How Mobile Apps Are Revolutionizing the Future of E-Learning

Yuvrajsinh Vaghela

January 10, 2019

Food, groceries, beauty care, shopping, transportation, banking — there’s an app for everything out there. Apps make our life so convenient that imagining a single day without them seems like a nightmare. What’s more, apps have even been introduced in the field of learning.

The traditional mindset of learning is changing with a boom in the corporate and business sector. Be it schools or corporate sectors, the current generation is tech-savvy and even institutions and organizations are adopting smart technologies in imparting education. Since the convenience of mobile apps is loved by all, from students to employees, we are gradually shifting from the traditional ways of learning to E-learning, precisely M-learning.

As per new research, in the US, 95% of the teens reportedly own a smartphone or have access to one and 45% are online almost constantly. This shows that mobile phones are no longer considered a luxury but have now become a necessity. And the number of mobile phone users is expected to cross the 5 billion mark in the year 2019. Right now, China leads the chart with the most number of smartphone users closely followed by India.

Looking at the craze of mobile apps, more and more institutions are integrating education into smartphones, laptops, and tablets to simplify learning. With the arrival of M-learning, learning has been made possible wherever and whenever we want according to our convenience. And learners who are self-motivated, well organized and self-responsible are making the most out of it. So, let’s see how M-learning is changing the future of E-learning.

Personalized and Innovative Content

Apps like Byju’s learning app and Khan Academy are providing personalized content with offline learning. Their flexible learning style can be adopted according to the student’s learning capabilities. Now, no more mugging up, all you have to do is turn on your phones and repeat the content till you get a grasp over it. M-Learning proves to be a better mode of learning for K12 learners by the means of audio and video mode.

With the presence of virtual personal assistant technology like Amazon‘s Echo, Google Now, Siri, Cortana, BlackBerry Assistant and much more, the process of learning has become more personalized in a way reducing the workload of the employees too. Just by using our phone’s camera, today we can identify various things, plants, animals, or even gaze through the stars. Just imagine how wonderful it would be to use the Google glass or Facebook’s Oculus Rift and take a virtual trip to some ancient castle during the history class.

Responsible Learners

This form of learning develops a sense of management and responsibility within the learners. Time management is one of the key skills that the user indirectly develops and eventually organizational skills are inculcated by the learner. It not only develops the skills of the learner but also develops the skills of the assigned trainer or teacher.

Like, doubts can be solved at any time sitting from anywhere around the world, making learning easily accessible round the clock. Even if you took a nap in the classroom and missed a topic or class due to some reason, you can recall and revise it all by the means of M-learning. It simply keeps learning at your fingertips but in the end, it’s all up to the user’s discretion, when and how to use this gift.

Desktop in Your Smartphone

Smartphones have nearly replaced PC in every aspect. With the arrival of apps such as Microsoft’s Windows 10 Continuum and Samsung’s DeX, smartphones can be used as a desktop. You can learn while in transit or instead of surfing through social media you can go through bits of informative facts or play knowledge-based games to update your GK. In short, the current trend of micro-learning and content chunking has made learning more effective.

E-classrooms

This method of teaching infuses digital technology with traditional learning methods and is commonly used across many educational institutions to impart knowledge. This has proven to be the perfect mode for those living in the corners of the world. Mobile apps like Socrative and Prezi are the cloud-based software whereas as Google Classroom, Quizlet and Class Dojo allow the teachers and students to interact with each other effectively.

Upgrading the M from M-learning…

Security has been ever transforming in the smartphone sector, from the puny PIN to fingerprint lock and now the facial recognition technology. All the hype about the flexible and foldable screen, everlasting batteries or charging with the help of kinetic energy now seems to be closer to reality than we actually thought it to be. With the experimental introduction of graphene glass at the Mobile World Congress, 2018, techno experts believe that it will revolutionize the mobile industry.

Invigorating Technology

Apps like Duolingo, LinguaLift, and interaction-based apps like HelloTalk can help you learn a new language even if you going for a morning walk, commuting or going to sleep. Wearable devices have taken M-learning a step further. Now, there is no need to even carry your mobile phone as your wearables can handle it all. The areas in learning and education where wearable devices are playing a significant part are instructional videos, campus visits, Virtual Reality-based games, Augmented Reality (AR).

Conclusion

The transformation in the educational sector is occurring at a high speed. Now it’s up to the e-learning technology companies to find and face the issues with a solution that opens up new and effective ways of learning. With all these and upcoming new technologies, learning is going to be extensively fun and we can see that M-learning is here to stay for a longer period of time.

Yuvrajsinh Vaghela

Yuvrajsinh is a Marketing Manager at Space-O Technologies, a firm having expertise in developing school apps. He spends most of his time researching on the mobile app and startup trends.