Five Calls to Make When Developing a Mobile Learning Strategy

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Five Calls to Make When Developing

a Mobile Learning Strategy

Executive Summary

With smartphones and tablets becoming more commonplace in enterprise environments, the interest in mobile learning is growing. Many organizations see the promise of mobile learning, but actual implementations are still relatively rare. Is now the time to take the plunge into mobile learning? Is your organization prepared? It’s important for organizations to focus on some basic issues before making this important decision.

JIM RENNER, Senior Technical Consultant, Skillsoft

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Welcome to the exciting (and misunderstood)

world of mobile learning

Over the past several years, there has been a rising tide of interest in mobile learning from across the corporate landscape. Today, mobile devices permeate our daily lives. Research from The Brandon Hall Group indicates that 80% of organizations have, or are in the process of creating, a mobile-learning strategy. The authors of The 2020 Workplace see a time in the not-so-distant future when the mobile phone will “become” the office and classroom, providing everything from new-hire orientation to on-the-job performance support.1

Even so, in these early stages of mobile learning, success stories remain infrequent. It isn’t that learning professionals don’t see the promise in using mobile devices to reach employees; as promising as mobile learning is, important challenges have prevented many organizations from being able to fully leverage mobile learning including access, technology and resources. Access

Elearning programs have always dealt with the challenge that some learners in the organization do not have access to an appropriate device, such as a desktop PC. Mobile learning carries this same challenge, but to an even larger extent. In many organizations, company-provided mobile devices are only made available to executives, sales teams and other on-the-go learners. As a result, company-provided devices usually cover only a fraction of the learning audience. This lack of reach can be a limiting factor preventing a broad-based mobile learning strategy from getting off the ground.

One factor impacting the availability of devices for learning initiatives is the idea of employees using their own personal devices in the workplace. Gartner, in its Bring Your Own Device: The Facts and the Future2_{, describes the concept as “the most radical change to the economics and the culture of}

client computing in business in decades.” While Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies introduce complexities for IT groups such as security and device management, those organizations that are adopting them can deliver on key corporate mobile initiatives, including learning, because BYOD greatly expands the corporate mobile audience.

Technology

Elearning has a long history of technological advancements, but few are as game-changing as the introduction of mobile devices. Most of these advancements have been evolutionary, like the transition from simple text and images to interactive media. This has enabled learning organizations to slowly adapt to the changing technological landscape. That won’t be as easy with the revolutionary nature of mobile devices.

From the lack of Adobe Flash®_{support to the idea of native apps, supporting mobile learning will}

lead to organizations reevaluating and retooling their learning operations to take full advantage of mobile learning. Course designs should consider small screens; content production should support multiple devices and responsive design.

1_{The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today, by Jeanne C. Meister and Karie} Willyerd. Harper Business, 2010.

2_{Bring Your Own Device: The Facts and the Future by David A. Willis. Gartner Inc., April 11, 2013.}

Barriers to mlearning: • Access

• Technology • Resources

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Technologies may need to be upgraded if they are not mobile compatible. Although this level of change may seem overwhelming, the right approach will lead to success.

Resources

Regardless of your perspective of the mobile learning landscape, a successful mobile program will require investment. Beyond the device purchases and technology upgrades mentioned above, adoption of mobile learning will require an investment of time and resources across multiple areas of your organization. Most directly impacted will be your IT and L&D groups. The IT group must ensure the deployment, security and support of mobile devices, apps and related technologies not just for learning but for all mobile initiatives. Your L&D group will be tasked with not only developing a mobile strategy, but managing and coordinating a variety of tasks to integrate a mobile offering into your overall learning program, including:

• Content development and conversion • Learner education

• Mobile marketing • Vendor management • Measurement solutions

The good news is that these investments can, to some degree, be mitigated by a solid strategy. A key to improving your chances of success is to develop a strategy with a startup mindset. Start small and grow. Select a target audience, implement a mobile solution, measure success and repeat. This approach will help you avoid the pitfall of biting off more than you can chew … or afford. It also provides the opportunity to experiment while minimizing investment risk. The result will be foundational knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work for your organization and your mobile learners.

