Tag Archive for: learning

[Intern Insights] The rise of m-learning

In my previous blog post, I wrote about the benefits of mobile learning. Now, I want to know how m-learning (Mobile Learning) can best be implemented. Change management is an important aspect here. I also wonder what trends drive M-learning and thus why it is becoming increasingly more popular in corporate education.

Change management

By now, most Directors of Learning and Development should have started to at least consider implementing m-learning projects in their current training programs. It is projected that by 2020 around 75% of the workforce will be of the millennial age, this results in a demand for ‘zero lecture’, ‘zero classrooms’ and paperless learning. Hence will push the traditional learning methods away and will be replaced by a new era of data-driven, m-learning.

However, as explained in my previous blog, moving to m-learning is not a small technical transformation. It comes with a lot of complex decisions and preparations, such as budget constraints, policies etc. To implement a mobile learning strategy successfully, proper change management methods are essential.

There are a lot of benefits and successes that arise from m-learning. Therefore, it is important to transition your learners (employees) smoothly and lastingly via change management. According to research, 70 % of today’s workforce is more motivated when performing a new training on a mobile device. Next, to this, the m-learners completed the course 45% faster than the e-learners. Lastly, by 2020 it is expected that m-learning will be a $70 billion industry.

Before explaining how change management is valuable to training within any business. It is first important to understand what change management actually is. The definition I found most suitable is: “Change management is the discipline that guides how we prepare, equip and support individuals to successfully adopt a change in order to drive organisational success and outcomes.”

Change management is valuable to training within any business, however especially for mobile learning project success. It will increase the probability of end user engagement.

So, what are 3 ways to use change management for mobile learning?

  • First, you need to prepare the organisation for change. Pick some individuals who can be “Change Champion” and support the switch to mobile learning. Then explain the benefits of the change to the stakeholders and employees. The Change Champions will also become the first who work via the mobile learning project. They will become trusted role models for learners. When you choose your Change Champions to make sure they have excellent communication skills and are respected by their peers.
  • Second, it is important to manage and support the change to mobile learning from the beginning continuously. You can communicate via e-mail and send tutorials about the new mobile learning strategy. It is essential to collect feedback on course content and the learning experience in general.
  • Third, you must reinforce change. When the implementation has begun, it does not mean it will stick. To make sure that the new mobile learning training will be a success, the users must be supported and motivated throughout the entire process.

Now you probably wonder how you can increase the effectiveness of your m-learning strategy?

Well, when you are building the learning application there are various factors that have an influence on the strategy.

  1. Adapt to microlearning
  2. Encourage social learning
  3. Adapt to a different learning approach for your millennial workforce

Next to this, there are several innovative ways that make the learning effective, such as:

  1. Gamification
  2. Videos
  3. Scenario-based learning
  4. Story tutorials
  5. Guided exploration 

Trends that drive the growth of mobile learning in corporate education

There are several trends that lead to the shift of mobile learning. However, there are two that really jump out:

1. Millennials are demanding training and development

Imagine; Andrew is a sales manager in the technology industry in New York City. Every day he takes the metro to work, to kill time he plays Candy Crush. But picture this, what if Andrew could play a scenario-based sales training game on his phone? Instead of wasting his commute time on useless games, he’s now building his skills and might end up doubling his sales projections the next month. Millennials value training over many other work perks. So, if employees demand training. It should be possible to access it when and where they want.

2. Remote and on-the-go schedules continue to rise

Employees are not at their desk around 50 to 60 percent of the scheduled workday. Remote working and flex-time among employees keep rising since the newer generations demand a work-life balance. On-the-go employees like sales reps are not receiving value from paper-based training crammed in a day. The employee may not learn something and would forget easily. Therefore, it is important to create a learning experience that complements the person. And makes learning easily accessible, when they have the time and then they can engage completely with the material.

To conclude the rise of “employee training experience” is our responsibility. This means that businesses should find solutions to meet the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s working force. That includes a greater flexibility and a work-life balance. M-learning is the answer to that.

 

This post is brought to you by one of AQ’s Undergraduates, Paula van Staalduinen. As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Paula’s primary project focuses on training programs and eLearning and how best to adapt this to industries under pressure.

