606 Badges and Microlearning: The Perfect Match
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 26
Instructional Design
Montego A
Find the sweet spot of learner engagement by combining the bite-sized power of microlearning with the motivating effect of digital badges. By chunking your content to create microlearning-style tutorials and using digital badges to reward learners and mark their achievements, you will increase learner persistence and success in your online courses!
In this session, you’ll learn what makes the microlearning format so effective and why badges are the perfect complement to drive learner success. Using a case study of how a university library leveraged microlearning-style tutorials and badges to dramatically expand its instructional reach, you’ll find out how to implement a content-practice-assessment model to create fast-paced tutorials, and how to structure a badges program to support student learning. With just the right balance, you will engage more learners than ever, sustainably!
In this session, you will learn:
- How to develop an effectively structured badges program
- How to design microlearning-style tutorials
- About the relationship between microlearning, badges, and learner persistence
- How to combine the microlearning format with badges to reach more learners than ever
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers,
and managers.
Technology
discussed in this session:
Digital badges and tutorial design.

Lindsay O’Neill
Instructional Design Librarian
California State University–Fullerton
Lindsay O’Neill is an instructional design librarian at California State University–Fullerton’s Pollak Library, where she designs and develops tutorials using Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and TechSmith Camtasia. She is also a faculty member in CSUF’s master of science in instructional design and technology program. Lindsay regularly consults on effective pedagogy, instructional design, educational technology, open licensing, and accessibility. She holds a master’s degree in education, specializing in educational technology and instructional design, as well as a master’s degree in library and information science.

Cynthia Gautreau
Director, Master of Science Instructional Design & Technology
California State University–Fullerton
Cynthia Gautreau is director of the master of science in instructional design and technology program at California State University–Fullerton, as well as an associate professor in the department of elementary and bilingual education. Her experience includes teaching at the elementary level, technology consulting in higher education, and graduate instruction at Cal Poly Pomona and Claremont Graduate University. In addition to teaching, Cynthia continues to pursue her interest in technology, professional development, and motivation research. She holds a doctoral degree in education.

Barbara Glaeser
Faculty, Master of Science in Instructional Design & Technology
California State University, Fullerton
Barbara Glaeser is a faculty member at California State University–Fullerton, where she helped design the master of science program in instructional design and technology, now in its 16th successful year. In the program, she teaches research methods, adult learning theory, and learning strategies, and oversees master’s projects. Barbara, who holds a PhD, is also a professor in the department of special education with expertise in remediation of learning disabilities.