To meet students where they are, institutions are turning to instructional designers to optimize learning experiences for mobile users. However, designing for m-learning isn’t just about resizing content for smaller screens—it requires a fundamental shift in instructional design strategy.
Adapting Instructional Design for Mobile Learning
As Babb Education’s Director of e-Learning, one of the most frequent questions administrators ask me is, "How can we make our courses more accessible and user-friendly for students doing their work on mobile phones and tablets?" With society’s increasing reliance on mobile devices, mobile learning (m-learning) has become a powerful tool for delivering online education. To meet students where they are, institutions are turning to instructional designers to optimize learning experiences for mobile users. However, designing for m-learning isn’t just about resizing content for smaller screens—it requires a fundamental shift in instructional design strategy.
Keep reading to discover the best practices and strategies our instructional designers use to create engaging, effective, and accessible mobile learning experiences.
The Rise of Mobile Learning
The Pew Research Center (2024) reports the vast majority of Americans – 98% – now own a cellphone of some kind and about nine-in-ten (91%) own a smartphone, up from just 35% in the Center’s first survey of smartphone ownership conducted in 2011. As a result, mobile learning has gained popularity due to its flexibility and accessibility, making mobile devices an essential medium for education. M-learning allows learners to access content anytime and anywhere, making it ideal for busy professionals, students, and lifelong learners. However, mobile learning presents unique challenges, including small screen sizes, limited attention spans, and varying levels of internet connectivity. Our instructional designers are dedicated to addressing these challenges to create effective mobile learning experiences.
Key Principles of Mobile Instructional Design
A mobile-first approach ensures content is designed with the mobile user in mind from the first step of the design process. One of the most effective strategies for mobile learning is microlearning, which involves delivering content in short, focused chunks. Learners are more apt to retain information when it is presented in small, digestible units rather than in long, text-heavy lessons. Guidelines for designing microlearning include breaking lessons into 3–5-minute segments, using a mix of text, images, videos, and quizzes, and focusing on a single learning objective per module.
When our designers use the mobile first approach, they implement a responsive design to ensure content adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes. For example, prioritizing vertical scrolling over horizontal navigation enhances usability, while optimizing fonts, buttons, and images for touchscreens improves accessibility. Additionally, minimizing the need for zooming or excessive clicking creates a smoother, more user-friendly experience.
Accessibility and Engagement
Much like when designing online courses for desk/laptops, mobile learning must also be accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities. Best practices to use for accessibility include using high-contrast text and backgrounds for readability, providing captions and transcripts for videos, ensuring content is navigable using screen readers, and using alternative text (alt text) for images.
Regardless of whether students are doing their work on their mobile device, laptop, or tablet, increasing learner engagement is a priority. Some strategies for doing so include incorporating interactive quizzes, drag-and-drop activities, simulations, videos, infographics, and animations. All learners benefit from engaging, interactive elements designed to enhance learning retention.
Overcoming Challenges in Mobile Learning Design
There are some additional challenges when considering mobile learning design such as learners being frequently distracted by notifications, checking their social media accounts, and their environment. These challenges are forcing instructional designers to be ever more creative in providing content that captures and sustains attention. Babb Education’s instructional designers use the following strategies to combat these challenges:
- design visually appealing interfaces.
- use storytelling and scenario-based learning.
- incorporate interactivity to maintain engagement.
- keep content concise and to the point.
Another challenge confronting mobile learners is the issue of connectivity. Some students may struggle with having stable internet access which can disrupt the mobile learning experience. To reduce the risk of connectivity issues, some best practices are to provide offline access to course materials, optimize content for low-bandwidth environments (e.g., compress videos) and offer downloadable PDFs or transcripts.
Adapting instructional design for mobile learning requires a shift in mindset and strategy. By focusing on microlearning, responsive design, engagement, and accessibility, instructional designers can create impactful mobile learning experiences. We have worked with several clients to successfully implement mobile learning and they have seen improvements in engagement, retention, and accessibility. Contact Babb Education today to learn more about how we can work with you to optimize your courses for mobile learners!
Pew Research Center. (2024, November 13). Mobile fact sheet.https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
