Game of Phones: Five Critical Factors For Effective Mobile Learning | Social Learning Blog

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"In today's everything-at-your-fingertips world -- smartphones, tablets, wifi at 30 thousand feet -- it’s no surprise that the demand for mobile learning options is skyrocketing. People want their learning on the go.  Or at least pieces of it." according to David Berget, joined Dashe & Thomson in 2014 after working as an eLearning Developer for a year. 

Photo: Social Learning Blog, Dashe & Thomson

Fortunately, mobile compatibility has, in recent years, become the easy part of offering mobile learning solutions. Most eLearning and web-authoring tools produce responsive, mobile-compatible output with little or no incremental effort from the content creator. Developing learning solutions for mobile devices, however, involves more than checking the “responsive design” box.

A true mobile learning solution must offer a clear benefit for users, help individuals and teams improve performance, and ultimately provide a return on investment by delivering better business outcomes.

Here are five things to consider when producing a mobile learning solution that gets results:

1. Put Mobility First 
The Mobile First philosophy is the subject of much debate.  Simply put, the essence of Mobile First is to develop for the smallest screen first, and then add additional content and features for larger and larger screens.

Why do this?  Because much of the functionality and design that appears beautifully on larger screens like computers looks and behaves awful on a phone screen. This is why “mobile compatibility” means nothing on its own.  Regardless of the screen you decide to design for first, mobile should at least considered first, so that good design choices can be made throughout the instructional design process.
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Source: Dashe & Thomson