mobile learning 101: the nuts and bolts of getting started

Mobile Learning 101: The Nuts and Bolts of Getting

Started

Session3/4 :Learning Design Strategies for Mobile

Learning – Part 2

CommLab India has been in the business of eLearning for the last

19 years and has many Fortune 500 companies as its customers.

Recap – Learning Design Strategies for Mobile Learning – Part 1

Let’s recap.

We have looked at the various strategies for designing mLearning under these heads:

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Agenda

Key Takeaways

Introduction

Learning Design Strategies

Assessments Strategy

Technical Strategy

Authoring Tools

Delivery Strategy

Conclusion

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Agenda

Key Takeaways

Introduction



Technical Strategy

Authoring Tools

Delivery Strategy

Conclusion

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Key takeaways of this session

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

Explain assessments strategy, technical strategy, authoring tools and delivery

strategy for mobile learning

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Agenda

Key Takeaways

Introduction



Technical Strategy

Authoring Tools

Delivery Strategy

Conclusion

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Introduction

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We will approach learning design strategy under the following heads.

Instructional design strategy

Visual and audio design strategy

Multimedia strategy

Assessments strategy

Technical strategy

Authoring tools

Delivery strategy

Agenda

Key Takeaways

Introduction



Technical Strategy

Authoring Tools

Delivery Strategy

Conclusion

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Assessment Strategy

Assessments Quizzes Games Surveys

Technical HTML5 Responsive

Design, Authoring tools

Native App, Web App,

Hybrid App

Delivery LMS Web portal Mobile

websites

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Assessment Strategy

Assessment of learners and evaluation of training is an integral part of training

strategy.

Assessments can be in the form of:

Games

Quizzes

Puzzles

Tests

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Assessment Strategy

Guidelines for developing assessment strategy for your mobile learning.

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1 2 3 4 5

Quizzes: Should be short and should provide

immediate feedback to users.

Assessment Strategy


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1 2 3 4 5

Unlike games on PCs that are designed to be played

using keyboard and mouse, mobile games need to

be designed keeping in mind the touch interactions of

mobile platforms.

Assessment Strategy


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1 2 3 4 5

If assessment interactions, be it games, quizzes,

puzzles or tests, are packaged as a part of the learning

content and can reside locally on the device, it would

be easily accessible to the user even when offline.

Assessment Strategy


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1 2 3 4 5

For regular tests, Questions should be short and simple.

Assessment Strategy


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1 2 3 4 5

True/False, Multiple Choice questions would be

ideal options to include in the HTML format.

If you need to include any free writing fields, it should

be limited to only 4-5 words.

Assessment Strategy

Evaluation of Learning

Mobile devices can also be used for evaluation of learning.

Responses from learners can be obtained through:

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Surveys

• Surveys (ex: to evaluate a training

program…).

• It is much simple for employees to respond

to questions on their mobile phones and

therefore you can use the feature to ask

them about a training program that they have

attended.

Feedback

• Feedback (ex: on course content, ILT

training, eLearning…).

• Obtain feedback from your employees at

greater detail on the course content, their

usability or applicability to their jobs.

Polls

• Polls (ex: for training needs analysis, mobile

devices used…).

• Ask users on the topics that they wish to have

training on and check the mobile devices

used by your employees to ensure your

mLearning courses are compatible.

• Know how your employees use their mobile

devices which enables you to understand if

your employees are ready for mobile learning.

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

Technical Strategies

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites



HTML 5

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is used to create

webpages.

The latest version is HTML 5 that has more features

such as the ability to embed audio and video files

right into the HTML code.

HTML 5 output can be read perfectly well,

no matter what the device is – a smart-phone,

iPad or any of the latest browsers on PCs..

Such courses can be tracked

and evaluated on the

Learning Management System (LMS).

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Making your Content HTML 5 compatible

Two ways:

1. Develop E-learning courses using

HTML,CSS, Java Script coding.

2. Develop the course with tools like Articulate

Storyline, Captivate, Lectora and other rapid

Authoring tools.

If you have any existing content that is not HTML5

compatible recreating the course using rapid

authoring tools will be a cost effective option.

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Making your Content HTML 5 compatible

Developing courses with HTML 5 coding incurs huge costs as it requires a lot

of technical and coding expertise and huge man power

But developing courses with HTML5 rapid authoring tools has certain

disadvantages. A few are

Should depend on the default interactivities

Limited animations

Should work with its default features

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites


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Responsive Design


Responsive eLearning design is a design with an approach to provide an optimal viewing

experience across a wide range of devices*

*(ASTD Publications, Developing A Mobile Learning Strategy, Mayra Aixa Villar, 2013)


Responsive Design

It facilitates the development of online courses that can be accessed

on multiple gadgets.

