Who knew that learning a little could be the key to understanding a lot? I’ve always been a fan of learning new things to expand my knowledge, but recently, I’ve enjoyed the process through microlearning – the ninja of learning styles 🥷.
Okay, before we get too far here, just what the heck is microlearning anyway?
Microlearning is a pedagogical (teaching) strategy that creates “bite-sized” units of information for learners. The bite-sized pieces are given in short modules, helping to motivate and restructure the ways in which learners absorb knowledge.
coursea
There are many definitions or outlines of what microlearning is on the good old World Wide Web, but the key element is brevity – keep it short and sweet!
My two most recent microlearning experiences have been #JavaScriptmas and #100DaysOfAI
I will start with JavaScriptmas, this is a yearly coding challenge put on by Scrimba, structured as a 24-day coding advent calendar held each December. Each day during JavaScriptmas, participants receive an emailed challenge and have 24 hours to complete it. Although the challenges are designed for those learning to code, they can be enjoyed by individuals with existing coding chops! The tasks encompass JavaScript, CSS, and HTML and can be completed using your favorite coding editor (I use VS Code) or the Scrimba online editor. This year, they even included four AI-based challenges, adding a new and fun dimension.
While the idea of completing the challenge within 24 hours may not seem like microlearning, it’s more about the time limit, which adds to the fun—gotta love a deadline! The topic each day typically takes around 3 to 5 minutes to explain. Additionally, each lesson comes with starting files for the required code of that day’s challenge. Each lesson also includes stretch goals—additional tasks to expand on the day’s topic and increase the difficulty. If you’re new to the concept introduced in the lesson, there will also be some time spent on self-paced learning to help you complete the challenge. This process is facilitated by the Scrimba code editor, which can be shared and viewed. This means you can see not only others’ answers but also the code behind their solutions, providing another great learning tool—observing different ways to arrive at the same answer.
I’ve taken part in JavaScriptmas twice in 2021 and 2023, and hope to do it again next year. If you are interested you can see all 24 of my “answers” for each year on my GitHub page
The JavaScriptmas is free and open to anyone, you just need to sign up with a free Scrimab account. I’ve completed many of the different challenges Scrimba has offered in the past few years, as well as taken some of their free courses for JS, HTML, and CSS. Of course, (see what I did there?) Scrimba also has some great paid content if you wish to give it a try.
Now, let’s dive into the 100 days of AI – another exciting venture, this time spanning 100 days with a focus on Artificial intelligence (AI). I discovered this challenge on “X” (@100daysai) shortly after completing JavaScriptmas, and it was set to commence on January 1st, 2024. Naturally, I decided to jump on board
As mentioned in the image above, each day, you’ll receive an email in your inbox with a different task that takes around 30 minutes to complete, helping you learn something new about AI, or an AI tool, app, or workflow. The idea of committing to 100 consecutive days may seem daunting, but don’t worry – the challenge includes designated rest and reflection days throughout.
This challenge is delivered in 3 phases:
- Phase 1: Al Foundations
- Phase 2: Learn the most versatile AI use cases
- Phase 3: Apply your AI skills to real world problems
I just finished Day 40, got through 2 phases, and now there’s one big chunk left!.
I won’t dive too deep into the nitty-gritty now because I’ve got follow-up posts coming on each of the 3 phases in this challenge. But I don’t want to keep you waiting, so here’s a sneak peek – an AI-powered joke generator I whipped up using Chipp and the OpenAI API to tap into ChatGPT 3.5 for some laughs on Day 24.
Dad Joke 9000 (click the link to try it for yourself)
These are just two examples of ways to take advantage of microlearning. Everyone has their favorite – whether it’s YouTube videos, short clips on TikTok or Reels, or perhaps your learning platform of choice has built-in microlearning modules. The point is to try whatever seems interesting to you, and you never know what you might learn next!
Speaking of learning next, the folks behind 100 Days of AI, have another site called 100 Day of No Code, and that’s where I’m heading next.
Until next time, keep on microlearning!
All the Links: bio.link/thebimsider
Note: The images in this post, unless noted otherwise, were created using AI (Copilot & DALL-E 3)
The BIMsider 
3 thoughts on “Small Steps, Big Possibilities: My Microlearning Adventure with JavaScriptmas & 100 Days of AI”