Focus on These 5 Mobile Skill Development Concepts

Mobile applications can be used to provide skill-based training services to appeal to beginners and experts alike, making on-the-go learning a reality! Explore 5 patterns in mobile learning that will boost preparation for your skills.

Help Your Employees Grow By Using Mobile Learning Techniques

Training in skills allows learners to think and apply their expertise independently. With the growing demand for continuous learning, in most organizations, mobile learning is fast becoming the go-to format for training. Here are the most current developments in mobile learning that can help you provide successful training for skills.

1. Customize the Learning Process with AI

We’ve all heard of chatbots being trained to answer specific questions. By incorporating resources powered by Artificial Intelligence, the chatbot can be changed into a virtual coach. A virtual coach can suggest content or encourage a customized mobile learning experience for the learner based on the abilities that need to be developed.

Mobile learning is transformed by AI chatbots by:

• Sending reminders about preparation to learners
• Guiding learners in the mobile climate
• Interacting with students, much as a teacher would
• Providing appropriate knowledge according to the needs of a learner.
• Providing feedback during the learning journey

There is a growing appetite for customized learning experiences, with 43 percent of Gen Z preferring an autonomous and self-directed learning approach. And when this learning is delivered on their favourite mobile devices that allow for learning at any time, anywhere, high completion rates are given.

Together with research on AI learning, this mobile learning pattern will continue to grow, bringing more and more benefits to the learner.

2. Use Apps to Take Learning to the Next Level

Did you know that nearly 57% of today’s workers prefer learning on the go? By encouraging active learning through mobile applications, micro-learning refreshers after instructor-led skills training, or eLearning, you can help learners’ sharpen the saw ‘.

Build micro quizzes that learners can access on their smartphones easily. One or two questions that pop up every day at a fixed time on their mobile screens is a perfect way to improve learning.

And where there is minimal Internet access, native smartphone applications may also assist learners in remote areas or those on the move to develop their skills. In the modern workplace, where brand alignment is critical, personalized mobile learning apps are a great match. Besides providing insights into learning metrics, they keep you updated about:

• Downloading and installing the App
• Amount of successful students using the app
• Normal learning time using the software
• Number of users who return to the app for use

3. Let Your Employees Produce Training Materials and Content

With all preparation, on-the-job training is important, and more so for skills training. As part of their educational system, most organizations do this. But L&D teams have long struggled to provide on-the-job continuous training as it is almost difficult to ensure that a co-worker or mentor is present to guide the employee if they need assistance.

Most of us go to Google to figure out how to perform a certain job, and there is no exemption for workers at the workplace. Almost 40 percent of workers do this, according to a Docebo report, and that includes 1 in 3 millennials. And they prefer to ask a co-worker for support.

Instead of Google or a colleague, why not share user-generated content (UGC) for fast learning opportunities the mobile devices? UGC has evolved from social learning, and today it allows learners to create content and share it with peers from their own experience. In the coming days, it is a mobile learning trend that will become very common to provide successful skills training.

For example, wouldn’t a fast video or notes from a co-worker or teacher be more efficient than watching generic sales skills videos on Google if a learner is interested in learning about sales skills?

L&D teams will easily inform workers on the development of user-generated content and the various ways in which it can be distributed. Let them that it doesn’t have to be ‘amazing’. To help fellow workers complete their tasks at the office, it only needs to be ‘healthy enough.’

4. The User Experience is Critical

One increasingly becoming prominent mobile learning trend is concentrating on User Experience (UX) to offer enhanced mobile device learning experiences. Mobile content can be offered as a micro-learning course, blogs, posts, videos, podcasts, and there are many more!

UX plays an important role in mobile learning: in:

• Enabling learners to access data at their time of need
• Providing offline learning with a provision for uninterrupted learning
• Facilitating rapid information sharing

How Can the User Experience Be Maximized

• Minimal time for page loading by decreased content and photos
• A visual approach that works well on small screens
• Maximum visibility with contrast and color
• No clutter and decent text readability

It is important to note that a mobile-first approach does not answer all material for skills training. Think ‘learner-centric’ instead of creating ‘mobile-first’, what’s better for the learner. Often, for a crisp, sensitive mobile learning solution that addresses the target of upskilling or reskilling learners, it’s just not possible to reduce material.

If you believe that longer pieces of content would be more appropriate for training (irrespective of the format), go for it. Mobile-friendly content that can be viewed on a variety of devices is very much in vogue, including laptops and desktops!

5. Virtual Reality Can Take Your Training to the Next Level

Augmented Reality (AR) enables the incorporation of digital elements into a real-life environment. If you have used or played Pokémon GO for the IKEA mobile app that allows customers to put IKEA furniture in their homes (virtually) before actually buying it, you’ve already had a sense of what AR is.

AR can be used to include mobile learning opportunities that are interactive. And it definitely will make the teaching of skills interactive and engaging. An employee working to repair a malfunctioning part of a machine, for example, can simply point his mobile to that part of the machine and receive step-by-step repair instructions.

AR is increasingly used for surgical training in the field of healthcare, not just for training, but also for testing the surgical skills of trainee surgeons. AR simulators merge computer graphics with real-life artifacts, giving surgeons an ‘X-ray’ vision to improve surgical precision. ‘Telementoring’ (an AR application) can also be used by surgeons to allow specialists to see what the surgeon is looking at and provide guidance.

