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Closelly is the first mobile training platform that allows medium and large organizations to train teams remotely, align and improve the performance of their collaborators quickly, easily, and effectively. Using microlearning, digital motivation, gamification, and immediate feedback stimulates continuous learning and motivates to do a better job.

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The smartphone emerges as a mobile learning tool, replacing the role that classrooms had for years. A more recent case is virtual classrooms, as before smartphones, eLearning was a great revolution in formal and non-formal education. And it continues to grow: according to a report from OBS Online Business School, eLearning is estimated to grow annually at 7.6% until 2020.

Currently, 77% of organizations in the United States offer online training to develop employees’ skills. Although mobile learning is a relatively new trend, it will undoubtedly increase, as some experiences have already demonstrated better content retention, reduced training times, and increased productivity compared to other more traditional training models, and even eLearning. In fact, mobile learning users, on average, study 40 minutes more than those using a desktop computer (MNAlearning). Additionally, mobile learners complete courses 45% faster than those using a computer.

From isolation to hyperconnectivity in distance education

But the significant step that mLearning takes compared to eLearning is the evolution from isolation to hyperconnectivity. The smartphone “is a natural extension of the deployment of our thoughts. We have the possibility in our hands to connect with a simple touch and enter a interconnected world,” explains Francisco Fernández, professor of Communication Technologies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

According to the Educational Portal of the Americas, individuals are once again connected thanks to the convergence of media, and distance learning is no longer done in isolation. Instead, it forms a larger whole where all members are connected through multiple intelligences. mLearning thus eliminates one of the main reasons for dropout in distance education, the feeling of isolation, and turns learning into a form of hyperconnectivity.

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Intensive days of corporate training and induction, hours attending in-person courses and workshops, or simply sitting behind a computer listening to a virtual instructor will soon be a thing of the past.

The exponential growth of mobile devices, surpassing 7.9 billion, drives companies to adopt personalized learning modules. Explore the reasons that make mobile the platform of choice for corporate training.

Mobile platforms, anytime, anywhere

We are increasingly addicted to mobile phones, using them an average of 150 times a day in many of our daily activities. Learning becomes one more, as it has the advantage of doing it anytime, anywhere. While commuting home, during a midday coffee, or while waiting in the supermarket queue.

64% of people say that the smartphone is more important than the computer and the television, and if it is left at home, almost 60% will go back to get it. The problem is how to compete with other content that users can access through their phones? One of the most important elements is being able to gamify the application, so users will want to advance stages, earn points, and surpass their rivals in a few minutes.

Personalized training

Because the content is not the same for everyone. The worker accesses information that he or she needs according to their specialization or that the company considers they should know. The trend in Mobile Learning is given by microlearning: small content modules lasting 2 to 3 minutes.

This makes it dynamic and more user-friendly, as it goes straight to the information that needs to be known, achieving greater retention.

Internet connectivity

Especially if the application allows downloading the material and accessing it even when the user is offline. While internet access, at least in Chile, reaches 84%, and of this, 81.2% do so from mobile phones, many Chileans only pay for a data plan with access to free social networks and use public Wi-Fi networks. Accessing company content with and without an internet connection is a plus, and people can carry useful and valuable information at all times.

The mobile device will become the best ally for companies when it comes to training and delivering corporate content because it is already in the hands of their employees. Now it is up to organizations to incorporate it as part of a strategy to improve corporate performance and test its advantages.

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During the first three months, a new employee will lay the foundations and bonds that will allow them to operate comfortably in their new position (Forbes). When the worker has the appropriate support, they will have a more positive attitude toward their work and will be more productive.

However, it seems that the importance of having good induction and training processes for employees who have been with the company for a longer time is not fully recognized.

Reality of Companies

According to the experience of Isabel Sandoval, a workplace psychologist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, “today, companies provide their workers with a standard induction that tends to be repeated in different industries. It consists of a welcome letter, team introduction, and some video or manual explaining the use of programs to be used or certain concepts they should know.”

A study by the U.S. magazine Training, with over 50 years of experience in the world of labor training, highlights that 78% of companies that invest time and financial resources in training their employees throughout a year increase their productivity by 10%, and job satisfaction also increases by 54%.

But induction processes and training alone do not create productive, committed, and knowledgeable employees. It is necessary to address the how and why of these processes. There must be a clear goal, be attractive, and collaborative among participants, where knowledge flows, is shared, and there is a real assimilation of the content provided.

Gamification Aids Corporate Training

It seems that the term gamification responds to all these demands. By applying game-specific techniques, corporate training can be directed towards achieving specific goals in a playful and entertaining way, motivating healthy competition among participants. This is possible thanks to new platforms in the market that allow the implementation of mobile training, accessed by employees through their mobile phones.

If an induction program is well designed and executed correctly, information will be retained more successfully, especially if it is through familiar and everyday objects, such as smartphones, for example.

“The content must be clear, precise, and really focus on what the employer wants to convey to their workers so they can perform their job in the best way. If it is done through a phone, which is an everyday object, retention will be higher because the interaction with the content is more natural, not forced, making it closer and more digestible,” concludes the psychologist.

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As mentioned in the Accenture Technology Vision 2017 annual report, which predicts the main technological trends in the coming years, it’s no longer people adapting to technology, but users taking control for technologies to adapt to their own needs.

The same is happening in the corporate world. The digital era is changing the way businesses operate. In the digital era, companies need to become intelligent. Intelligent to capitalize on their resources; intelligent to adapt to the new digital environment; intelligent to reformulate relationships within companies with their collaborators.

