Out in the cold

But do we really need another learning medium right now? Haven’t we got enough to cope with already? Maybe we have, but conventional e-learning, delivered to a desktop computer, is leaving a large part of our audience out in the cold (literally). As Elliott Masie points out: “The assumption here is to dramatically expand the accessibility of learning beyond the physical footprint of the PC. If we remember that over 50% of the workforce does not sit at a desk, but instead is standing, walking or moving around a factory, we see the potential of breaking the tether of the Ethernet wire.”

Mobile devices have been outselling PCs since 1977. According to Donald Clark, CEO of Epic Group: “They are becoming ubiquitous. There is barely a target audience that cannot be reached with these devices. In the UK alone the number of mobile phone users grew by 76% in the year to March 2000.” The mobile workforce is growing along with the power and proliferation of mobile devices. In fact, according to IDC, the population of mobile and remote access workers in the USA alone will grow to 55.4 million by 2004.

M-learning is designed to fit with the unique work-style requirements of the mobile workforce, linked to their office by cell phones, laptops and hand-held devices. This workforce spans a wide range of occupations: from sales to customer service, engineering, maintenance, consulting and insurance - to name just a few. As so many of these jobs are customer-facing, their importance is often paramount to an organisation. Mobile workers need and deserve the latest information and the sharpest skills.

But is a nomadic lifestyle really conducive to the process of learning? Clark thinks so, because mobile workers are big users of ‘non-places’: “Non-places are air, rail and motorway routes including airports, railway stations, motorway stops and hotels - refuges, places where one can retreat into oneself and find privacy and solitude. In an age where time has to be managed, these places provide opportunities for reflection and learning.”

“Non-places have a number of features that make them conducive to learning. You are alone. You are free from distractions. You are free from interruptions. You are free from the tyranny of meetings. These are good conditions for learning. But there is one condition that makes a non-place even better than a library - you have no escape. You cannot jump from the plane, train or car.”