With a noticeable decline in the number of desktop PCs being sold consecutively over the last 3 years, mobile learning is fast gaining popularity. Coupled with this trend, the plethora of powerful yet cheap handheld devices is adding momentum to eLearning on the go. As more consumers embrace this growing trend, the learning opportunities that now exist, from an instructional design point of view, are indeed huge.What is it?
Mobile learning, or mLearning as it is popularly called, is not simply about reading a PDF research report on viewing an instructional video while sitting in rush hour traffic. And it is not eLearning using a mobile device. The eLearning Guild defines it as: "Any activity that allows individuals to be more productive... through a compact digital portable device... " In other words, learning on the go is NOT about whiling away time, but rather it's about using that time for constructive learning. Nor is it an alternate to traditional eLearning approaches. Rather, the use of mobile devices to facilitate learning is complimentary to other learning methods.
Why go there?
Embracing mLearning is no longer an option but a necessity if organizations want a productive workforce to stay competitive today. Most educational institutions have already switched their content to allow on-the go learning. Organizations with large distributed work forces find that bringing in everyone into a facilitated learning event has become expensive. They therefore prefer asynchronous eLearning and learning-on-the-go models instead.
Many governments and large corporations have also implemented initiatives for mobile learners, such as The Mobile Learning Environment (MoLE) project of the U.S. Military, GoLearn at Merrill Lynch, and the BLOOM (or Bite-sized Learning Opportunities on Mobile Devices) initiative in the European Union.
Pros and Cons
While there are both advantages and disadvantages of mobile learning, the benefits far outweigh the challenges. Some reasons to design courses
that leverage learning on the go include:
Opportunity to turn otherwise down-time into more productive time
Deliver valuable educational material easily to quickly improve an
organizations workforce
Move to an on-the-go, anywhere-anytime learning experience
Enable greater facilitation and cooperation between trainers and learners
Opportunity to design learning materials that are uniquely customized for individual learners
However, an instructional designer must also be aware of some of the limitations that mLearning brings with it, including:
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