A renaissance in learning

Outside of learning, the revolutionary nature of mobile devices has created whole new disciplines in Information Technology and led organizations to rethink the way they design, market and deliver their products and services. Those same forces have the potential to create a renaissance in learning that we have not seen since the first computer-based training.

Whether it’s camera-based, augmented reality or location-specific content, thanks to GPS, mobile devices offer a potential far beyond traditional elearning. Many recognize the potential and are eager to get started, but realize that historical approaches to building a learning strategy might not work. So if you are ready to consider how mobile learning can drive great business outcomes in your organization, the trick is to focus on the right areas—and these five questions should help you do that.

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1. Who is your mobile learner?

One key to any successful learning program is an understanding of your audience. As part of your program development practice, the creation of learner profiles will enable you to answer a number of what-if scenarios. Profiles should be based on real people, either sample individuals or composites, and serve as a sounding-board for all program decisions.

In addition to typical information such as job role, work environment and schedule, profiles can help answer mobile-centric questions like:

• When and where will training take place? • Is the learner familiar with mobile devices? • Does the learner have access to a mobile device? • Is mobile content appropriate for this learner? • What type of mobile solution is most useful?

A few common themes may emerge from this profiling process which, combined with other influencing factors, can help you set the proper direction for your strategy:

• Usage patterns for mobile are diverse and unique:

Ask a thousand people how they use their tablet and smartphone and you’ll get a thousand different answers. The flexibility and availability of the technology provides each person the ability to create a highly personalized experience. Some will say they never watch video on a smartphone, others will say they do it quite often. Given this, it is important not to chase the tail by trying to be everything to everyone. Apply the 80/20 rule and develop a strategy that targets appropriate mobile solutions to each audience and is potentially unique to a tablet or smartphone.

• Not all programs need mobile content:

Don’t assume that every program needs mobile-accessible content. Whether its learner preference or the nature of the program (e.g., compliance, etc.), training may just work better on the desktop or in a classroom. In these cases, don’t force it. Instead, look for non-content solutions which can leverage mobile technology, including social connections, notifications or feedback.

• Context is important:

Learners will find different types of content useful at different times. Understanding the context of their usage will help determine what content to make available on which devices. Using profiles to dig deep into different use cases can help you focus your efforts. For example, a programmer will typically get performance support information at their desktop, but may find short conceptual videos on new technologies very useful on the go.

Using a technique like profiling can help focus your strategy on those areas where mobile technology will provide the most benefit. In the early days of mobile learning, precisely targeted solutions will provide more impact and better demonstrate value than a more broad approach.

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Finally, your work with profiles isn’t done when you deploy your mobile solutions. Profiles should be as fluid as the workforce you’re training. Remember to build in data collection tools to ensure you have information on how people are using your training. Whether it’s an analytics tool tracking every user interaction or simply a survey collecting experiential feedback, this data can be used to refresh your profiles and ensure you truly know your audience.

2. How will you leverage the power of mobile?

In order to answer this question, we first need to understand the power of mobile. Let’s look at what sets mobile devices apart from traditional computers:

• First and foremost, they are a communications hub. • Unlike the “personal” computer, they truly are personal. • They provide a higher level of interactivity and engagement.

From texting, to social tools, to browsing the web, tablets and smartphones provide people the ability to connect to others and for you, as a learning professional, to connect to them. This extends your two-way communications beyond the traditional workplace methods of meetings, emails and web conferences. You can now connect with them wherever and whenever they have their device. Whether it is the apps they install or the case they use, people tend to personalize their mobile devices to the point where they are an extension of the individual. In BYOD situations, this personal connection provides an opportunity to introduce corporate training activities into the person’s daily life. Of course, this needs to be done in a way that is not intrusive. Personalization of communications and limiting push interactions are two ways to mitigate that risk. Ultimately, this provides you the ability to keep training goals and objectives top of mind.

