English as a BusinessCommunication Tool
How to Implement Mobile Learning in Global Organizations
WHIte paper
MAY 2012
Online Business English Training via Mobile Delivery: The Perfect Storm
The ROI of Mobile Learning
Mobile Learning in Action: Applications and Examples
Getting Started With Mobile Learning
Mobile Hardware Considerations for Mobile Learning Success
MOBILE LEARnInG’S TIME HAS COME
The rapid development of technology has propelled us into a new mobile era. Today an astounding 87 percent of the world’s population has a mobile subscription! Mobility has rapidly changed our way of communicating: the reliance on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes has now surpassed the use of familiar stationary technologies such as radio, television and PCs. To-day we expect information to be available instantaneously, at any time and everywhere, and we turn to mobile devices to provide for this increasingly unavoidable demand.
IDC estimates that more than 35 percent of the global workforce will be con-sidered mobile workers by 2013 — some 1.3 billion. In addition, the market for mobile devices is growing exponentially.
numerous studies demonstrate the rapid mobile device adoption. In a sur-vey conducted on 10,000 consumers in 10 countries on 4 continents, Smart-phone owners increased from 28% to 53% over the last 12 months (Accen-ture). In 2011 PC sales have dropped 1 percent internationally, while tablets grew 213 percent (BusinessnewsDaily).
notably 41% of tablets pur-chased for personal use are be-ing used professionally in a number of sectors: education, government, health, insurance and business, and are used mainly for the purposes of web browsing (73%), mail (69%), dis-tance work (67%), business sup-port (46%) and client presenta-tions (45%) (Tablets at Work
study, north America).
Combine those statistics with the fact that the growing millennial workforce prefers mobile phones over any other personal technology and the oppor-tunities to deliver learning are limitless. no longer is it a question of “if” an organization should deploy mobile learning but “when” and “how” does an organization deliver mobile learning.
How to Implement Mobile Learning in Global Organizations
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AnOTHER GROWInG TECHnOLOGY: OnLInE BuSInESS EnGLISH TRAInInG
As organizations are looking to expand their global footprint and reduce costs, they seek a common business language. Online Business English Training can improve your business communications and expand your op-portunities globally. Over 750 million people worldwide speak English as a foreign language (Crystal, The Future of English). And 1 billion people are learning English right now. By uniting your workforce with the most com-monly spoken language in the world you can improve your employees’ con-fidence and improve your bottom line. Business English Training delivered by a vendor partner offering eLearning and mobile learning can help you deliver the English training that your employees need, when they need it for a fraction of the cost of classroom training therefore significantly reducing your investment.
OnLInE BuSInESS EnGLISH TRAInInG vIA MOBILE DELIvERY: THE PERFECT STORM
Documenting the skyrocketing use of smartphones, in January 2012 Google released research concluding that smartphone usage is on the rise. In a study featuring 5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, uK and uSA) smartphone us-age was growing at staggering numbers in all countries, as much as 283% in Japan from January- December 2011.
Country Jan-Feb 2011
Smartphone UsageSept-Oct 2011 Smartphone Usage
% Increase over 10 months
France 27% 38% 40%Germany 18% 23% 29%Japan 6% 17% 283%United Kingdom
30% 45% 50%
United States
31% 38% 22%
English as a BusinessCommunication Tool
www.gofluent.com
goFLUENT International Inc.101 Jefferson Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760Tel: +1 515 528 8164 / Email: [email protected]
The statistics above demonstrate that mobile devices are a familiar and uni-versal communication tool. Offering the convenience of anytime, anywhere access, mobile learning combines the convenience of learner comfort with their device with the immediate dis-tribution of knowledge.
Mobile delivery facilitates on-de-mand contextual learning, whether it’s in the office, at the airport or prior to the next client meeting. The speed of communication facilitated by mobile delivery makes learning immediate, just-in-time and espe-cially relevant.
