When discussing employee training, referencing Malcolm Knowles' Adult Learning theory  (andragogy) is essential, which is first articulated in 1984 (Pappas, 2025c). It is important and serve as foundation of understanding how adults learn. It highlights three importance aspects of adult learning, they are "Autonomy", "Relevance", and "Problem-centred learning",

According to Malcolm Knowles, adult learner are:

• Autonomous: Adult learners want to be involve in learning design, including what, when and how to learn

• Relevance-driven: Adult learners prefer learning that is directly practical and applicable to their jobs

• Problem-centered: Adult learners learn effectively when solving real-world problems

The affordances of Mobile collaborative learning aligns closely with the adult learning theory, which can facilitate both formal and informal learning in workplace effectively,

• Autonomy: Mobile platforms empower employees to control their learning by choosing when and how to engage with content, participate in discussions asynchronously or synchronously, sharing insights and experiences with peers. Employees are supported to make their own choices. Learning designers should understand the features of each mobile collaborative tools and which mobile collaborative tools allow users to control over their learning. For example, Padlet supports autonomy in a way that learners can create posts, select layouts in their learning. The collaborative canvas of Miro allows users to add, move, edit sticky notes, images freely. In contrast, Kahoot! is a much more instructor-led mobile collaboration tool, offer less learner autonomy. 

• Relevance and Problem-centered learning: Mobile collaborative tools allow employee to collaborate with peers to solve immediate workplace challenges, apply learning to solve their workplace challenges and using social networking tools, virtual meetings to solve their real-time problems in workplace. Examples in this dimension could be easily found in informal learning. For examples, employees can utilize Microsoft Teams on shared projects, discuss issues and using the Teams channels to co-create solutions. The Google Workspace also support employees to work on collaborative tasks, such as collaborative editing on documents. The unaware learning is most likey happened in WhatsApp, employees can get quick and informal communication about the real work issue, share solution through this channel.

To conclude, mobile collaboration enhances workplace learning by allowing employees to communicate, share ideas, and co-create knowledge anytime and anywhere. It has transformed learning in the workplace—from an individual activity to a collaborative, mobile experience. However, for learning to occur meaningfully, both learning designers and employees must understand which mobile collaboration tools are most appropriate and how to use them effectively. This also highlights the importance of developing employees’ digital literacy to fully realize the potential of mobile collaborative learning.

💡Please take a moment to think about: "Any mobile tools do you use recently to design learning for your learners and the reason why you choose this tool over the others?"

While using the mobile collaboration tools, employees are encourage to actively constructed their learning through social interaction and reflection.

Vygotsky's thoery of social constructivism suggests that to promote learning effectiveness, learners need to construct knowledge through interaction with others, particularly with those who are more knowledgeable. During this learning process, learners can also make reflection on their own or their peers' performance and internalize the learning. This thoery also allows us to analyze how learning take place thorugh mobile collaboration and offers valuable insights to the learning designers to design formal learning and organizations to promote informal learning subtly. For examples, collaborative learning happened frequently when learners are engage in participantion, discussion, socialization (social interaction with others) and reflection.

Mobile Collaboration exemplified this thoery by providing digital spaces for dialogue, co-creation and shared reflection. The abovementioned tools, such as Miro, Padlet and Microsoft Teams allow employees to work collaboratively and construct knowledge together by working on projects even they are not physically in the same location. In formal learning, the guidance from knowledgeable peers and trainers supports learners learn better, which aligns with Vygotsky's concept -Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the idea that people perform better when additional help is provided in their learning process. 

Therefore, mobile collaboration tools are not only technological advancements, they also realize the social constructivist learning in modern workplaces. Understand how to use the mobile collaboration tools effectively should be one of key agenda for organizations who seek to enhance formal and informal employee learning.

Here are few tips for using mobile collaborative tools effectively to enhance employee performance,

1. Build a culture of collaboration, besides using mobile collaboration tools to communicate and learning, employees should also have the mindset of using those tools to collaborate with others.

2. Encourage the peer support and mentoring via Teams channels, or co-editing tools, like Padlet.

3. Provide accessible learning resources of the mobile collaboration tools, make employees access those materials easily in shared digital workspaces for on-demand learning.

The Commonly Used Mobile Collaborative Tools in Workplace

Introduction of Common Mobile-First Tools for Formal Collaborative Learning:

Introduction of Common Mobile-Friendly Tools where Informal Collaborative Learning takes place:

References

Caballé, S., Xhafa, F., & Barolli, L. (2010). Using mobile devices to support online collaborative learning. Mobile Information Systems, 6(1), 27–47. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/935169

Pappas, C. (2025c, October 2). The Adult Learning Theory: Andragogy of Malcolm Knowles. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles

Simply Psychology. (2025b, October 16). Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development. https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Yakar, U., Sülü, A., Porgali, M., & Çaliş, N. (2020). From Constructivist Educational Technology to Mobile Constructivism: How mobile learning serves constructivism? International Journal of Academic Research in Education, 6(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.17985/ijare.818487