Mobile Learning

As mobile technologies become increasingly prominent in our lives, it seems the right time to explore how we can effectively use these devices to support training. Companies need to be adaptable in a changing market, so employee connectivity to information is paramount. Employees also have smaller and smaller windows of time to learn so presenting a new channel to access small learning chunks is becoming more and more important.

Why is it of value? Well 24/7 access is a major benefit. The opportunity to learn when you want with a device that, unlike a PC, is literally with you all of the time. You can push alerts or information to users immediately with no time delay. Extremely useful with a worldwide workforce on the move and you need to get vital information to them anywhere, anytime.

Learning through a phone is a lot different from learning via a PC or physical class. Learning objects should be short and fill a gap in the learners day at a time they find convenient. No-one is going to find a nice quiet environment and embark on an engrossed length of study. Its learning on the go - on a bus, on a train, eating dinner, at the airport etc. We also need to be aware of restrictions around screen size, bandwidth, and what is possible in media richness depending on hardware or software limitations. An excellent source of information on mobile learning is available from Masie. With great examples from business and educational institutes. They even include a section on Augmented Reality. Examples of companies using mobile learning: Merrill Lynch and their GoLearn project. The company obtained a 12% higher completion rate in 30% less time than comparable mandated training programs. CLO also covered this here.

Sun Microsystems make their training videos available via an iTouch or iPhone. Refer to this link and YouTube video on how they did this.

Learningtown has over 300 members in its group Mobile Learning. Good source of up-to-date thinking from trainers in the middle of project executions.

My philosophy is: lets focus on producing information that can be accessed on the "device-of-choice" of our audience and not by forcing people to a specific channel that may not be convenient to their lifestyle. So if I want to view information about a new process on my iPod, or mobile phone or PC, then lets make it happen. Information anytime, anywhere - therefore learning anytime, anywhere - regardless of what hardware you use.

Here are some ideas where we could use mobile phone: offering training-specific mp3 podcasts (internet radio on the move), using the phone camera to read QRCodes and capture information or weblinks, use SMS to remind learners on specific topics before/after a class, or use SMS as a weekly tips and advice subscription. An innovative mobile strategy could also facilitate the delivery of coaching and mentoring advice (hello Twitter and Yammer). A mobile site can be setup to publish pages of company or department information for quick reference while on the go. We should not forget that a phone is a two-way device and you can collect information directly from the user wherever they are. Training departments can push out assessments and evaluations such as tests, polls, quizzes, surveys and certifications and get feedback via their mobile device fast and convenient.

Lets review the usual "why bother" question? How many associates have a mobile phone? 99%. How often do associates use mobile phones? Day and night. Are they using the phone to access web-based content? Yes. In the US alone, 63.2 million people accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009 (ComScore). Is the use of mobile phones to access content growing? Yes. ComScore reported that the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.

So, there's no avoiding it, the mobile era is upon us. If most of our workforce use mobile devices on a regular basis, it would seem this is a fantastic opportunity to supplement and complement our current training approaches by providing a fresh new channel of information and two-way communication.