It’s Not Too Late To Adopt Mobile Learning: 4 Compelling Reasons
The ubiquity of mobile phones indicates its presence in almost every aspect of our lives; apart from communication, mobile phones are used for entertainment, socializing, seeking and sharing information, and more. So, using mobiles for learning seems to be a natural extension.
Catching up with this trend, many businesses are adopting mobile learning for training their employees. What has urged organizations to adopt mobile devices to deliver learning to their employees? Here are a few reasons:
- The mobile ecosystem is the fastest growing technology at present.
- The rate of adoption of smartphones has been quicker and wider than technologies of the past: radio, television, desktops, and laptops.
- With more companies adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, employees are encouraged to use their mobile devices at work.
- The environment for using mobile phones is becoming more conducive, with the speed of data transfer increasing every day.
Apart from these trends, here are 4 motivating factors that encourage jumping on to the mobile learning bandwagon.
1. Changes In The Working Scenario
There have been dynamic changes in the way employees work. With ready access to information and entertainment on mobile devices, employees tend to use them when they are not really at work, during their commute, waiting at the client’s office, or while driving. They would like to watch a video, listen to a podcast, or play a game. This tendency is more prevalent among the millennial generation and extends to learning, as well. They prefer to access eLearning courses on their mobile devices so that they can learn on the go and at their convenience.
Offering training through mobile devices would be a positive way to exploit this tendency. Employees would welcome the idea of having some form of training during their commute or whenever they access their mobile devices. Instead of wasting time, they will be building their skills, which can translate to better performance on the job.
On-the-go employees appreciate learning experiences that meet their specific needs and are accessible when and where they need them. For example, employees in sales will appreciate this kind of training because they can use their mobile devices to catch up on training at their convenience.
2. Work-Life Balance
The benefit of mobile learning to provide access anywhere and anytime ties in with the needs of today’s employees to achieve a work-life balance. Today’s employees demand flexible working hours and remote working; as a result, they are not at their desk the whole time. Mobile learning provides training with a flexibility that will appeal to such employees. This also provides continuity to training, irrespective of the place the employee is located at or the device the course is accessed on.
Training that does not tether employees to a desk and spares businesses the necessity to gather employees at one place for training is a winning proposition to both parties.
3. Employees' Learning Preferences
Today, employees rarely have the patience or the inclination to sit through day-long training sessions or paper-based training. They tend to have short attention spans that are ill-suited for hour-long training sessions. Added to this are low retention levels, which leads to the question of how much information they will retain after the training session. These factors make organizations think twice before conducting training sessions for employees.
The solution is to have small learning units or microlearning modules that deliver learning in small bytes to learners. These are easy to create and require a minimum investment. They contain short bursts of information and are usually 3 to 6 minutes long. They cater to short attention spans and remove the problem of little time to learn because of their duration. Learners and organizations can achieve their training targets by delivering microlearning modules on mobile devices which can be accessed anytime, anywhere by learners. And the good news is, there are higher chances of learners completing the training.
4. Need For Performance Support
There is increasing evidence to suggest that we remember only 3% of what we learn after 30 days. This is why performance support assumes a crucial role in employee training and development. Performance support is any resource or asset accessible by employees at the point of need that can improve their performance.
Learning delivered through mobile devices act as performance support. Employees gain access to just the right amount of information and knowledge when they need it. Moreover, they can access it on their own mobile devices, in a format they are familiar with. This will provide them with just-in-time learning and on-the-go support. Performance support becomes crucial when an employee needs to apply what they have learned or needs to fix or solve a problem; they can quickly access the required information on their mobile.
There is no doubt that the time for mobile learning is now and it is definitely making a change in the corporate training scene. More organizations are rethinking their training strategies and creating learning programs suited to mobile devices.
