What are the most effective ways to use mobile devices for instructional design?

1 Choose the right format

One of the first decisions you need to make when designing for mobile devices is what format to use. Depending on your learning objectives, audience, and content, you may opt for a responsive, adaptive, or native format. Responsive design means that your content automatically adjusts to fit different screen sizes and orientations, while adaptive design means that your content changes based on the device's capabilities and features. Native design means that your content is developed specifically for a certain platform or operating system, such as iOS or Android. Each format has its pros and cons, so you need to weigh them carefully and consider your learners' preferences and needs.

2 Incorporate multimedia and interactivity

Mobile devices offer a variety of multimedia and interactivity options that can enrich your instructional design. You can use audio, video, images, animations, and graphics to convey information, stimulate interest, and appeal to different learning styles. You can also use interactive elements such as quizzes, games, simulations, scenarios, and feedback to reinforce learning, test knowledge, and provide motivation. However, you also need to be mindful of the bandwidth and storage limitations of mobile devices, and optimize your multimedia and interactivity accordingly. You can use compression, streaming, or offline access techniques to reduce the file size and loading time of your content.

3 Apply microlearning principles

Mobile devices are an ideal platform for delivering microlearning, a form of learning that involves short, focused units of content. Microlearning can help learners retain information better and apply it to real-world situations. To design effective microlearning for mobile devices, you need to define clear and specific learning objectives and outcomes, break down your content into manageable and meaningful chunks, use simple and concise language and visuals, align your content with your learners' goals and needs, and provide feedback and reinforcement.

5 Integrate social and collaborative learning

Mobile devices can also facilitate social and collaborative learning, which is a form of learning that involves interaction, communication, and cooperation among learners and instructors. This type of learning can enhance learner engagement, motivation, and performance, as well as foster a sense of community and belonging. To get the most out of mobile instructional design, you should create opportunities for learners to share and discuss their learning, use social media and forums to encourage participation and feedback, incorporate gamification and leaderboards to provide incentives and recognition, use group projects and peer reviews to promote collaboration and support, and provide guidance, moderation, and facilitation for your learners. When done right, using mobile devices for instructional design can be a rewarding endeavor. It can create effective and engaging learning experiences for your learners while taking advantage of the benefits that mobile devices offer.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?