It is achieved through the manipulation of fluid grids, flexible media,

and media queries.

Content will reflow according to the device screen

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Responsive Design

A research by Google indicates that 98% of Internet users switch between devices

with varying screen sizes in a single day.

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If employees in your organization use a wide variety of devices and are likely to

take the mLearning via these devices, you need to ensure that courses have a

responsive design


Impact on Instructional Design for Responsive Designs

Initially, the training material should be designed for mobile devices taking into

account the capabilities and limitations of the technology and also user experience

Design the interactive elements such as clickable (or ‘tapable’ ) links, buttons

with adequate spacing for touchscreen.

Content should be chunked and presented in the easy-to-understand format.

Keep users limitations in mind (users may have limited data plans or irregular

access to Wi-Fi networks.).

Avoid intricate graphics and images instead use simple line graphics/ images

Minimize the level and number of interactivities.

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There are 3 ways

1 Developing from the scratch.

2 Editing the source code of the published course.

3 Developing the course in Captivate 8.

How to make your course responsive

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1. From the scratch (HTML,CSS3,Java script)

Develop a personalized frame work

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2. Editing the source code of the published course (only for the

courses developed in Lectora or HTML )

Step 1: Take a published eLearning course.

Step 2: Run the course in any browser

Step 3: Open the source files in HTML editors .

Step 4: Edit the code using HTML5 tags

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3. Developing responsive eLearning project in Captivate 8

Open Responsive Project

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Authoring Tools

Developing mobile learning has been considerably simplified with the help of rapid

authoring tools.

The latest versions of these authoring tools are able to provide output to HTML 5

making them compatible with most devices.

Let’s look at some of the authoring tools and their unique features that are useful

for developing mobile devices.

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Authoring Tools

Lectora for Mobile Learning

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Great for text-heavy content

Useful for multi-lingual courses

Enables highly customized content

Authoring Tools

Lectora Inspire

It has in-built templates for mobile devices, which enable you to choose one of

the formats, modify the color scheme and start building the module.

It allows maximum customization with respect to interactivities, templates, or

quizzes.

If you course is text-heavy, this tool is ideal to handle it.

If you need your courses to be translated into multiple languages, you can do

so with Lectora quite easily.

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Authoring Tools

Captivate 8 for Mobile Learning

Responsive design

Responsive screen capture

Geo location

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Authoring Tools

Captivate 8

Captivate 8 enables you to develop courses that run well on mobile devices.

Their latest version enables responsive design, which means that you can

build a screen for the PC version and adjust the sizes for other mobile devices.

It greatly reduces the time and effort spent on creating individual buttons

interface and navigation features.

It has responsive screen capture that enables you to record from any device.

The screen recordings responsively adjust their GUI according to the screen

size of the device from which recording is done.

It also has a Geo location feature that tracks the location from where learners

access the course.

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Authoring Tools

Articulate Storyline for Mobile Learning

Output in SWF and HTML

Comes with Media Player for iPads

Enables seamless learning experience

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Authoring Tools

Articulate Storyline

Articulate Storyline is a great tool to produce eLearning courses in Flash, HTML 5

as well as iOS format form a single source. As it can be produced in HTML as well

as iOS format it enables you to develop mLearning courses easily.

It has touch savvy interactions, quizzes or puzzles that are compatible with

tablets and Smartphones

It has Articulate Mobile Player, which is an iPad app, that makes it possible to

create and deliver media-rich mLearning courses

It enables publishing courses to both SWF and HTML 5

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Authoring Tools

Comparison of Authoring Tools for M-learning

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites


Example – Calculator, Dictionary etc.

This app needs to be downloaded from an ‘app store’

and is platform dependent. It will run only on the

platform for which it is developed.

So an app developed for an iOS-based device

(iPhone/ iPad) will not run on an Android-based

device (Samsung, HTC, etc.).


Native Apps

Native application, also referred to as a Native app, is an application program that

is developed for a specific device.

When you use native apps for mLearning, you have to develop customized

applications, bearing in mind the device that is used by your target audience.

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Physically located on the

device and can be accessed

through icons on home

screen

Performance is superior and

reliable

Internet connection may not

always be required

Can capitalize on the

device’s inherent features

such as GPS, camera,

address book, compass, etc.

More secure and safe

Advantages

Costly to develop and

requires a long

developmental time

Requires unique

programming knowledge

Needs an external app store

to host the app

If your users use multiple

devices, a separate app has

to be developed for each

device.

Users need to keep on

updating the applications

from time to time.