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[Intern Insight] What’s the deal with e-Learning and m-Learning?

Have you ever heard of these? I bet you have.

M-learning stands for “Mobile-learning”, it describes learning content that’s delivered via mobile device, so through an app. E-learning, on the other hand, means electronic-Learning, it describes learning content delivered typically via the internet (computer).

The dynamic global rise of mobile devices was bound to affect the learning industry at some point. M-learning has become an important part of the online corporate training market. However, lots of people consider M-learning and E-learning to be the same thing. In very broad terms (both not via an old-fashioned book) I suppose this is true. However, those people also run the risk of limiting their understanding and benefiting from this learning innovation.

The type of learning experience available on a mobile device is different when compared to a desktop computer. Below I will list some differences between M-learning and E-learning, later I will highlight the benefits of M-learning

1. User-generated content

E-learning programs are usually set, learners receive pre-programmed information on their computer when they perform the course. Within this learning environment, learners cannot share feedback with each other online. Since they are unable to do so, there is a chance that they might lose motivation for the course and that they have engagement issues with it. This mostly applies for learners who prefer to work in collaborative environments.

M-learning, on the contrary, involves a huge social learning dimension since these learning apps often encourage the users to share their feedback. Next, to this, these apps have usually a communication platform in where users can share their experience and meaningful relationships between learners can arise. It’s very interactive.

2. Simultaneous performance support

M-Learning material is always available, provided we have our phone with us. Therefore, learners don’t really focus on memorising the information, but more on capturing and sharing the key points. M-Learning gives learners the advantage of instant access to information, this will result in higher productivity. E-learning does not provide this form of just-in-time experience but inserts the process of learning in a definite time frame.

3. Learning schedule differences

Another difference between m-Learning and e-Learning is the timing of the learning experience. E-Learners must sit by their computer and follow the course at their workstation. Next to this, learners are often asked to learn a certain amount of information during each session.

M-learning, on the other hand, is available if you have your phone with you. So, if you want, you could even learn at the toilet, when you are travelling etc. Much more flexible! The learning sessions tend to be shorter, being mainly based on micro-learning, but we’ll come back to that in a later blog.

Main benefits of M-learning summarised:

M-learning is flexible since you can learn whenever and wherever you want. M-learning is designed to create engagement, which is related to course completion. Next to this, today’s younger employees like working together at the workplace and with the community platforms usually used in m-Learning this is possible. Also, the performance will increase, since employees prefer learning methods that don’t disrupt their daily routines and m-learning does not, since information is easily accessible during work. Lastly, there is a clear learning path. Since today’s m-Learning apps have an integrated phone-based agenda, that sends them reminders, alerts and updates on their courses. This will keep the learners motivated.

Now it all sounds perfect for companies to implement M-learning in their training programs, but why haven’t they done so? I mean, it can give the company a competitive advantage, however, they only need to overcome the following challenges…

First: Data security. Due to the increase of mobile connections, the level of exposure to security threats also rises. The risk of potential breaches of corporate networks holds a lot of companies back from implementing m-learning (read: WannaCry).

Second: Content issues. The training materials made for the classroom, rarely work for m-learning. The strength of mobile learning is that you can implement games, videos etc. However, this is not implemented in classroom style learning usually. The challenge of creating and adapting content for m-learning will cost time and thus money.

Speaking of money. Third: Budget constraints. The costs of implementing a successful m-learning program mean investing a lot of money and resources in it. Sometimes those resources and budget are simply not available. On the other hand, m-learning can improve the employee retention and engagement, which results in substantial returns on the investment of the company. Also, the company should analyse if there is a high need for implementing m-learning. Since m-learning will really work for the Millennials, but if you have mostly baby boomers working in your organisation, it will be a different story.

To conclude, m-Learning will increase the effectiveness of corporate training compared to e-Learning, despite the challenges. M-Learning will give companies a competitive advantage and the employee engagement will increase. Yet, the company should be aware of the security risks and costs associated with it.

