The Mobile Learning Innovation Network. Real mLearning. Too many times, at conference expos and advertisements, it appears that folks are trying to say that courses on a tablet (or phone) are mlearning. On the contrary, I’ll suggest that courses on a phone or a tablet are elearning. Then, what is mlearning? My argument is pretty simple: just because courses are on a different device, if they’re a traditional course – page turning with knowledge test, a virtual classroom, or even a simulation – if it’s only made touch-enabled, it’s still just elearning. Even if you strip it down to work on a phone, minimizing text, how is it really, qualitatively different? Now, if you start breaking it up into chunks, and distributing it over time, we’re in a bit of a grey area, but really, isn’t that just what we should be doing in elearning, too? Learning needs to be distributed, but this is still just a greater degree of convenience than doing the same on a laptop. It’s a quantitative shift, not tapping into the inherent nature of mobile.
Understanding the Triumvirate of Mobile Learning. Mobile learning is about much more than just technology: it’s about a mindset, about a relationship between ‘people‘, ‘technology‘ and ‘subject‘ and how we maintain a balance between the three of them. The Triumvirate of Mobile Learning ‘People‘ are our audience and we have to understand their everyday reality: what is their environment. Not just the physical, but also the knowledge environment that they sit within. What is the context for the learning? Understanding context is the foundation of our learning methodology, we have to know what foundations are in place and how what we are saying lines up against what they already know to be true and what everyone else is saying.
Learning does not take place in isolation: it’s part of a matrix of experience with each node impacting on how the others are perceived and understood. People are our audience. ‘Technology‘ is often the starting point of the organisational view: how do we buy a solution? Like this: Like Loading... The Future Isn't About Mobile; It's About Mobility - David Armano. By David Armano | 8:03 AM July 18, 2012 While the globe grapples with uncertain economic realities, “mobile” appears to be gold. Facebook is expected to announce their uniquely targeted mobile advertising model before the end of the month. Amazon is talking to Chinese manufacturer Fox Conn with ambitions of building their own mobile device to serve as a complement to Amazon’s considerable digital ecosystem of products and services. China itself has surpassed the US as the world’s dominant smartphone market with over a billion subscribers and roughly 400 million mobile web users.
Advisory firm IDC predicts that by 2014 there will have been over 76 billion mobile apps downloaded resulting in an app economy worth an estimated thirty five billion in the same year. However, there will be blood as the business world pursues the mobile gold rush. We’ve seen this movie before. Mobility is radically different from the stationary “desktop” experience. Mobility trumps mobile. Designing Learning for the ultimate Mobile Learner’s Experience. It is not always easy to design a meaningful learning experience. In the same way, eLearning is not straight PowerPoint conversion, mLearning is not just eLearning on a mobile device. When it comes to mLearning, it is necessary to completely rethink “our approach to instructional design, graphic design, user experience and information presentation” (Float Mobile Learning, 2010) and make decisions from the learner´s point of view more than ever before.
Why? Because mLearning experiences reach the learner at the exact moment when the information is needed and within the specific context where the knowledge will be applied, and this can change the way the learner interacts and perceives the content that is being presented. Immediacy Many researchers whose investigations involve handheld and mobile devices are referring to their research as ubiquitous learning (Roschelle & Pea, 2002 cited by Park, 2011). Interactivity Immersion Conclusion Like this: Like Loading... Elearn Magazine: If Mobile Learning and Support are Wonderful, Why aren't They Everywhere? There is much to like about mobile learning and mobile support. Smartphones and tablets are not light as a feather, but close, delivering lessons, insight, guidance and information when and where needed. Do you want to send salespeople to training to memorize product features and prices? Would you take a class to prepare to get the very most from your time during a short visit to Paris?
Do you want your physician to rely on her memory to anticipate all possible negative drug interactions? I bet you do not. What about leader development? Which approach is more likely to create new habits in veteran leaders? I highlighted the differences between mobile learning and mobile support in an ode published in Learning Solutions in August 2010.
Words Without Actions I am not alone in my fondness for mobile everything. What we don't yet see is widespread mobile practices devoted to enterprise learning and support. How could that be? The responses were consistent with our survey findings. Why? The Pulse of Mobile Learning. A faint pulse today Most of what is said and written about mobile learning and support touts potential and points to the future. Current studies confirm a faint pulse for mobile in enterprise learning today. I first noticed this enthusiasm-action gap when colleague Jim Marshall and I surveyed workplace learning professionals about their learning technology practices. To our surprise, even in this professionally active sample, only 4% said they were using mobile to deliver learning and support in their organizations.
So low was that number that I confirmed it with several large audiences, including one at a conference devoted to mobile learning. “Are you offering programs that rely on mobile for delivery of learning and support now?” Most were not. ASTD’s 2011 Annual State of the Industry (SOIR) Report found even punier use of mobile for learning and support. Elliott Masie recently released his mobile study . The blood does flow Some mobile initiatives offer hope. Making mobile happen 1. 2.