The Key Benefits of Mobile Learning

As we get further into 2017, the corporate learning industry and its Learning Leaders are starting to look at new trends to help increase engagement and success of learning initiatives.

A key element to the success of any learning project is the delivery of the training material. You can have the most compelling material but delivering it in the wrong medium could lead to dismal results.

One of the trending methods of such delivery is mobile learning. Now while there is some growing popularity it’s important to keep in mind that although the market overall is absorbing more and more content on mobile devices, there is still room for a lot of growth when it comes to mobile learning in the corporate training world.

A Global Trends in Talent Development¹ survey conducted in 2015 showed, that the highest use of mobile learning was only 16% across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.  Only 5% of companies were using mobile learning in North America.¹

With that said, mobile learning is a tool that organizations are moving towards, growing slowly year over year.  This will likely become even more prevalent as the workplace population continues to increase with regards to the Millennial generation that prefer to have their content available on their mobile devices.

If you’re considering mobile learning for your organization but aren’t sure if there will be any benefit consider the following plus points of going mobile that we share with our clients here at TrainingFolks.

FLEXIBILITY

Mobile learning is extremely effective when considering employees’ available time for training, convenience as well as distance learning.  Since the learning is done on the employees’ personal device they can choose to complete the learning modules according to their schedules.   Having this ability has shown to increase employee motivation towards training as well and less pushback when released. 

There are a number of advantages to integrating mobile learning into your course design.  The experienced Instructional Designers here at TrainingFolks are consistently utilizing this medium within their course design wherever it makes sense to help drive further success for our clients.

OPENS UP TO LEARNING STYLES

Mobile learning lends itself to various learning styles including reading, learning via video, collaboration using social media, researching more information online, and listening to podcasts.  Offering the course in this style enables the employee to learn in the way that works best for them, leading to increased engagement and productivity which is really what all Learning Leaders are striving for right?

NO MORE WASTED TIME

Since mobile learning is available on the employees’ device, they can technically learn anywhere they want.  Most employees will carry their device with them when they are not at their desk, say while heading out for lunch, grabbing a coffee and when commuting to and from the office.  These are all ideal times to get on their phones and train!  Studies have also shown that smaller amounts of information are better absorbed especially with the up and coming Millennial generation.  This allows employees to retain the information they are reading better than with longer format, formal delivery.

COLLABORATION MADE EASY  

Although your employees may be learning remotely and at different times than one another, collaboration is actually quite easy.  Since they have access to all of their social networking tools right on their device, asking questions, sharing insight and finding out more about the topic at hand becomes that much easier and a whole lot faster than with other learning mediums.

LOOKING AHEAD

With even more people shifting to mobile as their primary method to connect to the Internet, it makes good sense for organizations to create a strong understanding of how to effectively deliver content on mobile devices. 

Within the next decade, with Millennials who are making up the majority of the workforce will increase the demand for mobile learning.  Preparing the organization to begin to utilize mobile devices for learning as part of a larger blended approach will pave the way for full mobile learning in the future from design, to delivery and engagement.

Download more on Mobile Learning here and see if your organization is ready to go mobile.

1https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Global-HRD-Blog/2016/02/66-of-Organizations-Arent-Using-Mobile-Learningyet