E-learning Curve Blog at Edublogs

According to a recent Forrester report, enterprises are making smartphones and mobile applications (including m-learning) a priority, and formalizing or executing a mobile strategy is a priority for 49% of North American and European enterprises.

 Figure 1 A Snapshot Of Enterprise Mobility Today (after Forrester Inc., 2008)

The ubiquity of mobile devices ensures that there is a ready market for m-learning content. I would assert that learning designers should take advantage of information workers’ experiences as consumers of content in other domains to successfully implement e-learning on mobile devices.

Now read on…

Forrester’s BlackBerry: An Emerging Platform For Mobile Collaboration study states that two-thirds of companies have fully deployed wireless e-mail, calendars, and contacts. Another 16% of firms are in the process of implementing wireless e-mail. That means over four-fifths of enterprises are using mobile messaging applications. This near-ubiquity of support for converged media devices (CMDs) puts a potentially very powerful learning channel literally in the hands of hundreds or thousands of employees today.

We can say that mobile phones and wireless e-mail are central to the activities of organizations. With the right mobile content and collaboration applications, most information workers could be both productive and in an always-on learning environment – imagine people learning while walking down the hall to a meeting, cramming in a little work before bedtime, or waiting for the train. CMDs are more valuable to information workers if they support:

Access to file systems, team workspaces, or intranet portals. It’s frustrating for organizations to invest heavily in content management systems and workspaces, only to find that the information is locked away, available only to desktop workers in an office environment. On-the-go information workers would save time if they could find and view information on their CMDs. The importance and effectiveness of mobile access to content is easily demonstrated: we live in a world where the President of the United States has firmly asserted the he is

…still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.

New York Times

A mobile browser that brings the Internet into learners’ hands. Devices like the iPhone, with its touchscreen, gesture-based interaction model, and Safari browser make the mobile Internet almost as functional as the Web on a desktop. Having access to on-demand information and learning on a device is a powerful plus for all information workers.

Instant messaging and ‘presence’. Virtual and ad hoc teams need to quickly connect, engage, and move on. Subject matter experts need to be available when needed. Presence means that a person’s availability is always known.

Training sessions that can be done while waiting for the bus, train, or in an airport boarding lounge. If learning content is packaged appropriately, hosted on a mobile learning management system, and delivered to a CMD, information workers can learn in their downtime.

M-Learning on the iPhone

As we chart the rise of non-formal, informal, and social learning, my view is that media, information, and communications applications will emerge that make learning fun. RSS feeds, updates, video, games, and social networks are just some of the engaging and effective ways that information workers (in their other life as consumers) already get their information.

With the lines between work and personal time disappearing, learning applications should have the friendly face of regular consumer applications. According to Drego et al (2009) of North American CMD owners with a job, 60% use their devices to access the Internet, 43% to read the news, 33% to check RSS-delivered information, and 28% to download or stream music and podcasts. This is a huge ready-made market for m-learning content.

M-learning’s strongest capability is its timeliness. The relative effectiveness of mobile data channels is device- and software-dependent, but the ability to make contact any time, any where is a universal strength. Although the iPhone and other  devices won’t replace those with a larger form factor any time soon, these devices benefit from the advantages of portability and ubiquity. 

iPhone websites excel at providing information in multichannel contexts. Although the iPhone can access almost any Web site, many organizations choose to tailor sites for the iPhone’s small screen and strip them of Java- and Flash-based content. The best mobile sites support targeted, mobile-specific browsing behaviors such as search and content delivery. For example, YouTube enables viewers to search for content, read user ratings and reviews, and of course easily stream content.

More…

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References:

Drego, V. L., Rogowski, R., & Zinser, R. (2009) Match iPhone Capabilities To Customer Goals [Internet] Available from: http://www.forrester.com Accessed 17 February 2009

Schadler, T. (2008) BlackBerry: An Emerging Platform For Mobile Collaboration. [Internet] Available from: http://www.forrester.com Accessed 17 February 2009

Zeleny, J. (2009) ‘Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry’ In: The New York Times [Internet] Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08berry.html?_r=1&em Accessed 20 February 2009