How Mobile Learning Solutions Can Improve Employee Engagement?

The current covid-19 outbreak has brought profound and unprecedented changes to the work environment. A large majority of employees are now working remotely across the globe. This has created several problems, such as reduced employee engagement.

The workplace is a venue for reinforcing employee engagement by keeping colleagues in close contact with one another for deeper collaboration and interaction. The workplace environment is also conducive to high performance and productivity. The same cannot be said for homes. Remote work has become the new norm and it has negatively affected employee engagement.

Thus, organizations must formulate and implement strategies for reinforcing employee engagement. One of the keys to maintaining high employee engagement is to leverage mobile learning solutions.

Mobile learning solutions can help organizations with learning and development which is critical for reinforcing employee engagement. The results of one research study evince that training and development are vital for boosting employee engagement. The research was carried out by Bob Nelson Ph.D. who used data from surveys involving millions of employees to discover that training, learning, and development are imperative for employee engagement. He mentioned the results of his study in the book “1,001 Ways to Engage Employees.’

Importance of Training for Employee Engagement

Employees attach high importance to training and development since it can help them to advance in their careers. Training and development is the employer’s way of showing due regard for employee growth and progress. Employees will have greater motivation for working with companies and organizations that help them to advance in their careers through regular training.

Mobile learning solutions have emerged as a game-changer for training and development. Under the current crisis, mobile learning solutions have proven themselves to be a viable training platform for remote workers.

Mobile Learning Solutions – the Answer to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mobile learning solutions can help employees to train and progress in their careers while remaining safe. Given the high risks of covid-19, it is no longer wise to congregate dozens, scores, and hundreds of employees into training rooms. Although they reduce the risk of infection, masks, and social distancing are not enough for keeping safe from covid-19. No one can learn in an atmosphere of fear. Thus, a viable alternative is needed for learning in a safe environment. Mobile learning solutions are the answer to this urgent problem. Employees, workers, and personnel can now train remotely without the fear of covid infection. Isolation and remote work are the only means of being virtually immune to the pandemic that has wrought devastation around the globe. Mobile learning solutions can easily integrate with remote work so that training and employee development is not disrupted even under the toughest circumstances. Mobile learning solutions can liberate employees from fears of the pandemic and enable them to grow and prosper in their careers without interruptions.

Safe Interaction and Engagement with Mobile Learning Solutions

Mobile learning solutions can help trainers interact safely with trainees. This is very important during the current pandemic, where the fear of infection has curtailed all sorts of activities including training. But with mobile learning solutions, training is possible even under the most austere lockdowns. These learning platforms liberate both trainers and trainees from fear so that they can interact openly with one another. As a result, they are a much better solution than conventional training methods that call for face-to-face interaction and are thus inherently unsafe given the highly infectious nature of covid-19. Organizations need a much better and safer alternative to old school classroom training. Mobile learning solutions are the answer to this critical problem.

Real-Time Capabilities of Mobile Learning Solutions

As a matter of fact, with mobile learning solutions, engagement can be improved due to greater interaction. First, high safety means that trainees and trainers can interact openly and fearlessly. Second, mobile learning solutions have real-time video conferencing capabilities for live interaction. Both trainers and trainees can interact safely from a distance in real-time thanks to real-time functionality. Real-time interaction means lively engagement that is as good as the classroom environment if not better. The real-time conferencing function is so effective that it is easy for one to forget that they are interacting remotely. It is as good as face-to-face interaction. Thus, mobile learning solutions are vital for keeping employees engaged through remote conferencing.

Mobile learning solutions are especially vital for the current and future generations that are now increasingly tech-savvy. Young people now want to do everything with their smart devices. Smart devices are now standalone computers that can do virtually anything that conventional laptops and PCs can. Also, smartphones offer a high level of convenience and portability due to which younger people, in particular, prefer them over PCs and laptops. Even those who use PCs and laptops extensively often spend several hours each day on their smartphones. Thus, it makes sense to leverage the affinity of young people for their smart devices. Organizations can boost engagement and facilitate remote training using mobile learning platforms.

There is nothing like mobile learning platforms for appealing to the tech-savvy crowd. If young people can do it on their smartphones they will be more eager to engage. Thus, mobile learning solutions are not an option, rather, they are a necessary dimension of employee training and engagement.

