Mobile Learning – current status and where are customers heading

Mobile Learning has been a hot topic in the learning space for a couple of years already – so I think it is time to look at the current status, what options customers have with the SAP or SuccessFactors software and beyond and where companies are heading.

Just a quick summary of what is available today:

SAP offers for its Learning Solution / Enterprise Learning product out of the box the “Learning Assistant”, an app to enable a companies mobile learning for employees with the Learning Solution or the Enterprise Learning as the backend.

The SAP Learning Assistant is available supporting two platforms:

• an iOS version for Apple devices
• and a Windows 8 version for Windows devices

If you are interested in seeing the Learning Assistant in action I would recommend to watch the video

or simply install the trial version (if you have a corresponding device at hand) which comes with some nice demo data and allows you to check it out. The trial version is available from the SAP Store.

But there has been a recent expansion of the SAP offering, which also extends the mobile offering. SAP Education added recently the assessment technologies powerhouse Questionmark to its portfolio under the brand: SAP Assessment Manager, to enable clients to manage their assessment and qualification tracking in the best way, especially in compliance-related industries. Please read more here in the posting from Thomas Jenewein.

Questionmark comes with a variety of mobile options as well, including apps for iOS and Android platforms. Worth noticing is also their responsive design approach where an assessment is authored and scheduled once and delivered to different devices:

The other offering of SAP / SuccessFactors for clients comes from its cloud-based solution. As part / addition to their BizX Suite which includes Learning they offer a comprehensive mobile application for iOS, Android and Blackberry platform, where learning is a part of the app.

To complete the picture, if you want to consume courses from SAP, there are options to learn on a mobile device:

• SAP Education Learning using SAP Learn Now – an app for iOS and Android platforms with special E-Learning Courses built for Tablets  – find more information here
• in the SAP Learning Hub: Mobile Access – e.g. of SAP Jam Learning Rooms –provides the possibility to follow discussions or contribute via blogs, videos etc. to the Learning Rooms. Learning Rooms are learning communities moderated by SAP Education instructors for SAP Learning Hub Users.

So while most of my clients like to talk about Mobile Learning and see the uses cases for it, there are not many that have implemented a comprehensive Mobile Learning strategy in their company. One of the onstacles that I see is certainly the device strategy of companies, either their status of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) or the level of providing mobile devices to all employees of the relevant target group. (Yes, in fact, I still have clients where not everyone has an own email address …).

So I would like to open up the discussion:

• What is the status of Mobile Learning in your company / at your clients?
• What are the use cases / business drivers?
• Is the strategy implemented already or what is holding you /the companies back?
• What are the technical considerations regarding mobile platforms, security, middleware and others?

Please use the comments section to discuss. If you want to share screen examples (which is highly welcomed) please send them to me.