M-learning Implementation in Organizations - An Overview ...€¦ · M-learning Implementation in Organizations - An Overview of the Basics 1 M-learning Implementation ... A World

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M-learning Implementation in Organizations - An Overview of the Basics

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M-learning Implementation in Organizations - An Overview

of the Basics


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Table of Contents

Introduction

Why M-learning?

5 Factors That Make a Compelling Case for M-learning in Organizations

Arguments and Counterarguments About M-learning Implementation

Who Is the Best Audience for Mobile Learning?

Implementing Mobile Learning

Getting Started with Mobile Learning

Tips for Implementing M-learning in Organizations

Cost Considerations for Implementing Mobile Learning

M-learning for Various Corporate Situations

Designing M-learning

List of Authoring Tools For Creating M-learning

Web Apps and Native Apps for Mobile Learning

7 Tips For Converting E-learning Courseware to Mobile Learning

Top 5 Mobile Learning Delivery Formats

Mobile Learning Trends

Conclusion

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Introduction

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Mobile devices have taken the center stage in most people’s lives. Today, people find it

acceptable to miss their wallet at home but not their mobile phones. So, wouldn’t it be

appropriate and sensible to consider this device for the purpose of knowledge transfer?

Therefore, it is no surprise that mobile learning has now become the most talked-about

subject in learning and training conferences. A quick look at the statistics pertaining to

mobile devices leaves us with no doubt that mLearning is all set to change the learning and

training landscape in the years to come. (See Box)

Given the permeability of mobile devices, organizations cannot afford to ignore its potential

in the area of knowledge dissemination. A mobile phone is no longer looked upon as a

device used only to exchange voices – it has transformed to be much more than that.

Younger generations already use these devices for informal learning and its potential in a

formal learning context in the form of mobile learning or mLearning is but a natural

progression.

In this eBook, we will explore the different facets of mLearning and how organizations can

use it keeping in mind its business interests and employee interests.

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• A World Bank report states that close to 75% of World's population has access to mobile phones (World Bank, 2012).

• A Morgan Stanley Research estimates that worldwide, mobile internet users will surpass desktop internet users by 2014 (Morgan Stanley, 2010).

• It is estimated that there are nearly 6.8 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide 1 (ITU, 2013)

• 375 million tablets are likely to be purchased globally by 2016. (Forrester, 2013)(Forrester, 2012)

• The US market for Mobile Learning products and services was $958.7 million in 2010 and with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 13.7%, revenues are expected to reach $1.82 billion by 2015 (Ambient Insight, 2013).

• Sale of tablet computers are expected to outsell PCs as early as 2016 (NPD, 2012) • 51% of companies planned to do more mLearning in 2011 (eLearning Guild, 2011) .

Statistics Related to Mobile Devices


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Why M-learning?

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In a Benchmark Study by Towards Maturity, it was reported that employees responded

positively to learning when organizations use mobile devices for employee learning

(Towards Maturity, New Learning Agenda - Talent, Technology, Change, 2013). Mobile

technologies provide immediate knowledge that will come in handy to employees when

they need it the most. Organizations understand the scope of utilizing this growing

technology because they want to keep pace with the speed of businesses, and cater to a

growing mobile workforce.

5 Factors That Make a Compelling Case for M-learning in Organizations

As mentioned earlier, organizations cannot afford to ignore the massive proliferation of

mobile devices, increasing bandwidths and widespread acceptance of the mobile

technology among the emerging workforce. It provides them with a great opportunity to

provide alternate avenues to improve learning and performance of employees.

Here is an infographic that very succinctly lists down the five factors that make a

compelling case for mLearning in organizations.

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Arguments and Counterarguments About M-learning Implementation

Mobile learning implementation is not easy and it has its set of drawbacks and limitations.

Some vociferously argue for it and others are equally vocal against it. Let’s looks at some

of the arguments against mLearning and counterarguments that support the initiative.

Therefore, mobile devices are just one of the many available formats through which

knowledge can be transferred. Discretion is required by the user to use it safely and

purposefully.

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Argument against mLearning Counterargument in favor of mLearning

Screen size is too small, cannot accommodate enough content for effective learning to take place.

Content delivered can be to-the-point, in the form of bite-sized chunks, and can be effectively delivered on small screens with careful and intelligent designing.