Below are a handful of ideas for leveraging the power of mobile. Some are content-centric and some are communications-centric:

• Podcasts:

The need to push out new information to targeted groups in an organization is not new. Sales teams and technicians need updates on products. Operations teams need the latest information on processes and tools. Traditional email and web content can be overwhelming and time consuming to digest. Audio or video podcasts provide a format more easily consumed by busy employees, especially field-based employees. Combining podcasts with commenting features or social tools provides two-way communication which ensures you have a feedback process to optimize the time and energy of your organization.

• Performance support:

Many companies provide formal training when a new employee starts, but the actual moment of need may not arise for months or even longer. Being able to deliver short refreshers or job aids in a targeted situation can be invaluable. These may take the form of a text document, presentation or even a short video. Another common approach is to provide access to a database of more general information that can be searched at the time of need. Whatever the content, it’s important to remember that “short and sweet” beats long and involved.

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• Reminders and notifications:

Texts and app notifications are two great ways to push information to your learners. Some organizations use mobile delivery to remind employees of training that is required (compliance training) or when new training offerings become available that match their interests or job role. You can also send reminders to keep learners on-track when they’re involved in a longer-term effort, such as preparing for a certification.

• Assessments and surveys:

Short assessments and surveys can be a good way to communicate with employees or to maintain a sense of engagement. Data collected through a mobile survey may be used to understand what situations employees are encountering in the course of their jobs, where skill gaps exist, and where new training could be of benefit. Short assessments can be used to understand whether employees have retained information and whether it is being applied on the job.

As you consider the types of solutions you will develop, keep an open mind about the diversity of experiences you will use. There is a trend in the learning industry to consolidate the user experience into a single, monolithic system. The mobile ecosystem is not designed that way. The “there’s an app for that” mentality is strong across vendors, developers, and users. It is very common to create a single-purpose app where individuals don’t think twice about installing and using an app that only does one thing, as long as it does it well. This means that you should consider creating a mobile ecosystem consisting of several apps, each with their own specific role.

When thinking about the future of mobile learning, the power of the mobile device makes for some intriguing possibilities. Mobile devices offer a diverse environment of interactive capabilities beyond basic touch and rich media. GPS services enable people to access location-relevant information. Cameras and microphones offer the ability to not only capture real-world sights and sounds, but to interact with them. While it will be some time before you see these tools leveraged in learning, they offer a whole new world of learner engagement not possible using tradition PC-based elearning.

3. What devices will you support?

While there are signs that the mobile space is maturing, we are still not living in a world where

standards prevail. Form factors, operating systems and limitations of various phones and tablets make it difficult or impossible to “build once” and then deliver to many devices. Traditional technologies used on the desktop for general elearning (Adobe®_Flash®_{, Java, Java Applets) simply will not work on most}

mobile devices. Whether you are building your own content or sourcing it from a vendor like Skillsoft, this fact will have an impact across your content from planning to deployment.

Another primary consideration is the fundamental differences between tablets and smartphones. Not only do these devices vary in terms of screen size, but also when and where they are typically used. Understanding this difference in usage patterns can guide you toward leveraging the correct type of device for your programs.

If your goal is to deliver more formal learning, you may want to consider limiting your strategy to tablets. They are much more conducive to delivering a full learning experience and they allow more

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options of a tablet. Developing an interactive experience for a touch interface is significantly different than designing for a keyboard and mouse. Keep this in mind when considering the development of cross-device content.

If you goal is to engage your learner and provide just-in-time access to relevant information, the smartphone might be a more suitable option. When leaving the house, smartphones are as important to most people as keys and a wallet. Knowing this, smartphones provide an always-on connection to your learner which can be successfully used to remind, notify, and engage. However, content delivery on the phone should be limited to modes that are easily consumed on these devices, typically audio and video. If you decide to provide more interactive content, you should try to keep is short and simple, such as an assessment.

