Alan C. Kay, a computer scientist, incubated the idea of learning on the go in 1968 through his PhD paper – Personal Dynamic Media. His ‘KiddiComp concept’ drew out the requirements of a mobile personal computer that would allow children of all ages to learn from anywhere.
Mobile technology, with digital transformation components, has seeped into human lifestyles worldwide. It has changed how people access, exchange, and use data and information.
Mobile learning, also known as m-learning, has become a crucial part of an organization’s learning and development program.
Implementing a mobile learning program will enable the organization to do the following:
- Re-design their e-learning program into an m-learning format.
- Include suitable provisions to support the performance of employees
- Allow the employees to learn anytime, anywhere – in a jogging park, a home office, or a desk
There are no set rules for the implementation of a mobile learning program. However, there is a set of guidelines that would help you move towards it.
1. Ask the right questions
You have taken the first step by deciding to introduce m-learning to your organization. Now it’s time to develop an implementation strategy for your mobile learning program.
Asking the right questions would help you streamline the process from design to implementation.
These may include:
- How will m-learning add value to your existing training programs?
- How will it be aligned with your organization’s vision and business objectives?
- How will it impact the performance of your employees?
- What do your employees have to say about the m-learning program? Would you involve your directors and managers while developing the implementation strategy for your m-learning program?
- Will your program be replicable and scalable?
- How will you evaluate the performance of your m-learning program?
- What do you wish to achieve by implementing a mobile learning program?
2. Create an m-learning App
You cannot rely on web apps to implement a mobile learning program for your employees. The idea of m-learning is to provide flexibility in learning anywhere and at any time.
You would need a native app that lists all the courses offered by your organization. It should have the provision of downloading the learning content to your employee’s mobile devices. It would enable the employee to access the training content online and offline.
3. Use your business strategy to develop your m-learning strategy
Learning and Development programs are evolving continuously. There is no single perfect program to train your employees.
For an m-learning program to be effective, it is imperative to align it with your business strategy.
To achieve this, start with a problem statement. Identify the shortfalls in your existing training programs. Identify the areas in which your employees need to upskill themselves. For example, if you observe an increase in the concerns raised by your clients regarding the performance of your employees, create an m-learning program that trains your employees to keep calm in high-pressure situations, stay diligent and professional, and communicate effectively.
4. Build your team
Depending on the requirements of your m-learning program, you can set up a team within your organization that would help you develop and implement an effective mobile learning program. You may start by inviting volunteers for your core team comprising a Project manager or team leader, an IT expert, and a developer.
Towards the later stages of the project, you may include Subject Matter Experts and LMS administrators to ensure the dissipation of information throughout the organization in a timely and effective manner.
5. Evaluate cost implications
Once implemented, the cost of organizing in-house training programs may be negligible. However, you may not ignore the costs associated with procurement of the infrastructure for the development of a program.
It may include (but is not limited to) the following:
- Cost of mobile devices for your employees like phones and tablets
- Cost of authoring tools for the development of your m-learning program
- Cost of development of the app
- Cost of learning management system (LMS) for mobile devices
It would help you systemize your finances and advance your preparations for the go-live.
You may decide to phase the implementation of your mobile learning program or relook at the composition of your target audience.
6. Decide the devices for your m-learning program
To ensure that they access the m-learning program, you must ensure that all your employees have installed the app on their mobile devices.
The easier way to achieve this is to hand out a smartphone to each employee. However, if you have many employees, it will have an impact on the economic dynamics of your organization.
That brings you to the second option – the ‘Bring Your Own Devices’ policy or the (BYOD) policy. It may be resisted by the employees owing to their security concerns. Further, you would need to ensure that the app is compatible with all kinds of mobile devices.
It would be beneficial for your organization to decide on the devices before implementing the m-learning program.
7. Design your m-learning program
An m-learning program should not be your regular e-learning program running on smaller screens. You would need to invest in the design of your m-learning program so that the employees may gain the maximum benefit.
The content that usually works well on mobile devices includes videos, podcasts, polls, and quizzes.
At the end of the program, it is vital to include a feedback survey form to understand what worked and what had a scope of improvement in your program.
8. Choose efficient tools
An authoring tool is a software with pre-programmed components to build interactive and engaging multimedia modules for e-learning. You may develop many online learning programs using authoring tools.
You need to be mindful of the variety of mobile devices available in the market while choosing an authoring tool for your m-learning program.
9. Detail out the implementation plan
Once you have made important decisions regarding the development of your mobile learning program, you would then need to lay out an implementation plan. It may include your envisaged timeline of milestones and team composition, roles and responsibilities, content, etc.
You may also need to list your requirements like:
- Whether you need to track the status of the training completed by your employees or
- Whether you need the program to be available on mobile devices of your employees located in diverse geographies.
To conclude
Implementing an m-learning program is a complicated process. However, the benefits of an m-learning program outnumber its challenges. An efficient way to implement a mobile learning program is to customize it as per the requirements of your organization and run a demonstration before going live.
Select a spectrum of employees that would test your program and provide feedback. It would enable you to identify the challenges faced while accessing the m-learning program and take appropriate measures to make the necessary changes before making it available to all employees.
