Mobile Learning: Strategy, Types, And How To Get Started

Mobile Learning is an optimal form of eLearning that many educators and students benefit from. 

If you want to know everything related to mLearning, including concepts and types, and get a practical guide on implementation, then keep on reading. 

If you are ready, let’s start! 

Mobile learning as a type of eLearning 

Mobile learning is increasingly gaining popularity among users and educators. 

Nowadays, more than 60% of educators and platforms engaged in the eLearning industry provide mobile learning experiences in the form of apps. 

For instance, SkillShare is a popular learning community that is available for download as an app. So, users can download it on their mobile devices and enjoy self-paced learning using their mobiles. 

Mobile Learning makes eLearning even more accessible. Not everyone may have a laptop available at all times. Meanwhile, mobile phones are always with us. 

Fors and Againsts of Mobile Learning 

It is the perfect time to dive into the pros and cons of mLearning. 

Benefits of Mobile Learning

Before we get into challenges, let’s consider the main benefits you will gain if you implement mobile learning into your program. 

• Accessible learning for everyone - learners can access information easier and more quickly than ever before 
• It is proven to increase the rates of course completion. Not everyone will sit down to finish the course, but many will learn on the go when they have free time. 
• Reach wider audiences - not everyone has a laptop, but almost all have mobile devices. Therefore, you increase your chances of reaching broader markets by providing mobile learning.  
• Lower start-up costs mean that mobile learning is highly cost-effective for online educators. 
• Lots of income opportunities 
• Automations are available for routine tasks. These will save lots of time. 

So, by offering mobile learning, you can reach wider audiences, make learning even further accessible and gain more income opportunities. 

Against Mobile Learning 

Well, what about against factors or Cons of mobile learning? 

• Harder to keep students engaged as it is easier to get distracted on the mobile
• Prone to technical issues that may disrupt the process of successful & effective learning 

Technically there are a few factors against mobile learning. Keeping students engaged can be a bit more challenging, but it definitely has resolutions. 

We will review the common challenges mLearning solutions face later in this article. 

Mobile learning types 

Let’s take a look at the main types of mobile learning. 

Here are the main types of mLearning. 

Self-paced Learning 

One of the most common types of mobile learning is pre-recorded courses that allow self-paced learning. 

Simply put, instructors create courses that are later on published with descriptions and other materials related to the course. Most of the time, nowadays, you can see quizzes & other engagement tools incorporated to check students’ progress and keep them motivated throughout the way. 

If you offer this type of mLearning, you will gain benefits such as:

• Incredible passive income opportunity. Publish the course once and sell it as much as you want to as long as the content is relevant and up-to-date. 
• Audience-building opportunities. 
• Saves time & resources, the flexibility of schedules, and of course, the opportunity to work for yourself

This type of mLearning currently enjoys the most demand as it ruins location and time barriers. It allows everyone to join and learn from anywhere and whenever they want. 

Live Training 

Live training is a type of eLearning as well. Instead of joining the training from PCs, participants join from mobile phones. 

Formal Training 

Another type of mobile learning is formal training. Usually, those are related to on-job training programs for new employees. You can implement Augmented and Virtual reality technologies to enhance the user’s learning experience. 

Informal Training 

One of the most popular types of mobile learning is informal training. This includes subject-matter experts teaching various types of courses based on their expertise & experience. Plus, this type of training is quite popular as it mostly includes teaching high-income skills such as graphic design, 3D modeling, programming, and copywriting. 

mLearning challenges and how to overcome them 

Even though mobile learning comes in handy with lots of benefits both for educators and learners, there are still challenges that you may need help with. 

So, now let’s look at the main challenges in mLearning and provide solutions to those.

Distractions

Online learning can generally be very destructive due to various notifications students or instructors may get throughout the process. However, this challenge becomes even more significant when the primary learning device is mobile. 

The main resolution of this challenge is to make the course as engaging as possible. It is easier to do with live training, where you can host Q&A sessions or encourage discussions. However, it becomes harder when the courses are pre-recorded. 

Luckily for us, in this era, of digitization, there are ways to keep students engaged even when you offer a self-paced learning experience. Try to incorporate various quizzes, questionnaires, and ice-breakers throughout the course or at the end of each lesson. You can also encourage students to participate by providing certificates of completion. 

Technical Issues 

Technical issues may include equipment that broke down or internet connection issues. It may take a day or a few to fix if it is equipment-related. However, if it’s connected to the internet, make sure to have extra mobile internet for live training. 

Compatibility & Responsiveness

A course with all the material created and designed for PCs may be different for mobile learning. First of all, keep in mind that mLearning mostly includes lightweight courses.

So, try to create more on-the-go learning material for the app. You can offer simple 5-10 minute video lessons throughout the course and still efficiently yet in a simple manner manage to convey course material. 

If the course is more complicated, includes lots of third-party materials, and requires a full focus state to acquire the material successfully, then the best is to create it for PCs. 

So the compatibility solution is simple, offer simplified courses and training for mLearning while leaving the complicated ones for eLearning. 

Also, make sure that the platform of your choice is responsive. It must work well with various screen sizes for both the website and the app. 

Content issues

Some files & other materials that would otherwise work smoothly may not even open or load on mobile devices. So if you consider providing mLearning, ensure that file sizes are small and types supported on mobile. 

Top Tips to Create a Successful Mobile Learning Experience for Students 

We will look at the top tips to create an efficient mobile learning experience for your students. These tips will help you to provide the best possible experience for students enhancing the learning process. 

