As mobile learning becomes a clear reality for those in the eLearning industry, strategies for getting ahead of the game should be outlined, and tools for implementation should be chosen. You can create advanced and impressive material for mobile learners that goes beyond traditional courses, which is one of many incentives to get involved.“MLearning makes it possible to think beyond formal instruction…to integrate learning strategy with overall performance and technology strategy, and to complement formal learning with informal learning, social learning, and performance support,” said Bill Brandon in his Learning Solutions Magazine article.New mobile technologies allow developers to explore different outlets for delivering learning material, like apps and HTML5, which in turn create more benefits for learners, and “new opportunities unique to…mobile platforms,” according to Brandon.For example, HTML5 has been getting a lot of attention recently because of its benefits to mLearning content creation. You can design, develop and publish advanced courses directly to learners through any mobile device’s browser. And, while content can be viewed in this manner, Internet connection is not a necessity.“Travelers with no or limited internet connectivity…will be delighted to find out that they can continue interacting with [HTML5] Web applications and documents even when their network connection is unavailable,” said Yael Even-Levy in her Learning Solutions Magazine article.This is one of the most significant benefits of publishing eLearning material to the HTML5 Internet format, along with its obvious substitution for Adobe’s Flash. Some of the most popular mobile devices, specifically Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iTouch, do not support Flash content, so publishing material to HTML5 is an easy fix for learners with those devices.Lectora and CourseMill, an authoring solution and LMS respectively, are tools that make creating and publishing content to HTML5 a no-brainer. With the click of a button, you can render text as images for HTML5 and publish to this format. Lectora even features pre-formatted templates for the iPad to help you get started creating material for HTML5. The important thing to remember when designing material is to have the users’ device in mind. So, you must ensure that all of the proportions, graphics and other elements will be viewed as intended on your learners’ various mobile devices.Another way to view Lectora eLearning content on mobile devices is to create an app.Once a course is created in Lectora and exported to HTML5, it can be run through a free open source mobile framework service, PhoneGap. This program wraps the HTML5 program from Lectora and creates an app, which can be deployed to multiple platforms, including the iPad or iPhone. mLearners are familiar with apps on mobile devices, which makes this an effective way to deliver mLearning material. For a tutorial on using Lectora to create an app, watch Diane Elkins’ quick tip podcast.
“Designing learning solutions for mobile devices regardless of the technology used will require a mLearning strategy that provides a clear direction to follow, points to specific examples that you can demo to your clients, details design specs from font size to graphics, and offers standard templates for you to use to ensure consistency,” said Even-Levy.If you follow these tips and use these tools and programs, deploying mLearning will have outstanding benefits, and your courses will be a level above those who do not take advantage. You will surely find success using the latest technologies, devices and authoring tools for creating mLearning content, and it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. You can accomplish this by attending The eLearning Guild’s upcoming conference, mLearnCon, June 21-23 in San Jose, California, to learn about all of the latest information, tools and technology for mLearning.
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