Security of proprietary content is an issue when mobile phones are stolen or lost.

Employees access official emails and log in to company intranet any way for other business needs. Training option is only an extension of the existing facilities.

Training cannot be thorough as long training sessions are not possible in mobile devices.

Training is more personal and in an easily digestible format. An employee can access content easily and revisit the concepts when needed, as per his/her convenience. It may not be ideal to launch a full-fledged training program but works wonders for refresher training.

SCORM is considered a standard for eLearning products. But, mobile learning does not have any standards and tracking may not possible for mLearning.

SCORM compliance is not a necessity for delivering mLearning. However, new developments such as Tin Can API and native mobile apps are increasingly making this possible. Latest LMSs are making tracking mLearning possible.

Mobiles distract learners more than transfer knowledge. They keep drawing you away from learning and concentrating, each time you receive a call or a text.

Mobile learning modules are usually in small learning bites of 5-7 minutes and it is really up to the user to focus and concentrate on the learning. Distractions can happen even during traditional training sessions or during taking eLearning modules. It is the learner who makes the choice and not the medium.


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Who Is the Best Audience for Mobile

Learning?

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Mobile learning, or mLearning as it is called, refers to learning that takes place through

mobile devices such as Smartphones, iPads, iPhones and so on. It has become an

extension of eLearning, with most eLearning developers focusing on making their courses

compatible with mobile devices.

However, mobile learning may not be required or feasible for all. This brings us to the

question: Who are the most suitable audiences for mobile learning? Here are some

suggestions.

Field personnel of any organization would be among the first people who would benefit

from mobile learning. These could include sales people, service technicians or staff

involved in maintenance and installation of products.

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Sales Personnel

Channel Partners Customers

Senior Management

Service Personnel


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Apart from them channel partners such as wholesalers, distributors, dealers, agents could

also benefit from mLearning. They are typically those people who are not confined to a

desk at a specific location and need to move about to different locations at different points

of time. Most of these personnel today are provided with Smartphones by their

organizations as their job demands it. They can be called and contacted at any given point

of time, which speeds up the whole business process. That is the justification and this is

precisely what makes them the first and most suitable audience.

Customers also could benefit and prove to be the target audience for mLearning. The sale

of mobile devices worldwide is increasing at such a phenomenal rate that it provides an

excellent opportunity to leverage the medium. Installation of products, basic guidance for

troubleshooting, and information of new products are some of the useful features that

prove to be beneficial to customers, and organizations can capitalize on this opportunity to

retain their customer base.

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Senior management cannot be left behind in mLearning as they are the ones who use

mobile devices, such as Smartphones, extensively. They are usually hard pressed for time

and find it ‘next to impossible’ to attend training programs. In addition, they need to be up-

to-date with a lot of information related to their company and industry. Knowledge transfer

and management can be suitably tailored for them through mLearning.

As a matter of fact, any employee in an organization could be a willing audience for mobile

learning. Most employees these days have a good smartphone and the medium can be

easily leveraged for learning. Bite-sized courses, job aids, tips that help employees in their

jobs, reminders of best practices and similar information could be shared with them.

Thus, mobile learning can be beneficial to field personnel, customers, members of the

senior management or employees in an organization. M-Learning has the capability to

change the way knowledge sharing happens across geographical regions and across

diverse audiences – all they require is a mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet PC or

iPad and bandwidth for data transfer.

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Implementing Mobile Learning

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According to Towards Maturity, Benchmark Study 2012–2013, about 70% of the

organizations are planning to implement mobile learning in the next two years (Towards

Maturity, 2013). As a part of your mLearning strategy, you need to decide on the approach

that is best suited for implementing mobile learning in your organization. Basically, there are

three approaches towards mobile learning. You can choose the best option based on the

context and learning objectives that need to me met.

Push Learning

“Push learning” essentially refers to the approach where content or information is “pushed”

to the learners. Here, learners have little choice in terms of the content they receive. In the

context of mLearning however, it has special significance – particularly when essential and

relevant information needs to reach target learners real-time. For example, if a competitor

has launched a new product, this information will need to be shared with the sales force

quickly so that they can tweak their sales pitch accordingly. A quick tutorial on how to realign

the sales pitch could also form a part of the package.

