Why Mobile Learning?
Know when and why to use mobile learning
Your workforce uses mobiles for more than just phone calls or text messages. Using phones, they browse the web, connect on social networks, share photos and videos, make purchases, play games, and keep track of what they care for through dedicated apps. As learning technology evolves and semantic web comes around, learning and performance support through mobile devices is becoming common.
Dr. Conrad Gottfredson’s defines Five Moments of Learning Needs as below.
- When Learning for the First Time
- When Wanting to Learn More
- When Trying to Remember
- When Things Change
- When Something Goes Wrong
If we were to use mobile learning to meet these learning needs, we’d find that it fits best into the last three. (In theory, you could use it for all though.).
Translating the above to examples of solutions – mobile learning could be used for:
- Activating knowledge before a classroom (or virtual classroom or even an eLearning session);
- Summarizing (after one of those sessions – delivered soon after the session);
- Recall (or reactivating knowledge – probably a week or two after the session. This ensures key concepts are revisited and helps in transferring the new knowledge to long term memory – especially for learners who may not get a chance to apply new knowledge immediately after the sessions);
- Providing application opportunities (through pop quizzes or learning games on mobile);
- Just-in-time search support by letting employees search in company’s knowledge databases (wikis, blogs, forums) using their mobiles.
We believe mobile learning is becoming a key component of the blended learning mix. Take a look at a sample blended mix that we proposed to one of our clients in past.