In addition to device considerations, you’ll need to develop a strategy regarding your use of mobile web- and app-based solutions. These two technologies are the primary methods for delivering functionality to a mobile device. Mobile web solutions utilize the web browser on the mobile device, while native apps are platform-specific, such as Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android, and are installed directly on the device.

Whether you are building your own mobile ecosystem or licensing it from a vendor, here are a few things to keep in mind regarding the difference between web-based and app-based technologies3_:

WEB APP TECHNOLOGY

Limitations Advantages

Usually requires a live internet connection, so access to learning content can be limited or not available at all when the user is not connected. There’s a lack of support for “pushing” content directly to the learner.

Expect limited access to device capabilities (e.g., camera and location services).

It’s generally less secure and offers less control over the content once downloaded.

Supports a wide range of devices for general content. This is ideal in a BYOD environment.

Updates and maintenance are easier via the web.

Web design best practices are progressively becoming more focused on a “mobile first” approach to optimize the experience for the mobile user. This type of design can scale up nicely for the PC user (versus the other way around).

In addition, websites are increasingly being built to support a wide range of small-screen mobile devices.

3_{Adapted and enhanced using information originally published in: M-learning: Mobile Learning Is Finally Mainstream – And It Is Bigger Than You} Might Think, Bersin & Associates. March 2011.

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As mobile technology advances, we’re starting to see the lines between these two forms of mobile app development blurred. This is generating a third type of app; the hybrid app. Hybrid apps can provide the best of both worlds, using native app capabilities for areas such as camera access and web app capabilities such as build once for all platforms. This offers the opportunity to leverage the advantages of both technologies while avoiding the limitations.

4. Do you have the necessary

organizational support?

Your mobile learning strategy needs to be aligned with overall organizational strategy and informed by a thorough understanding of the company’s information technology approach. Most successful programs begin with a strong partnership between the L&D and the IT departments. You want to make sure that you understand security and network access

guidelines and you also need to consider the technical support needs your program will create. Your IT department may have already arrived at a conclusion about what devices it will and will not support, and you should understand these choices and why they were made.

You should also understand what the dynamics are in your organization around providing mobile devices to employees. Some companies want their employees to be “always on” and therefore supply smart phones to virtually all employees. According to a 2012 iPass Mobile Workforce report, the average mobile worker puts in 240 hours a year more than the general workforce, so the potential benefits to business are clear5_{. Others restrict phones to those audiences who are deemed}

to have the greatest need. Because not all learners will have access to mobile devices or the desire to use them for learning, it is important to ensure any assets you want to use for mobile learning also

be available through whatever systems your learners normally use to access training. At the outset

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NATIVE APP TECHNOLOGY

Limitations Advantages

Requires creating a specific, tailored program for each platform supported. This increases development costs and time to market.

The distribution process is more complicated than web apps, including approval processes for app store deployment.

Provides a familiar, integrated user experience.

Supports downloading the content for offline consumption.

Content can be pushed to the user as well as pulled by the user in response to a search query or browsing.

Full access to device capabilities, (e.g., camera and location services).

Adapted and enhanced using information originally published in: M-Learning: Mobile Learning Is Finally Mainstream – And It Is Bigger Than

You Might Think, Bersin & Associates, March 2011.

4_{2013/14 Survey: Social Media in the Workplace Around the World 3.0. Proskauer, April 2014.}

5_{http://www3.ipass.com/about/mobile-workforce-report/archive/mwr-052411/}

The average mobile worker puts in 240 hours a year more than the general workforce.4

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of your planning, it is wise to sit down with senior leaders to understand what their views are on mobile devices and if they envision a time in the near future when the organizational approach may be changing.

5. How does it fit into your existing learning strategy

and ecosystem?

Mobile learning presents an opportunity to improve employee performance, productivity and engagement, but it isn’t right for every need. To be successful you need to have an understanding of how mobile learning fits within a broader framework, and this will be driven by the maturity of your learning program and systems, your goals and your workforce. Some issues to consider:

• Does your organization have a strong learning culture?