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Push Learning

Pull Learning

Collaborative Collaborative learning


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Performance Support or Pull Learning

Pull learning refers to having information made available either on online portals or

intranets for learners. They can retrieve such information from online portals or intranets

when required. It is more need-based where you access knowledge when required. For

example, if a service engineer wants to quickly refer to a checklist before assembling a

product, he can go online using his smartphone or iPad and access the checklist that is

documented, along with the product installation guide.

Collaborative Learning

Organizations may not have a defined mLearning policy or strategy. However,

collaborative learning does take place on an informal basis thanks to social media sites

such as LinkedIn. Sites such as LinkedIn or even company intranets offer groups and

forums where professionals can collaborate and share their professional experiences.

Organizations can also create groups and forums for their employees. Such groups

become an online venue where employees can collaborate and interact with each other

and share knowledge and learn collectively. Access to such forums through mobile

devices makes it easy for employees to participate, debate and discuss issues.

The best approach towards mLearning for your organization depends on the objectives

you wish to fulfill. Is it meant to help in knowledge-sharing or is it meant to provide a

means to access information when required? Alternatively, is it simply a collaborative

platform for social learning? Choose the best approach, based on the needs of the

learners and their learning objectives.

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Getting Started with Mobile Learning

Just as is the case with any new initiative, it is always better to have a clear roadmap

before implementing mobile learning in your organization. Here is an infographic that takes

you through the road map to mLearning implementation.

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Tips for Implementing M-learning in Organizations

M-Learning, when implemented efficiently, helps in the realization of organizational goals.

Here are some tips for the successful implementation of mLearning.

Be clear about the learning objectives to be achieved

If you have a clear idea about what mobile learning CAN DO and CANNOT DO, you will

get a clear idea on how mLearning can meet you training needs. This will enable you to

chart your learning activities accordingly. For instance, many organizations have realized

that m-learning could be used effectively to impart bite-sized learning. This knowledge has

helped them to exploit the full learning potential of mobile devices, by developing short

learning modules, which could be accessed through these gadgets.

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Make accurate cost estimation of required resources

What are the budgetary requirements for the successful implementation of mLearning?

Which hardware and software capabilities are needed to make mLearning effective? Does

the organization’s manpower suffice? Accurate answers to these questions help you to

make the most critical choice – whether the project should be outsourced or handled in-

house. This has a major impact on the success of the implementation as all subsequent

activities depend on it.

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Plan for streamlined implementation

It is essential that the project activities are carried out effectively and monitored carefully. In

case the project is outsourced, close coordination is needed with the vendor. Most

companies appoint a single point of contact to enable hassle-free liaison with the vendor.

This goes a long way in ensuring smooth and successful implementation of mLearning.

Even in organizations that develop mLearning solutions in-house, it is advisable to form a

team of experts to work exclusively on the project. This prevents diversion of these experts’

time and attention to other activities.

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Use right technology – Authoring Tools

There are mobile devices of various types and it is very important to ensure that these

devices support mLearning courses. Compatibility issues can ruin a project. Therefore, it is

necessary that the right technology be used to develop mLearning. This is significant for

organizations who adopt the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, where they allow

employees to use their personal devices for official purposes – accessing mails, making

conference calls and accessing office intranet, etc.

You need tools that can convert eLearning into the HTML5 format. Since HTML5-based

content works well on mobile devices, you need to consider tools that can make your

courses run on iPads and PCs. Organizations are sitting on a mountain of eLearning

courses developed in Flash. These courses do not run on mobile devices due to

compatibility issues. This is where authoring tools assist you in quickly converting your

Flash-based eLearning courses to the HTML5 format. Some popular authoring tools in the

market are Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate 7, Lectora Inspire and iSpring.

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Adopt the right delivery strategy - LMS

It is necessary to ensure that the mLearning solution delivers an excellent learning

experience. The most appropriate delivery mechanism should be used to enhance job

performance. It is important to effectively incorporate the mLearning solution into the

existing training strategy. Most successful organizations use the right blend of ILT and

mLearning to achieve maximum productivity.

You need to have a platform to host these mLearning courses. As tracking and reporting

are mandatory functions for every training manager, the inability to link your existing LMS

to track mobile learning activities, has been seen as the biggest concern. The problem can

be subdued by LMSs such as Moodle, which can easily track your mobile learning

activities just as it does for other online and classroom activities.

