I don't know how many e-learning prediction lists you've seen in the past month or so, but one definite trend has been a re-emphasizing of the potential for mobile learning – whether it's iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm or even non-smart phone focused – to surge ahead in use.

I say re-emphasizing, because it's a prediction that's been made for several years past. So what's the hold up?

Well, probably true need. Delivering learning (or even just information) to everyone's pocket seems like a no brainer – it's accessible, convenient, and pretty cool to think about, too.

But necessity, for organizations, is the mother of investment -- and for many organizations mobile learning just doesn't seem necessary yet.

Still, that time will come for many – and it's always good to be prepared. So, if you (or your organization) are thinking about mobile learning, here are some recent resources that would be a wise investment of your time.

Case (study) in point
It's always good to learn from others, and a recent case study from Brandon Hall Research is a great place to start. Called Accenture's myLearning Mobile, it outlines how Accenture used mobile to solve its need to get training into the hands of a sales team that is constantly on the move. This case study is a freebie for anyone who signs up for the Brandon Hall Research Newsletter – if you haven't already, go ahead and sign up.

Design best practices for mobile web
One of the challenges of mobile learning is the sheer quantity of devices available. Even with specific phone brands, things like browser version and screen resolution can really have an impact on, well, the visual impact of your mobile learning. The W3C Mobile Web Initiative has published its Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 - Basic Guidelines, a set of design best practices for creating web-based content for mobile devices.

Thinking outside the (organizational training) box
It's always valuable for those of us in the world of organizational training to look beyond our own communities of practice to see what's going on in other areas of education. New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education is a recent e-book from the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Education that covers a number of really neat mobile learning initiatives from early childhood education to adult education.

Books are mobile, too!
If you want a more low-tech approach to mobile learning, check out Mohamed Ally's Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. No need to worry about battery life with this mobile learning option!

And another take on the idea of mobile learning...
Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has released the Blackberry Presenter, a wireless projector that allows slides presentations to be projected from a Blackberry device. Gives a whole new meaning to "mobile in the classroom"!

One-stop mlearning learning
Information on mobile learning is scattered across the interweb, so it's great to have a place like mlearnopedia to help you keep tabs on developments in this area across all varieties of education and training.

Oldies, but goodies
Lastly, here are a couple of older resources listed in a previous blog post here. They're still good!

Chris Van Wingerden is Vice President Learning Solutions at dominKnow Learning Systems.

Visitors to the 2009 edition of BETT, the world's largest educational technology event, will be able to get a first-hand glimpse of some exciting new features in the dominKnow Learning Content Management System (dominKnow LCMS).

BETT - once known as the British Educational and Training Technology show, but now just going by the shorter acronym alone - saw almost 29,000 visitors walk the aisles at the Olympia facility in London, UK. And we're excited to be at booth SW 30 in the software area to show off the latest developments in the dominKnow LCMS.

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Last October, dominKnow Learning Systems released the beta of our Touch Learning Center Portal, which gives learners easy mobile learning access to content ranging from full online courses to individual Learning Objects and support documentation via the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Of course, the iPhone 3-G launch two weeks ago has spun renewed buzz about mobile learning, and a pair of recent reports show that interest in mobile learning is definitely in a growth mode, at least as far as interest in its possibilities is concerned.

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