Corporate Training Can’t Ignore Mobile

We can no longer ignore how pervasive mobile is in today’s world. According to the International Telecommunication Union, “there are almost as many mobile-cellular subscriptions as people in the world.” It only makes smart business sense to embrace mobile as part of daily business.

Yes, embrace mobile. And not just when customers want to buy your product or service using their phone. Organizations need to think about embracing mobile as part of their corporate culture. This includes within the recruiting and training functions.

ASTD’s latest research, titled “Going Mobile: Creating Practices that Transform Learning“, offers some insight to the direct drivers of greater market performance and learning effectiveness. Two of them are things we’ve talked about before: 1) Mobile Learning and 2) Bring Your Own Device (aka BYOD) programs.

Bringing mobile into organizations takes time and a well-thought out plan. During this year’s SilkRoad Connections conference, Cindy Riddle, one of SilkRoad’s instructional designers, shared their journey to embracing mobile learning as a company. She used a 4-phase model to outline how mobile can be incorporated into your existing learning strategy.

  1. NEEDS – Establish your goals with mobile learning.
  2. PLATFORMS – Define the appropriate devices, browsers and operating systems for your mobile initiatives.
  3. STANDARDS – Determine the proper software and authoring tools.
  4. DESIGN – Create the program keeping in mind adult learning principles and instructional design theory. 

Granted, not every learning experience should take place online. When the majority, if not all, employees are walking around with a mobile device, smart companies are asking the question – does mobile learning make sense for this content?

The costs associated with creating and maintaining online content are very different than they were a decade ago. That’s a good thing. Mobile learning has the ability to transform learning. It can put training in everyone’s hands at the same time. And employees can go back and review it on their own time. It should not be viewed as a classroom training killer.

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