SearchResearch Challenge (8/6/25): Best ways to do just-in-time learning?

 It happens constantly... 

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... maybe it happens constantly to you too.  

I suddenly need to learn something I know little-to-nothing about, and learn it fast.  

In essence, I have to be a fast learner and become an instant expert (or as close as possible within the time I've got).  

That's what this Challenge is all about.  What are some new (largely AI-driven) ways to rapidly learn something?  

I'm curious what you've found are the best ways to pick up a topic quickly.  

In the research world, people have written about "micro-learning," tiny episodes of learning that you fit in between the other moments of your day.  (Example of an academic paper on this topic)

But I also want to know about "meso-learning" (intermediate scale topics), and even if you've found good ways to organize "macro-learning" (that is, big topics that take a long time to acquire).  

Let's divvy it up this way:  

Micro-learning - instruction usually taking 10 minutes or less. (There's even a Wikipedia article on Microlearing.)  

Meso-learning - between 10 minutes and 1 hour.  

Macro-learning - more than an hour, and up to the rest-of-your-life.  

(I also realize that people use Microlearning to do macrolearning--like learning a language or do vocabulary practice. We'll ignore that distinction now and return to it next week.)  

So here's your Challenge: 

1. What are the best AI-inspired (or AI-driven) new Micro- and Meso-learning that you've found?  Have you actually tried this method?  How well has it worked out for you? 

Example:  I'm in the process of brushing up my Spanish (because I live in California, so it's handy) and German (because I go to Switzerland fairly often).  So I've been using Duolingo as a Micro-learning method.  It's not super-AI-ish, but they keep adding AI components to it.  I've also been trying AI-driven language tools (e.g., MakesYouFluent) to exercise my conversational skills.  (I'll give you my thoughts about each next week.)

But YOU might have a few tricks up your sleeve.  For instance, I know of some people who create a Google NotebookLM, drop in a bunch of content, and then have it generate a podcast they can download and listen to as a way of learning something.  Have you tried this?  Did it work well for you? 

What tactics and strategies do you employ to understand a topic area quickly?

Most importantly, what do you do? 

Summary next week, along with some thoughts on my part.  

Keep searching!