a scenario, or a situation. In the
second part, the students may access some linked
documents that requires them to be involved in some form
of higher order activities such as generating possible
solutions, solving complex problems, accessing the web to
collect information, exploring a simulation or to
collaborate on a piece of work.

Five Instructional Approaches

How MicroLESSONS Can Be
Schools

Used

in

We can now classify these microLESSONS into five types:

1) Resource-based
In this approach, various links to the WWW can be
established and students will access the web sites to
collect information, facts, opinions and then synthesize
them or compare the different viewpoints.

2) Problem-based
microLESSONS can now be used to present "instructional
problems" in a multimedia fashion through which activities
can be formulated and where students can be engaged in
the process of investigation and problem-solving. For
example, a video-clip of a water shortage problem in
Singapore can be presented and students would be made
to undergo a scientifically sound investigative process
where possible causes and solutions found.

3) Case-based
Another more generic approach besides the problem-based
method is for a "case" or scenario to be presented to
students through the microLESSONS. Through such an
approach, students would have to consider the learning
situations and the problems associated with it. From the
considerations of problem-identification, students can then
be made to determine the possible solutions and
alternatives. Through the process, students need to access
other resources most possibly from the WWW.

4) Collaborative-based
In this approach, students can be asked to work
collaboratively or in pairs to undergo an instructional
activity presented intentionally in the microLESSONS to be
jointly worked through. For example, tasks can be
assigned to different individuals and they work on different
pieces of the "puzzle" and later come together to coconstruct the entire "jig-saw puzzle". Because
microLESSONS can be linked to other applications, the
possibilities of different kinds of co-construction tasks can
be varied and many-fold.

5) Simulation-based
Finally, microLESSONS can also be used to create
simulations where students can observe particular
phenomena and learn from the processes and the variables
that will affect the simulated actions. Again, because
microLESSONS can be linked to Java applets (for example)
and other applications such as the geo-meter sketchpad,
simulations become a reality.