The process of getting newly hired salespeople trained and actively selling products is a key concern for most businesses. Organizations typically throw new hires into a classroom for a week or two, and then send them on their way with a couple of three-ring binders and with little or no follow-up. Grainger was seeking faster and more innovative ways to make its new hires successful while recognizing that people learn better over time.

Mobile design and development is a new discipline for many in the learning industry. A user-centric design-thinking approach is necessary for positive results. However, this type of approach is counter to how most of us have approached instructional design and we must understand it if we are to truly address the mobile learner’s needs.

On the job performance support is often a key area of professional development that may not always be adequately addressed or sustainable, particularly in instances where workers are part of a mobile/virtual workforce. Traditional forms of training are often leveraged to bridge performance gaps and provide ongoing development opportunities. However, the methods often fail to deliver on the performance support needs of today’s mobile worker.

Learning to leverage the specific tools and capabilities in mobile devices can be challenging for eLearning developers. Effective mLearning goes beyond converting traditional eLearning for use on mobile and actually applies techniques of responsive design and maximizes technologies like geolocation and gestural inputs to become authentic mobile learning.  

Maybe you’ve heard some of the following in your workplace learning discussions about mobile: Mobile learning just means HTML5, right? Mobile really isn’t that important to me because I’m an instructional designer. I let the developers worry about that part. I have XYZ rapid development tool and it works with mobile devices, so I feel pretty good about mobile. If any of these comments sound familiar, then this session is for you.