Mobile Learning
One of the hot topics in the eLearning world right now, is the question of how to push training and communications out to people on their cell phones. This is called “mobile learning”.
Seems like it should be a simple enough thing to do (especially with all the wiz-bang phones out there now), but mobile learning is fraught with difficulties.
Here are several of the problems, as I see them:
1. Even though Smartphones** are starting to become very popular, they aren’t ubiquitous just yet. Most people are still using the standard free or near-free phone that their service provider gave to them. These ‘Dumbphones’ don’t make for a great platform for presenting training, with their relatively small screens, limited capabilities, and slow processors.
2. Few Cell Phone companies are using the same operating systems, and several (Apple and Palm, to name a few) have built their own custom operating systems… using very different technologies. Since no one manufacturer’s OS has (yet) cornered the mass-market (like Windows has for the PC), applications built for training must be rebuilt over and over to accommodate each phone OS out there.
3. Even web-based training has its difficulties. People that have Smartphones, use them in dramatically different ways.,. and the phones themselves can be tailored that way. For example, Blackberries tend to cater to those with business needs (Secure email, file editing) while iPhones cater to multimedia. Even the web browsing environment can be radically different, with some users much more likely to use their phone’s web browser than others.
(Here are some Mobile Web-Browsing stats from this past March.)
4. Even the way someone interacts with their phone can be different, with track-balls, physical buttons, and touch screen devices all out on the market right now. Also, different screen sizes can mean a lot too.
Now, with all that said, there is certainly a ton of potential in Mobile Learning. I’d like to use my blog as an opportunity to talk about that potential and get some of your feedback.
To start this discussion, I’m gonna post a series of surveys and see what all of you think. Below are the first two (more to follow in the weeks ahead):
(**A Smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality. – Wikipedia)
If you do have a Smartphone, please answer the next question and post in the comments what you have and your experience with it (positive/negative):