Having a clear idea about these factors will help you make a good start with your

mLearning initiatives in your organization.

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Cost Considerations for Implementing Mobile Learning

Here is some information on the typical costs associated with starting mobile learning in

your organization.

Hardware costs

Hardware costs include the purchasing of mobile devices, associated infrastructure, such

as server and device connection. If you decide to adopt the BYOD policy, you will save on

the costs involved with providing mobile devices for your employees. However, it would be

advisable to implement the BYOD policy with appropriate security precautions.

With the BYOD policy, learners can have access to the organization’s resources, using

their personal devices at workplaces. Many organizations are adopting this policy as it is

cost effective. IBM was the first company to implement this policy.

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Development costs

Development costs include salaries of content developers, instructional designers,

graphic designers and cost of authoring tools. You will also incur expenses when you

have to pay for procuring the license to use authoring tools for course development. If

you do not wish to make a long-term investment on production teams and licensing

costs, then the best alternative would be to outsource the task of course development

to eLearning vendors who may be cheaper and more manageable. When

organizations have already developed a great deal of eLearning courses, an ideal

solution would be to leverage the existing content by finding methods of making it

compatible to small screens. This would greatly reduce development costs to

organizations.

For example, you already have eLearning courses. You want to deliver these through

mobile devices.

First, select the eLearning courses you want to convert to mobile learning. Classify the

content of each course as “unimportant,” “important,” “very important.” Select the content

that is important and very important. Break it into bite-sized modules. Make it ready for

conversion. (Flash-based courses can be converted to videos).

The average cost for converting such existing eLearning courses to mobile learning (iPad)

may be approximately 30 US dollars per slide (this may vary depending upon the tool used

to develop and animations present on it).

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LMS Integration Costs

Some LMSs are not compatible with mobile courses. Customization may incur additional

costs.

Moreover, tracking and reporting are mandatory functions for today’s training managers.

The costs involved in linking the existing LMS to track mobile learning activities is an

important factor to be considered. Often too many resources, time and cost are invested

for the integration process, which might not justify the Return on Investment.

With an increasing number of users and changing business needs, organizations expect

their LMSs to meet all their needs in a cost-effective manner; but invariably this does not

happen because the existing LMSs are rigid with updates or customization turns out to be

a very costly affair.

Open source LMSs, like Moodle are compatible with mLearning and provide a cost-

effective alternative.

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M-learning for Various Corporate Situations

During uncertain economies, organizations need to deal with increased and tough

competition. The pressure to become more efficient in businesses is felt more than ever.

Organizations constantly need to innovate and change the way they do business and this

requires them to constantly train their workforce about new policies, procedures,

equipment or technology.

Mobile devices offer that opportunity to provide speedy knowledge transfer without

incurring huge costs. Here are some examples of typical corporate situations where mobile

learning can be of great help.

Reinforcement training to sales personnel

Sales people undergo a classroom training session that lasts anywhere from 3 days to a

week depending on the organization. During this period, they are given an orientation to

the sales process, product details and selling skills. However, can a sales person retain

this information beyond a three-month period? It is difficult. Classroom training can be

effectively reinforced through mobile learning in the following ways:

A bite-sized video on the sales process serves as a refresher capsule that can be accessible via mobile devices.

Short modules can be created on key product benefits and features, which can be accessed by sales staff, before meeting prospective customers.

Organizations need not conduct a full-fledged training program to educate sales personnel on product updates. Instead, short learning modules explaining the updates and new launches can be developed for mobile devices and can be easily accessed by the sales force.

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Just-in-time Knowledge Sharing for Medical and Healthcare Professionals

According to Ambient Insight report, health care sector using four types of mLearning

products.

Mobile continuing medical education (CME)

Mobile exam prep

Emergency medical decision support

Clinical decision support

Medical and healthcare reference

Medical professionals need to learn and update their knowledge on a continual basis in

order to keep their medical license. However, lack of time and busy schedules make this

very difficult for them. Mobile learning offers solutions to enable medical professionals to

obtain just-in-time information without having to lug huge volumes of reference books or

manuals (Ambient Insight, 2008).