Integrating changes focused on digital culture

According to the report, adapting businesses to the new digital environment will require the adoption of new available technologies. These technologies, by themselves, won’t be the decisive factor for change but for the transformation towards a digital culture present in every process, in every area, and every person in the company.

A clear vision is required when adopting new technologies to drive the paradigm shift more effectively. However, Latin American companies still have a long way to go in defining their digital strategies.

In the case of Chile, for example, only 2 out of 10 companies are investing in digital technologies as an integral part of their business strategy. Nevertheless, most IT and business executives in Chile agree with the global view that they must innovate at an accelerated pace to survive and remain competitive in the digital era.

Integrating technologies into companies

The existing tools and platforms allow for a rather quick and easier adoption of new technology in a company.

For instance, applications aimed at improving workers’ business performance allow an approach to this new paradigm where the person, in this case, the worker, is at the center. Mobile learning, gamification, real-time performance metrics, on the other hand, ensure that technology serves the worker.

It puts the possibility of learning and training, improving performance, and staying motivated in the hands of the user, making them feel part of the organization they work for.

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The more intense a memory is for individuals, the longer it lasts, but reinforcing and reviewing the content is still necessary to achieve greater retention over time. The term was coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, in his book “Uber das Gediichtnis: Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie.”

Ebbinghaus determined that, one day after studying and not reviewing the content, up to 50% of the material read can be forgotten; two days later, the maximum remembered is 30%, and after seven days without reviewing the information, only about 3% can be recalled. His conclusion? Often, what is learned needs to be revisited and practiced to maintain it; otherwise, it fades away.

Why do we forget what we learn?

The brain decides to avoid overwhelming individuals with information. It selects topics of interest, what can be related to past experiences, or what has been reviewed repeatedly. Thus, the brain understands what is of great importance and should not be erased.

For information to be retained to a high percentage, two key factors are needed: quality learning and repetition.

Principle of the spaced repetition system

Following the same paradigm coined by Ebbinghaus, the best way to review information is under the principle of the spaced repetition system. This method suggests that the best time to revisit information is when you are about to forget it, at regular intervals.

Today, this task is very easy thanks to the presence of mobile devices. A click is enough to access information and review it as many times as needed. In summary, the more information is reviewed, the more it will be stored in long-term memory, and the forgetting curve will become less pronounced over time.

Schema Theory

But the information that is reviewed and to be memorized must have some meaning: be linked to our interests or past experiences. This is according to the studies of Frederick Bartlett, a British psychologist and a precursor of contemporary cognitive psychology.

This process is known as Schema Theory, which suggests that memories and thoughts are mental reconstructions based on factors such as social and emotional interests. Only in this way can a real connection be achieved with what is being experienced, as the information stored in the brain influences the processing of new knowledge we acquire.

Today, Mobile Learning is ready to address the challenges of learning and become the future of workplace learning. At Closelly, we use gamification, microlearning, and other methodologies to flatten the forgetting curve.

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Moreover, according to this research, students are typically distracted and impatient, wanting to access content the moment they need it. With the capabilities offered by technology today, where smartphones have evolved to the point where they can do virtually the same as a computer, patience has significantly decreased. For instance, a slow-loading website can cause a visitor to abandon it and move on to another.

Faced with this trend, organizations have also had to adapt and redesign their learning strategies, increasingly turning to microlearning. Microlearning modules with an average duration of 3 to 5 minutes help organizations ensure that learners are engaged with learning topics. The shorter duration of the modules keeps learners’ patience in check.

Philip Guo, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Rochester, examined online learning statistics and found that the duration of learning content should be less than 9 minutes to ensure learner attention. Ideally, microlearning modules should include videos, animations, PDF files, interactive infographics, and microgames with shorter durations to attract students and allow them to learn in the 24 minutes they dedicate to it each week.

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This shows a clear trend of how Mobile Learning is becoming the preferred method of learning in the future, especially when compared to 2014, when only 12% of e-learning was directed towards mobile devices.

Today, on the other hand, it reaches 76%, with scalability and efficiency being the main reasons for Chief Learning Officers to lean towards this type of learning. More than half of the respondents – 54% – state that an important factor in mobile learning is its ability to reach a large audience with few resources, followed by 36% citing cost savings.

Not only its ability to reach many people efficiently and economically is what encourages investment in Mobile Learning platforms, but mobile learning is also making its way into a variety of content areas, from soft skills like leadership to hard technical skills.

For this reason, the learning industry has reached a turning point when it comes to the use of mobile platforms and approaches to employee learning. It is highly unlikely that we will go back.

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Microlearning helps transform workforce behavior through the following three steps:

1. Deliver short and fresh content

Workers in the new era prefer learning that is easier, faster, and at their own pace. Microlearning is an optimal alternative as it keeps them engaged for a longer time with small units of information, reinforcing the overall learning experience, especially in the workplace.

2. Change behavior one by one

Collaborators access small content capsules at their convenience of time and place, on their personalized devices. The immediate availability of short-duration courses supports just-in-time learning, enhances retention, and changes behaviors in the workplace. To retain maximum information, learners should review the content periodically. Collaborators can review the content repeatedly until the behavior change is sustained.

3. Engage the organization

Small behavior changes produce significant organizational transformations. Microlearning provides efficient results, with the ability to break it down into small units that can be reused, reinforcing the learning goal.

In short, highly interactive and concise content always works better than longer and tedious learning sessions. The delivery of micro-content is increasingly being adopted by organizations, achieving higher performance and returns than conventional training approaches.

Microlearning offers numerous advantages for both learners and trainers, helping to narrow skill gaps in the workplace.

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