Micro Learning — a modular approach with better results!

One of the fundamental aspects of learning is that “one can’t bite more than one can chew”. In other words, learning essentially is an ordered step-by-step approach that can’t be hurried or short-circuited, since the human brain is wired to absorb information in a particular way and can get quite overwhelmed when overloaded.

But that is exactly how the education system in India has been designed — to cram as many subjects and as much information in each subject as can be possibly done within an academic year. This results in what can be called “short term memory load, vomiting the same in the most important of tests called the Annual Exam and then forgetting what one has learnt”. This kind of an approach rarely makes one knowledgeable or to develop insights into any particular topic of learning. This was fine when the system was about preparing as many civil servants during Colonial times as the economy could absorb, but did not result in great academic throughput for the vast majority of students.

It is a sad fact that many employers today lament that even though the education system churns out large number of degree holders, they are not “employable” right away and need to be trained and sometimes re-trained just so that they “unlearn” old learning habits and develop the proper ones required for the skill level of the job they are seeking.

buddi’s Micro Learning approach is to present students with modules — essentially a break down of a course topics-wise and encourage them to take (and pay for) one topic at a time, then take up the next one and so on. This ensures that this “lean” model of learning is neither burdensome to the teacher nor is burdensome to the student. Such “small steps in learning can result in giant leaps of outcomes” as the student can build the requisite knowledge in a brick-by-brick approach, laying the foundation for fundamental concepts and then building on them with other topics to ensure a very systematic and retentive method of learning.

Cost-wise also, the students benefits in this “pay as you go” approach, buddi wants every student to be a “power learner” who exits each topic with a full understanding of it and develops the ability to synthesize the knowledge gained from it with other related content going forward. It can be said that Micro Learning is more structured as a learning methodology than the “breeze thru topics but focus on completion of the course within the allotted time” approach that is so much a part of the general academic environment in India