Modern-day employees expect a lot more from training. Organizations need flexible and exciting approaches to keep them hooked. This article outlines how you can use Mobile Learning to increase employee engagement and boost employee performance.
Using Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement And Boost Performance
Mobile learning or mLearning involves the use of mobile technology to enable learning anytime and anywhere on mobile devices at the learners’ own pace. Generally, the same training would be available across multiple devices (desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and so on), enabling learners to learn on the device of their choice.
Just about everything has gone mobile today and Learning is no exception. The number of takers for mobile learning is only increasing, and this is on account of :
- Changing learner profiles.
The millennial generation is now a significant part of the workforce and they are addicted to mobile devices. - How learners want to learn.
Learners today need “just-in-time” information and instant gratification of their infotainment needs. - Changing learning device preferences.
Today’s learners look for the flexibility to learn on the device of their choice. - Maturing of tools and technology.
Today, there is no dearth of authoring tools, platforms, Learning Management System, and other technology to support mobile learning (supporting both adaptive and responsive designs).
Why Does It Make Sense To Adopt Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement?
Working styles and preferences in organizations are undergoing a sea change. Taking the mobile route to working is catching up big time.
Adam Kingl, Director of Learning Solutions at the London Business School says that flexibility is “the number one reason” why employees of today join a workplace. With exposure to modern day communication methods and having been accustomed to communicating with people anytime and from anywhere, flexibility at work is something that employees expect companies to provide them with, Kingl says. It is no longer a perk or a reward, he observes.
Besides, factors such as high speed and inexpensive broadband/Internet access, maturing of technologies, and increasing concerns with regard to work-life balance are prompting employees to look for employers who would provide them with a “no strings attached” approach to work as far as presence in the workplace and flexibility to work/learn from any location is concerned.
With its flexibility, ability to offer Performance Support at the time of need, and several other factors, mobile learning is just the dose organizations need to pump up employee engagement.
5 Ways To Use Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement
As we have seen, mLearning or mobile learning easily maps to what learners want and how they want to learn.
You can multiply the impact of your strategy by weaving in the following elements that have a direct bearing on employee engagement:
1. Gamification.
It is a mature approach today and can be used to uplift almost all corporate training needs. Gamification for serious learning brings in high engagement, high completion rates, and sticky learning. All these lead to an increased probability of application of the acquired learning on the job, just what the Learning and Development teams dream of.
2. Interactive Videos.
They offer an interesting step-up to the classic video based training. Interactive videos flip the passivity of standard video based learning to a richer, interactive, and stickier learning experience.
3. Microlearning.
With dwindling attention spans and higher distractions for the average learner, the answer lies in offering bite sized learning that is available to learners exactly at the time of need. mLearning or mobile learning can be used for both formal training as well as performance support (just-in-time learning aids). The flexibility of accessing this in between meetings or when one is stuck goes a long way in ensuring these nuggets or micro courses get completed and internalized.
4. Millennial-Centric Learning.
mLearning or mobile learning intrinsically appeals to the increasing millennial workforce. You can use the cues of their traits, learning styles, and learning preferences to create a customized strategy that will deliver the required learning experience.
5. Mobile Apps For Learning.
Given the prevalent use of apps in daily life, it comes as no surprise that usage of mobile apps for learning is gaining momentum. They can be used for formal training but their strength lies in their use as Performance Support Tools.
6. Social Learning.
Collaborative learning is accepted as a strong methodology for adult learners. Today, mLearning or mobile learning makes it easier for learners to discuss, deliberate, share, collaborate, and learn.
How Can You Use Mobile Learning Or mLearning To Boost Employee Performance?
The key advantage of mLearning or mobile learning is its flexibility. Learners can access it on the go and precisely when they need it. Access to this information in a format that is easy to review, internalize, and apply further enhances its value to organizations and learners.
The improvement in employee performance has a direct co-relation to accessibility of learning, its availability in a format that learners find exciting, and its learnability or learning effectiveness.
Once these are in place, there would be application of the acquired learning and a gain for learners as well as businesses.
To boost employee performance, you can use mLearning or mobile learning as follows:
1. Formal Training.
Do not be limited to the structured and traditional formats of delivery but provide further flexibility to learners through Learning paths. Having access to learning as a continuum (rather than discrete sessions) goes a long way in using learners to apply and achieve a demonstrable gain. You can also opt for specific Learning portals that can leverage on microlearning, gamification, and social learning to multiply the impact.
2. Performance Support Tools (PSTs).
These on the job, just-in-time learning aids that are available to learners within their workflow (and at the precise moment of need) have shown to create the required behavioral change. You can also use them to re-inforce learning by engaging with learners post the formal training.
3. Digitize ILT.
You can embed elements of mLearning or mobile learning into the traditional ILT delivery and see the impact you seek. This can range from pre-workshop collateral to exercises, simulations, role-plays during the workshop to its workshop assessments. You can retain the connect between instructors and participants as well as between participants and use this channel to provide learning nuggets well after the workshop. All these measures have a direct impact on learning, application, and the desired behavioral change.
What Are The New Or Trending Approaches That Can Increase Employee Engagement And Boost Employee Performance?
My personal recommendations are to integrate the following aspects in your learning strategy:
Personalization.
The learning design in mLearning or mobile learning should include feedback along with reinforcement or supplement options. This personalization shows a manifold increase in both learner engagement and their performance gain.
Learning portals.
As highlighted earlier, you should invest on Learning portals for your key learning or change management initiatives. You can leverage on microlearning, Gamification, and Social learning to multiply the impact.
Content curation.
I believe this is the next big thing to watch out for. It provides learners to curate content, create personalized learning paths, bookmark assets they can use on the job, and share these inputs with their peers/seniors. Organizations can use this to support primary training initiatives and create portals that provide information at the time of need.
Summary
Mobile learning is a powerful approach that allows learners to experience exciting learning with the kind of flexibility they desire, increasing employee engagement and boosting learner performance, thereby resulting in an increased ROI on training.
I hope this article provides you with insights on how you can use mobile learning to increase employee engagement and boost learner performance. If you need any further assistance, do contact me at apandey@eidesign.net.
