Professional Education

A great addition to any learning professional’s holiday wish list is Gary Woodill’s  latest book The Mobile Learning Edge.  Exhaustively researched and extremely well-written, this business-focused text offers case studies, examples, and resources that any reader can utilize to develop and implement an effective mobile learning strategy.

One of the more intriguing approaches taken by Dr. Woodill is his establishment of seven fundamental principles of mobile learning. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you all seven, but a couple of my favorites are, “Employees learn by solving problems that matter to them,” and, “Employees learn best in concrete situations where the context matters to them.” These may seem obvious, but they help us remember that learning – especially mobile learning – has to be constructed in a way that is relevant to the employees, not just a method that seems simple to implement.

All of Dr. Woodill’s seven principles will be of great value to learning professionals, and I encourage you to get this book and give thought to the principles and examples it contains. In an age where smartphones and tablets are becoming ubiquitous, mobile learning is clearly going to be a part of the day-to-day world of many employees. The Mobile Learning Edge and its companion blog are excellent tools for the novice and the seasoned expert alike.