Use Main Materials 

You can offer full-featured course content, but mobile learning is about learning on the go. So, the best advice we can give is to include the main materials related directly to the topic. 

Ease up and simplify everything for you and your students. 

Use Simple Graphics

In order to ensure fast loading speed use simple and lightweight graphics. Plus, keep in mind the size of mobile screens and only put a few details on one infographic or presentation page. 

Structure Well

Before publishing the course, put everything well together and ensure it follows up with the original layout created. However, be flexible as well. Perhaps lesson 3 is better to be in place of lesson 5 after all. 

Keep it Short & to the Point 

One of the main things course creators could improve is putting together a long, 40-minute video for mLearning. No, never do that. Instead, break your content into many short lessons and offer 5 to 15-minute video lectures for each topic. 

This will benefit you in terms of saving time on editing as well. 

So, as far as we are clear on the tips, let’s move on to the Strategy. 

How to create a mobile learning strategy? 

Now it is time to dive into the practical part of this article-guide. 

Here are the main steps that will help you create an effective mLearning strategy. 

Step 1 - Define your business’s Goals 

First and foremost, if you want to create a strategy, you must initially have a goal. A strategy is a plan to achieve a goal.

So, get clear on what are the goals of your business and how they correlate with mobile learning. Maybe one of your main goals is to make training & pre-recorded courses accessible for everyone. Then you must get clear on numbers, such as how many sales you expect, what an expected RIO rate is, etc.

Also, keep in mind that every goal for your business should be SMART, which means that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-specific. 

Step 2 - Set Clear Deadlines 

Whether you are working with a team or alone, you need deadlines for successful project management. 

Deadlines will help you to stay motivated and not give up on progress. Why? Because deadlines require you to break up the huge goal into small goals and tactics that feel more achievable. This influences us psychologically and motivates us to keep working. In fact, establishing strict but attainable deadlines is a key part of efficient creative project management.

Tips & Tricks for Better Time Management 

Down below, we collected the best practices for time management that will help you out along the way in successfully meeting project deadlines: 

• Learn to prioritize. If there are lots of tasks to complete, have the Top 3 Priority ones for each day or week (if major). First of all, complete these tasks, then move on to the next ones. 
• Create a timeline for the project. Let’s say you have to create a course to publish. Well, create a timeline by which to get clear on when you should be done with market research, have an outline & outcomes, have classes recorded & edited, and of course, when it will be published. 
• Utilize tools that help with the management. For instance, a great free tool to keep track of everything you do is Notion. It also comes in handy with lots of free yet incredible templates. Another task management software that will help you out is Trello. 
• Stop changing deadlines & learn to be responsible toward yourself. If you want to start a teaching business, you should be responsible for yourself if you want to succeed. So, stop changing and postponing deadlines just because you can. Do everything possible to meet them when you set them.

What can Stop you from Meeting the Deadlines?

• An unclear goal and timeline will set you off the track 
• Overwhelming workload. Do not try to complete everything within a day. Prioritize and have one major daily task that you can break down into multiple sub-tasks. 
• Lack of motivation. Get clear on whether or not you truly want to have an online learning business. If you do, you will find the motivation to put in effort every time. 

Step 3 - Content 

Content is an extremely vital step. There are multiple types of content you should consider including in your course. 

Different types of content will diversify the experience of students and enhance the overall learning experience. 

Main Types of Learning Content 

Let’s look at the main types of learning content you can incorporate into your training. 

• Quizzes & tests. Even in mobile learning, remember to offer a few short quizzes to track student progress and help them better memorize the material. 
• Videos. A good course must offer videos to help students learn the material. So, you can shoot short video lectures and incorporate them into the course material. The best way nowadays is to provide students with video lectures. 
• Podcasts. You can put up relevant podcasts or deliver the whole material in the form of a refined podcast that you record with quality tools and equipment.
• E-books & Audio materials. Other useful resources for students can be e-books and audio materials. You can use additional learning materials from third parties or the pens you have created. Pay attention to copywriting if you decide to share third-party resources. 
• Additional third-party learning materials. 

Step 4 - Choose a Platform 

The next step in the creation of Mobile Learning courses is, of course, to choose a relevant platform. 

The platform of your choice ideally would:

• Have an app for IOS & Android. This will save you lots of time, plus you do not need coding skills to work on the responsiveness of screen sizes. 
• Third-party integrations for a better experience 
• Tools to take control over payments and marketing from one place
• Automation to automate routine tasks and save time 

Step 5 - Marketing 

Finally, it is time to market the courses properly in order to get clients. 

There are two main types of marketing that are:

• Organic Marketing. This type of marketing includes free tactics that are being used to improve product/service visibility and sales—for instance, blogs, SEO optimization, unpaid social media posts, guest posts, etc. 
• Paid Marketing includes paid marketing tactics. E.g., social media ads, Google or YouTube ads, Landing Pages, etc. 

The wholesome marketing strategy incorporated both organic and paid marketing tactics. 

Organic Marketing best works for long-term engagement and audience building. It aims to build a loyal audience and maintain a client base. 

Meanwhile, paid marketing is better for short-term results, e.g., generating lots of leads at once. 

Choose the platform and get started! 

It is your time to shine. 

The right time to get started in this dynamic industry is right now. So, get everything together and choose a platform to start. 

One of the best platforms that will offer you each and every tool for the successful creation, management & expansion of the eLearning business is Uteach. It also comes in handy with an app to ensure you get all the benefits of the mobile version as well.

Register, check it out, and publish the courses you offer. With Uteach, you will be able to SEO-optimize each and every aspect of your website to rank higher in SERPs. 

Start for FREE