Why Students’ Focus Skyrocket With Micro-Lessons

Download TikTok now; it is going to level up your teaching game.

It sounds crazy, right? Last time I checked, TikTok was a platform for dancing teens and lip-syncers.

Yet, research shows that educational content on TikTok has an insanely growing audience: 400 billion views in 2021!

First, we’ll look at why educational content on TikTok is so attractive¹.

Then we’ll develop strategies to captivate the students’ attention using micro-learning².

1- Why Educational Content on TikTok Is Attractive?

Quantity

A study¹ on the factors influencing users to consume educational content on TikTok reveals that the social network is on top of its game and looking for ways to diversify:

In October 2019, TikTok launched #EduTok, a program to revolutionize e-learning in India: 10 million items were created and generated 48 billion views.
In 2021, TikTok launched an education program in the form of a competition under the hashtag SamaSamaBelajar in Indonesia; it generated 85.2 billion views.
In 2020, a similar program, #LearnOnTikTok, aimed at USA residents, generated 250.7 billion views.

The number of views cannot simply be attributed to the algorithm that aligns with the user’s interest. In this study, users find that specific hashtags make it easier to find educational content.

Quality

Almost 90% of surveyed users were satisfied with TikTok educational service, and this could be explained by the length of the videos. Shorter videos can be understood quickly because they are concise and clear. It makes it easier to digest and match the pace of learning.

The study shows that if users found the content useful (Perceived Usefulness), they kept using it (Continuance Intention). Say you struggle with understanding how food webs work, and a 1-minute video is able to clarify it for me; you are likely to come back for more content. With millions of education items available, TikTok is on the verge of designing a new type of personalized education.

With 80% of the interviewees satisfied with the possibility of accessing educational content on TikTok and 30% using TikTok’s educational services more than six times a week, there is a strong growing demand for TikTok-style educational material.

The content is not the only element that contributes to the attractiveness of TikTok educational material; interactivity is an essential element. Learners can like, comment, chat and share videos with friends.

62% of the users searched for educational content on TikTok because it was easily accessible, just one scroll away.

2- TikTok in the classroom

First, you can learn from TikTok to implement changes without signing in.

A) Micro-Learning To Increase Engagement

There is nothing more boring than a lecturing teacher, yet teachers lecture. Learners need action and interactivity. So make it short because micro-lessons can increase learning by 17%³.

Apply the “less is more” strategy to reduce the content volume and retain your students’ attention. With Gen Z having an 8 seconds attention span⁴, you can’t go on for hours.

New research on short instructional videos for the TikTok generation shows that students who watched short videos outperformed those who followed virtual instruction from the teacher. It all comes down to the attention span.

Take a look at the following video recipes for crispy smashed potatoes.

Micro-Learning: 25 seconds

Straight to the point, no hesitation, no time wasting.

Here is another recipe for crispy smashed potatoes, but it is a 9 minute video.

Which one hits the target best?

The 25 seconds video gives students plenty of time for interaction (discussion, practice).

Whether you use videos or your lecture live in the classroom, reduce your speaking time by slashing what is unnecessary.

And remember to break down the content of your lessons into short sections; students using TikTok prefer concise content.

B) Make Your Content Easy to Access

Learning doesn’t start or end in your classroom. Start by recording short versions of your lessons and share them with your students in an indexed catalog (a simple Google Drive folder would do). Doing so will encourage them to review what has been taught, or what is going to be taught in the context of a flipped classroom (more on flipped classrooms here). If you want to surf on the social network wave, you could divide your content into a Twitter-like thread.

You don’t even need outstanding video editing skills; a simple notebook and a phone suffice:

C) Make it interactive

The point of adopting a micro-learning strategy in teaching is to shift to a more student-centered and interactive lesson. The classroom should become a forum where learners interact with the material, discuss and share ideas.

The complex pattern of your lesson should go as follow:

D) Introduce your curriculum with a micro-video

You could narrate your curriculum using the short format videos as a trailer for the unit you will study. Sure, it would take some time to prepare, but imagine the effect on your students.

Takeaways

TikTok’s educational content has a way to go, but it is already a hit with Gen Z.

Educators are innovators and should not miss the TikTok micro-lesson train. Using the same format, they can implement a micro-learning strategy within their classroom. Whether by adopting a short and concise TikTok-like lesson style or by using material already available on the platform, the bridge that can be built with the short attention-spanned generation can create a highly interactive and student-centered learning environment.