5 Ways To Improve the M-Learning Experience

Customer demands are changing at an exponential pace. It is no secret that a skilled frontline employee can help meet these demands and deliver customer satisfaction efficiently. However, bi-annual training isn’t enough to develop the necessary skills. 

Continuous learning in the flow of work must take place to ensure your frontline has the skills needed to drive the outcomes you are expecting from them. To achieve this, companies are implementing best-in-class technology, like mobile learning (or M-learning), to offer learning opportunities in the flow of work.

47% of businesses now use mobile devices to deliver online training (source- Forbes).

What is M-Learning?

M-learning is the use of mobile technology, such as a smartphone or tablet, for learning. While it may seem like a simple explanation, this L&D strategy has proven to promote continuous learning and upskilling that ensures breakthrough employee performance.  

M-learning is an effective way to deliver on-demand learning material and opportunities to frontline workers globally, allowing them to expand their abilities and acquire new skills rapidly. The learner’s ability to use mobile learning with “anytime-anywhere access” is what enables training to happen seamlessly during the frontline worker’s daily routine. For instance, retail staff can conveniently learn on the job when there is a lull in foot traffic.

With M-learning, the frontline workforce have easy access to training materials and can easily turn their downtime into productive learning hours.

80% of employees say they prefer online training to in-person training due to its convenience and flexibility. (source – CIO&Leader)

In addition to being a convenient method of learning, below are 6 key benefits of making mobile learning a part of your frontline L&D strategy:

• Achieve better training ROI. 
• Ensure faster dissemination of knowledge.
• Boost employees’ engagement with opportunities to upskill. 
• Improve knowledge retention with bite-sized content. 
• Improve course completion rates. 
• Offer dynamic learning experiences and avoid cognitive overload. 

Maximize M-learning – 5 ways to improve mobile learning for your employees

M-Learning is a learner-driven approach that supports frontline growth by shaping their learning trajectory. However, the success of mobile learning in your organization is dependent on how you deliver it. Here are effective ways to deliver mobile learning successfully in your organization. Here are 5 effective ways to ensure you deliver a mobile learning environment successfully for your organization. 

1. Leverage a mobile-first training tool to boost learning engagement

87% of HBR survey respondents feel their companies would be more successful if frontline workers were given digital technologies to make decisions. (Source – Harvard Business Review)

Accelerate learning progress and keep your distributed workforce productive by implementing a Frontline Training Platform that’s compatible with electronic devices and mobile training. Easily deliver immersive m-learning experiences to get frontline workers job-ready from the first day. Plan learning interventions to unlock their full potential. 

Adopting a mobile-first mobile-centric approach enables you to:

• Design personalized learning plans.
• Monitor learning and development KPIs. 
• Provide context-sensitive training aligned with on-the-job requirements to improve employee engagement.

2. Microlearning to deliver impactful knowledge nuggets

It is rightly said, “Big things come in small packages”; this principle is especially important when it comes to m-learning.  Thus, it is crucial to break the extensive training content into small digestible chunks to make it more consumable and effective for the learner. 

Microlearning is small digestible chunks of information that are easy to consume and apply to work. They help foster day-to-day growth. It is one of the best tactics to combat the “forgetting curve”  and facilitate greater retention of vital information. 

Humans forget approximately 90% of the information after a week. (Forbes – The Forgetting Curve)

Therefore it would be beneficial if we offer learning content that is precise and relevant. It should be in an interactive format that employees can easily remember and recollect when working on different tasks.  

Below are some tips for incorporating a micro-learning strategy to deliver m-learning efficiently. 

• While designing a training course for mobile learning, make sure the bite-sized content is streamlined and not delivered too quickly. Highlight the most important piece of information and break down lessons into multiple short modules. For instance, “if you are creating a training course or program on managing online food delivery, breaking down the topic into shorter modules can help learners better absorb the information and stay engaged. Each module can focus on a specific aspect of the topic, such as how to use delivery systems, offer special discounts, or take steps when food is unavailable.
• The duration of each learning module should be between 3 to 10 minutes. 
• Tap into learning analytics to find out which micro-learning modules are effective and which received poor enrolment and completion rates.

3. Leverage Flashcards to drive frontline engagement 

Make the m-learning content visually appealing by presenting it through “Flashcards”.  

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text. (source – Hubspot)

Delivering learning material with modules in an easy-to-read and absorb format ensures longer knowledge retention. To enable the same retention, Flashcards are the best way to eliminate extraneous data and focus on the core information that the frontline needs to learn. Moreover, they can be customized to address your business and employees’ unique needs. Whether you want to focus on product knowledge, safety procedures, or customer service skills, Flashcards offer a versatile solution that can be tailored to meet your specific requirements.

How to use Flashcards in m-learning? 

• Save time with templates: Opt for a learning management system that offers flashcard templates to create and assign content easily. 
• Break through the clutter: Avoid overload of information, each flashcard should center around one subject. 
• Use multimedia: Use high-quality images, statistics, and bullet points to capture the frontline’s attention. 
• Break the language barrier: Present the flashcards in regional languages to increase adoption. 

4. Explore diverse learning formats 

If you want m-learning to be truly impactful, you must be meticulously attentive to how you deliver it. Explore various formats to deliver mobile learning. 

Below are a few m-learning formats that you can leverage:

• Video : In a survey of over 2,000 companies, 74% of trainers said that they use video learning as part of their training delivery. (Video training statistics)
• Podcast : Monthly Podcast Listeners Have Grown 61.5% in 3 Years. (Podcast statistics)
• Short blogs: 58% of employees said they would be more likely to do online training if the content was broken into smaller chunks. (Online learning statistics) 
• Infographics: 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. (HubSpot learning)

You can either opt for the high-performing format or a blended learning journey to maximize the impact of m-learning.  

5. Gamification: An interactive and engaging experience 

Combining m-learning with gamification leads to better employee engagement. Below are a few benefits of providing a great learning experience by incorporating gamification elements for learning and development. 

• Drive greater participation – With gamification elements like quizzes and polls, you can make learning sessions more interactive for frontline employees.
• Encourage collaboration – Use breakout rooms, provide topics, and facilitate a collaborative learning environment and discussion within the frontline team.
• Strike healthy competition -Implement a frontline enablement solution that offers a leaderboard and badges on the mobile app. This will fuel healthy competition between frontline workers. 

How to select the ideal m-learning platform for your organization 

M-learning makes the frontline training experience seamless and flexible. A distributed workforce can learn at their own pace to build the skills needed to perform their job efficiently. However, it's crucial to implement your mobile learning strategy effectively to ensure continuous learning.  

Here are guidelines for what you should take into consideration when selecting a mobile learning management system for a distributed workforce:

• Does the solution offer the flexibility to create a learning journey for onboarding and on-the-job training?
• Is the tool compatible with various formats like PDF, video, etc.?  
• Does the solution offer customization to make dashboards user-friendly?
• Does the solution have advanced analytics capabilities for KPI-based coaching?  
• Does the solution allow you to create courses in multiple languages?
• Does the solution offer integration with various content providers, CRM, HRMS, etc.?

Check out the impactful frontline enablement solution from disprz, an all-in-one learning and skilling suite that is packed with rich features to help you do all of the above and much more to provide a feature-rich mobile learning platform to your frontline employees.