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Update on Current and Relevant Professionals Developments in Financial Sector

Financial companies, audit and accounting firms, insurance agencies or banks function in a

very volatile and dynamic market situation. They need to stay current and up to date with

the happenings in their industry and understand its implications to their individual

situations. Regulatory bodies might come up with new rules to comply, there may be

changes in the tax policies or calculations. Partners in these organizations are usually

busy executives and cannot afford to attend classroom training or long online training

modules. mLearning can prove to be very handy in such situations. Some of the content

that can be very useful for mLearning in financial sector are,

Compliance regulations

Financial guidelines

Tax laws

Do’s and Don’ts scenarios

Case Studies

These are just some ideas on how mobile learning can be applied to various corporate

situations. There could be many more based on the industry’s, organization’s and

individuals’ needs. The basic principle to follow is not to try and convert existing training

material to mobile learning but to identify instances and situations that merit mLearning.

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Designing M-learning

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Mobile learning has its own constraints and cannot replace eLearning initiatives in an

organization. At the same time, courses designed for PCs cannot be automatically used for

mobile devices as the content will need to be tailored to suit the target medium. With the

advent of different tools that can publish the eLearning courses to the HTML5 format,

organizations have started considering mLearning just as eLearning, but on a smaller

screen.; however, this concept is not right. The design requirements of a desktop

eLearning are very different from those of mobile learning.

Here are a few considerations that you need to keep in mind, while designing mLearning

courses.

Provide just-in-time learning

Learners find it tedious to access learning for hours via mobiles or handheld devices

because of their small screen sizes. So you cannot offer them courses of a long duration

and ask them to search for the information that they need. You need to choose only the key

points (like top tips, best practices, guidelines) and break them down into small capsules

for mLearning to help learners in their job field.

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Have concise and self-contained modules

The bite-sized learning method should address the context, but should not be loaded with

content. For example, if a learner picks up a small module, he should find everything that

he wants to know (graphic/interactivity/video, etc.) in that. And if you really think that you

need to have the whole content included, then chunk the content into more pages and split

it into more number of modules.

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Design to suit mobile browsers

When designing learning for tablets or smartphones, the learning environment must be

designed to suit the differences in the user interface of a touchscreen device.

The user interface design must be simple and consistent, allowing the learners to quickly get familiar with it.

The content and interactions (like hot spots and moveable objects) should be designed for broader fingers.

All buttons should be sized appropriately for selection with fingers.

Include more spacing between the touch targets so that it improves user accuracy.

Some space for text entry must be placed at the top of the screen, so that the learners can input their answers.

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Include screen-compatible images

You may not use the original image or the raw file. Use custom photography to resize the

images, as per the requirement, to eliminate file bandwidth issues. Using this, you can

even compress the images for the course. Following this step is even more important when

creating courses for the tablet. Sometimes, the smaller screens of a tablet make the

images unclear. In that context, you can crop the image to 25% and then enlarge it to make

the important parts visible.

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Keep interactivities simple

You cannot push highly interactive content or flash animations via mobile devices. Instead

those animations can be converted to videos. As mLearning is expected to offer just-in-

time learning, you can always choose to have text with images (formats supported by the

smartphone devices), keeping it simple and avoiding too many interactivities.

You can have interactivities if you so desire.

Simple interactivities or animations with text-level explanations can be included.

Interactivities like roll overs can be converted to single- or double-click selections.

Typical case scenarios can be presented as videos, with questions at the end.

Product demos can also be presented as videos (without audio to avoid loading issues). Quizzes and Assessments in the HTML 5 format.

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Check on the usability of the authoring tool

Sometimes learners intend to view courses on a tablet, rather than on a computer. You

can’t assume that courses that run well on a computer will also do the same with a tablet.

Almost all authoring tools such as Articulate storyline, Adobe Captivate and Lectora,

efficiently convert courses to the HTML5 format. One thing you need to ensure here is to

check which tool will be the most appropriate one for enabling conversion.

In short, you need to keep the interactions to a minimum and make the user experience

non-challenging and pleasant. Above all these considerations, content chunking is the key!

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List of Authoring Tools for Creating M-learning

With more and more organizations opting to choose mLearning as one of their training

delivery methods, developers are including new and upgrading the authoring tools to

accommodate mLearning needs.

Here is a list of authoring tools that assist developers in creating mLearning courses.

