Are you well-versed in e-learning via mobile technology but looking for ideas to offer even more high-quality modules? Thanks to these techniques, make the most of your content to boost the potential of your mobile learning.
1. Diversify your formats
The more you develop your m-learning modules, the more you can propose mobile-friendly formats like video, designs (a mixture of visuals and texts), memes, gifs, emojis, icons, etc.
Changing the format is the first step towards boosting your content. Feel free to create short videos focusing on key messages. Thanks to their specific format, they will offer a new take on the content. If they are really short, they can even serve as a memo for your learners. Making videos is now a lot easier than in the past: you can film yourself and edit your video directly using your smartphone.
Like videos, other media are perfect for approaching your subject from a more creative, funny, practical or modern angle. Vary the format and you will maintain a better level of concentration.
2. Redefine the relationship between learners
Who says that digital technology pushes people apart? Encourage exchanges by integrating chat tools (Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, etc.) into your training. Everyone can take part when they are available and chat to an individual, a group or all the other trainees.
Chats are even more useful if you combine them with collaborative project management tools. You can use Google Workspace and applications like Trello or Asana to facilitate group work. You can, for example, ask your teams to design a shared schedule or budget for presentation at the end of the course.
Want to take it further? Transform your learners into experts and have them teach their peers. Offer them tools to create surveys (like Google Form), quizzes and content (photos, videos and computer graphics) and give them a specific mission: to explain a job or build a scenario, for example.
The technological solutions will facilitate their work; all they will have to think about is the content. Some will be so keen they will produce several materials!
3. Make use of your main tool: the smartphone
Smartphones have given rise to two phenomena: applications and notifications. Whether your e-learning is in the form of an application or an m-learning course (website designed and adapted for mobile phones), make use of notifications. Do your learners need to respect a certain schedule and hand in deliverables on a specific date? Send reminders to ping them about their commitments. You can also use notifications to follow up on absent trainees or to announce a module update. Be careful not to inundate learners’ phones, however, at the risk of them switching off all notifications from you.
The smartphone is also a vehicle for technological progress. A range of possibilities has opened up with the emergence of augmented reality. Remember, augmented reality is a visualization system based on the real world: using a smartphone, you see your direct environment. However, a layer of information appears on the screen providing you with additional data.
Augmented reality now extends to training. It is, for example, used to help professionals with technical gestures: the trainer stands in front of the machine, points their phone at the missing or defective part and sees what needs to be done to replace or correct the part in question on their screen.
4. Improve your feedback and evaluations
Mobile technology is not only beneficial for your learners. You can use it as a trainer, particularly to conduct questionnaires at the start and end of the course. A wide range of applications now exist to compile and share feedback. These tools simplify the design of your document and help to cover all aspects of the e-learning course: key messages and content, user pathway, accessibility, diversity and relevance of media, technological environment, etc. If you use external tools, you can evaluate the liaison with these tools. Unlike in face-to-face training, your learners can complete the feedback at their own convenience. You can also use notifications to alert them or send them reminders, if need be.
These four levers for improvement provide you with a wide range of possibilities. You can also boost your mobile learning in a multitude of other ways: media, technology, community management and gathering comments. Feel free to focus on one or several levers, use different combinations and create your own customized plan!
