Learning on the go

Qooco’s David Topolewski shares how mobile learning will make an innovative, cost-effective way to transform training delivery in the hospitality sector

Governments and companies are embracing mobile learning today, reflecting an effort by society to support and accommodate populations that are increasingly more mobile.

In fact, one of the earliest forms of mobile learning still exists today – reading a book while travelling – although back then it was just called ‘learning’, as the acquisition, transference or sharing of knowledge was traditionally done in the classroom.

The invention of the first mobile phone in 1973 and the surging use of the Internet since 1995 by businesses, students and individuals set the foundations for the arrival and subsequent evolution of mobile learning, which has come a long way since the 1980s.

The first modern instances of mobile learning were conducted through cassette tapes and CDs. Between 1983 and 1987, Singapore telecoms companies even offered Mandarin lessons via telephone.

In the early 1990s, software companies such as Apple and Palm Corporation started developing mobile learning software and European universities started evaluating mobile learning for their own students.

Since these early days, mobile learning has boomed and is afforded much greater attention by institutions and policymakers alike, yet it is still in its infancy. With an already high and still fast-growing smartphone penetration rate and highly developed mobile infrastructure, Asia is in the perfect position to benefit from this phenomenon.

As more smartphones enter the market and infrastructure continues to develop, this trend is set to grow with more governments and companies realising the value and cost-effectiveness of mobile learning over the time-consuming and expensive methods of traditional teaching.

The Ministry of Education in Singapore has already begun mobile learning pilot projects in one of its schools and Malaysia’s YTL is providing 4G wireless access, a countrywide online education system and tablet computers to over 10,000 schools.

Faced with ever-increasing staffing costs and continuous challenges of finding qualified employees, mobile learning has emerged as a low-cost yet highly effective way to train hotel staff, improve service and drive revenues higher. While continued growth in international travel has been a boon for hotels and resorts, it also means that more people from diverse backgrounds and speaking different languages are checking into hotels.

This is where mobile learning comes in to play. Rather than disrupting staff schedules with lengthy classes and forcing employees to attend study sessions for a few hours a week, hotels are subscribing to mobile learning programmes. Mobile language learning has evolved to provide specialised speech interactive content for each department, providing a near-real simulation of guest interaction with immediate actionable feedback. So, for the first time, hotels have both scale and performance information on the competencies of their employees in real time.

It doesn’t stop at language learning either. Hilton Worldwide has recently announced a complete F&B training course that, supported by a mobile learning company, is available online for their staff worldwide. Courses have been developed for a variety of hotel scenarios, including housekeeping, spa, F&B and front office, with even solutions that train a user on how to upsell in a hospitality setting.

But it is the future of mobile learning that poses even more exciting opportunities. Today, militaries around the world use virtual reality (VR) to train their troops, testing them in a variety of realistic battlefield situations and accurately gauging their ability to cope with pressure and stress, and develop their leadership skills. While the front office is a million miles from the battlefield, the same principles can be applied to hotels.

There is no reason why a typical hotel scenario – an overbooked hotel, irate guests, children playing in the lobby, etc – can’t be replicated through VR, with entire teams working together to fix the problem. This would test the leadership skills of the team leaders, as well as provide a realistic introduction for new employees.

Qooco’s developers are working with Microsoft’s HoloLens to apply mixed reality to staff training. HoloLens blends digital content with the world around us, projecting three-dimensional graphics around the wearer of the lens. We are exploring how this augmented reality (AR) platform can be used to enhance staff training by incorporating digital scenarios into real-life training situations.

Linked to mobile learning is the effective use of artificial intelligence and big data. Once you have an accurate picture of the individual strengths and weaknesses of your employees, you can better place them in situations where they excel. For example, should a large group of Chinese tourists be due to check in on a certain date, the system will automatically assign the employees who are strong in Mandarin (based on their mobile learning scores) and who have shown strong organisational and teamwork abilities during the VR training.

In its purest form hospitality is about cultivating an attitude of great service, teamwork and leadership; it is about having initiative, curiosity, flexibility and care for others. Mobile learning provides a way for individuals who are truly serious about hospitality to take the initiative to continuously cultivate those values.

David Topolewski is CEO of Qooco, which provides mobile language learning and vocational training solutions for employees in the hospitality and service industries.

This article was first published in TTG Asia October 2016 issue. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

By David Topolewski