Mobile learning is in the air. It’s the buzz word in training these days and you can’t escape all the noise surrounding it. At Upside Learning, we have been doing a fair bit of mobile learning for more than two years now. During this period we’ve tried several things; experimented a lot; and in the process have built a good understanding and capability in the mobile learning space.
Along the way we’ve shared quite a few blog posts , a few SlideShare presentations, and a whitepaper about mobile learning.
As mobile learning is becoming a reality in some workplaces the interest other corporate clients show is increasing by the day. Our sales and consulting team provides guidance and support to prospects to understand mobile learning and take them through the initial steps of evaluation and implementation of mobile learning. We realize most of what we discuss with prospects is on our blog already. If you’re new to the m-learning space, this post will help you get started with mobile learning. It presents some of our own posts in an organized, sequential fashion.
What is Mobile Learning
To even attempt a successful foray into mobile learning it is obvious you need to understand what is mobile learning? -and what it is not? Even though it’s 2 years old, this presentation provides a quick overview of mobile learning
Do you consider learning done on a laptop mobile learning? I don’t.
As I said there’s a lot of ‘noise’ around mobile learning and some of that obviously confuses you. In this post we covered a couple of such instances we discovered at one of the trade shows.
Why Mobile Learning
So why should you consider Mobile Learning at all. Is it a fad or something you really need for your organization?
Well, mobile is the 7th Mass Media as Tomi Ahonen puts it. It has a lot of unique characteristics that makes it interesting to consider mobile as a delivery medium (or access tool) for learning. This post based on Tomi’s keynote at mLearnCon 2010 presents some very interesting statistics about mobile.
In this post General Considerations for Mobile Learning (mLearning) we lay down the questions that drive the decision to go for mobile learning:
– Can you use mobile capabilities to enhance learning?
– Which of those capabilities would interest would-be learners?
– Will ubiquitous connectivity better enable learning interactions?
– What services will help learners be more productive?
– What content is already on hand that could be made easier to access via mobile devices?
– What network will be used for distribution?
– What actions/activities will need to be tracked?
– Will mobile learning integrate with other corporate systems or does it need to?
– Who will handle any needed user support?
In this context you’ll find these posts interesting:
The Semantic Web cometh
Five Myths of Mobile Learning
Do Microcourses Have a Place in Workplace Learning?
How/Where can you use Mobile Learning?
We believe there are 3 ways to use mobile devices in workplace learning
– As part of a blended program
– Access information on the go
– Performance support
Another way to look at it would be from the perspective of Gottfredson’s Five Moments of Learning Needs. It probably fits best for the last 3 but you may argue it works for almost all five of them at least in some specific cases.
In this context you’ll find these posts interesting too:
– Mobile Learning – What it Can Do For a Global Workforce?
– Leveraging Mobile Learning Platforms As Performance Support Systems
And if you are looking for some examples/use cases these posts provide those:
– Mobile Learning Innovation: Lookup To Healthcare For Inspiration
– Mobile Learning (mLearning) Applications – An Example
How to Create Mobile Learning Strategy
So if you’re now convinced and ready to get started with mobile learning you’ll need to plan how to go about it. Here is a 3 part series of articles on creating m-learning strategy.
– How To Create Successful M-Learning Strategy: mLearnCon – Part I
– How To Create Successful M-Learning Strategy: mLearnCon – Part II
– Creating Successful m-Learning Strategy – Part 3
You’ll find the first part has some overlap with few of the earlier mentioned posts. The other two do provide some help on planning a strategy. The third post has links to few of our other posts that focus on m-learning development tools and tips.
I hope this compilation of our posts gets you started with mobile learning.
Any questions, please add a comment below.