In warehouse management, AR can also be used to help workers quickly identify goods. With AR-based Smart Glasses, order picking, a cost-intensive assignment that takes a lot of practice, becomes easy.

Help Your Employees Gain New Skills

The days when you had to spend a great deal of time and money looking for a mentor are gone. You just whip up the smartphone now, and voila!! Duolingo, Memrise, Babel, all mobile learning applications that can help you learn a new language, are available.

It has never been so quick to learn a new language or, for that matter, any kind of skills training!

Examples of Existing Smartphone Apps

Simply put, mobile learning apps are applications that are designed to provide learning experiences on mobile devices using mobile technology.

In the corporate world, mobile learning apps are becoming increasingly popular, not only as instruments for self-learning but as formal and informal learning platforms for sharing information and training skills. You can choose between a web app, a native mobile app, or the new hybrid mobile app.

Your choice of the app will rely on the need for the company, the resources available, the app’s expectations, and the timelines for growth.

A software application that is available on a web browser is a web app on a smartphone. For multi-browser compatibility, it is typically produced in HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. If you are looking for a learning app, web apps are your best choice that can be:

• Quickly rolled out
• Established under a low budget
• Compatible through various platforms

The only issue is that most web applications need access to the Internet and do not function well for offline learning.

Via an app store, native applications are mounted on the smartphone and more costly than web apps; explicitly built for one device. When you’re looking for: Native apps are ideal

• Responsivity and pace
• Entry to learning offline
• Mobile applications unique to platforms (e.g., iOS for Apple, or Android for Samsung smartphones)
• Integration of software from third parties

The versatility of both web and native apps is combined with hybrid apps. Compared to native applications, although they are simpler to build and have a shorter development cycle, they need third-party software to enable communication between the native platform and the web view.

Do Mobile Apps really work for training

Examining mobile learning patterns and all the advantages they bring for skills training is fascinating. Let’s explore, for example, these smartphone applications for skills training:

Help Your Employees Become More Engaged

For most training programs, keeping learners interested in learning is a major challenge. An integral part of classroom instruction is constructive learning with learner involvement. But what about the times when there are students outside of the classroom?

With mobile applications, learners can be sent ‘push’ alerts, reminders to complete a module or answer a quiz, etc. Consider the example of staff in a retail outlet or restaurant chain. As that will impact productivity, they cannot afford to spend long hours in the classroom.

To train them on customer service skills by engaging them in the learning process, a gamified quiz or a bite-sized micro-learning nugget that is fast, engaging, and easily delivered via a mobile app works very well.

Continue the Training Process Offline

Restricted internet access no longer implies disruption of learning, no more!

For example, negotiating skills training (as part of sales training) does not need to be limited to the classroom. It can be achieved with immersive simulations outside the school, too. And there’s no need for the Internet to access the training modules.

It is possible to complete skills training with eLearning or micro-learning at the convenience of the learners, even with minimal Internet access, with mobile apps enabling offline learning.

Monitor Everyone’s Development

Many of us are still under the impression that only when performed inside the company, not outside, can learning be monitored. That is no longer valid, as students can start training on one mobile device and continue it on another with a mobile LMS. Another pattern in mobile learning which shouldn’t go unnoticed.

With so much learning versatility, is it even possible to monitor the progress of learners?

Completely! Absolutely! Student progress can be monitored as mobile apps ensure the synchronization of data with the LMS of the company. With offline learning, as soon as internet access is restored, outcomes are synced. With personalized mobile apps, the use of the mobile app by learners can also be monitored.

For a fast analysis of the success of their staff, managers or supervisors may access personalized dashboards and study the metrics they’re interested in, allowing remedial measures if necessary.

Customize the Learning Experience

By providing customized learning efficiently, mobile apps give learners power over their learning experiences. (Modern students love to have full influence over their learning!)

To offer personalized learning for skills training, you can use mobile learning:

• That is aligned to business objectives
• For the new workplace
• To plan for possible positions

Using mobile apps, customized learning paths can be delivered, with the paths optimized based on the learners:

• Preferred language
• Workplace positions
• Degree of competence (gauged through pre-assessments)

Mobile apps also allow students to search for online classes, videos, and podcasts based on colleagues’ recommendations. Collaborative learning integration makes it much easier to seek support from an expert quickly or complete a group task.

Focus on Performance Improvements

Until mobile learning arrived on the L&D scene, offering performance support at the exact time-of-need of a learner was unheard of. But now, for companies embracing mobile learning, it has become a big reason.

Service technicians out in the field, for example, can use their smartphones to access videos about troubleshooting a computer easily, go through a digital maintenance manual, or search through an information library curated by team experts. As an on-the-job performance support instrument, this comes in handy.

Learners can access bite-sized learning nuggets in the form of micro-learning for Just-In-Time training or simply to refresh their expertise, making it a perfect strategy for improving skills training.

Conclusion

Mobile learning applications can be used to appeal to beginners as well as experts to include a range of skill-based training to make learning on-the-go a reality and make these apps the best friend of any teacher!

How we live, work, and learn is profoundly influenced by mobile technology. Get the eBook An L&D Manager’s Mobile Learning Guide to Exploit Customized Content For Skills Training to get more insights into the exciting world of mobile learning and explore how you can use mobile learning for skills training.