THE ROI OF MOBILE LEARnInG
Putting aside all of the excitement and statistics surrounding mobile device usage for a moment, mobile learning is not the end all eLearning solution. It should not be considered a standalone eLearning solution. Mobile learn-ing is, however, an emerging delivery model for a global distance learning solution, where learners can get the service and information they need to accomplish their learning goals. ROI for mobile learning can be measured in the same ways that eLearning is traditionally evaluated by measuring speed to market, speed to competency, automation efficiencies, course comple-tions, compliance and other organization specific analyses.
The question becomes then, is there more ROI difference between an eL-earning program with or without a mobile delivery component? To answer this question we look to global workforces and how they are using mobile learning.
“With more smartphones be-ing sold every three months than computers, mobile learning is not only growing in popularity but it’s beginning to overtake other forms of eLearning as the most popular technology-delivered learning mechanism.”
Christophe Ferrandou, CEO of goFLUENT
How to Implement Mobile Learning in Global Organizations
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MOBILE LEARnInG In ACTIOn: APPLICATIOnS AnD ExAMPLES
With the popularity of mobile devices already defined, which employee groups can reap the benefits of mobile learning immediately? Your primary audiences are first going to be those whose learning needs are not already being met through online learning via a computer or classroom instruction. Those that can benefit first may include:
Mobile workers: Those that are rarely in front of a traditional desktop computer.
International business professionals: Those with nontraditional work schedules due to frequent travel.
Field workers: Those who seek access to just-in-time learning prior to entering a meeting or accessing learning information while engaged with a client face to face.
Users comfortable with technology: Professionals who already know how to use their phones and don’t have to learn to use new hardware.
What employee groups in organizations today have some or all of the above characteristics?
executives: Travel often, de-sire succinct communications and were early adopters of mobile gadgets and technology.
Sales representatives: very busy and mobile, often require in-stant information to support cus-tomer queries, can benefit from easy access to information and customer support.
Field engineers and repair technicians: Like sales personnel, such “in the field” employees are inher-ently mobile and can use mobile learning to catch up on training and be
best prepared to meet with a customer or partner onsite.
English as a BusinessCommunication Tool
www.gofluent.com
goFLUENT International Inc.101 Jefferson Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760Tel: +1 515 528 8164 / Email: [email protected]
GETTInG STARTED WITH MOBILE LEARnInG
As an organization is considering mobile delivery for learning you should consider the content that will be delivered to learners. video is what is con-sumed the most on smartphones. In addition, there is a very strong link between videos and smartphones/tablets. not putting videos in a mobile learning app is missing the big picture and the benefits of the emerging trend.
Learners are expecting a clear and immediate benefit from their mobile learning. 70% of what employees learn is from real life and on-the-job expe-riences, tasks and problem solving. Delivering content using a just-in-time mobile delivery model combines content with context.
Selecting an eLearning solution that offers mobile delivery in addition to a computer delivered application puts the choice of accessing the training in the hands of the learner. Learners are then empowered to decide how they will learn, which delivery model best fits their learning styles and perhaps overcomes any learning constraints (geographical, technology, etc.) that they are dealing with.
Once you have selected an eLearning solution with mobile delivery, it’s im-portant to create and execute internal communications and marketing plan for your solution.
In order to decide if your organization is truly ready for mobile learning, start by answering these questions:
Step 1: Identify business challenges and define strategy.
For any learning initiative to be effective, leaders first need to identify what problem that initiative is going to solve. A mobile learning initiative is no different. To review, common business challenges that are addressed by mo-bile learning can include:
How to Implement Mobile Learning in Global Organizations
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Enabling access to Business English Training content and services across a global workforce.
Offering learning to a workforce that is already mobile.
Delivering just-in-time learning when it is needed most.
Step 2: Define the solution.
When defining a solution to address business challenges and fulfill strategic vision, it is important that learning leaders consider specific areas within the organization related to the elements of an eLearning ecosystem.
technology or infrastructure: If you make a decision to implement mo-bile learning, it doesn’t mean that you have to provide smartphones for all of your employees. As smartphone usage is on the rise, more than likely, your employees already have the tools, you just need to deliver the content.
