mLearning is the learning that uses electronic media that users can carry with them anytime, anywhere, such as handheld sets, personal digital assistants, blackberry, smart phones that are enabled with portable technology. I understand that mobile has been the greatest revolution in the recent past and has got access to almost each hand. The outreach of mobiles is far greater than PCs, the present media that hosts the majority e-learning programs. Now that the basic device to dispense learning is almost with all, from a rickshaw puller to an MNC CEO, the audience profile that can be addressed through the mobile umbrella is huge. mLearning enjoys the advantages of making the learning mobile—you can access it with ease from a public bus as well as from your garden. It has penetrated the comfort zone of the young generation—this cohort is born and brought up in a world impossible to imagine without mobile devices; their comfort with these tools help mLearning work as a new and effective learning delivery medium. People who are hesitant of speaking up in traditional classroom setup collaborate effectively in a virtual environment that mLearning provides. Although the outreach of mobile sets is greater than the PCs because of the essential lower cost of the mobiles and their portability, there are some very obvious and not so obvious challenges that mobiles pose in the way of mLearning:
- Small screens: Small screen size can present lesser content at a given time and users can quickly lose interest if the learning nuggets are not small. To me, as a learner, to use my stylus of the phone often, or to keep horizontal and vertical scroll rolling almost every 20 seconds is annoying and good enough to suspend my interest in learning. The effort and time for getting one’s hands on the words of long mLearning training can be discouraging.
- Varying OSs and handhelds' specifications: If I as an organization need to prepare a mLearning program, I need to be aware of the mobiles that my intended audience will use and then develop the learning program that will run well on those OSs and handhelds. On the other hand, if I as an organization, need to buy a mLearning training for my employees, I need to ensure that the training that I buy and further deliver to the employees is compatible with their handhelds and if the disparity is too high for the handhelds, I need to buy the training-compatible handhelds along with the training module—an investment that will cost me over and above the learning module cost.
- Audience suitability: Although mobile devices are ubiquitous, their degree of use differs, depending on the comfort level that the user feels with his or her handheld. On one hand, a student might use his/her handheld for downloading/uploading learning lessons, collaborating with peers, instant messaging, and so on apart from the usual phone dialing and SMS features; on the other hand, a home maker might rather restrict his/her handheld usage to making and attending calls and SMSs. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the correct audience that can benefit from mLearning for it will not have same popularity and effectiveness among different groups, e.g. professionals vs. home makers and Techies vs. nonTechies. You need to be sensitive to the audience while determining whether to use or not to use a mLearning program.
- Learning content appropriateness: Imagine going through a 30-minute technical training on your mobile phone. How many minutes will you honestly look at the screen? That answers it all. mLearning is useful for delivering small nuggets of information, some ready-to-use tips, touch-up facts, and small training modules on product knowledge for people who are on the go. mLearning works well when coupled with other modes of instruction such as an ILT. After going through an ILT or a hard copy of information, for example, the user can be asked to submit answer to the assessment questionnaire using the mobile set or get the link for a quiz on mobile or share the experience through the mobile. Any learning that is short, reinforcement-type, meant for quick reference can be best facilitated by mLearning. mLearning can be used effectively to retrieve user information, dispense crisp information, and test the knowledge objectively.
mLearning as a concept started in early 2000s and it has come a long way since then. Like any other new technology and associated advancements, mLearning still has a long way to go—a long way to reach the comfort and impact of traditional training media.
