The Learning Guys recently received the following questions from executive recruiter Shawn Draisey:

I am an executive recruiter seeking to comprehend the m-learning sector in Canada and/or the USA-North America as a whole. I have read federal government reports stating that we lag behind other countries when it comes to m-learning.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

The Learning Guys are always happy to help! I thought we’d share our answer to Sean’s questions with everyone else, as we have been hearing these questions a lot:

I think it is correct to say that m-learning is still in its infancy in Canada and the U.S.A. The eLearning Guild recently published a new report on m-learning called “Guild Research 360 Report on Mobile Learning.” Here is what their survey findings reveal:

* The U.S. and Canada lag behind other countries in both current implementation and plans for m-learning. 24% of Guild members in other countries have either implemented or are designing m-learning offerings vs. only 14% in the U.S. and Canada. Plus 57% of International members plan to do more m-learning in the next 12 months vs. 41% for the U.S. and Canada.

* The top 3 barriers to the adoption of m-learning are concerns over content created for traditional media not working on hand-held devices, the lack of a standard for mobile delivery, and concern that screens are too small.

Many companies in North America have invested heavily in laptops for their mobile workforce and in the development of e-learning content. The majority are satisfied with the ROI from this investment, so they do not have any urgency about investing m-learning.

I think this will change over the next couple of years as we see a continued convergence of laptops and cell phones. As the mobile devices get smaller, so will the content.

As the demand for mobile content grows, I think we will see the emergence of learning design firms that specialize in this area. Right now, I believe that most mobile content is developed by larger e-learning/training companies that offer m-learning as one amongst many services.

Many of my clients are considering some initial investment in m-learning over the next couple of years. Look for many other companies across North America to do the same.

I hope this helps. Keep the questions coming!