Whether you’re an organisation with an established mobile learning strategy or looking to implement one in 2019, I am sure that you will be keen to know more about the mobile learning trends for 2019.
Hence in this blog, I have collated and included the top 9 mobile learning trends for 2019.
1.Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning continue to penetrate deep into the mobile world. With increasing capability of machine learning algorithms, learning is not the same as it was a couple of years ago. Today mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets like Alexa, Siri etc are backed by intense machine learning algorithms to personalize the user experience and much more.
In the domain of mobile learning, AI and machine learning can be integrated into mobile learning apps and will influence the learning industry by recommending and suggesting the learning requirements for the learners. The future will see the launch of more mobile learning apps of various LMS integrated with AI and machine learning capabilities that can track and recommend the learning path for the individual learners and identify the existing knowledge gaps.
2.Location based technology
There is no doubt that a personalized and contextually relevant experience is more captivating to users, and location is one of the key factors that supports personalization and makes the user experience more relevant. With increased GPS capabilities on mobile devices and wearable devices, the location-based technology will be able to enhance the learning experience by personalizing the learning content to the desired geographic location.
This will be beneficial for organisations which have a larger global presence and when they need to localize their learning efforts only to specific region or area. Like compliance policies differ across regions and the organisation needs to ensure that only the learners at the relevant location are trained on specific compliance e-learning . The location-based technology can easily enable this.
3.Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is when the real world is enhanced or changed through the use of software-based, virtual elements such as objects or text and other graphics. With the reducing technological barriers to entry into the space of exploring and designing for AR, I am certain that augmented reality is bound to play a more prominent role in the coming years. Although there are still some challenges to overcome, the vast number of benefits is hard to ignore. According to Statista.com, globally, AR revenue is expected to grow to 90 billion USD in 2020.
With AR development tools becoming cheaper, AR is bound to take a big leap in the domain of learning. For example,Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) partnered with a service provider to design a training app for employees. The objective of the app is to train new technicians without removing and reinstalling the vehicle dashboard. The learner just needs to point the camera of the iPad to the dashboard of the vehicle to get the training started.
With mobile devices like smartphones, tablets etc supporting AR capabilities, the future of mobile learning looks exciting and cool.
4.Virtual reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Organizations like Microsoft, Facebook continue to invest big in developing and designing tools and technologies for VR and capabilities will continue to grow of modern mobile devices to support VR.
VR has made technological leaps and bounds in the past couple of years to become a viable tool for hands-on employee training in a risk-free environment. Organisations like Walmart, Volkswagen and many more have already jumped on the VR training bandwagon. In the year 2019, we can expect to see further growth of the VR experiences especially in the corporate training domain.
5.5G connectivity
5G is the fifth generation of cellular mobile communication offering faster speeds and more reliable and stable connections. With a generation connected 24*7 to the internet, 5G connections will be a big boost to the mankind and industries.
The market has already seen the announcements of 5G supporting hardware and processors on mobile devices and is definite to be a game changer.
In mobile learning, the 5G connectivity will be further boosting the connection speeds and the slow buffering will be just a thing of the past. One can further expect the growth of more online/multiplayer game based learning, high-quality streaming of audio and video content and much more.
6.Voice assistants and smart speakers
Voice assistants are a growing technological trend and are now popularly used in smartphones, tablets and there are already many exclusive devices like Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri etc which can perform a various set of task to make our life easier. These voice assistants hosted on the cloud are made smarter by including the AI and machine learning capabilities.
In learning space, we can expect to see a lot of new innovations through the use of voice assistants and smart speakers. For example, the smart voice assistant- Alexa from Amazon allows the learner to participate in the short interactive quiz, the smart speaker can narrate interesting trivia and much more.
Did it trigger something? Yes, the tomorrows’ microlearning can be through these smart devices. How about reminding the user through their smart speaker about a missed e-learning course or the launch of a new one. Isn’t it cool?. With fingers crossed, let’s wait for such cool innovations to happen this year.
7.Better hardware configurations
A decade ago a 512mb Ram on a personal desktop was a luxury. But today, there are already smartphone devices that have even 10gb Ram as internal memory to support a wide variety of multi-tasks and operations. The mobile devices of today are upgrading the hardware capabilities in a quick pace to support multitasking and enable smooth operation of the devices.
In the mobile learning space, this will definitely see a smoother learning experience, the users will be able to do multitasking options and the mobile learning apps can enjoy more breathing space with better memory allocation etc.
8.The rise of mobile apps
According to the research report, the total number of smartphone users are expected to reach about 2.5 billion in 2019 from 2.1 billion in 2016 and the number of mobile apps is multiplying fast with 2.1 million Android apps and 2 million iOS based apps in the third quarter of 2018.
The analysts forecast global education apps market to grow at a CAGR of 27.46% during the period 2018-2022. Apart from the individual mobile learning apps, there are mobile apps launched by popular LMSs in the market serving the purpose of mobile learning. While the number of mobile learning apps are increasing considerably, one should also note the improved user experience. In previous times, when the apps were not designed with the mobile-first approach, the UX was compromised to a big extent. But today with improved app development, the mobile apps are able to provide a better user experience in terms of smooth and uncluttered navigation, enhanced visual appeal, responsive designs and much more. This will continue as a trend and I am definite that 2019 will see more improvements in UX and UI of mobile apps.
9.Shift to the cloud
With a huge volume of data generated every day, organizations are increasingly moving their IT infrastructure to cloud. Things are no different for mobile learning as the learning apps are now increasingly hosted on the cloud servers. This eliminates the limitation of the space available on mobile devices of the learners. With the continuous improvement in machine learning and AI etc, it’s definite that there will be more increase in the volume of data generated every time. Hence I predict a continuing trend of mobile learning apps to shift to the cloud infrastructure
These are the 9 popular mobile learning trends of 2019 that are sure to influence the mobile learning industry. Feel free to share your suggestions and recommendations using the comment box below.