Adding mobile learning to an already well-established learning program is easier than bolting it on to a program that is still in the nascent stages. If you have only recently introduced online learning or blended learning, it may be confusing to add mobile learning to the mix. Do learners know how to log on to your LMS? Is there strong demand for learning? Do you have the staff to support a new program? For more insight into how learning program maturity can be measured, see The Learning Growth Model: A Blueprint for Integrating Learning Into the Life of the Enterprise in Five Manageable Stages.6

• Do your systems support mobile learning?

The learning industry has a wide array of learning management systems (LMS), authoring tools and other platforms, all of which provide their own flavor of support for mobile learning. All of the risks and challenges we’ve discussed are magnified by the large number of systems and lack of mobile-centric standards. This is guaranteed to produce interoperability challenges. To minimize these challenges, we recommend you have a clear understanding of the mobile capabilities in your learning ecosystem and work closely with your vendors to drive mobile innovation and compatibility.

• What are the primary goals of your overall learning program?

When you consider all the complexities, the decision to invest in mobile learning should always be made based on its potential impact on your organizational learning goals and objectives. How will it have a positive impact on those goals? If there is no clear alignment, then mobile learning may not be a good investment at this time.

However, if there is alignment and you choose to move forward, a top priority of your mobile strategy should be the development of a methodology for measuring the impact of mobile. In turn, this will introduce requirements on your programs and tools to collect the data necessary to support this measurement.

• Is your workforce a good fit for mobile?

A majority of adults have a cell phone, and while some see it as a gateway to the world’s information resources, others simply see it as a phone. Profiles can help target segments of your workforce that are more mobile in their jobs and focus specifically on their readiness/

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willingness to accept mobile learning. Other organizational factors may diminish the value of mobile learning such as legal requirements that limit or prohibit employees from taking training outside of work. Understanding the interplay of all these factors will help you develop

a thoughtful, targeted mobile strategy.

Skillsoft’s mobile learning strategy

Skillsoft has been focused on providing mobile performance support solutions, initially through the Skillsoft®_Books24x7®_{product line, for a number of years. With the release of Skillport}®_8,

performance support and all other types of learning are available through a single platform. Learners are given access to relevant content, when and where they need it, either at their desk or on the go. Our mobile website provides access to Skillsoft mobile content and is optimized for viewing on iPhone, Android, Windows 8, BlackBerry and virtually any mobile device with internet capability. Learners can access courses, books, videos and audio content on a wide range of topics, and have PDF, MP3 and video download options for an offline experience. Search, browse and learning plans are accessible creating a fully integrated experience when you are away from your PC. Constantly changing business needs and technologies demand that Skillsoft continually invest in new ways to deliver a quality mobile learning experience, and as a result will continue to expand its current capabilities.

Skillport for Tablets

Tablets offer a much more natural landscape for the kinds of rich interactions that learners are looking for in their training content. We want to make sure that we are poised to leverage that larger real estate and to help our customers to do so as well. In support of this, starting with version 8, the entire Skillport user experience is available directly on tablets. This provides learners with a familiar experience across both desktop and tablet. All mobile content, including Skillsoft and custom courseware optimized for mobile, is available via the tablet version of Skillport.

Skillport for Smartphones

Skillsoft’s global customer base demands the most flexibility to support the greatest number of devices. By leveraging native browser support on smartphones, Skillsoft can more quickly provide solutions on these new devices without having to rely on device-specific deployment channels. The Skillport mobile website offers users a streamlined mobile view into Skillport end-user functionality. Learners will be able to access their development plans, view their learning history and search for and launch smartphone-ready content.

Skillport mobile applications

Beyond the Skillport mobile experience, Skillsoft is in the process of developing mobile apps to deliver learning experiences tailored to the device. When available, these apps will continue in the Skillsoft tradition of providing performance support solutions by delivering just the right content at just the right time. Anywhere.

