Today, we cannot think of our lives without mobile devices. It comes as no surprise that most Learning and Development teams are updating their learning strategy to factor for mLearning or mobile learning. Several global organizations are offering the flexibility to learners through the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy and are seeing notable gains in learner engagement as well as higher completion rates of online learning courses. Here is how mobile apps can be a useful addition to your corporate learning strategy.
An interesting aspect of mLearning or mobile learning is the usage of mobile apps for learning. In this article, I will outline how mobile apps can be a meaningful addition to your overall learning strategy. I will also share 3 examples to illustrate how you can use them for primary or formal online learning as well as to supplement it through informal learning.
In my earlier article Mobile Apps For Learning, I had provided a detailed view on how mobile apps can be integrated into your learning strategy. This article had originally appeared in CrossKnowledge’s Learning Wire Blog. Here are a couple of extracts from the same to establish the background.
Mobile Apps are one of the delivery formats that offer the additional flexibility of offline viewing of the eLearning course to the learners from their mobile devices. (They need to have an internet access to download the course and then they can view it with/without the internet connection. However, to track their progress through the Learning Management System, they must be connected to the internet as only then can their progress information be passed on to the Learning Management System).
Mobile apps can be used equally effectively to offer formal training (bite-sized) or supplement formal training. But this is not all. Performance Support Tools (PSTs) (particularly Ready Reckoners, Checklists, Tips, and so on) are designed to be made available to learners within their work-flow. Making them accessible to the learners on their mobile devices encourages them to use it on the job. Hence, Performance Support Tools are a great fit for mobile apps.
Let’s take a look at a few examples that illustrate how we have used mobile apps to provide an edge to the existing learning delivery.
Example 1: We have made available parts of Induction program as a mobile app. This has provided new employees with the flexibility to read part of the information in offline mode.
Example 2: We have created a gamified app on time management to help learners practice time management exercises. This supports the primary, formal course on time management fundamentals and serves as a fun supplement.
Example 3: We created an app for a Tobacco company (as a learning and sales promotion tool). The app was designed for the company’s distributors and contained gamified questions on their products. The reward element comes in the form of vouchers that the learners obtain after achieving a certain score.
Example 4: We created an app to have learners curate content generated by them to their organization’s portal on Health and Safety. The idea was to create a learning community that is engaged in the corporate mandate of Health and Safety and works towards flagging instances that can be potentially hazardous.
Usage of mobile apps is limited only by your imagination. We, at EI Design, have used them in multiple ways extending to informal (including Performance Support) and social learning models. In a bite-sized mode, it can also be used for formal training.
If you have any queries on how you can integrate mobile apps meaningfully into your learning strategy, do contact me.
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“The sheer magnitude of the domain and the impact it creates on the learning landscape is impetus enough to innovate and accelerate every day.”
My role at EI Design requires me to don multifaceted capabilities, starting from consulting with clients on Instructional Design requirements, strategizing learning approaches and handling presales opportunities as a Solution Architect, managing a domain with diverse skillsets, to innovating and exploring new learning design trends.
Through my journey at EI Design, I have learned to appreciate the value of Learning Innovation, Customer Relationship Management, and the power of Instructional Design in ensuring the required Behavioral Change mandates per end stakeholders. The sheer magnitude of the domain and the impact it creates on the learning landscape is impetus enough to innovate and accelerate every day.
I like to start early and plan my Urgent-Important matrix to begin. The whole day is an artful juggle between a Domain Head and a Solution Architect, with periodic connects with teams and customers. A perfect wrap-up would entail ticking off items in the matrix with tangible outcomes or action plans. Innovation and thought leadership are a constant underlying message in everything I do.
Traveling, social gatherings, music sessions, and uninhibited discussions help rejuvenate and replenish my energy to keep going the extra miles!
The Possibilities are endless if you have the will and determination to seek more, learn more, and achieve more.
I never knew my journey at EI design would be so rewarding and fulfilling. I have never felt the curiosity and enthusiasm drop over the time I’ve spent at EI Design, mainly due to the mazing work culture that we support. My seniors at EI design have always provided me the support and guidance I needed to grow as a professional. Not only have I been surrounded by brilliant professionals – people that I can look up to and take inspiration from – but there have been so many opportunities for me to develop and progress.
I work with EI Design as a Technology Manager and provide innovative technology solutions for our projects. I am also part of the Innovation and Solution Architecting Team, where we explore new tools and technologies in the market and come up with strategies to integrate them into our projects. As part of the Solution Architecting Team, I am constantly involved in providing futuristic solutions to clients. We, at EI Design, believe in pushing the boundaries of learning by making it creative and fun.
I start my day with early morning workouts to make sure that I am physically active and carry the same energy throughout the day. Most of my days begin with meetings to ensure that we are on track with ongoing projects. I detail the information provided in these meeting to concerned team members and keep project deliverables on track.
I admire punctuality and respect my time at work. I ensure that my tasks are done on time, every time, so that other dependencies associated to me do not get affected. This helps me to maintain my work-life balance.
“Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things is the best way to grow”.
As the Project Lead at EI Design, my role involves supporting my team in delivering quality products and managing iterations. I am also responsible for coordinating multiple projects with clients across the globe. I am perpetually involved in supervising and guiding my team through the numerous tasks that come our way. It is my duty to ensure smooth functioning of daily processes and drive my team to deliver quality, while maintaining consistency.
