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Why Mobile Learning Is The Future Of Employee Training

By: Rachel Kolman • May 11, 2023
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In the last decade, mobile learning has been a huge breakthrough for online education. Mobile learning takes your coursework off a computer screen so students can access the material via tablet or smartphone anytime.

The portability and convenience of mobile learning has numerous benefits, especially if you’re looking for ways to enhance your employee training. Combining employee training with mobile learning lets employees access courses when and where it is convenient for them, making them much more likely to tackle and finish training courses.

Increasing your employee training completion rates can build their confidence, help achieve workplace goals, and ensure employees have the resources they need.

Below, let’s dive into some specifics on why we think mobile learning is the future of employee training.

Benefits of mobile learning for employee training

Flexibility and convenience

The flexibility and convenience of mobile learning is unparalleled. Not every learner has access to a computer at work or during conventional working hours. Employees who aren’t at a desk may not be able to access training at all unless it is mobile. Mobile training can be accessed whether an employee works in manufacturing, transportation, retail, or other service industries. Material can be completed at home, on the bus, during breaks, or whenever.

It may seem like a negative at first for training materials to be consumed in these small chunks of time, but research suggests otherwise. In fact, most learners retain information longer when digesting it in small chunks. All this makes mobile training ideal for employers looking for effective ways to keep employees up to date.

Increased engagement and motivation

In addition, being able to take trainings on the go in small chunks can keep learners engaged and motivated. This is especially true if your employee training program makes use of video content. Since 3 out 5 YouTube videos are watched on mobile, you can bet your employees would much rather watch that video on their mobile device than sitting at a computer screen. Combine a video strategy with mobile learning, and see how engagement and motivation may rise as a result.

Cost-effective and time-efficient

Mobile employee training courses are perfect for microtraining, which are short lessons that learners can experience or review a bit at a time. This allows you to break up skills into subskills for a deeper understanding of each concept. For example, a training on safety hazards can be several microtrainings covering one specific area of the workplace per training. This can save time and money on retraining employees down the line. Microtraining also negates the need for filler material between topics, which is cost and time efficient for those who are building employee training programs.

Personalized learning experience

As we’ve discussed before,  learning styles are largely a myth. However, learners certainly have a preference in how they prefer their content. Mobile learning lets you create content to appeal to learners of all backgrounds and preferences. For example, short videos, interactive games, and check-in quizzes are all perfect for mobile and can feel like they were personally tailored for how learners prefer to engage with their mobile devices. The only thing you need to be prepared to do is rigorously test the materials on a phone or tablet to ensure they function correctly.

Real-time feedback and assessment

Mobile training can take advantage of several features that we have grown accustomed to on mobile devices, such as notifications and chats. For example, enabling a forum or chat room for learners to ask questions both with the instructor and other classmates can provide a real-time assessment of their learning. The way we constantly check our devices when a notification pops up can be used to a trainer’s advantage to nudge students to check feedback or finish an assignment by the due date.

LearnDash: The ultimate LMS solution for mobile learning

If you’re ready to implement a mobile learning solution for your employee training, you’ll first need to make sure that the LMS software chosen is well suited for mobile learning.

While there are a variety of LMS software equipped with mobile learning capabilities, we think LearnDash provides the most flexibility for your mobile training, which is super important when choosing the right LMS software with mobile learning capabilities. While LearnDash looks great on a desktop, it performs just as well on mobile.

You can even enable Focus Mode while on mobile, which allows you to hide navigation, footer, and sidebar elements that sometimes distract workers to click elsewhere. Plus, with our BuddyBoss extension, you can even create a mobile app just for your training course.

You can try LearnDash for free today and take the first step towards implementing a mobile learning solution for employee training.

Rachel Kolman

Rachel Kolman has over 10 years of experience writing and editing for a variety of clients and brands. She is passionate about education, social change, pop culture, and video games. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and two cats.