DIY mobile learning

Mobile learning has been on the "next big thing" lists of websites and journal articles for several years but for many people it still seems to be a complicated and expensive tool to implement. The American Society for Training and Development published an article by Naomi Norman in the December 2011 edition of T + D magazine with the promising title "Mobile learning made easy", read the article here.

The article reports on the results of research into mobile learning conducted for the NHS, an organization which has a huge need for flexible training due to the enormous amount of staff it has, many of whom work offsite or unsocial shifts. Amongst the key benefits of mobile learning identified are:

convenience
relevance
enhanced content retention
empowered learners
encouraged reflection

The study also notes that not everyone will want to use mobile learning so all courses prepared for Epic for the NHS are also available as e-learning. The physical limitations of mobile learning are also addressed in the report. For example, due to a very small or complete lack of physical keyboard writing long texts is not advisable and as learners will not sit using a mobile device for as long as they would sit at e-learning it is necessary to break the learning down into smaller chunks which can be completed more quickly.

The problem of compatibility is also addressed. Luckily the NHS, like many organizations, provides many staff with mobile devices so a certain amount of consistency is guaranteed. However, many people will prefer to use their own devices which may not be compatible with the official m-learning solution.

Exactly this problem and an answer to it are beautifully demonstrated by Dr Alisa Cooper in one of my favourite youtube videos on mobile learning (watch here). Alisa created an online class using a combination of a mobile-enabled Wordpress blog, embedded google docs, classmarker quizzes and youtube videos. This clearly demonstrates that with a little thought mobile learning doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to implement. I will certainly be looking at some of these ideas in designing my next mobile learning elements and I hope they will inspire some of you as well.

Neil

Sources

Mobile learning made easy, http://www.epic.co.uk/assets/files/ASTD_Mobile_Learning_Made_Easy.pdf [accessed 19.3.2012]

Mobile learning course overview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yasp9W70vw [accessed 19.3.29012]