Pico Projectors – Revolution that m-Learning is waiting for?

Mobile learning (m-learning) has been a buzz word in L&D circles for quite some time now. It has long been projected as the next big thing that’s going to hit elearning industry as there are more mobiles than laptops in the world, people spend lot of time travelling and hence have free time to learn, workforce in field doesn’t always have access to computers and so on.

But inspite of sincere efforts by organizations across the globe, m-learning has never taken off in real sense, and has largely been limited to pilot runs or sending information chunks or quizzes over SMS. I believe primary reasons behind this are –

1. Mobiles come in all kind of screen sizes, which means content has to be optimized for multiple sizes to reach a wider audience set. During optimization you have to sacrifice lot of functionalities/animations etc to fit in the given screen sizes. Not only is this exercise capital intensive but it also drastically impacts learner experience.
2. Screen sizes are too small and even with optimized courses learners find the whole experience too cumbersome

But all this can change with Pico Projectors. These are very small projectors (size of a mobile device) that can create a 40” to 100” wide projection on any kind of surface.

Currently these projectors are being sold as standalone accessories and can be attached to mobile devices, iPods, and PDA’s. But phone manufacturers have already started embedding Pico projectors in mobile phone itself.

It’s predicted that in next few years ‘projector phones’ would become as popular as ‘camera phones’ are today. Now that would open up very interesting opportunities in lot of domains including learning & development.

Content providers would have to no longer squeeze content for small screen sizes, thus providing the same kind learning experience as in web environment.

Learners would be able to project learning material on any surface – table surface, wall, or on someone’s back! This would take away the biggest resistance that mobile learning faces today, that is of fiddling with annoyingly small screens.

This technology can also prove to be a boon for teachers and students in less developed areas where access to computers is limited. With a ‘projector phone’ and course material pre-loaded in SD cards, a teacher would be able to offer latest learning aids to students in remotest parts of the country!

How do you think this can impact m-learning?