Enhancing Cognitive Competence through Microlearning: a Pedagogical Model

The study presents a pedagogical model for developing cognitive competence in contemporary students enrolled in higher education programmes through the use of microlearning technology. The relevance of the study is determined by the influence of factors characteristic of the digital information age, which contribute to a decline in learners’ attention span and their ability to engage effectively in cognitive activity. Cognitive competence is understood as an integrative construct comprising personal (general and subject-specific intellectual qualities), motivational (interest in learning activity and the aspiration for self-development), cognitive (object-related and metacognitive knowledge), and activity-based components (a set of essential skills). The activity-based component, which plays a leading role, is represented by four groups of skills: intellectual, informational, organisational-regulatory, and metacognitive. The implementation of the model requires three pedagogical conditions: activating the potential of modern digital technologies, integrating neurodidactic research results into microlearning, and facilitating students’ independent learning activity. Microlearning is regarded as the key instructional tool for developing cognitive competence, as it represents a contemporary educational approach grounded in current neurodidactic research. Within the learning process, microlearning makes it possible to overcome pedagogical difficulties by fostering the development of voluntary attention, concentration, retention of new information, and awareness in learning. The level of cognitive competence development was assessed according to criteria corresponding to its components: emotional-volitional, motivational, knowledge-based, and procedural. The assessment results made it possible to distinguish the following levels of competence development: intuitive-elementary, reproductive-basic, situational-variable, and creative-productive. The proposed pedagogical model can be integrated into foreign language curricula for different groups of learners.

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