There are three ways learning can be considered mobile—in terms of space, in different areas of life, and with respect to time. Mobile learning is learning ‘on the move.’ Mobile learning originally referred to the use of laptop computers, which freed learners from their desktops. However increasing penetration of mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and Smartphones has redefined and accelerated the growth of mobile learning—or m-learning.
Typical training challenges that m-learning addresses:
- Widely dispersed staff / student base
- Constantly mobile workforce
- Rapid deployment of training, e.g., regulatory compliance
- Pull staff from their jobs to the classroom
Characteristics of m-learning
- Non-work-hour training
- Easy access anytime, anywhere
- More access to corporate information
- More access to job-specific information
Organizations can leverage mobile and Internet-enabled technology to address their training challenges. M-learning is designed to fit with the unique work-style requirements of the mobile workforce, linked to their office by cell phones, laptops and handheld devices. This workforce spans a wide range of occupations: from sales to customer service, engineering, maintenance, consulting and insurance—to name just a few. As so many of these jobs are customer-facing, their importance is often paramount to an organization. Mobile workers need and deserve the latest information and the sharpest skills.
Key enablers of M-learning
- Learning is a personal issue in which motivation and access matters. Mobile devices are also truly personal—your mobile is your mobile. Motivation can be sustained through accessibility to content via a mobile device at all times. This gives you the opportunity to learn when you want with a device that, unlike a PC, is literally with you all of the time.
- Mobile devices are unique in being a personal, portable and powerful computing and communications device.
- Mobile devices have been hugely successful as a lifestyle, consumer electronics product.
Did you know?
Over 50 percent of all employees worldwide spend up to half of their time outside the office.
M-learning Applications
- Assessments – Diagnosis / Self-assessment
- Language Learning
- Knowledge Reinforcement
- Performance Support
- PDA-based Courseware
TIS’s Offerings
- mReference, Refresher Modules, and Customer Convenience Apps
- mPerformance Support and Just-in-Time Apps
- mEnterprise Apps, Sales &Service Data and Communication Flow to Mobile devices
- Mobile Learning Management Systems (MLMS) – Customized & Generic
- Consultancy and solutions for adoption of m-learning
- Porting of existing courseware onto handheld devices