Culture: Consider different workforce groups. Millennial prefer mobile phones over any other technology, social learning and just-in-time learning.
Content: What is your need to deliver video and which mobile device delivers it most effectively?
Step 3: pilot the mobile learning solution.
Limiting risk and cost, piloting a mobile learning program is becoming an industry best practice. There is much to be learned from taking a sample group and running them through the entire program before rolling the pro-gram out to your entire learner population.
Step 4: Measure, analyze and refine.
Measure effectiveness in order to gauge success. Evaluating a mobile eL-earning solution shouldn’t be any different. If you are just getting started with eLearning measurement, a few good indicators to measure are perfor-mance improvement, course completion and skill mastery results.
English as a BusinessCommunication Tool
www.gofluent.com
goFLUENT International Inc.101 Jefferson Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760Tel: +1 515 528 8164 / Email: [email protected]
MOBILE HARDWARE COnSIDERA-TIOnS FOR MOBILE LEARnInG SuCCESS
When it comes to the hardware side of mobile learning, evaluating the pos-sibilities is challenging. Your strategy about the hardware technology is
equally as important as the content that you deliver on it. Furthering the challenge is the well known fact that Flash is not supported by Apple products. Therefore while most eLearning con-tent worldwide is built with Flash this innately creates a strong demand for an iPhone, iPad and iPhone
apps in the learning space. On the other hand, Android technology does support Flash, and in general terms any eLearning website works well with Android smartphones. Therefore, where should an organization focus first?
To narrow the hardware options, start by looking at usability. While your employees may have smartphones, taking learning from a small device such as a smartphone can be challenging. It’s much easier to learn from a tablet. Samsung has addressed this challenge and modified their product develop-ment by producing larger smartphones. When you do your hardware re-search you will find that there are hardware solutions available with a larger visual field that can meet your needs and be deployed in combination with smaller mobile learning devices.
To learn more about mobile learning and Business English Training, contact goFLuEnT at [email protected] or to download the goFLuEnTiPhone app visit Apple’s App Store: http://www.gofluent.com/web/us/iphone-app
How to Implement Mobile Learning in Global Organizations
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about goFLUeNtgoFLuEnT offers distance Business English training combing eLearning, telephone lessons and written practice solutions. Each year, goFLuEnT assists more than 100,000 employees in over 2,000 companies across the word to enable them to perform better in their international relations. goFLuEnT is present in ten countries and has 560 employees - of which 400 are trainers. nTT Communications (nTT Group) holds 30% of shares in the company. For more information, visit goFLuEnT online at www.gofluent.com.
English as a BusinessCommunication Tool
www.gofluent.com
goFLUENT International Inc.101 Jefferson Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760Tel: +1 515 528 8164/ Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt France45, rue de la Chaussée d’Antin75009 ParisTel: +33 1 80 05 18 70Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt International Inc101 Jefferson Avenue,Endicott, nY 13760Tel: +1 515 528 8164Email: [email protected]
goFLUENT GermanySchadowplatz 12D-40212 DüsseldorfTel: +49 211 66 96 94 00Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt SwitzerlandBoulevard George Favon, 20CH1204 GenèveTel. +41 (0)22 311 10 01Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt SpainCalle Fernández de la Hoz 33, 5° Izda28010 MadridTel: +34 91 447 66 90Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt Italyvia Bolla, 1220151 MilanoTel: +39 02 33 94 91 11Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt russia109028, Москва Земляной Вал ул., 50а/8, стр. 2Тел.: +7 495 937 40 20Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt philippines10/F IBM Plaza, Eastwood City,Libis 1110, Quezon CityTel: +63(2)900-2568Email: [email protected]
goFLUeNt KK Japan3-chome Bldg., 3F3-22-1 Toranomon, Minato-kuTokyo 105-0001Tel: +81(0) 3 6205 3043Email: [email protected]
