An interesting post from Graham Attwell on mobile learning that quotes Donald Clark:
Training Magazine’s annual survey of US L&D professionals shows that just 1.5% of training was delivered via mobile devices. That’s right, after about 7 years of hype and discussion we’ve reached 1.5%. That’s not leaping. That’s trench warfare.
The issue here is partly framed in terms of the Learning and Development function that remains in a training course mentality rather than supporting workplace performance and situated knowledge development, generation and sharing. Graham makes the interesting point that the potential of mobile tech is in supporting an environment of learning and …
to link learning that takes place in different contexts. That mean linking formal learning to informal learning. And to link learning that take place in vocational schools, in training centres and in work.
But this potential is not realised, in part due to the attitude of employers or their failure to understand how such technologies are being used anyway by their workforce:
A recent survey we undertook on over 500 construction apprentices in Germany found that whilst over 50 per cent said they used their mobiles for finding information related to their work or training, only 20 per cent said their employers allowed them to do so. They said that they used the devices in their breaks and lunch time. And in construction I would argue that mobiles are a working tool anyway. So part of “establishing good practice in our organisations for finding information and experts and for sharing information”, is a task of awareness raising and capacity building with companies for them to realise the potential of mobile technologies for their organisation.