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(AnagreementwithTexasA&MUniversitythatallowsSanJuanstudentstotransfercreditstowardafour-yeardegreemayalsohavebeenanattraction.)Instructorsatothercolleges,suchasYorkUniversity,inToronto,haveexperimentedwithlecturesthatlastabout20minutes—particularlyinonlineclasses,wherestudentscanquicklygrowboredwatchingatalkingheadontheircomputerscreens.ButSanJuan'ssystematicuseofthe60-secondlecturemaytaketheshrinking-lecturestrendthefurthest.Themicrolectures,whichlastfrom60secondstothreeminutes,dolittlemorethanintroducekeytermsandconcepts.Inanonlineclassonacademicreading,forexample,studentslearningaboutwordconstructionlistentoan80-secondmicrolecturethatintroduceswordpartsandexplainsthattheyhaveabearingonthemeaningofwords,saidMichelleMeeks,areadinginstructor.Studentsthenuseanonlinedictionarytolookupalistof25prefixes,suffixes,andwordroots,writinguptheirfindingsanddiscussingthemonamessageboard.SandraTracy,deanoftheschoolofextendedlearningatSanJuan,saidsheinitiallydoubtedthatmicrolecturescouldbeeffective—theyjustdidn'tseemlongenough.Atfirstit'soneofthemostunnaturalthings,Ms.Tracysaid.Butit'sanintriguingconcept—itgetsyouawayfromtheideaofatalkinghead;it'smorelikesnapshotsoflearning.1of33/2/20097:19AMThankstoaflexiblecourse-managementsystemandstandardizedlessonplans—microlecture,assignment,anddiscussion—coursedevelopmentisrelativelyquick:Theoccupational-safetyprogramhadfourcoursesupandrunningintwomonths.Ms.Meeks,whocondenseda10-minutelectureintothe80-secondmicrolecturesheusesintheword-constructionlesson,saidshewasinitiallywaryoftheformat.Butwhenshereplacedthein-depthexplanationsofwordpartsinthe10-minutelecturewithabriefintroductiontokeywords,littleseemedtobelostexceptverbiage,shesaid.Studentfeedbackhasbeenalmostentirelypositive,Ms.Tracysaid,andadministratorsnowrecommendthatnewdistance-learningprogramsusemicrolectures.Theformatencouragesactivelearning,saysDavidPenrose,acoursedesignerforSunGardHigherEducationandonline-servicesmanagerforSanJuanCollege.HedevelopedthemicrolecturesforSanJuan.Whilethequantityofinformationthata60-secondmicrolecturecanconveyislimited,hesaid,itprimesthestudenttolearnfromcompletingtheassignmentsthatfollowthemicrolecture.It'saframeworkforknowledgeexcavation,Mr.Penrosesaid.We'regoingtoshowyouwheretodig,we'regoingtotellyouwhatyouneedtobelookingfor,andwe'regoingtooverseethatprocess.RichardFiske,afirst-yearstudentinMs.Meeks'sreadingclass,saidthathesometimeswishesthemicrolectureswouldelaboratemoreoncertainareasbutthattheyfunctionwellaslessonoverviewsandgiveenoughinformationforhimtocompleteassignmentsandparticipateindiscussions.Inrecentyears,manydistance-learningprogramshaveadoptedothershort-formpedagogicaltools,saidJohnG.Flores,executivedirectoroftheUnitedStatesDistanceLearningAssociation.Podcasts,manyofwhichintroduceatopicbrieflyandencouragelistenerstoperformtheirownresearch,havebecomeincreasinglypopularwithdistance-learningprograms,hesaid.Mr.PenrosesaidmicrolecturesaresonewatSanJuanthattheyhaveencounteredlittleopposition,butadministratorsandinstructorssaidtheformatmaynotworkaswellinclassesrequiringsustaineddiscussionorexplanationsofcomplicatedprocesses.Ms.Tracy,whosaidshehopedtoexpandtheuseofmicrolecturestoasmanyofSanJuan'sonlinecoursesaspossible,saidtheformatworksbestwheninstructorswishtoimpartsmallchunksofinformation.Inclassesrequiringextendeddiscussions,likeEnglish-literaturecourses,microlecturesfallshort,shesaid.AndChrisBaade,anassistantprofessorofmathematicsatSanJuanwhoisfilmingaseriesoftwo-minutevideosthatdemonstratehowtoworkthroughseveralalgebraproblems,saidsheneverconsideredusingthemicrolectureformat.Simplyusingkeywordswouldleavestudentswithoutcrucialstep-by-stepexplanationsofhowtosolvetheproblems,shesaid.DennisDeTurck,whorunsa60-second-lectureseriesattheUniversityofPennsylvaniathatMr.PenroselookedatbeforedevisingSanJuan'sprogram,saidsuchshortlectures—usedatPenntoshowcaseitsfacultyratherthanprovideformalacademicinstruction—havetheirpedagogicallimitations.Inalotofclasses,