I stumbled across an article recently in MacWorld (link below) about an Australian software company that is enabling its Learning Management System to operate on iPhones and iPods. The company - ETech - is focusing its StudyWiz application on the education market for starters. The software will allow students to access media-rich content, take tests, submit assignments, or use social media like blogs.
http://www.macworld.co.uk/education/news/index.cfm?newsid=19758&pagtype=allchand ate
It's only a matter of time before these mobile learning platforms become prevalent in the corporate world as well. These types of mobile technologies are particularly useful to businesses like retail where workforces are scattered across far-flung store locations. Knowledge Infusion has worked with several retail clients in the past year that had been considering offering some type of learning via iPods. The iPhone just adds more potential functionality at the employees fingertips.
The vast majority of retail store employees don't have dedicated desks - let alone PC's - that would alllow them to complete online learning en masse. This technology could solve that dilemma by putting learning directly into the hands of employees where and when they need it. You can imagine a retail employee roaming the store floor, pulling up product specific information on an iPod or iPhone to learn how best to sell the products to customers. This also could link store employees across the organization together by enabling them to network (i.e. blogs, wikis) to share product sales tips and other information.
I've been skeptical of complex business transactions (i.e. not just buying an iTune or sending a text message) moving to a mobile phone platform. I think the challenge is the user interface and creating applications that are easy to use given the miniscule space to present the user interface. But the iPhone and iPod certainly could be used to make valuable information available to employees and allow them to pull from it where and when they need it.