My day at EI Design begins with a stand-up meeting where I assess my team’s workload, create a list of deliverables, and distribute tasks to team members accordingly.
It is my top priority to make sure that the team’s dependencies are taken care of and that there are no obstacles in project deliverables throughout the day.
Even so, there are times when I too would not be able to resolve an issue. But the speed and enthusiasm with which my team responds to escalations is a quality that I admire.
We normally get into discussions to check the difficulties faced by each member and find solutions to avoid them in future.
If you want to grow you must be ready to learn from anyone, anywhere, anytime.
I joined EI Design as a Quality Analyst and worked my way up to become an Associate Project Manager. I now help my team plan their daily tasks and provide the necessary guidance to meet project deadlines accordingly.
My role at EI Design involves the delivery of quality products to all our clients and address their concerns and queries through multiple stages of the project life cycle.
A majority of my work deals with managing various project requirements from numerous clients from across the globe. A regular day for me is getting involved in various meetings with team members, and attending client calls. I always ensure that I have a positive approach toward the projects that I handle. The environment around me is reciprocative and the support helps me overcome any obstacles within the project. Even so, it is important that I take crucial decisions at critical moments and ease the pressure off my team and maintain a smooth process flow. Apart from this, we normally take breaks to refresh ourselves and find ways to keep each other motivated.
Every time you come across a challenge you need to face it than avoid it. It will help you grow professionally as well as personally.
I work as a Senior Visual Designer at EI Design where I develop the visual design for client projects. My focus is to provide end products as per the client’s design and requirement. This puts me in a position where I need to understand core client requirements. I achieve this by communicating efficiently across the different domains that are involved in the project. As a Visual Designer, my focus is to develop eye-catching products that not only capture the imagination of end-users but also enhance their learning capabilities through our innovative technologies.
I begin my day by looking at the immediate tasks and deliverables at hand. My supervising manager overlooks the tasks for the day and assigns them according to individual competencies. I go through emails and prioritize my tasks accordingly. It helps me plan and execute my activities way ahead of delivery deadlines.
We can always be the best in anything we do, provided we are ready to work hard for it.
As a Senior Business Development Manager at EI Design, my main role is business mining, building new opportunities for our business.
I drive revenue for the business and build relationships with clients to expand our business. I help clients solve monotonous training challenges through engaging approaches and ensure smooth transaction throughout the project lifecycle. I am responsible for generating the customer satisfaction survey for EI Design, where I gather feedback from end-users and convey it to the client. I mentor new employees that join the business development domain and ensure that they are aligned to the business needs along with process training.
During my close to 2 years tenure at EI Design, I have helped achieve the committed revenue for the business and retained various clients. With the constant support of my team, I continue to ensure that our clients’ journey through the entire project lifecycle is hassle-free.
Reaching out to clients and presenting the best eLearning solutions is the core of my everyday life at EI Design. I ensure that all customer satisfaction surveys are delivered to clients while also continuing to work on building new business for EI Design. On a monotonous day at office, I ensure to build energy within the team and keep them motivated.
Work till you need no introduction.
I work with the Quality Assurance Team at EI Design, co-ordinating with multiple domains (ID, VA, Tech, and VD) to deliver exceptional product experiences for learners. It is my duty to ensure that the developers are equipped with accurate information in order to fix/uplift the product experience. I also bridge the gap between developers/testers and the client to provide clarity on the feedback received from client. In conclusion, I can say that I drive the quality of work generated across domains and monitor the performance of domains, teams, and individuals using Quality Measurement Analysis reports.
My day begins with organizing the activities for the day, checking emails for client responses, and allocating task to my team, depending on the ongoing projects on floor and the deliverables planned. Apart from this, on a regular day, I would receive client calls, conduct meetings, and communicate project requirements with my team and other domains that require my help. At the end of the day, I conduct status checks across all ongoing projects reviewed on the day and assess their progress. This helps me to ensure a high standard in the quality of work generated across all the products at EI Design.
Don’t Be the Smartest One in the Room
“Oftentimes, leaders feel that they need to be the “smartest guy or gal” in the room, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Good leaders are the smartest one in the room, great leaders surround themselves with smarter people that will challenge ideas, bring new perspectives to the table and drive innovation.”
– – Jacob Hanson, PR with Panache!
“A good workplace tests your ability to be the best, and EI Design has definitely influenced me in that endeavor.”
As a part of the Design Strategy Team, I communicate with internal and external stakeholders on the strategy for design and the visual experience aspects. I also contribute to presales stages in creating design strategies and mock-ups that make our products stand out among the rest.
I constantly contribute to Learning and Development at the organizational level (specific trainings on design trends, best practices, knowledge sharing, and so on.) In addition, I guide and ensure that designers follow design briefs, guidelines, and prototypes in various stages of product development.
I receive my work at the beginning of the week and so I begin my day reviewing the previous week’s progress and then move on to the tasks allotted to me for the next week. On other days, I just go about my tasks according to the priorities assigned to them.
Apart from this, I coordinate with the Visual Design Team to assist with issues such as design variance, alterations, and clarifications. Most of my day is either spent in brainstorming fresh ideas for new projects or helping other domains carry out the functional aspects of our design strategies.
Always stay committed to work no matter what and aim for the stars.