The advantages of mobile learning: more than eLearning on a smartphone

Find out why mobile learning is an ideal approach to training in today's world, with digitally connected employees who need dynamic ways to learn.

Learning is natural to human beings, and teaching has adapted to the possibilities the world offers us. In the 1990s, the internet made knowledge easier to gather and distribute. As internet access reached homes, eLearning became a powerful tool for education and corporate training. Around 2000, this form of online learning experienced 900% growth. In recent years, however, mobile phones have taken over, with 7.9 billion devices already in use in 2016. Studies highlight that 80% of people access the internet through a smartphone and spend an average of 177 minutes a day on it.

It is therefore no surprise that mobile learning is the new approach companies are adopting to train and develop employees. mLearning promises better results, provided it is not understood simply as eLearning adapted to a phone screen. It encompasses much more, including a range of attributes not found in a traditional online course.

Here are the differences and why mLearning has a major advantage over eLearning:

Individual sessions through bite-sized modules

eLearning requires learners to sit at a computer and follow a course at their workstation. In this sense, it is not very different from a traditional class, where students must absorb a specific amount of material in each session. Mobile learning does more than move that content onto a phone: it uses short learning modules, or microlearning, as an educational strategy. Too much content on a small screen would be uncomfortable, so learning objectives are achieved through a series of small modules that can be easily absorbed while waiting for a morning coffee, for example.

Notifications and alerts at any time

Immediate retention is not the main priority in mLearning, since content can be accessed at any time. Information is always at hand when we need it. Apps also send notifications to reinforce content and invite employees to complete quizzes at the end of each module. Ultimately, mLearning seeks to change learning behaviors and support employee development.

Real-time results

mLearning combines multiple learning elements to help employees improve their performance. Above all, it generates real-time data to verify whether progress is actually happening. It also makes it possible to share performance results with others, creating a collective environment for professional development through shared knowledge and results.