Why it pays to invest in a mobile-first learning management system
Since the pandemic started, we’ve had to face a series of changes in the way we conduct our daily activities, specifically in terms of work and the way we learn. As we talked about in our post on ‘What is Flexible Learning and Why is it Crucial for Employees in 2020?’, everything needs to be made convenient and engaging to be truly effective especially as we grapple with the coronavirus crisis. This can be tricky for businesses and educational institutions, but there are flexible solutions that can address this.
Incidentally, mobile technology is one of today’s most widely used solutions. A study has shown that 96% of all UK respondents aged 16 to 44 all use mobile devices to access the internet. As more businesses halt on-ground operations following the COVID-19 outbreak, many have begun transitioning online, optimising their services for mobile, too.
One notable example of this is tech giant Google. This shift was prompted by a 2016 Google report which revealed that 1 in 4 users searched via the search engine exclusively on mobile. And with the rapid releases of cheaper, more affordable smartphones, this figure has grown significantly. In 2020, about 70 percent of sites that are shown in Google results pages have already shifted over. UK-based digital marketing firm Ayima cites that by Google rolling out mobile-first indexing in 2018, it has forced the majority of businesses to make their websites more responsive to mobile platforms.
Mobile optimisation doesn’t just speed up user search functions. It also benefits businesses and schools. Mobile digitisation speeds up several administrative processes and creates a paperless electronic trail, leading to increased profits and productivity. In fact, there are increasingly more organisations who are choosing a mobile-first approach.
Of course, a key benefit is the wide access it provides organisations. This is especially helpful now that most businesses and institutions are operating remotely, and developing an effective and accessible LMS has become essential. But more than just offering flexibility and accessibility, a mobile-first LMS provides you with even more opportunities for growth.
4 Things a Mobile-First LMS Can Do for You
Efficient Use of Time and Labour
Gone are the days of gigantic handbooks to read and hours of training courses to sit through. You may even find that Learning Management Systems training is more flexible and easily customisable than pre-designed courses online. However, these systems often need developers to manage them, and those specialists don’t come cheap. When you decide that it’s time for your LMS to have a mobile counterpart, you may need to hire a mobile app coder. And because coding for web and mobile are two completely different things, you may need to employ new staff and increase your billable man-hours.
If you opt to have a mobile component for your LMS from the get-go, you can lower your staff requirements, saving you a pretty penny in the long-term.
Simplifies Learning Curve
The pandemic has caused a lot of offices and educational institutions to shift to blended arrangements, a mix of in-person and remote meetings and classes. This means that the learning curve may be steeper for new hires as well as for students who have to learn independently.
Traditional face-to-face sessions such as onboarding seminars for employees and classroom consultations may now be converted to mobile LMS. As Cheshire Media reports, one of the major strengths of mobile-first LMS, apart from its accessibility, is its timeliness. This is particularly important now that mobile-based learning is becoming more commonplace and the conventional office, as we know it, has shifted from physical to remote.
Close Skill Gaps
In a journal published on MDPI, it was revealed that, having grown up surrounded by digital tools, younger Millennials and Generation Z process information differently from previous generations. They also comprise a big chunk of today's student and new hire population. These tech-savvy individuals will need to learn in a way that they find engaging—and that’s on mobile.
The modern and mobile-first LMS can help you make learning and corporate training more relevant and digestible to them, leading to a greater skill alignment between them and their older, more experienced counterparts. This helps today's students to be more competent, and teams with younger members to perform their tasks more seamlessly towards unified goals.
Student and Employee Satisfaction
With a mobile LMS, your students and staff have access to a number of training courses whenever they need it and on whatever device is available to them.
A mobile learning app allows you to provide Just-In-Time (JIT) training to employees and on-demand courses for students. JIT training doesn’t only boost employee knowledge retention; it also encourages employees to stay with your organisation. Students can also go through their coursework at any time that's convenient for them—a consideration that they can appreciate during difficult times.
The rapid changes in our current work and learning environment call for efficient and effective technologies. So, maybe it’s time you invest in a Mobile-First Learning Management System and stay ahead of the curve.
Written by Rylee Sanders for ocasta.com