Though, there are many tools in the market that support mobile learning, the more popular

ones are included in the list below, arranged in alphabetical order.

Adobe Captivate

Using Adobe Captivate, you can publish course in Flash and HTML5. You can create a

single course for both the desktop and the mobile device by just publishing the course to

HTML5. Captivate can intelligently detect if the learners’ delivery platform is a desktop or a

mobile device and delivers the right content to the right device.

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Articulate Storyline

Articulate Storyline is a promising tool for mobile learning. It has a feature to publish output

to Flash, HTML5 and iOS. Output to HTML5 opens up the possibility of accessing the

courses from mobile devices. And for iPad users, you can publish the course to the iOS

format.

Claro

Claro is a cloud-based, HTML5-compliant, eLearning authoring tool from dominKnow. Its

authoring features, pre designed themes and templates can be used to create engaging

and interactive courses for mobile devices.

Hot Lava Mobile

Hot Lava mobile learning solution from Kenexa allows you to develop courses rapidly and

deploy them on all mobile devices and tablets. With Hot Lava Mobile, you can develop

device-independent content, where the system adjusts the display factors for different

devices.

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iSpring

iSpring is a PowerPoint-to-HTML5 converter; it is an add-on for PowerPoint. You can play

your presentation on iPad and other mobile devices. Animations, activities, audio, video

and all PowerPoint styles are preserved as they were before the conversion.

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Lectora Inspire

Lectora is ideal for text-heavy courses. Lectora enables you to publish your course in the

HTML format, which makes the course run on mobile and tablet devices. Also, HTML

enables you to include some of the basic interactivities without the need for complicated

programing knowledge. In case animations have been developed using Flash, they can be

published as videos.

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mLearning Studio

Rapid intake is a cloud-based, easy-to-use learning development solution. You can add

quizzes, activities, images, audio, and videos to easy form-based templates. Once added,

you can publish the course to either Flash or HTML5 or into both the formats. The

published course automatically detects the delivery platform –a desktop or a mobile device

– and delivers the right content to the right device.

You can choose the best authoring tool that caters your requirement based on the ease of

its use, licensing costs and features.

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Web Apps and Native Apps for Mobile Learning

Mobile learning is seen as an effective way to deliver up-to-date information to an

augmenting mobile workforce. You have a number of options using which information can

be delivered to mobile devices.

Mobile learning applications is one way to easily access and retrieve information. We have

two main ways of delivering mobile learning, that is, Native apps and Web-based apps.

Native App

Native Apps are developed to run on a device’s operating system and typically need to be

adapted for different devices. A Native App is built essentially for a particular mobile device

and its operating system. Native apps are downloaded from app stores or web stores

online. An example of a native app is Contacts, Calculator, Camera and Games.

Web App

In case of Web App, these apps are basically run via the mobile device’s web browser.

These apps can be accessed from any web-enabled smartphones and tablets.

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Here is a comparison between the two to give you a clear picture about them.

While each of the applications has its own efficiency and shortfalls, your choice depends

on the objectives of the course and the requirements of the learners.

Web App Native App

Web Apps underperform with respect to (in the areas of) speed and user experience compared to Native App.

They provide better end-user experience, work rapidly and provide more options in terms of features.

Developed in HTML5 using popular authoring tools (Lectora, captivate, articulate).

Developed with SDK (Software Development Kit).

Does not require much programming skills. Requires unique programming knowledge .

Easy to host on mobile-compatible LMS or portal. Requires unique programming knowledge.

Easy to host on mobile-compatible LMS or portal. Depends on Apps store or you have to create your own app store.

Apps can be written once and run on any mobile device. For each mobile platform, a separate app has to be developed.

Fast and cost effective in developing apps Includes a lot of time and cost in developing apps

Requires Internet connectivity and loads the content from the server. Slow on content loading

Requires Internet connectivity to download and install app. Fast in content loading

When the course is updated on the server, users are able to access the latest course automatically.

Users need to update the app manually to get the updated course content.

Web Apps are less secure because they need to be connected to the network frequently.

