104 what we learned by developing our own mobile lms
- 1. Walter Wimberly, III @waltdesign
- 2. Business Needs User Capabilities Needs
- 8. » I (used to work) in the Training Department » Because of the development, I now work in the IT (Internal Apps) department
- 11. » We wanted to create a more conference feel for our employees » We wanted to project a more user friendly experience to our customers
- 12. » Should/Could we build or buy? » Could we access our existing LMS? » Could we display those results in a mobile app/site? » Could we update our LMS from this mobile app/site? » Could we deliver a good enough experience to our customers?
- 13. » Pros: » Cons: ˃ A Native Feel ˃ No existing knowledge ˃ Find in the App Store ˃ Not 1 application, ˃ More Capabilities but up to 4 (Like class reminders) ˃ Have to get approval of Apple
- 14. » Pros: » Cons: ˃ Write once ˃ No app store ˃ Use our/my Existing ˃ Requires more testing Knowledge ˃ Can use existing frameworks
- 16. » Built with PHP for the backend » Accessed the database using ODBC used for writing reports » Built with jQuery Mobile for the front end » Could not register for classes/sessions
- 17. » What do your users REALLY need/use? » Class offerings – but only for the event » Their schedule – but only for the event » Special Events ˃ Food ˃ Games ˃ Breaks ˃ Opening / Closing Ceremonies ˃ Local Restaurants ˃ Twitter link ˃ Conference Map
- 18. » Step 1) Create a mobile interface for our employee conference. ˃ Include minimal features. ˃ Working Proof of Concept » Step 2) Create for our customer conference ˃ Add additional information ˃ Get customers used to working with a mobile site » Step 3) Create a full interface to enhance our live web offerings. ˃ Allow customers to register/cancel from classes ˃ Sign into WebEx directly
- 19. » Oct 2011 » April – May 2012 ˃ Determine Needs ˃ Review Employee site usage ˃ Our LMS came out with a ˃ Get feed back Mobile App ˃ Develop Mobile Site for Customer Conference » Dec 2011 ˃ Choose App vs. Web » June 2012 ˃ Customer site live » Jan – Feb 2012 ˃ Develop Mobile Site for » July – Sept 2012 Employee Conference ˃ Develop 2nd Customer Site » March 2012 » Oct 2012 ˃ Employee Site goes Live ˃ Release 2nd Customer Site
- 23. » Links from main training site » Email to all registered conference attendees » QR Codes » Flyers / Posters
- 24. » Google Analytics » Built our own system (also as a backup) » Out of about 325 local users » About 1/5 employees used it during the week » Because it is focused, it has little use outside of that week
- 26. » About 650 attendees » 363 different visitors for approximately 50%
- 28. » Different type of audience » Higher % of smart phones » Relevant Information » Different motivations
- 32. » No longer using jQuery Mobile ˃ to improve speed to download/access » Allows user to register for classes » Only focuses on web classes/ new conference classes
- 34. » Internal politics can kill a project! » Knowing your users is invaluable! » Just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. » So don’t stop promoting it.
Editor's Notes
- #3: We are going to look at how we merged our business learning needs, with the needs of our users, and our capabilities to come up with an optimal solution.
- #4: Part of our discussions with our abilities was to determine if we should go mobile app, or mobile website. I’ll talk about what we did, and why.
- #5: But what we will avoid is overly technical discussions about code/languages/etc. I want to focus more on concepts, ideas, and results.
- #6: One of our best choices we in creating a step wise progression. I will show you how we moved from step to step to get the most optimal results given our time frame.
- #7: One of the things that we found is important is to promote the mobile training centers.
- #8: Of course, we must know if we were successful in creating something for our users to use – so we will show how we measures our success.
- #10: Our training department mainly trains customers through live webinar classes. However, we also train our employees and have begun training some that our outside those two realms.
- #11: One of our employee focuses is our employee conference. It is a weeklong event used to cross train employees and expand each other’s knowledge. We run it like a normal conference with sessions to sign up for, vendors who come and demo, and food receptions.