The Benefits Corporate Employees Using Mobile Learning Gain
I often see my friends sulking on the weekends because they need to go to the office to attend a mandatory classroom training session by their management. Such training modules are a part of workplace training programs across most sectors. Most of the times they are necessary too. Upskilling oneself to keep up with rapid changes in the industries/sectors is the key to increasing productivity and innovation in the workplace.
On a side note, many of my friends are always glued to their phone/tablet screens. Be it while traveling to and from office, during their lunch/coffee breaks, while in a cab, or on a flight, or on a bus, or even at the gym!
This got me wondering.
I would be what demographers call a ‘Millennial’. My friends belong here too. An underlying characteristic of our demography is that we have very little patience, attention spans, want new things all the time etc. We are all about speed and engagement. This extends to how we want to learn as well. A mobile device with interactive learning options is often more interesting and enthusing to us than a person lecturing us. The latter simply doesn’t resonate with us.
While this thought is slowly sinking in, neither my friends nor their supervisors have quite seen a mobile device as a true learning tool.
Mobile Learning Benefits In The Corporate World
So, here is what I think. If a Human Resource manager or a training manager asks me what they could do to better engage my generation, I would say, give us mLearning, any day!
Why? Because with mobile learning you can:
1. Engage And Motivate Us
You can engage with us remotely, and continuously through the mobile phone. We are always super connected. Use mobile learning tools to assign training sessions to us. Simple tools with a good User Experience can make us enthusiastic about learning the next module. If the training session can be broken down into bite-sized engageable chunks, you got us—we are now looking forward to more training.
2. Use Our Comfort Zone, Reduce The Formality
Somehow, most of us, Millennials, are far more comfortable in an informal or a less formal set up than a formal training setup. I am sure that you will agree with the formality involved in traditional corporate learning setups. Forcing us to show up on a Saturday morning dressed in smart casuals just to attend a video session on the company’s organizational structure might not be fair to us. When you can roll out an mLearning module on the same followed by a quick recap and a quiz at the end.
3. Give Us Offline Access To Learning Modules
We definitely have super-fast phones. Despite our hyper-connectedness, sometimes we do experience patchy internet or worse, no internet at all. Let this not stop us from learning. Make it easier for us by using a learning tool which offers offline access to learning modules. Using an LMS which combines offline access with mobile-centric learning is worth giving a try. Your fresh hires would greatly appreciate the ability to go through the ‘must-know’ compliance modules in airplane mode while on their flight back home for a long weekend.
4. Minimize The Hoops To Reach Your Content
We, Millennials, are massively attracted towards minimalism. Ever notice how Instagram has an array of pictures from across the globe lined up for you with just one tap? Even Facebook is designed to take us wherever we want to go with a minimum number of touches. Implementing this in learning is a definite hit. Use a tool which has a simple app, one where there isn’t too much process to jump just to reach a newly assigned module or assessment. Learning Management Systems with a well-designed minimal app which uses push notifications and a simple, quick-access layout to minimize the time taken by a person to reach where he wants to get. Team up, create groups and share knowledge through engaging bite-sized modules. Let user-generated content take center stage.
Ever though mobile learning is not new, its adoption and experience are developing now. And here is the proof.
Of the people who experimented with mobile learning, 42% reported that it has greatly contributed to improving the organizational productivity and employee retention. These numbers are only going to increase as the ‘Millennials’, who grew amidst screens and gadgets start entering the corporate workforce.
Piggyback your enterprise learning onto the Millennials’ mobile addiction. Get us where we are.
