Trends in e-learning are constantly evolving. They need to keep up with the needs of users and even try to stay one step ahead of them. We cannot pretend that mobile e-learning does not exist. Millions of people use it every day. In 2014 and 2015, around 2.6 billion smartphones were sold worldwide. Even if only a small percentage of buyers used these devices for online training, this number will certainly continue to grow.
Can this trend really be ignored?
All you need to do is get on public transport in the morning to see crowds of people using smartphones. They read, browse and write. Among them, there are also people taking part in e-courses, using online platforms that offer commercial training or even university lectures. If, after launching a training course on a smartphone, they see a message saying that the website is not adapted to mobile devices, they will certainly become discouraged not only from that particular course, but also from other courses based on the same type of solution.
Of course, there are courses that are better completed on a traditional PC. These include, for example, courses that require close attention to graphic details, such as application training, where a trained eye needs to notice many tabs, messages and options. However, there are also other courses whose content, graphic design and functionality are perfectly suitable for completion on a smartphone.
Another important issue when building a training course and choosing the target device is the target audience. You need to consider whether the training is intended for first-grade pupils, people unfamiliar with new technologies, computer science students or, for example, people with disabilities. Even after making this assessment, there will always be users who surprise us with their skills. Expanding the group of smartphone users is only a matter of time.
When designing training, we should therefore remember that smartphone-based e-learning is not a novelty, but a current trend. If we fail to keep up with it, we risk stagnation and exclusion from the market. As Goethe’s saying goes, “He who does not move forward, goes backward.”
Another question is whether we should design training only for smartphones, or rather, why not? If we know the subject matter of the course and we are certain that it will fulfil its purpose on a smartphone, if we know the target audience and we know that they will successfully handle this technology, and even more than that, that they will look for it, need it and expect it, then why not?
The choice of which option will work best for a given training course and target group depends entirely on us. Let us observe trends and not be afraid to experiment.
