Mobile training

It’s now possible to learn wherever you are. In the same way the cellular phone untethered us from the work desk, smart phone devices can now elevate the burden of carrying scores of hefty training manuals, with one small lightweight device all your training material can be carried in your back pocket.
ilearn Australia have developed a system which allows trainers to instantly update course content any where any time, knowing that all their students will receive the updated information to their mobile devices the next time they connect to a internet. ilearn Australia has invested significant time into developing mobile training system which can deliver training material to trainees on the go or in the field as it is needed, so-called "m-training". All training material can be created through an online account and maintained and administered by a single individual anywhere in the world day or night. Training material is then delivered to course subscribers though the mcs mobile content shell web service. Since training material is downloaded to the device you don’t need an ongoing internet connection to review course material and complete self paced assessment.

ilearn Australia have been working closely with Goal Training and Development to help perfect the delivery of m-learning and have successfully used the mobile training system to deliver certificate level training on PDA and Smartphone devices for the hospitality sectored. We are now shifting our attention to the delivery of a new retail training course which takes advantage of the government subsidies available for eligible students to provide a cost neutral training programme for selected students.
Many of the training resources used in the delivery of training are done so on Personal digital assistants (PDAs) in the form of Pocket PCs as a form of e-learning – these training courses consist of high quality multimedia content, pictures, text, audio and video and Auslan signing for hearing impaired learners.

Garry Kendridge of Ballarat University commissioned ilearn to develop a training resource for disabled and hearing impaired learners. He has experience overwhelmingly positive feedback from students. The project breaks with tradition in that it focuses on delivery training in a new and seldom utilised way. “With this system hearing impaired students don’t have to miss out on e-learning and m-learning” Garry says. The resource utilised captioned and Auslan signed video examples to demonstrate set tasks, the video content is also complemented with written descriptions and voice over’s for students with low literacy levels.

"The nature of the project was to retain, engage and motivate young people," Garry says. "It could be anything from URLs to fostering teamwork to bringing social groups together. We are turning them from disengaged to highly engaged students."

Being a native technology in today's youth culture, mobile devices are not considered out of the ordinary with most students picking up the basics required to use the devices in minuets due to their exposure to mobile phones.

We believe that the work to date is only the tip of the iceberg in mobile arena and the delivery of J.I.T just-in-time workplace training.
If the success of these first-generation training courses is a guide, it looks like on-the-job mobile mentoring will undoubtedly help workers improve their skills.
The next steps for ilearn are to expand on the existing platform to provide support for moodle and other LMS learning management systems to provide teachers with existing training courses developed on these systems. Future advances may include the ability to record assessment using device microphones and cameras. This information would then for part of the student’s assessments and remain on file.

As more and more students carry a Smartphone or comparative devices in their daily lives the way we think about engaging with students is set to change.