Digital, mobile, and indispensable: Do these words make you think of your smartphone? For a large majority of people, the smart phone has become a silent but important companion. For training and coaching, this fact is a real opportunity to support participants more flexibly and sustainably.

Digitalization: The smartphone is always with you

57 million people in Germany use a smartphone. This number is from the year 2018 – and is continuing to rise. Additionally, many Germans and people worldwide use their smartphones more often for internet access than other devices. We use the small device for information, social interaction, and entertainment – in that order.

It is clear: The immense significance of smartphones in our everyday lives is changing our lives in nearly all areas. Finding a partner is done through Tinder, a fitness app tracks personal progress during sports, and many people have their own work mobile. For more and more people, the smartphone is a constant companion. Or when was the last time you went out for several hours without your phone?

This trend also brings criticism, and some feel an undefined fear that smartphone usage could become an addiction. However, this is more of a phenomenon among young people under 25 – the older generation tends to use smartphones more purposefully.

As a trainer, consultant, or coach, you probably deal daily with working individuals, mostly over the age of 40. Their daily lives are also shaped by repeated short glances at their smartphones – during training, however, the device should probably stay silent. During breaks or once the training is over, many again check their phones first – even if it's just to check the time.

Your training with the smartphone

The high smartphone usage has many reasons. A particularly significant advantage is mobile connectivity, allowing us to read emails, check travel routes, or quickly make a call with a client while on the go. These are functionalities that can also be utilized optimally in training: With a supporting learning app, your participants can integrate training much more flexibly into their already digital daily lives.

No more sharp separation between training and everyday life! The model of using one- or multi-day seminars and then suddenly leaving the participants to their own devices is outdated as of 2018. Instead, all parties benefit from a seamless transition where, in the form of an online course, you sustainably weave the training into the professional routines of the participants.

Mobile training via smartphone: Flexibility for participants

As a participant in an online course, you can choose when and from where to access the contents. For many activities in the online course, you don't need a desktop PC, but can complete training sessions on your smartphone. Good opportunities for this include:

• The daily commute by train

• The time your computer takes to start up in the morning

• Cancelled appointments where you can't be productively engaged with anything else

• Delays in meetings while you are waiting for colleagues

• Business trips – during travel or in breaks between appointments

Mobile training via smartphone: Flexibility for trainers

As a trainer, coach, or consultant, you also benefit from incorporating smartphones into your training. If you're often on the move – for instance, conducting seminars on-site – you can now utilize the "lost" time more effectively than just answering your emails! Use your smartphone for the following activities, for example:

• Check statistics on your participants' learning success in the online course

• Invite course participants or send reminders to existing participants

• Read and respond to comments on your online content

• Record short videos and upload them (even spontaneously) to your online course

Bonus: The benefit for your client

Your gained flexibility and that of your participants is not the only significant advantage of online training via smartphone. Your client also benefits when you upload content such as short videos or white papers to the online course: They can similarly access your course without much effort and thus personally verify the value of your training!

Connecting online training and in-person training

The concept of connecting training sessions via smartphone or other digital devices (e-learning) with traditional in-person events is called blended learning. Blended refers to “connected” or “mixed”: You as a trainer take the advantages from both forms of learning and compensate for the downsides of the other.

Blended learning typically happens in such a way that several online units encompass the in-person phase. This model ("sandwich") is so popular because the advantages of online learning are primarily in the flexibility of time and place.

The blended learning model “sandwich”

This way, for example, you can spontaneously move modules from your in-person training into your online course – or vice versa. Moreover, the online component allows you to get your participant to a specific knowledge level beforehand. This way, everyone starts from the same level in the in-person training, and you can use the valuable time in the live seminar with full intensity.

Important: Those using only online content are applying the concept of e-learning. Many advocates of blended learning regularly emphasize that the essential success of this model depends on the smart linking of both forms of learning. E-learning alone is not a substitute for traditional in-person training! The personal connection between trainer and participant is too important for learning success.

Example: Video content via smartphone

What does such an online training with the smartphone look like? 41% of all smartphone users in Germany are already using the digital companion to watch videos. This was revealed by a large survey from Google in early 2018. Therefore, it is logical to urge participants in further education or coaching to watch learning videos.

Watching videos on a small smartphone display? – No problem for learning videos! That most smartphone displays are not particularly large compared to tablets or laptops does not hinder learning success. After all, it is more about the personal message than being able to recognize details.

Successful trainers or coaches who already utilize blended learning increasingly focus on personal short videos. They explain a brief training content and film themselves without much technical know-how using their own smartphones.

Tip: What to pay attention to when filming with a smartphone is explained by blink.it founder and video expert Michael in the free online course studio@home.

Now briefly put yourself in the shoes of your participant: To what extent would they benefit if they could access videos and other content in the online course before and after the live seminar? Take a piece of paper and note everything that comes to mind in five minutes. You best start with “I benefit as a participant from online training because…”. Go ahead!