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Skillsoft content for mobile devices

Skillsoft offers hundreds of business skills, IT, and compliance courses along with a growing list of localized versions for use on tablets. In fact, today, every new course Skillsoft releases is also available on tablet. Enabling mobile support does not require any effort on the customer’s part, and all existing assignments and progress tracking are maintained. Users on Skillport (7.3 or higher) are able to locate these courses and launch them on supported tablet devices, or continue to take them on the desktop as all user tracking and progress information is synchronized between the platforms. Skillsoft recently introduced its desktop and IT performance support video collection providing best practices and how-to information for both today’s popular office applications and emerging IT topics. These short videos, of which over 7,000 are currently available, are led by subject matter experts (SMEs), and are available on phones, tablets and the desktop to allow learners to get help where and when they need it on the device of their choosing. By the end of 2014, Skillsoft plans to significantly expand the number of IT performance support videos—to over 15,000—available on smartphones and tablets.

In 2014, Skillsoft enhanced its Advantage Products and Business Impact and Challenges library for use on tablets. This, along with the courseware and leadership videos, previously made available, provides a rich variety of content to business professionals looking to enhance their skills via a tablet device.

Complete access to all Books24x7 collections including books, videos and audio content in addition to Books24x7 ExecSummaries™_{and Books24x7 ExecBlueprints}™_{is available on smartphones and}

tablets. These collections cover a variety of topics and are available for online reading and in some cases offline play.

Authoring solutions to support mobile

Skillsoft knows that some of the most powerful content customers use is their own, developed around specific company initiatives and solutions. In order to support customers’ mobile learning needs, Skillsoft Dialogue™ Design and SkillStudio®_{authoring tools allow customers to create}

mobile-ready learning content for deployment via Skillport 7.3 and higher or a third-party LMS. • With Dialogue Design 6.0, content designers and subject matter experts alike can easily

assemble existing materials into mobile-ready courses for smartphones and tablets, in addition to the standard desktop support.

• SkillStudio allows courseware designers to build tablet- and desktop-compatible courses using the full range of page styles and features as standard Skillsoft library course. These courses can be deployed on Skillport or third-party (mobile-compatible) learning management systems. • Externally developed smartphone or tablet content can be easily published to Skillport 7.3 or

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For more information or to learn more, call 866-757-3177 or visit www.skillsoft.com

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Summary

With the number of mobile devices soon to exceed the number of people on earth, mobile learning is not a question of if, but when. As you consider your mobile learning strategy there are a few key ideas which can ease your transition into this new and exciting world. Think big, but start small. Focus on building a foundation of experimental experience before trying to fully operationalize a mobile program. Know your learners. This knowledge will enable you to focus your efforts on the audiences, devices, content, services that will reap the most benefit from mobile access. Finally, like all your other training initiatives, make sure you have alignment of your mobile strategy with your business goals and organizational capabilities.

Author Bio

Jim Renner has over 20 years of industry experience, including software development and professional services. In his role as a Technical Consultant at Skillsoft, Jim works in the Product Marketing group applying his technical expertise and communications skills to assist in developing and marketing client-focused products. At Element K, Jim spent over 10 years as a Sales Engineer educating clients and building technical solutions. In addition, he worked closely with the Product Management team to bring voice-of-the-customer feedback into the product development process. Prior to that, Jim was a Software Developer and Manager creating a variety of Learning and

Development products.

About Skillsoft

Skillsoft is a pioneer in the field of learning with a long history of innovation. Skillsoft provides cloud based learning solutions for its customers worldwide, ranging from global enterprises, government, and education to mid-sized and small businesses. Skillsoft’s customer support teams draw on a wealth of in-house experience, flexible delivery systems and a comprehensive learning e-library to develop off-the-shelf and custom learning programs tailored to cost-effectively meet customer needs. Skillsoft’s courses, books and videos have been developed by industry leading learning experts to ensure that they maximize business skills, performance, and talent development. Skillsoft currently serves over 6,000 customers and more than 19,000,000 learners around the world. Skillsoft is on the web at www.skillsoft.com.

Five Calls to Make When Developing a Mobile Learning Strategy