Mobile Learning

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Whitney on February 17, 2010 at 7:34am

First, for total transparency, I work for a company, OutStart, that offers a solution for building, deliverying and tracking mobile learning. But my recommendation is not to purchase our software at least not immediately. Here are some considerations:

* mobile learning is not the same as elearning. So taking existing elearning courses and converting them is not recommended (although this may seem obvious, its surprising how many people initially consider this). With that said, its surprising how much depth a mobile learning course can provide, it just needs to do it in a different way with less content per page
* device considerations: will all your learners be on a single device or will there be a variety of devices. This can have an impact on the type of solution you might evaluate to build and deliver your courses. Since all devices will render the page differently its important to deploy to a single device (which can be hard to mandate and then is limiting as new devices come to market so rapidly and with such improvements) or select a solution that deals with the different devices automatically
* delivery - how will you deliver your learning; will it be downloaded to the phone or accessed through a web link.
* security - how secure do you need your courses. Will you require a login and password
* tracking - will you need to track usage and results and possibly send results to a LMS
* also consider other uses of mobile learning in the form of performance support such as job aids, tips and tricks, surveys, or key communications alerts

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Permalink Reply by Janet Hawkins on February 17, 2010 at 8:36am

We are also in the initial stages of exploring mobile learning delivery to cell and smart phones. I'm following your discussion- Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Rose St. Clair on February 17, 2010 at 10:40am

About a year ago Safari Books Online, an online learning resource for technology, business and digital media professionals, launched its mobile Website, m.safaribooksonline.com. Safari Books Online works with leading authors and publishers to provide their subscribers with the most relevant, up-to-date learning resources available in the form of digital books, training videos, short cuts and rough cuts. This digital library, which is also available from mobile devices, serves as the catalyst for learning which can be immediately applied to the task-at-hand, thereby making an immediate impact on the organization’s bottom line.

About twelve months ago we conducted a survey and learned that 81 percent of Safari Books Online customers who were surveyed said they use their mobile devices to read reference books and other personal development content. Safari Books Online ensures its library is available to all of its users, including more than 40,000 individual subscribers and employees from more than 1,500 corporate and government accounts. Not only can users download and synchronize PDF versions to read on mobile devices, but now they can search, read and learn on-the-go using Safari Books Online's on-demand digital library that is optimized for mobile devices.

While the on-demand digital library was originally created for online access via a computer, we’ve had a growing interest in and success with our mobile Website, m.safaribooksonline.com. We currently have an active poll on our blog that asks the community “How often do you read books on your iPhone, mobile device or eReader?” 54% of those who responded reported reading on their mobile device on a weekly basis (36% daily & 18% weekly).

With the new Safari Books Online mobile-optimized Website, subscribers can search and browse thousands of mobile-friendly books directly from their mobile device, manage their bookmarks, and use preset access keys to activate or launch a variety of functions. Similar to "hot keys" on a computer keyboard, the access keys make using the Safari Books Online functions faster and easier while on the go.

I hope this information was helpful to you. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Best,

Rose St. Clair, PHR
Senior HR Student at Southwestern College
Marketing Manager @ Safari Books Online
rstclair@safarijv.com

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Permalink Reply by Sandhya Nagee on March 12, 2010 at 6:26pm

Hi Jeff,
Sorry couldn't reply to this earlier. Well, we are definitely not planning to use mobile learning as a substitute to elearning. We are going to use mobile to compliment desktop or classroom learning and provide performance support solutions like m-blasts, quizzes (3-4) that they can respond to (should this be an sms response of can this be integrated to an LMS, I don't know yet).
I also plan to use mobile as a communication tool. For example, updating employees about new initiative, new client acquisition, messages from the CEO's desk, skill-blasts etc.
Mayybe we can talk about how we can leverage your expertise for our implementation.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Whitney 1 day ago

Sandhya,

your use cases are right on target. I would be happy to discuss how we might be of help. I can be reached at jwhitney@outstart.com.

Jeff

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