1. Home
  2. Peer Review: Microlectures 101: What, Why, & How?

Peer Review

Microlectures 101: What, Why, & How?

Reviewed:

Jan 14, 2026 by Faculty Development
Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating: 5.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.8 stars
Effectiveness: 5.0 stars
Ease of Use: 5.0 stars
Overview:

Traditional instructional videos are often long, address a variety of content, or lack meaningful opportunities for students to engage with the content. Long videos can make it challenging for students to remain focused and attentive. Content-heavy videos can be difficult for students to digest; they may feel overwhelmed by the amount of material they are being asked to process at once. Additionally, videos that simply require students to watch and listen can make it tough for students to retain the information and monitor their understanding. So, what is a good alternative? Enter microlectures.

Type of Material:

Reference Materials

Tutorial

Recommended Uses:

This resource will be valuable to faculty, teaching staff, and instructional designers.

  • It can be used in faculty development workshops as an introductory reading to explore microlecture strategies.
  • May serve as a helpful reference during instructional design planning, especially when developing online or hybrid courses.
  • The resource offers practical guidance on creating short, focused videos to support pre-class engagement.
  • Could help faculty to enhance online courses by improving asynchronous content delivery through concise and targeted instructional methods.
Technical Requirements:

Used the Brave Browser. I received a warning notice that I could only access a limited number of free articles on the website, so this may be a barrier to access.

I used the Chrome browser. There were no issues with access but there was a faculty focus subscriber pop-up for new users.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The following objectives align with the material's goals for learning:

  • Define microlectures and outline their key features.
  • List the benefits of microlectures for enhancing student engagement and learning.
  • Identify and evaluate tools and platforms for creating and delivering microlectures.

 

Faculty and instructional designers that use this resource will be able to:

  • Define what a microlecture is and explain its key characteristics
  • Describe the benefits of microlectures for student engagement and learning.
  • Identify appropriate tools and platforms for creating and delivering microlectures.
  • Describe the design process for creating a microlecture and reflect on accessibility concerns such as captioning.

 

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

None

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

The article clearly explains the concept of microlectures, making it easy for faculty to understand. It presents microlectures as a more effective option than long instructional videos, and this idea is well supported by current teaching practices and references. The format is flexible and works well across different disciplines and teaching methods, including online, hybrid, and flipped classrooms. The article also gives practical advice for faculty, especially on how to reuse content across terms, which adds value.

Concerns:

The article could be improved by including a few examples of microlectures to help readers see how the format works in practice. It would also be helpful to expand the section on accessibility. While captions are important, the article could go further by discussing Universal Design for Learning and how interactive strategies can support different types of learners.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

The article highlights the purpose and instructional value of microlectures. This will be useful for helping faculty to understand how they support student learning and why they can be more effective than traditional video formats.

Concerns:

None

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

Easy to access and navigate. Clear structure

Concerns:

No usability issues but access may be an issue

Other Issues and Comments:

Text based

Creative Commons:
creative-commonscreative-commons by