5 Things to Consider When Launching a Mobile eLearning Strategy

• 3 min read

A good mobile strategy will get you off on the right foot. Do it right with these simple tips

Even if mobile eLearning exists in some way or another at your organization, it is only beneficial to flesh out a proper mobile eLearning strategy to set you up for success.

We all know mobility is going to play a bigger and bigger role in eLearning. Just take a look at our recent report on the subject for some of the numbers. And while it never hurts to start exploring “quick-win” mobile opportunities in eLearning, there’s enormous value in developing a comprehensive mobile strategy that aligns with L&D goals and broad business goals as well. But that takes time. So, certainly, play around with mobile options to test the waters, but for the long game, plan to launch a comprehensive mobile program that incorporates bigger ideas.

With that in mind, here are some of the elements of a great mobile strategy that we laid out in our recent report on mobility in eLearning:

  1. Build a mobile strategy: Determine a “single-source-of-truth” mobile strategy document that covers all aspects of the mobile plan, including a needs assessment, implementation plan, vendor analysis, resource allocation, goals and performance KPIs, and so on. This document will help you measure the success of your program as it is implemented and adopted.
  2. Align mobile strategy with L&D strategy and business objectives: The mobile strategy cannot live in isolation. As a recent Brandon Hall Group paper revealed, too often L&D program objectives are not mapped to overall business performance objectives. All three elements — mobile, L&D, and overall business — need to be aligned in order to achieve holistic performance objectives and continual improvement.
  3. Assess mobile offerings: There’s a wide disparity in terms of the maturity of LMS vendors’ mobile solutions presently. Some have robust offerings, some have grand ambitions and sound plans, and some have no mobile offering or vision as yet. Get a good sense of your (existing or prospective) vendors’ own mobile strategy before developing (or continuing) a relationship with them.
  4. Is it offline: As they say, offline is the new online. In many mobile learning circumstances, learners simply can’t access their LMS and need to take information offline then have their progress synchronized with the centralized learning repository once they achieve connectivity again. Solutions today need to feature clear offline/online capabilities to ensure learner progress is properly tracked and recorded.
  5. BYOD or no? The whole Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) issue has been a bit of a quandary for companies when it comes to mobility, because on the one hand it makes sense to invite users to use eLearning applications on their own devices, and on the other hand there can be privacy and ownership concerns that may drive companies to provide users with work-sanctioned devices. It’s a church-and-state dynamic, and there is no clear answer to it. But as your organization pursues a mobile eLearning strategy, it is important to answer this question out of the gates.

Download our complete report on mobility in eLearning for a better picture of how to approach your mobile eLearning strategy.