A few months back we had written about mLearning - Dos and Don'ts. Even the calendar year changed after that and during this time period our team worked really hard on some eLearning projects, a few of which were eLearning to mLearning conversions. Having worked earlier on such projects we were able to handle the work smoothly and could deliver the projects on-time. But, we weren't this confident always. We would like to confess here that a few things we learnt the hard way, by making mistakes and learning in the process.
If yours is an organization considering the benefit of converting eLearning to mLearning, here are some tips for you to keep in mind and that to at no extra cost 🙂
- Always think in terms of- which mobile?
Might seem absurd at first, but considering today's market mobile can be anything from 3.5 inch to a 5.5-inch screen or even a tablet in some cases. So, having a list of screen sizes that you expect the course to be functional on is just one amongst many smart moves that you can make. Also OS versions will play an important role and hence it is important to know which devices you plan to target well in advance. - Create a Layout
This step essentially covers the all and all of analysis. In this way, you collect and organize all the content available in form of eLearning, check what is missing, cross evaluate it with the learning objectives/outcomes, check what functions/features of mobile learning can come in handy to enhance the learning experience and bring in better learning experience. This exercise not only ensures that the content is relevant, but also keeps you aware about what the end result should basically be. And just like that you can kill two birds with one stone! - Chunk & Update the Content
Well, chunking is a must. It's a mobile screen that we are talking about here, plus learners with really short span of attention. So, whatever content you have, break it down into modules, represent it in form of visual elements if possible-use videos and images. And when it comes to using texts, keep them short and simple-avoid complex sentences or instructions that take too long to understand, and even keep information based text to the minimum- keep them short and crisp.Another important thing to keep in mind is that the content needs to be up-to-date, or else your mLearning will be like bad wine in a new bottle - Keep the Controls Simple
Mobiles offer great potential in terms on adding interactivities and complex controls. Don't get swept in the moment and include complicated game-like controls in the mLearning. You oughtto consider the fact that not all learners are mobile aficionados.So, keep the controls and navigation simple, and restrict it to what the necessity calls for. - Be Far-sighted
Creating mLearning is a step towards being future-ready, but is it all? Instead of creating mLearning that can solely run on selective devices consider creating a responsive course that can be used on almost every device. In this way, you can save a lot of money, time and effort that could be incurred in the futured. - Don't Ignore Testing
Testing is crucial. Testing for bugs, and other errors should be done either on the actual physical devices or on simulators and emulators, which should also be followed by usability testing. Enough time should be allotted for this in order to ensure that the course is completely error free. For example Knowzies have a dedicated Mobile Testing Lab set up for such multidevice testing
Mobiles these days have superior browsers with support for HTML5, opening up the possibility to utilize a single HTML5 markup document and a variety of different Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to provide a progressive, gradually enhanced experience across a wide array of browsers and devices too.
There's a lot happening in the mLearning front these days and at Knowzies we seek technical know-how and keep ourselves updated. Watch out this space for more.
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