A success story and a new empirical survey on MicroLearning from Austria: In 2014, the Danube University Krems (DUK) management selected KnowledgeFox® to improve students’ preparation before face-to-face-seminars. In the fall semester of 2014/15, 80 “Professional MSc Management and IT” students used MicroLearning for the first time. Prior to the launch of the new approach, the DUK scientists updated all of the multiple-choice tests in Moodle and imported them into the KnowledgeFox® solution. Each card was supplemented with a hint for questions and an explanation for answers. Overall, about 50 learning cards were produced per lecture note and module.

The students obtained five bonus points towards their overall exam degree for successfully answering the learning cards two times. This turned out to be a successful didactic method. The Master’s program turned academic teaching around: MicroLearning with KnowledgeFox® successfully replaced the memorization of thousands of pages of notes and frontal lectures. According to the “flipped classroom” approach, the learning content was learned on notebooks, tablets and smartphones. In the face-to-face-teaching units, exercises & practical application elements dominated.

Results of the empirical survey

The students are now visibly better prepared for the face-to-face teaching units. The use of KnowledgeFox® has being evaluated precisely since the fall semester of 2014/15:

93% of the students say that the learning cards support them well in learning the content of a lecture note.

79% state that KnowledgeFox® animates them to learn playfully.

69% use KnowledgeFox® on their smartphone, 45% on their desktop (multiple selections possible).

Two thirds of the students prepare themselves once a week for the upcoming face-to-face teaching unit, learning between one and ten hours with KnowledgeFox®.

The management of the Master’s program now wishes to use the new KnowledgeFox® functions to further improve teaching quality: Audio & video elements will be expanded; exam results will be displayed directly in the Moodle LMS and lecture notes will link directly to the KnowledgeFox® learning cards.