Way back in 1956, Harvard University cognitive psychologist, named George A. Miller introduced the concept of chunking. He presented the idea that people can only store seven (plus minus 2) chunks of information in their memory. The concept of chunking then formed the basis of educational psychologist Richard E. Mayer’s Segmentation Principle of Learning. Today we are excited to announce that keeping Miller and Mayer’s research in mind and getting lots of feedback from instructors and learners, we are launching are latest lab experience: Labs Bytes by XtremeLabs.
Lab Bytes contain all of the features that our learners currently enjoy with our full-length labs. However, Lab Bytes have been designed so that they can be completed in 15-30-minute bursts, instead of 2-8 hours for a typical lab module.
Lab Bytes are intended to accompany instructor-led classes, practice exams and can also be used for self-guided learning. Lab Bytes are especially suited for academic environments. Learners will be able to complete a single objective at a time, and professors can easily assign one or more exercises for homework. This will correspond more easily with classes that span over a longer period, such as semester-long college courses.
Figure 1: Lab Bytes for learning Windows PowerShell
Mesa Community College is using our Windows 10 Administration Lab Bytes for multiple classes in their Computer Information Systems program in the Fall of 2020. Faculty lead Xenia Johnston reports that “The class is going very well, and the labs are working out great. The labs are all working as designed. They are exactly the right platform for the academic environment.”
Another of our customers has incorporated Lab Bytes into their AI-based Adaptive learning offering. Learning paths are dynamically adjusted and adapted for each learner based on their performance on various topics.
We are continuously rolling out Lab Bytes. The following 140+ Lab Bytes are now available:
- Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell – now available with 18 Lab Bytes
- Windows 10 Administration – now available with 39 Labs Bytes
- Windows Server 2016 – now available with 22 Lab Bytes
- Querying Data with Microsoft Transact-SQL. – now available with 50 Lab Bytes
- Azure Fundamentals – now with 18 Lab Bytes
In Q4, look out for Lab Bytes for Cloud technologies including Azure Administration, Azure and AWS Architect, Azure AI and many more! And of course, all the cloud labs will come with XtremeLabs Cloud Express Pass technology – so learners will not have to worry about cloud costs or access credentials.
Interested in trying out Lab Bytes? Have suggestions for Lab Bytes? Please contact sales@xtremelabs.io for purchase information.