In this article, you will gain insight on 7 advantages a custom mobile learning solution will bring in. In the background of the “forgetting curve” that indicates that we forget 80% of what we learnt after 30 days of training; it showcases how you can use custom mobile solutions to flip this to a “recall and retention”. Through 6 examples, this article presents the power of custom mobile leaning solutions and how you can adopt them t enhance your learning strategy. For More resource on eLearning, mLearning, Blended learning solutions please visit - http://bit.ly/learning-blogs-EID About EI Design EI Design brings in 14 years of expertise servicing customers across 16 countries catering to their varied eLearning needs. We have delivered more than 6500 hours of eLearning development content (of which over 750 hours is for mobile learning). We also have a strong expertise in localising content in 26 global languages. Please visit - www.eidesign.net to know more.

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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common
Misconceptions
Part of Mobile Learning Solutions Series
Presented by
Author-Asha Pandey
Chief Learning Strategist, EI Design
apandey@eidesign.net
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2. http://www.eidesign.net
About EI Design (www.eidesign.net)
2
Years of Learning Solutions
Expertise
14
6500 Hours of eLearning
Developed
390
Hours of Localisation
In 26 Languages Developed
82.3%
Customer
Retention Rate
20+ Industry Verticals
Serviced
Countries – The Breadth of Our
Customer Base
16
750
Hours of Mobile Learning
Developed

3. http://www.eidesign.net
Our portfolio and the range of our services
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Core services:
Core services: Our rich portfolio includes:
1. Custom Course development eLearning /
mLearning
2. Migration of legacy courses to HTML 5
3. Localisation
4. ILT / VILT and Blended Learning
5. Performance Support Tools
Off-the-shelf Products:
1. Suite on Instructional Design
2. Suite on generic Compliance
Value added Services : Comprehensive evaluation
strategy (cuts across various training formats)
1. Efficacy of learning (the learnability and gain
for learners)
2. Impact of training (the gain for business)
3. Return of Investment (ROI) on training
Beyond Learning: We also offer several Learning
Support services that can be used to promote
eLearning adoption or specific mandates like change
management.

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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions
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The popularity of mobile learning or mLearning
continues to grow. Interestingly, integration of
mobile devices into corporate learning strategies has
been triggered largely by learners who want the
flexibility of device they want to learn on. As a result,
many corporates worldwide now have Bring Your
Own Device (BYOD) policies in place and have
embraced custom mobile learning or mLearning
solutions in the last 2-3 years. Yet there are several
misconceptions around the effectiveness of custom
mobile learning or mLearning solutions. In this
article I will outline five of the common
misconceptions on custom mobile learning
solutions. More specifically, I will share some
pointers on how you can address some of these
challenges and create an effective custom mobile
learning solution that will work for you.

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5 Common Misconceptions About Custom Mobile Learning Solutions
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As I had mentioned earlier, with
the increased usage of mobile
devices as the preferred device
for learning (particularly tablets
and in recent times
smartphones), mobile learning,
and as an extension, custom
mobile learning solutions are on
an upswing.
Integration of Tablets and
Smartphones provides increased
flexibility to learners as they can
access the same course across
multiple devices. Technology
allows them a seamless learning
across devices.
In spite of this momentum,
custom mobile learning
solutions do face certain
challenges and this often leads
to elusive success factors. I will
outline the 5 common
misconceptions that I have
seen so far and will provide
pointers on a work-around for
you to overcome them.

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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
1.Mobile learning is eLearning lite.
This is probably the biggest misconception and
often the reason why custom mobile learning
solutions fail to hit the mark. Mobile learning is
not eLearning lite and when you opt for custom
mobile learning solutions, you need to extensively
revamp your learning strategy.
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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
2.One size fits all.
I see this as the second biggest misconception and
it is related to the first misconception. When you
opt for a custom mobile learning solution, you
need to identify which devices would be used to
access mLearning solutions. Essentially, there are
two options:
• Adaptive.
These are multi-device custom mobile
learning solutions that support PCs, laptops,
and tablets.
• Responsive.
These are multi-device custom mobile
learning solutions that support PCs, laptops,
tablets, and smartphones.
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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
The inclusion of smartphones needs a
reassessment of how your custom mobile learning
solution needs to be designed. There are certain
trade-offs in the overall learning experience when
you design for the limited viewing area of a
smartphone and this needs to be factored during
the learning design phase. If the percentage of
users opting for smartphones is very low, I would
recommend the adaptive approach rather than a
responsive approach. This will ensure that there is
no trade-off and the same learning experience
that is offered to PC/laptop users will also be
available on tablets.
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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
3.Need to factor for technology (HTML5 support),
otherwise the same content and same learning
strategy would work on all devices (including
mobile devices).
This is another misconception that often causes
a gap in the desired and the actual learning
experience. While custom mobile learning
solutions factor for the technology (HTML5
output), this alone is not adequate to craft the
learning strategy. Mobile devices require bite-
sized learning that certainly needs repurposing
of the content. Similarly, you need to have user
interactions that are intrinsic to mobile devices
but they are equally intuitive for usage on
PC/laptop. Only then can the learning
experience on mobile devices be meaningful for
the learners.
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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
4.Tablets and smartphones both support HTML5,
so the same learning strategy should work.
Yes, from a technology perspective, both tablets
and smartphones support HTML5. The need for
distinct learning strategies that should be part of
your custom mobile learning solutions arises
from two factors. The first one is the fact that
there is a limited viewable area in a smartphone.
There is another associated challenge of
providing flexibility in portrait and landscape
viewing on smartphones that is not very relevant
for tablet users. So, the custom mobile learning
solution should be crafted bottom up; that is,
begin with smartphone and then move up to
tablets and finally to laptops/PCs. This approach
will ensure that the learners will get the same
learning experience as they move across devices
on the same course.
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Custom Mobile Learning Solutions: 5 Common Misconceptions (Continued…)
5.A complete learning experience cannot be
delivered on smartphones.
This is a misconception that is very common. A
complete learning experience can be delivered
on smartphones provided your custom mobile
learning solution factors for their limitations and
builds on how learners are likely to use them in
their overall learning journey.
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Summary
Like all new approaches, an effective and
successful implementation of mobile learning or
mLearning needs a different learning strategy. I
hope with the clarity on the common 5
misconceptions and, more specifically, my pointers
on how you could handle the intrinsic challenges,
you will be able to create custom mobile learning
solutions that work.
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Summary (Continued…)
Over the last 4+ years, we have crafted custom
mobile learning solutions of over 400 hours for
both formal and informal learning (Performance
Support Tools). We have crafted learning strategies
that work for both individual learners as well as for
collaborative (social) learning. If you have any
questions on how you can successfully integrate
mobile learning into your current learning strategy,
do reach out to me.
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EI Design Pvt Ltd
Corporate Office and Development Centre
#160, Arun Arch,
9th Cross, Indiranagar 1st Stage
Bangalore - 560 038, India.
www.eidesign.net
Asha Pandey,
CMD and Chief Learning Strategist
Tel (Direct): +91-80-25202679
Board: +91-80-25202677 / 25202678
Mobile: +91-98450-61484
Email: apandey@eidesign.net