5 facts that eLearning is going mobile and its impact on online teaching

Today we are learning differently than how we were learning just a decade ago. With advancement in mobile technology anyone can own smartphone under $100. As on today there are about 2.1 billion people in the world using smartphones. Technological advancements along with ease of use and portability of mobile devices is revolutionizing eLearning.

Easy access of data network and affordable device cost has resulted in a paradigm shift in the way information is consumed. Read on to see how educators and knowledge seekers are adapting to evolving learner centric learning model.

Today, adults and millennials are learning information in a way like never before. I can see this happening with me. Today, I communicate with my family, friends and clients more through home phone service or mobile apps like WhatsApp, Facebook or LinkedIn. When it comes to learning it is no different. Today, I access more information and learn more things through my mobile than any other source. Here are my top 5 facts on how eLearning is happening mobile.

“By 2016, use of mobile apps will surpass that of Internet domain names, making mobile apps the dominant means of engaging with brands.” — Gartner

5 Facts that eLearning is going mobile

1. MOOCs gone mobile

MooCs became popular in 2012. Some of the widely popular MooCs like Udacity, EdX & Coursera which started on web have launched their mobile apps. These popular MooCs have managed to get millions of downloads in a span of just 2 years.

Here are some interesting learning trends released by Coursera. It has 18 million learners world wide.

• Mobile learners increased by 80% from 2014 to 2015
• 28% of active coursera learners access course material on mobile

Read complete article with more interesting infographic on how MooC learners are learning around the world.

2. Blended Learning

Blended learning is a new teaching methodology gaining popularity among many universities and schools. With courses loaded on mobile apps students are expected to go though the course content in their home. Students can revise as many times as they want at their convenience. During college session they interact with peers and teachers to get their understanding clear. They try their hands implementing the concept through live projects and experiments.  Many schools, universities & organizations have seen great success with Blended learning model. You can access comprehensive list of schools using blended learning model. With blended learning, student failure rates have gone down from 40% to 9%.

Another important factor for increasing popularity of blended learning is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) adoption. With increasing number of institutes and corporate organizations allowing BYOD friendly policy, Students and professionals can use their devices for learning. According to research, 74% of organizations either already using or planning to adopt BYOD for increased productivity (Source: Zdnet).

3. Collaborative Learning

Learning is better with collaboration. Students learn better through discussion & interactions than just listening to lectures. There is no perfect medium than technology to enable collaborative communication. Think about Whatsapp or Facebook and you will get what I am saying. Most of the learning apps comes with discussion forums where students and teachers can share notes and interact. Such interactions fosters students in finding solution to a problem through collaborative approach. This results in a whole new learning experience for students where students learn by teaching. I am sure teachers would love this as their work just lies in blessing the right answer or guiding students towards the right solution.

4. Life long learners & EaaS

In today’s world knowledge is power. There is no doubt that there are more number of knowledge seekers today than ever before. Educators realize that there are good number of learners and knowledge seekers other than professional college graduates and school students. Adult learners constitute 43% of all higher education enrolments. 70% of adult professionals like to work and learn from their own, personal smart phones or tablets.

You can find domain specific market place vendors selling courses for a specific market. For example marketplace MooCs like Linda offers courses on Business, Technology and Creative Skills. Treeehouse offers courses on programming. Popular universities around the world are now offering certification courses for specific skill or expertise. Transforming their online courses as Education As A Service model.

5. Personalized

Mobile apps offer great scope of personalization for learners.  For example, sending personalized push messages like reminders, notes or aiding resource will help learners. Such personalized messages help them learn faster with greater understanding. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact to their job or personal life. Given that Adults prefer self paced learning, features like dripped course content, targeted messages and adaptive learning are very important.

Apps are great when it comes to gamified and adaptive learning. Popular apps like duolingo which helps you learn various languages through gamified way are fun to learn. Duolingo Android app has about 50 million downloads as on this writing.

Let me know if you have seen or experienced any other important facts which substantiate that eLearning is going mobile.

Learnyst offers branded mobile apps to teach and sell courses on mobile. Offering you most simplest and economical way to transform your eLearning into mLearning. For more details check Learnyst mobile apps for Learning.