Native apps are more secure

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7 Tips For Converting E-learning Courseware to Mobile Learning

If you have been developing eLearning courses for many years, you might now want to

make eLearning content available through smartphones and tablets catering to the needs

of your mobile savvy employees. You will then need to convert your existing eLearning

courseware into the mobile format. However, converting the existing content to the mobile

format does not happen just by clicking the ‘Publish’ button. So, how do you do it? Here are

some tips that provide broad guidelines for converting eLearning to mLearning.

Choose the right tool

Consider a tool where a mobile output is possible and one which can support simple

interactions; for example tools like Lectora and Captivate Version 6 have HTML output. If

there is a text-heavy course, you can use Lectora to convert the course to the mobile

format. If you are only looking for basic interactions, you can straightaway use HTML.

However, if you need to use complicated interactivities, you can develop them using Flash

and convert them into videos to make it compatible with mobile devices. .

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Chunk content to keep it simple

Bear in mind design limitations

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Mobile experience should embrace simplicity; it is about

sharing only important points on screen. It is about having

precise and important content and getting rid of anything that

is unimportant. In eLearning we have a module divided into

many chapters and each chapter in turn is divided into many

topics, which will have many pages. For mobile learning, we

can have each chapter with topics restricted to a single

place; this will ease the navigation for the user. It is better to

have content in small chunks.

Your eLearning interphase should be re-created to make it

mobile compatible. Mobile screen sizes are small with a

narrow width, which does not allow space for text and

graphics. Although you can have the option of the scroll bar

to show the graphics and text, scrolling frustrates the learner.

To embed more content on the screen, you can have an

option like “click to continue” at the bottom of the screen so

that learners continue to read the entire content by clicking

on that option. You should also provide a “Previous” option to

view the previous content. Your mobile learning should be

able to do the tracking and reporting of the learners’

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Provide simple interactions

You should be more thoughtful in using media elements in mobile learning. Do not have

complex navigations and high interactions as mobile devices differ in screen sizes from

PCs. Interactions can be used sparsely; videos and audios should be used only if

important as they take more time to load onto the screen. Interactions like rollover can be

converted to click-on tabs.

Repurpose existing content

Since the screen size of mobile devices is smaller compared to desktop PCs, it is

imperative to repurpose the content. Content needs to be chunked to bit size. Repurposing

the existing eLearning content to the mobile format is a great challenge. Check that your

current tools can help you in repurposing the content for mobile format.

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Keep in mind the security risks

Your mobile solutions should be easy to administer for the administrator. Having a

centralized administration for eLearning and mobile learning will be the best way. The

security of the mobile learning is important; even if a mobile is lost or stolen, the content on

the mobile should have been secured and properly encrypted.

Modify navigation to suit mobile devices

You should have simple navigation. Make sure that the course is easy to access and easy

to understand wherever the learner is. Keep your design simple to operate and since most

of the mobiles are touch phones, the clickable area should be spacious enough for an

adult’s finger.

When converting eLearning courses to mLearning courses, focus has to be on user

experience that is easy and simple, interactions need to be minimum and existing content

need to be altered to suit the mobile medium.

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Top 5 Mobile Learning Delivery Formats

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Here is an infographic that lists down the ideal delivery formats in which learning content

can be presented for mobile devices.

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Mobile Learning Trends

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Mobiles are perceived as a tool for communication, but mLearning has altered this

perception about (mobile devices) them. The advancements in mLearning have always

been bringing up some new trends for us to watch and experience. Here are some of the

trends that we need to watch in future.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

When organizations started implementing mobile learning, they realized that it was an

expensive affair to provide devices to employees; so, they began to adopt the BYOD policy

because it is a cost-effective solution. However, organizations may endeavor to have more

security systems in place, to avoid security breaches.

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Games

According to Ambient research, games-based learning is expected to grow from $1.5 billion

in 2012 to $2.3 billion in 2017 (Ambient Insight, 2013). Apps that target mobile market are

going to contribute a huge growth to games-based learning. Game-based learning assists

learners in learning a skill because they play and apply the skill to the real scenario as and

when needed. The immersive and engaging nature of this method accelerates learning,

improves retention and enables recollection of knowledge. Gamification provides

interactive experiences that motivate and actively engage learners in the learning process.

Mobile-based learning games include simulation programs aimed at imparting skills to

employees to do their jobs effectively.

