Can Your Organization Benefit From Mobile Learning? Part 1
A few years ago the concept of providing learners with learning on the go came into being, and the world awaited with anticipation the realization of this concept. While some wondered whether this was even possible, eLearning specialists created learning courses for the learner who was on the go.
From classroom training to online training to blended learning – and now mobile learning – technology has now made it possible for learners to access learning whenever and wherever they want to. A very exciting prospect indeed, but is mobile learning meant for your organization? Let’s take a look at what mobile learning is and if your organization can benefit from it.
What is mobile Learning?
Put simply, mobile learning is the use of mobile technology in online learning, allowing learners to access their learning on a mobile device with or without the use of internet connectivity.
When Mobile Learning Is Beneficial
Today’s organizations and employees are faced with new training challenges.These challenges are as follows:
A Mobile Workforce: Most of today’s workforce is a mobile – from the busy sales executive who is on the move to the bank manager who is deployed in a remotely located branch, this workforce is faced with problems such as low bandwidth and/or no internet connectivity.
A Mobile-Savvy Workforce: Over 60{70c334fb92e874d1e6848b98072ad90d8e1e4d18d72219bf8863dcf279bcb8a9} of today’s workforce is made up of Gen Y employees. Unlike previous generations, this generation has grown up with technology, is technology savvy, and is used to instant gratification via technology. This generation demands immediate answers to pressing problems. They also prefer accessing information on their own devices rather than via a laptop or desktop.
A Shortened Attention Span: Today’s workforce suffers from a shortened attention span. As a result, long, intense, classroom-training sessions are a failure. Arduous training sessions give rise to boredom and prove to be disastrous. As a result, organizations are faced with the problem of providing training that is relevant and at the same time successful.
Low Shelf-Life of Information: Knowledge changes at the speed of light. By the time a course is created and rolled out to employees, it is time to rewrite the course once again to update knowledge. This is especially true in certain industries such as medicine and pharmacy. For an organization to be successful, it is essential that the training provided is up to date at all times. Keeping up with the latest knowledge and providing it on time is a challenge that is hard to overcome.
Inconsistency in Training: Training a globally-dispersed workforce uniformly can be challenging when trainers and training methods differ across locations. Classroom training can be inconsistent as well (changing from day to the next and from one trainer to the next), causing confusion, disassociation and the lack of interest among employees.
For all of the above problems mobile learning has been proved to be the most obvious solution.
24×7 Learning is one of the few organizations that has recognized and addressed these training challenges that organizations and employees face. The company has created a new-age mobile learning platform called LearnTrak that has been designed to provide successful learning to employees who are deployed globally, simply by making training accessible on mobile devices, in a structured way.
In the second part of this series we will look at how mobile learning can address the problems that have been detailed above.