Want To Make Your Employee Training More Modern And Mobile-Friendly?
Many organizations view mobile as an afterthought. But those in the know are advocating mobile-first, and they’re starting to make tracks. It’s no longer about responsive and adaptive approaches that design for web and then adjust for mobile. If you want your portable training to really work, rearrange that order. This means creating tools, features and components that are built with mobile in mind. You can later tweak them for desktop or web. So, what are some of these mobile-friendly components for employee training?
7 Mobile-Friendly Activities To Upload To Your Online Training LMS
1. Bite-size Serious Games
We all have games on our mobile devices. They help us pass the time, keep us occupied and mildly entertained. From a vendor perspective, they expose us to ads and use up bandwidth. This means they are a marketing avenue. Serious games can look and sound like regular phone games which have an actual end-goal. They’re not just for trite pleasure. They aim to teach a (corporate) lesson. Use a rapid authoring tool with built-in gaming templates to speed up the process. They’ll give your game the right look, feel and functionality for mobile screens.
2. Task Simulation
Virtual reality training doesn’t have to involve haptic gloves and immersive goggles. It could be a basic simulation, laced with the right soundtrack and an emotive storyline that pulls you in. But because you’re training on mobile you need to go easy on the complexity. Your screen space is limited, so instead of programming large cascading landscapes, keep your simulations on task. For desktop versions, you could build a scavenger hunt that mimics your entire office building. For mobile, hide their ‘treasure’ in a single room, or restrict your setting to just one desk. Instead of a large, intricate gamer escape, make a series of micro-simulations that focus on one task each. A desktop safety simulation could traverse fire, flood, terrorism and data safety tips. A serious mobile simulation should have independent mini-modules for each one.
3. GPS Overlaid Training Exercises
With smartphones and tablets, you can literally bring your training games to life. The key is to design workforce training games based on the real world. You can have them collect corporate tools, or practice specific work-related skills. For example, they could develop observation and sharpen their memories by finding the best route to work. This applies whether they’re driving, walking, biking or using public transport. This is also a creative way to entrench time-management and punctuality. (Be careful while driving or riding though – constant screen-glancing could cause accidents.) The game can also be used to multitask and get some training in while running office errands or grabbing lunch.
4. Finger-Friendly Mobile Modules
At the office, training modules can be navigated using keyboards and mice. When you convert this to mobile, some programs simply change the screen size, which isn’t optimal. You need to lessen on-screen content (even if it means increasing the number of slides or pages). It’s also useful to convert navigation tools. Instead of arrows and scroll bars, opt for buttons and clickable icons. You should also replace light-boxes and pop-ups with rich text and zoom-able optics. These are far easier to use on a 5- or 6-inch mobile screen.
5. Video Demos
Employees can watch a video demo that highlights as a task or product feature anytime and anywhere. The clip can even offer pointers on how to deal with challenging customers or perfect their sales pitch. The possibilities are virtually endless. The key is that mobile-friendly employee training videos must be quick to consume and compressed. You should also include subtitles for employees with special needs and those who access the content in public spaces.
6. Quick Recap Infographics
Infographics are a great addition to your employee training LMS because they are visual and targeted. Employees view the infographic to refresh company policy know-how, explore product benefits or re-teach task steps. They can zoom in on certain sections to examine graphs and charts. Or click on embedded buttons to access additional support tools. Once again, avoid links that aren’t ideal for tapping. Also, keep text at a minimum and use larger fonts so they can see the infographic in all its glory on their small screen.
7. Adjust Your JIT Library
This could end up being quite labor-intensive but it’s worth it. If you don’t have a quick resource library, you can build one from scratch with mobile in mind. But if the appendices already exist, make a checklist and follow all the steps. For graphics, increase the resolution and compress the size. This saves bandwidth and storage space on your phone, but still allows you to zoom into the details. Compress photos, videos, and audio clips. Incorporate navigation tools for easy replay (pause, play, rewind, slow-motion, closed captions, mute, text-to-speech). Edit every reference item to ensure it can be absorbed in one minute or less. More visuals, less text. But ensure it’s the right imagery, the kind that can be clearly understood without liner notes or written descriptions.
Conclusion
Going mobile with your training LMS requires certain configurative tasks. You want our LMS to have the right authoring tools for mobile optimization. But how exactly should you apply these portable features? Create bite-size serious games and task-based simulations. Overlay your training exercises with real-world GPS modules. Ensure your navigation options and JIT resources are all optimized for mobile accessibility. Don’t just shrink the screen. Frame your tools, features and training modules to be mobile-first, desktop later.
Is your employee training LMS up to the task? If it’s time to look for a new tool, consider using our online directory to start your search. You can view results based on must-have features, spec support, deployment type and pricing models, as well as evaluate ratings to find out if the CX and UX are up to your standards.
