Gnowbe launches mobile learning design programme

Singapore

DULL computer-based courses for company training may soon be a thing of the past, with a new course that teaches instructional designers how to create effective microlearning courses that busy professionals can complete on their smartphones.

The Mobile Instructional Design (MID) accreditation programme, launched by mobile microlearning platform Gnowbe on Tuesday, integrates andragogy - the science of adult learning - with technology to create bite-sized versions of traditional courses that learners can digest and retain more easily. The programme is supported by SkillsFuture Singapore and the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL).

"There are lots of mobile platforms that allow you to deliver content, but not in an andragogical way. What this accreditation programme does is upskill not just from a technology perspective, but from a science, research-backed methodology perspective," Gnowbe founder and CEO So-Young Kang told The Business Times.

The programme, which comes in two levels for individual designers and a third level for organisations that want to provide MID training, teaches skills like storyboarding, critical thinking and effective communication to deliver complex information simply and concisely.

Gnowbe describes its approach as mobile-first, participatory, personalised and group-based, and says courses created using its methods have 20 to 70 per cent completion rates, compared to 3 to 8 per cent for traditional computer-based courses.

Lee Wing On, executive director of IAL, said: "When designing learning for adults in the workplace, we have to make things easy and fast: quick and easy to pick up in the shortest possible time. But for every easy learning (experience) that we enjoy and consume, there is a lot of thought and deep work, interdisciplinary knowledge behind it.

"The world is moving fast, and learning topics are changing fast. Because of that, one organisation or company cannot meet all the needs; we need a community of practice. Therefore today, IAL is happy to launch this accreditation programme with Gnowbe."