"The short length makes these impractical for anything but very focused topics," he told The Standard. "They are not a good mechanism to convey several subtle points in a particular argument, for example."

Seaman also pointed to the role of mobile technologies in disseminating the microlectures. "Having them short means that they can be very portable - a student might have several dozen of these on their iPod, for example, that you go to at any time if a specific issue arises when they are doing an assignment," he said.

SunGard Higher Education, the company that designed the microlecture program for San Juan College hopes to expand the program to other institutions, a company spokesperson told The Standard.