Disadvantages

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Web Apps

Web applications are those applications that access information from a server

located on the Internet through browsers installed on mobile devices.

Example – Polls, Surveys etc.

This app is platform-independent. It is browser

dependent, but will run off any platform.

It does not need installation or configuration like native

or hybrid apps, but needs the user to be connected to

the Internet via a SIM card or Wi-Fi connection, to

access the online app.

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Can be developed once and

used for multiple devices

Can be hosted on mobile-

compatible LMS or portal easily

Works on multiple platforms –

iOS and Android

Easy to develop as it does not

require specialist programming

skills

Easier to support and update

When a course is updated on

the server, users are able to

access the latest course

automatically

Advantages

Catering to multiple browsers

might be a challenge because

the output might be varied

Requires Internet connectivity

to access courses

As content is accessed from

the server, it takes longer to

load, thereby marring user

experience

Less secure as they need to

be connected to the network

frequently

Provides limited features when

compared to native apps

Disadvantages

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Hybrid Apps

Hybrid apps are those apps that are compatible across platforms but also have

access to the device’s hardware.

Example - Dictionary

A hybrid app is platform dependent, but the content is

independent.

This app combines the interface and functionality of a

native app but streams data through the Web.

The native app will be platform specific while the content

that it loads at runtime is platform independent.

To use hybrid apps, the learner must be connected to

the Internet.

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

Delivery Strategies

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

Delivery Strategies

Delivery Strategies

LMS

Most Learning Management Systems today

are gearing themselves to make themselves

compatible for mLearning.

It means that learning through mobile devices

can be tracked in the same way as regular

eLearning courses.

Additionally, with new standards such as Tin

Can API, mLearning will become more

inclusive than before.

Open source LMSs such as Moodle could

also be an excellent cost-effective option for

integrating mLearning.

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Delivery Strategies

Tin Can API

Tin Can API is the successor to SCORM. It tracks and records learning

experiences that occur anywhere, through any device. It can recognize and track a

wide range of learning activities including:

Mobile learning

Gamified learning

Offline learning

Collaborative learning

Experiential learning

Simulations

Mobile Applications or Apps

Responsive Learning

Tin Can allows us to track both formal and informal learning events of employees.

These can be then recorded into a Learning Record Store (LRS) using the below

syntax:

Noun - Verb - Object. 'I - took - This'.

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Delivery Strategies

LMS

Learning can be tracked along

with eLearning courses.

Training can be seamlessly

integrated with existing courses.

Users can move between

devices without interruption to

learning.

Automatic notifications are

possible in LMS.

Reporting capability with

customized reports is possible

that helps in training evaluation.

Advantages

Requires high initial set up

costs if organization does not

already have an LMS.

If your existing LMS is not

compatible for mobile learning,

you might have to ask for an

upgraded version from the

vendor or look for alternate

options such as open source

LMSs.

Disadvantages

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Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

Delivery Strategies

Delivery Strategies

Web Portal

If you are primarily going to use mobile learning to make information

accessible to your employees, you may want to just put it up on a web portal.

Presentations, podcasts, digital eBooks in the form of user guides, etc. can be

made compatible to mobile devices and hosted on the web portal.

Your employees in turn can access them anytime from anywhere via their

smartphones or tablet PCs.

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Delivery Strategies

Web Portal

Limited tracking available.

Does not need high

investment.

Ideal to start mLearning if

you have an existing portal.

Advantages

Only limited tracking

available.

You cannot get detailed

and customized reports on

user behavior.

Automatic notifications

cannot be generated.

Disadvantages

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Technical HTML5 Responsive

Design, Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

53

Delivery Strategies

Delivery Strategies

Mobile-compatible Websites

These are websites that are designed exclusively to host mLearning content. The

layout, navigation buttons and interface are designed, keeping in mind the features

and small screen sizes of mobile devices.

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Delivery Strategies

Mobile-compatible Websites

Learner-experience is better if

it is created for mobile devices.

Better speed and accessibility

as they render faster.

Can be optimized for SEO

ensuring better search ability.

Advantages

L & D team might have to

manage multiple URLs.

Need to dedicate support staff

to manage and troubleshoot.

May not provide device

interaction and touch features

to the extent that is possible.

Disadvantages

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Agenda

Key takeaways of this session

Introduction



Technical Strategy

Authoring Tools

Delivery Strategy

Conclusion

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Conclusion

We have looked at the various strategies for designing mLearning under these heads:


Technical HTML5

Responsive Design,

Authoring tools


Hybrid App


websites

57

THANK

YOU

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mobile learning 101: the nuts and bolts of getting started

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