This post is brought to you by one of AQ’s Undergraduates, Paula van Staalduinen. As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Paula’s primary project focuses on training programs and eLearning and how best to adapt this to industries under pressure.

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[Intern Insights] How many languages can you speak?

Language (noun): “A language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region for talking or writing.” There are several definitions for the term: “language”, however, this one, I found the most complete.

Did you know that 7099 languages are spoken globally today?! 7099… that’s insane if you ask me. Although, this number would probably already be different tomorrow since we learn more about the languages of the world every day. Also, the number of languages themselves differ regularly. As most of these languages are spoken by tribes who live in isolated societies away from modern civilisation. Due to our rapidly changing world, some of these languages are now endangered. As roughly a third are indigenous, this means that less than a 1000 individual tongues speak it.

The population of Papua New Guinea speaks the most languages, 840 to be precise. That’s crazy as only 7 million people live there and this number of languages is more than twice the number of spoken languages across the whole of Europe! The country has very thick rainforests and tough terrain which results in groups of people living in significant isolation, preserving their unique languages.

How do we learn a language?

For it to be effective it should happen very early in life and the person should have a normal functioning brain (is this really necessary?) with a good hearing system. Particularly the hearing process seems to be important in the development of learning a new language. Since children who lose some of their hearing capacity will most likely have difficulties in learning a language. As they cannot hear themselves and will not get direct essential auditory feedback from parents for example.

Next, to this, recent studies found that infants have a very flexible brain, which allows them to obtain virtually any language they are exposed to. Also, scientist state that until the age of seven or eight, children can learn and speak a second language fluently without any accent. Further, it is also possible to start already exposing children to different languages during pregnancy. For example, when the parents speak two languages, the unborn baby can already hear the variety of sounds and this prepares the baby to learn two languages easier, once it is born.

The best way to learn a new language is to do it like a baby. I know this sounds very weird, but if you do it this way correctly with the differences between child and adult learning in mind, it is the most efficient way. You must understand these difference, as that can assist you in learning a language like your younger self.
Now you’re probably wondering what these differences are? Well let me elaborate further on those:

1. Adults can speak at least one language fluently already.

Now you might think that this is an advantage since you already have some language skills. However, the fall here is that we as adults are already so good at our mother tongue, that it confuses us easily with any other language. Also, how you’ve learnt your first language has an immense impact on the learning development of any other language that follows.

2. Adults react to social sanctioning.

Once you’re an adult you get “embarrassed” more easily and are more afraid to make mistakes. Since children don’t care if it takes them two or thirty times to get a grammar rule right, they keep trying until they understand it. Adults, however, are embarrassed quicker. We are afraid to look stupid in front of others. This results in protecting ourselves by only speaking the language we know or only use the new language conservatively.

3. Adults communicate in equal relationships.

The main conversations of a baby are with their parents and other adults who automatically adapt their speech to the level of the baby, which is most likely less advanced. But when we look at adults they usually communicate as equals. So, it forces you to engage on the same level of language as a native speaker in thus for you, a different language. As it would be kind of strange as that native speaker suddenly starts speaking like a baby to you. While this is actually better in the process of learning a new language.

4. Other things demand our attention.

Babies are not bothered yet with full-time jobs, cooking, cleaning the house and visiting friends and family. Which results in that they have absolutely all the time in the world for learning their first language. For adults, on the other, it is slightly different. Between our jobs, relationships and other things we need to do in a day, learning a new language don’t always fit.

5. Adults must try.

This is most likely the biggest and most difficult difference to overcome. A baby only needs to hang around for a couple of years not doing too much and their linguistically amazing brain takes care of the learning automatically. However, for adults, their brain is less flexible, which means that they must push themselves in learning a new language.

To conclude, in core the learning process for adults and children are the same. We observe native speakers, identify and recognise patterns in the language and then test them via interacting with others. Then the direct feedback we receive during interactions is used to improve ourselves. Basically, it is a combination between statistical learning and social learning.

This post is brought to you by one of AQ’s Undergraduates, Paula van Staalduinen. As part of our internship programs undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Paula’s primary project focuses on training programs and eLearning and how best to adapt this to industries under pressure.

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