Mobile Learning Platforms are Available Anywhere Anytime

With mobile phones in their hands, employees can access any kind of course wherever they like. Mobile learning solutions are paramount for the ultimate learning experience thanks to their high level of convenience and accessibility. No matter where you are, course material is always within your reach with mobile learning platforms. You do not have to remain attached to your laptop or PC for learning and training purposes. Everyone, especially younger people will appreciate this sense of liberation and comfort. Courses are now accessible to all kinds of devices. Learners can continue where they left off and study at their own pace on their smart devices.

With old fashioned classroom training, trainees have to arrive in time for their learning session. This can be quite problematic. Quite often, employees have to give up what they were doing to attend training. This can put them behind schedule and interfere with their daily activities and responsibilities. This factor will also adversely affect their learning experience and performance since employees under training will likely be distracted, stressed, and worried. They may very well be worried about the responsibilities that they have left behind for training and how they must catch up to win the day. Some may even be resentful that training is being conducted at the most inopportune time.

With mobile learning solutions, reluctance for training can be easily alleviated. Employees who are too busy can always come back later to resume their training at a time of their convenience. They no longer need live sessions and face-to-face interaction for learning and development. They can access course material and video lectures online to pick up where they left off. They can learn without letting training get in the way of their daily responsibilities and commitments. Organizations will also benefit since they will not need to reduce the workload or endure reduced productivity due to training. In short, mobile learning platforms empower all stakeholders including trainees, trainers, management, and employers. Mobile learning solutions are a win-win solution for all.

Multimedia

Mobile learning platforms empower trainers to leverage the power of multimedia for better trainee engagement. Trainers can now easily add in videos, images, clips, and artwork to bring their courses to life. Trainees will be more willing and motivated to learn material embellished with rich multimedia. Multimedia can drive the engagement factor to improve learning outcomes and performance.

Microlearning

Information overload is one of the prime factors behind reduced learning performance. With textbooks and conventional mediums, there is hardly any way to reduce this problem. The result is that trainees get intimidated and stressed by huge chunks of information. They can get stressed and start procrastinating. Huge swathes of information will almost certainly hurt focus. You need to be disciplined and focused to concentrate singularly when you have to peruse vast tracts of information. Many lack this discipline and thus suffer from lapses in concentration.

The key to this problem is microlearning. Microlearning is an important engagement factor that can stimulate learning and motivate trainees. The basic premise of microlearning is that information should be presented in bite-sized amounts that trainees can easily assimilate. This can help prevent stress, information overload, and overwhelm. It also works wonders for bolstering focus and concentration so that trainees can learn more in less time.

Microlearning can better engage trainees since information is presented one at a time, alongside rich multimedia content to bring learning to life.

Mobile learning platforms are ideally suited to microlearning and can easily integrate this essential learning paradigm to benefit trainees.

Gamification

Mobile learning platforms leverage gamification to boost employee motivation and engage them more profoundly. Mobile learning platforms have an intuitive interface that shows user profile details such as learning progress. Trainees can easily view total courses available, courses under progress, percentage completion of the course, and test results.

Thus, a lot of learning data and analytics is available that can help trainers as well as trainees to better manage the learning experience for better progress.

All of this data can also be used for gamification as a powerful engagement factor. Mobile learning platforms now have leaderboards that show trainee rankings along with their learning performance. Such a system will engage employees and motivate them to do better in training so that they can rank higher on the leaderboard.

Advancing higher up the leaderboard can enable highly motivated employees to indicate their high level of engagement and career progress. This will improve their chances of promotion. Managers can also make use of these leaderboards to find out exactly what skill set each employee possesses. Managers can accomplish this by looking at courses completed and test results. They can also compare employee performance on the same courses by looking at various factors like test scores, time taken for completion, and other data analytics. Managers can use this information to ascertain the overall engagement factor and reward the most motivated employees.

Mobile Learning Platforms Foster Personalization

A one-size-fits-all approach is no longer optimal nor is it feasible. Nowhere is it truer than in training and learning. Certain trainees learn faster while others happen to be slower. If the pace of training does not match your learning rate then this could lead to a higher risk of disengagement.

Highly motivated fast learners with strong basics could feel bored if training is too slow. Steady learners may need a slower pace of training to keep up. The trouble with old school conventional training is that it can cater to neither. The trainer has no choice but to adopt an average pace for maximum inclusivity.

Organizations can now remediate this key training problem courtesy of mobile learning solutions since these versatile platforms empower trainees to learn at the pace that suits them best. Thus, mobile learning solutions are now vital for a highly personalized learning experience that is bound to boost employee engagement. Trainees will almost certainly be motivated to excel if the learning platform takes into account their learning needs.

Thus, there are numerous ways through which mobile learning platforms can help your organization to boost employee engagement during these unprecedented times.