Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
industrytrends2012 >> RAPID GROWTH IN MOBILE:
Mobile learning finally has gone main- stream, driven by consumers in both the developed and developing worlds, and by mobile- technology oriented industries including high-tech, business services and health care. The adoption of mobile tech- nologies in the workplace also has been spurred by the explosion of easy-to-use and relatively inexpensive smartphones, e- book readers, netbooks, tablets, and user- friendly applications. Use of mobile devices for learning rose from nine percent of U.S.-based organizations in 2007 to an estimated 20 percent or more in 2010. More than a quarter of the world's popula- tion now uses a mobile device, and fre- quent mobile Internet use has almost dou- bled in the past year. The informal uses for m-learning vastly outnumber the formal, and these new applications increasingly empower today's workers to access the information they need on demand. Major companies have adopted and
learning. Increasingly, it resembles employee experiences of tapping the Web as well as their online and offline social net- works for personal use. Today's workers need availability of a "learning environment" in which they can find information, collaborate and build their own learning plans. As a result, e-learning is taking on a more
interactive and social format that provides learners with small pieces of learning con- tent, often created by the learners them- selves and other subject-matter experts. This content and knowledge is framed and acces- sible within the context of the learner's daily work — anytime, anywhere, synchronously or asynchronously — to create learning as a continuous process, not as an event or in a page-turning format. This next-generation e-learning uses video, video-conferencing, simulations, games, virtual classrooms and digital content libraries. And all of it is tai- lored to learners' business-driven goals, their professional goals, their individual learning styles, and their preferred social networks. Let's take a look at some of the key tools
and trends in e-learning, which now accounts for about one-third of all train- ing hours, and examine how organizations are leveraging these new approaches to drive business impact.
18 November / December 2011 Government Elearning! >> SOCIAL GOES MAINSTREAM:
Many companies have adopted or are adopting various forms of social learning into their training strategies. As a result, social learning is now fairly mainstream across multiple industries. Take the example of Booz Allen, a strat-
egy and consulting firm that has experi- enced double-digit growth over the last 15 years and whose workforce has dou- bled every five years — with many employees working off-site. The compa- ny's objective was to ensure its workforce remained connected to the company and its training ethos. To achieve this goal, Booz Allen devel-
oped a new Mentor Match tool, which was created and incorporated into the organi- zation's SharePoint-based social network- ing portal, in conjunction with a multi- faceted mentoring program. The new multi-faceted mentoring program improves employees' connection to the firm, their leaders, and their teams. Through a suite of tailored resources and ongoing support, the enhanced program accelerates effective onboarding, staff development, and career management — all critical components to employee con- nection and engagement.
demonstrated the efficacy of mobile learn- ing. For example, Accenture created a uPodcast program that enables subject-mat- ter experts and the organization's leaders to share knowledge at a minimal cost. To date, 180 podcasts have been created and more than 20,000 employees — 11 percent of the total workforce — have accessed them. In another example, Coca-Cola turned
to Kelley Executive Partners to create an alternate reality game that combines social and mobile technologies — including GPS and smartphones — along with collabora- tive and competitive team problem-solving. The game was designed to drive under- standing of how millennial consumers use Web 2.0 technologies (and avoiding televi- sion) to help Coca-Cola develop a more effective marketing strategy.
>> RAPID GROWTH OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM: A staple in today's e-learning toolset is the virtual classroom. This approach is popular, and usage increased from 45 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009. The virtual classroom format is ideal for various training pro- grams. For example, for systems training, today's virtual classroom tools include capabilities for online lab exercises, allow- ing learners hands-on access to a system or tool that they may not have installed on