The recent coronavirus pandemic has brought a lot of boost for technological advancement in the life of common people. People are now relying on mobile apps for buying groceries, working in offices, ordering medicines, healthcare, and much more. Learning is no longer an exception. Learning through mobile applications or E-learning is not a new concept but getting a lot of popularity in the post COVID period. E-learning is helpful for the students, professionals, working people, and people who are looking for a job as well. It is not just cheap but is also accessible from anywhere. As per the Statista report, the worldwide valuation of e-learning is estimated at $243 billion by 2022. In this article, we will learn how to develop a successful e-learning app and all necessary features & functionalities. But first, let’s know some interesting stats of e-learning:
· Companies who on-the-job training generate around 26% more revenue per employee
· 72% of organizations believe e-learning helps them increase their competitive edge through refreshed and up-to-date knowledge
· 12% of HR Managers listed “not enough training” as the top reason for employees leaving
· It’s one of the fastest-growing industries, since the year 2000, the market growth rate has been 900%
· Open University’s study found that eLearning courses consume an average of 90% less energy and produce 85% fewer CO2 emissions
Types of E-learning Apps
There are many different e-learning apps available in the market which are suitable for different learning and different audiences. We have classified the apps into two different categories:
By Learning Method
You can distinguish the learning apps on the basis of their learning tools and different metrics. Let’s have a closer look at the type of app you can choose from these examples:
Computer Managed Learning (CML) and Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)
CMS is that structure where the whole learning happens. Several computers manage the whole process of learning. The learners will get educational materials, interesting topics on the basis of their previous interactions or task completion, and evaluate them. One such example is Coursera.
Coursera is one of the most popular apps for online learning. There are many different courses from the top universities on the site which is highly interactive for the users. There are a computer-checked quiz and peer-review assignments at the end of each module.
And CAI is an electronic manual that uses many different methods such as text, audio, visual, and many others. Generally, these apps are common in schools and are helpful for educational institutions.
A popular platform, Lingualeo uses this method for users who want to learn new languages.
Synchronous Online Learning & Asynchronous Online Learning
In Synchronous online learning, the students & teacher will interact from different locations however simultaneously just like in video calls.
WizIQ is one of the best examples of SOL. It comes with features such as virtual classrooms with video chats, online chat, real-time quizzes, etc.
AOL or asynchronous online learning is completely the opposite of SOL. In this method, the students interact at different times with no real-time communication.
Udemy is based on this method. It is an online course marketplace. If you want to create your own course, you can easily create and sell it on Udemy. If you want to learn any course then still you can easily learn it on Udemy. The typical price of courses is roughly $12 – $50 but can go as high as $199.99.
Fixed E-learning and Adaptive E-learning:
In the fixed e-learning the learning materials don’t change with time or throughout the learning process. All the students will get some learning material at any instant.
Mostly, all the online courses marketplace apps such as Udacity, Udemy or Coursera, come under this model.
Adaptive e-learning is slightly different. Its focus is to provide a unique experience to each student with different goals or achievements which is on the basis of student’s skills or personal abilities.
ScootPad is currently using this method. It is a very powerful and most personalized mastery platform built on proven learning science research and data-driven intelligence to deliver continuously adaptive enrichment, automatic remediation, and personalized mastery for every student.
Interactive Online Learning:
Interactive online learning represents a dialogue between students & a learning system. It can be in many different forms such as quizzes, multiple-choice tests, polls, and more.
Codecademy is a popular platform for learning many different programming languages. It used this interactive online learning method.
Collaborative Online Learning (COL) or Individual Online Learning (IOL)
In the COL, there are multiple communication channels involved such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. There are groups of learners and all these learners achieve the goals together. For e.g. in Zoom meetings, there is an option of raising a hand, which notifies that someone wants to ask something without interrupting any other person.
While in IOL, there is a single student who studies the material independently and achieves the goals on his own. A popular example of this model is Khan Academy. Khan academy is a non-profit educational site & app that provides free video lectures, tutorials & interactive exercises. The lessons are for distance learning but gave a feeling of the classroom. Through the Khan Academy site, the teachers can monitor the progress of students.
By Target Audience
You can’t develop an e-learning app if you don’t know what type of people are using these apps. We have to find the main groups within the e-learning industry:
1. Lifelong learners (Udemy)
2. College or University Students (eDX)
3. Kids & Tutors (TutorMe, Khan Academy)
4. Language Learners and Native Speakers (italki)
5. Specialists in various fields (Coursera)
Essential Features of an E-learning App:
Every mobile app development begins with a set of features. To decide the features, you can take an example of many different e-learning apps that will come with a set of basic and some out-of-the-box features.
Features for Students App:
1. Login & Sign Up:
The users should be able to register on the app through a very convenient app sign-up process. Don’t ask for unnecessary information from the users to make it a complicated process. Instead, just ask e-mail id & password or mobile no. with a password.
2. Course Catalog & Search bar:
Academic students learning online on computer and smartphone: e-learning and online courses concept
Search is the first point by which the users start interacting with your app. The app should be highly advanced so that the users don’t have to type the complete spelling of the course even. You have to provide a very user-friendly and advanced search option. It would be great if you can also provide a voice search option.
3. Profile:
In this section, there would be all the details of the user’s profile such as name, date of birth, contact information, etc.
4. Course Page:
On the course page, there will be all the details of the course such as duration, chapters, topics, videos, quizzes, etc.
5. Payment:
If there are courses on your app which aren’t free and students have to pay for them then you need to integrate a reliable & secure payment gateway. Some of the best payment gateways are Paypal, Braintree, and Stripe.
6. Push Notifications:
Push Notifications are required to remind users of the daily lessons, new courses available, etc. Also, if a student stops using your app then you can retain those users by push notifications. Hence, push notifications are helpful in increasing the revenue of your app.
Features for Teacher’s App
1. Teacher Login & Sign-Up:
Like Students, teachers also need to login in to the app. For teachers, you can provide login & sign up through contact number, e-mail & password. Forgot password would be also necessary here.
2. Managing Students:
A teacher’s prime responsibility is to manage his/her students. For this, they can check the roster of their students with their details.
3. Teaching Course:
An educational app has a sense when there are courses on it. For this, the teachers would be able to create courses easily. They should be able to upload images, videos, PDFs, and other material in their courses.
4. Tests:
A course is successful when the learner can gain good marks in the test it. Henceforth, the teacher should be able to take tests of their learners through the app. The tests should be objective as well as subjective and are time-based.
5. Push Notifications:
Teachers should be notified when the tests are done and new students enroll for their courses.
Parent Module:
You can also create an app for parents who want to monitor the activity & progress of their child. The common features would be:
1. Dashboard:
In the dashboard, they will get a brief overview of the progress of their child. It should have an easy to understand visual, with the most important information.
2. Reviews:
In this section, parents can read, rate, leave their feedback about a learning course.
Cost for developing the educational app
The cost of developing an app depends upon its features, design, and platform as well. The backend Development can cost nearly $30-40 thousand while iOS, Android, or Flutter development can cost 40-50 thousand dollars each. This is the cost when the hourly rate is $25/hr.
Why Amplework?
Amplework is having the required experience in developing on-demand apps or education apps. We are having a team of expert mobile app developers who will turn your idea on the mobile screen. We aren’t just giving reasonable rates but a free consultation as well. Reach us now.
