In my day to day dealings at Elucidat I often work with agencies and corporate clients implementing the best solutions for mobile and BYOD learning. From my observations, there are 5 common areas every company should consider around mobile learning which I thought I should share with you.
1.) Developing strategy too early
Considering strategy before having a rip-roaringly exciting concept will kill your output.
Don’t let mobile practicalities inhibit expression - an exciting vision will motivate you and your team.
According to Michael Hyatt: The problem is that people get stuck on the “how”. They don’t see how they could accomplish more, so they throttle back their vision, convinced that they must be “realistic.” And, what they expect becomes their new reality. This is simply faith applied negatively.
The time for pragmatism can come in the later stages of development.
2.) Not treating devices differently
We don’t use our phones and tablets like we use desktops.
Desktops favour richer text content, devices favour snappy interactions. Treat them differently.
A major pitfall that I regularly encounter is the expectation that you can directly convert your legacy desktop courses to mobile learning. The reality is… learners simply can’t complete a 30 minute desktop course on a 10 minute train journey.
To create content that is equally captivating on both desktop and device, it is vital to plan with platform limitations in mind during your final design phase.
3.) Being distracted by new technology
Sure, you can create learning that allows your learner to:
post their score to facebook,
see a video in augmented reality
and then scan a QR code
Yes…it’s really cool…but how much more will they learn?
With the interactive versatility that Mobile devices offer it’s tempting to get carried away by technological possibilities (we understand, we are huge nerds at Elucidat!). You must resist!
Keep your focus and use interactions to punctuate your content.
4.) Not considering device interfaces
During your final design stage, it is crucial to think of how user friendly your design is on all device sizes. Ask question such as:
Is that button too small to be pressed on an iPad?
How easily will my user be able to see this course when they’re out and about?
Will the amount of content I wish to display require excessive scrolling?
Click here for a helpful list of Mobile learning design considerations.
5.) Delaying Mobile integration
Adopting Mobile learning takes consideration. However, there is undeniable evidence for being an early adopter (see our post on mobile learning statistics here). The longer you wait to embrace Mobile learning, the harder it will become to change.
Don’t be late to the party and start planning for tomorrow, now. Contact us - we’d love to help you ‘future proof’ your e-learning.
If you would like to know more about our experiences with mobile pitfalls, or if you have some additional advice, please leave a comment below and I’ll get right back to you.
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Post author Joe Burns is a Support and Presales advocate for Elucidat. Joe’s role is to help people easily implement mobile learning strategies and create inventive, future-proofed resources. ‘Having worked with many of the archaic desktop based software to produce materials in the past, I recognise there is a need for intuitive and rapid new tools.’