What Is Mobile Learning? Your Complete Guide To Employee Mobile Learning

Designing Digitally

04/22/2019

what is mobile learning

Mobile phone users are expected to reach 5 billion by 2019. This indicates a rise of more than a billion users since 2013. Organizations should incorporate mobile devices in learning due to the importance it has with training delivery. Mobile learning, or mlearning, deals with delivering training across all portable mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Why adopting mobile learning is a smart move?

#1: Anytime access
Your staff is not always available in the office. There are some professions that require extensive traveling. How do you upskill them? It is not a wise decision to wait until you can get everyone under one roof. This is why you need a mobile learning strategy. You need to provide them with learning access anytime and from anywhere. Let them decide when they can dedicate pockets of time for learning.

#2: Higher rate of completion
Mobile learning is usually bite-sized. You cannot expect people to go through lengthy learning on their smartphone. Since learners digest the nuggets faster, they retain the content better. Mlearning hands over the choice of learning completely to the learners. They decide what they want to learn and when. This level of personalization leads to better engagement. Thus, the completion rates are higher.

#3: On-demand performance support
When your employees receive information on-demand, they tend to remember and use it better. Mlearning makes it possible for them to access relevant information at the time they need it the most.

#4: Save money and resources
The initial investment in mobile learning may be high. But the more learners use it, the faster you can write off the cost in the long term. You can reuse the same content a number of times across all locations. You also save a huge amount of resources that you usually spend on classroom learning – travel cost, venue, training equipment, accommodation, stationery, and so on.

Cons of mlearning

Mobile learning does have some disadvantages too.  Learners use their mobile devices for a myriad of other things. So, there are chances of them getting distracted while learning on the device. Several app notifications may deviate their focus from the learning. If they do not have adequate bandwidth or speed, they may get frustrated with the regular buffering and leave the course midway.

Here are a few tips to get started on mobile designing.

  • Keep it simple. You need to keep in mind that the devices have smaller screens than laptops and desktops. If you cram in a lot of content, chances are high that your learners will skip it. So, use your space very carefully. Include relevant information only.
  • Choose your interactions wisely. Complex interactions can look great on larger screens, but it may clutter smaller ones and lead to a negative user experience. For example, drag-and-drop may not be an easy activity on mobile screens. You may pull it off with fewer answer options.
  • Since the screen real estate is limited, you must use relevant graphics only, and avoid cosmetic ones. Also, keep in mind that the graphics require data to download. The larger and more complex the graphics, the longer it will take to download.

Mlearning can fit in perfectly for most of your functions. You just need to put in some thought on how to customize it to the relevant function.

At Designing Digitally, Inc., our mobile learning solutions make sure that your employees have access to vital information when they need it the most. We believe in a mobile-first mentality and can incorporate responsive design to ensure your content is read easily, regardless of the device is accessed from.

If you are ready to implement mobile training solutions at your company, book a free consultation with our team to learn more about our service options and how we can assist you.  

Related Resources: The Top Mobile Learning Trends for 2019 and Corporate Trainer’s Guide to: Mobile Learning Implementation & Delivery White Paper