Francis Marshall, managing director of Cegos UK, explores the current prospects of mobile learning.
In the modern world we are used to things getting smaller, and as they do we expect them to get better too. The remarkable technology of a cutting edge smartphone and the lightweight laptop that does everything your old desktop computer used to do and more too, are enabling a new era of learning.
Mobile learning is on the rise in the workplace, in education and in the wider community on a global level. From the use of handheld devices in museums and art galleries to the introduction of mobile technology providing a window on the world to African villages and crucial support for teachers in remote schools, the applications are far reaching.
Opportunities for L&D
In today's connected society, mobile learning should be seen as a major opportunity for L&D providers in the near-term. The proliferation of smartphones and their gradual price erosions mean that such devices are swiftly becoming the gadget of choice for young professionals. This puts a very powerful tool into their hands which can become an even more powerful learning enabler when combined with the right applications.
"In today's connected society, mobile learning should be seen as a major opportunity for L&D providers in the near-term."In less than four years time, nearly half of the workforce will be made up of the millennials who are very comfortable with mobile technologies. Demand for mobile learning is only going to grow when Generation Z (the 'net generation' born between the early 90s and early 2000s) enters the workplace.
During the past few years, the use of mobile learning in the workplace has been growing steadily, reflecting globalisation and the needs of today's increasingly mobile workforce. Typically it has been focused around the delivery of bite-sized learning often as part of a blended approach reinforcing classroom-led training. A survey we carried out last year showed that, in Europe, companies in the UK and Germany are using mobile learning applications the most, with around 15% of elearners using mobile learning.
Mobile learning is also beginning to become a tool for more informal learning, such as someone accessing training on a mobile device 'just in time' to solve a work problem. The deployment of mobile learning is taking place across most business sectors with recent research from analysts Bersin & Associates suggesting that healthcare might have the edge in leading the way.
While there are plenty of opportunities for the use of mobile learning in the workplace, there are plenty of barriers too. These tend to fall into two categories – technical, and social.
Barriers to overcome
The major social hurdle to get over is of course the generation gap. It is essential that the technologies we deploy as L&D professionals match the attitudes and preferences of our learners. Therefore, before deploying mobile learning on an enterprise-wide scale it is important to test it with a carefully selected yet diverse range of potential users ensuring that they become advocates of mobile learning to their peers.
Key technical challenges revolve around ensuring that content can be delivered to a wide variety of devices each with their own configuration. There are currently three big players in the 'smart' mobile device arena, Android, Apple, and Windows Mobile, each of which supports different technologies and requires different technologies to author content for. There is also the issue of developing content for many different screen sizes such as tablets (eg. iPads) and smartphone form factors.
One of the keys to mobile learning success is without doubt to develop the right mix of learning applications. The philosophy of "there's an app for that" has led to a huge proliferation of applications for a huge variety of purposes and with a large amount of duplication even within such walled garden environments as Apple's App Store. In the L&D environment, this needs to be tempered with deploying a sensible suite of applications that does not overwhelm the user and yet delivers a flexible and scalable learning platform.
"The industry has been talking about delivering it for the last decade, and, with the rapid proliferation of smartphones and other such devices, I believe that mobile learning is now more than capable of being effectively delivered into our hands."
While mobile learning is on the rise, its deployment has perhaps been slower and more sporadic than many have anticipated. The industry has been talking about delivering it for the last decade, and, with the rapid proliferation of smartphones and other such devices, I believe that mobile learning is now more than capable of being effectively delivered into our hands.
Conclusions
Demand is certainly there, with 63% of UK employees wanting podcasts and mobile learning as part of their learning tool sets (Source Cegos 2010 European survey). This desire needs to be taken into account by both senior management and the L&D function when evaluating L&D strategies and also in preparation for the fundamental shift in habits and expectations that the Millennial generation will bring to the workplace.
A final thought: as with any training tool, the L&D function needs to assess the ROI of mobile learning for it to succeed as part of a business model. This in itself will present challenges in the mobile learning environment.
Francis Marshall is managing director of Cegos UK, part of Europe’s largest learning and development provider. In addition to his responsibilities as MD, Francis is an NLP practitioner and is active as a senior level consultant within the fields of management, leadership and executive coaching. For further information visit www.cegos.co.uk