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Tin Can API

The Tin Can API is a new way to track learner experiences that can record activities and

deliver data that is quantifiable, sharable and trackable. It can capture activities like mobile

learning, simulations, serious games, real-world activities, experiential learning, social

learning and offline learning. Many of the authoring tools like Storyline, Adobe Captivate 7

and Lectora inspire and LMSs like Moodle and Blackboard have already adopted Tin Can

API.

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Bite Sized

Bite-sized of information can be consumed during breaks such as during short tea breaks,

lunch or in the learner’s spare time. It’s ideal for use in quick tutorials or for learning the

basics of a new subject. Due to the shorter duration of training modules that match the

adult attention span, which is also limited, the retention, understanding and applicability of

the concepts on job will be higher when compared to longer training sessions.

Location-based Learning

According to Ambient research, the growth rate for location-based learning products and

services is a robust 26.3% and revenues is expected to more than triple to $682.13 million

by 2016 up from $212.3 million in 2011. In location-based learning, learners engage with

content that is highly relevant to their location. This type of learning is supported by mobile

sensors (GPS, WLAN).

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Conclusion

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Despite the initial euphoria, mLearning has not been widely adopted in organizations. A

blog published in Eduriser points out that many businesses that have adopted mobile

learning have not performed up to potential. The blog reasons out that it could be due to

economic-, technological-, content-related factors or poor user response to the initiative.

Yet others have adopted it as a one-off initiative on an experimental basis. Assuming all

these issues are overcome in the years to come, it is unlikely that mLearning will replace

eLearning in organizations for the following reasons:

M-learning does not suit all audiences and may not cater to varied learning preferences

and learning styles of individual learners. Some employees might not be comfortable

operating on a device that has a limited screen size. They may still like to use their

keyboard and mouse to navigate around the course.

Just-in-time learning or creation of tools for performance support works best for mobile

devices. A full-fledged knowledge transfer may not be possible as learning modules

cannot be beyond a 5-7 minutes duration. Content has to be crisp and to the point,

which will be a great way to reinforce learning; it should not be a stand-alone learning

material.

There are many design restrictions (browser & software compatibility issues) due to

which it is difficult to implement learning design strategies for maximum impact.

Organizations still will have to depend on eLearning courseware for such knowledge

transfer.

Many skeptics had pronounced the death of the radio after television became a common

phenomenon. However, reality proved otherwise. Radio and television coexist serving

different purposes and different audiences at different locations! Same is true with

mLearning; it is an additional means of knowledge transfer. E-learning and mLearning can

complement each other but cannot replace each other. Learning design experts and

training professionals need to assess the learning objectives and choose the medium that

best helps in realizing them.

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Bibliography

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Ambient Insight. (2008). The US Healthcare Market for Mobile Learning Products and

Services: 2006-2011 Forecast and Analysis. Online: Ambient Insight.

Ambient Insight. (2013). Retrieved November 10, 2013, from

http://www.ambientinsight.com/Resources/Documents/Ambient-Insight-2010-2015-US-

Mobile-Learning-Market-Executive-Overview.pdf

Ambient Insight. (2013). The 2012-2017 Worldwide Game-based Learning and

Simulation-based Markets.

eLearning Guild. (2011). Mobile Learning: Landscaping and Trends. eLearning Guild.

Forrester. (2013, April). Forrester Media Center. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from

Forrester:

http://www.forrester.com/Forrester+375+Million+Tablets+Will+Be+Sold+Globally+In+201

6/-/E-PRE3384

ITU. (2013). ICT Facts and Figures. Retrieved November 15, 2013, from ITU:

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2013.pdf

NPD. (2012, July 3). Displaysearch. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from

http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/hs.xsl/120703_tablet_shipmen

ts_to_surpass_notebook_shipments_in_2016.asp

Towards Maturity. (2013, January 13). Mobile Learning at Work - A New Towards Maturity

In-Focus Report. Retrieved November 15, 2013, from Towards Maturiy:

http://www.towardsmaturity.org/article/2013/01/15/towards-maturity-focus-report-mobile-

learning-work/

Towards Maturity. (2013). New Learning Agenda - Talent, Technology, Change. Online:

Towards Maturity.

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View Samples

CommLab India helps you meet your training needs through highly interactive and effective

e-learning solutions.

http://www.commlabindia.com/custom-elearning/elearning-demos.php


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URL : www.commlabindia.com l Contact Us

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