While there’s no turn-key tool that allows you to push your content in one end and have a mobile solution that works on all devices come out the other, there are choices that allow you to make the most of the training resources you’ve already spent the time and money to develop.
There are in fact two major areas of decision that you need to consider…
The first relates to the design and learning choices you are making related to your business needs. For example:
Are we creating tools on the mobile devices for employees or customers?
Are we shifting content from existing classroom or web-based training courses to a new mobile environment?
Your design decisions will be evident when accepting the fact that learners using mobile devices tend to use them in short sessions, or as needed to address immediate concerns. Keeping this in mind, it’s important to segment your existing training materials into small chunks that can be easily consumed by learners. This will improve completion rates and ensure you’re leveraging the features and functionality that make mobile so compelling in the first place. Layout and interactivity will need to be redesigned in many cases with the simple consideration to how the device will be held, horizontal or vertical and of course considering the use of fingers and gesture in how to impact the user experience. In future blogs we will expand on specific design consideration.
The good news, and there is a lot of good news here, is that mobile devices and the affordance they create have given us amazing opportunities.
- For the first time, we have liberated from the physical storefront or company footprint. For many of our clients who don’t have dedicated training areas, we can now push their customers and employees to mobile devices
- The costs and transition is a less/easier than you may think
As we have developed Mobile Roadmaps for our clients we are struck by the simplicity of the move in comparison to the move from Classroom to Web.
For example, delivering your corporate training content through engaging video elements and simple interactive games within most of our clients reach, especially when working with younger, more tech-savvy learners, it becomes a boon and helps highlight the training organizations position within their respective companies. Unlike just animating an existing Powerpoint presentation, creating these types of instructional elements plays right to the strengths of mobile devices and draw learners in. Of course understanding the technology that will allow the broadest adoption of our client’s mobile learning offering is key (and the topic of my next blog).
An easy step for the reader of this blog to take is to start doing a short audit of their organization’s corporate training and marketing assets at hand. A little preplanning can save a lot of time and put you in the driver seat when speaking to your vendor.
Looking to learn more about the elements to consider when creating an App of an html website? Here is a great collection of articles.
You can read more about Allen’s Mobile Learning Roadmap solution, designed to help your company map out a path to success, and download our whitepaper.
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