E-learning is an area which has lured many entrepreneurs over the course of time. The idea of spreading education beyond the four walls of schools and colleges is fascinating and the potential is huge.
The global mobile education market is set to reach $37.8 billion US dollars by 2020.
While building your e-learning app it is essential that you keep certain things in mind. We shall discuss them in brief in this article.
First conduct a thorough need analysis
You should first conduct an in-depth analysis of the market which will help you in gaining insights regarding the problems that you intend to solve through your app. Remember there is no successful mobile app which does not solve a problem, and to solve the problem you will need to understand it thoroughly.
Ask the learners about the issues that they are facing, how an e-learning app can help them in solving their problems and conduct an on-ground analysis of the problem. You will need to assess the capabilities of your learners and design the course according to their needs.
Learning format
The beauty of e-learning is that it can use many content formats like video, audio, games, text, infographics and powerpoint presentations. Select the best learning mode according to the requirements of your audience. For eg- learning through games can prove to be the best learning format for children and students, while audio learning material might be the best option for people who are too busy as they can listen to it and learn while commuting.
Your app can have a combination of different learning formats which can cater to different audiences and different subjects. Various modes of learning will require to be adopted for different subject because one method will not fit all. For instance you can learn about current affairs in the audio format, but it is difficult to learn mathematics the same way.
Select your Target market
There are different segments in the market like pre-school learning, primary and middle school learning, graduate and postgraduate courses, corporate training and soft skill training, training for competitive exams, training for languages and many more.
You will need to identify the target market which you want to focus on. For example Byju’s is an app which focuses on catering to the school student market, while Unacademy is an app which caters to the market of students preparing for various competitive examinations.
Select specific features to be included in your app
If you plan to develop an e-learning app, then you will need to ensure that you create separate student and teacher panels
To provide the students with useful insights regarding their performance, you will need to imbibe e-learning analytics into your e-learning app. Analytics will help the student in identifying their problem areas and improving upon them, tutors can guide them in this process.
For example- A student preparing for competitive examinations has to ensure that the examination paper is completed within the stipulated time. The students can appear in the mock tests and the app further trackthe time taken to complete every section in the test. If the student is failing to complete the paper in given time, then your app can provide the exact sections say history or mathematics or politics in which the student is wasting more time. This will provide the required details to the teachers about how the student can be trained to be more effective. Ask your e-learning company how do they plan to implement this function into your app.
Apart from this, you will need to integrate a solid Content Management System for your e-learning portal, as in any e-learning app the content is of the utmost importance. No student would be interested in your app if the content is not easily accessible (however good the content might be!). Hence ask your e-learning app developer how they plan to integrate the content management features into your e-learning app.
Please note that once the app is handed over to you, your tutors should be able to easily add/ modify content into your app. You don’t want to contact your developers every time your tutor wants to add new content or modify the old one.
No app would have been successful and popular without listening to its customers. You will need to include an in-app chat support (through a chatbot if plausible) or some kind of customer support so that your customers can easily contact you in case they face any difficulty. Ask your developer about the best option to integrate customer support.
Look for the same niche
As discussed earlier there are various niches in the e-learning market. While you are looking for an e-learning app development company it is wise to look for a company who has worked in the same niche in which you are planning to develop an e-learning app. It is better to gauge the knowledge of the app development company on the requirement. A company which has developed great apps in corporate learning and soft skill training will have little experience in building apps for competitive examinations.
Look for more specialized skills
An e-learning app development team working with Instructional designers would be an added advantage as they will be able to present the content in a much immersive, engaging and exciting manner. Select a company which is well-versed in mobile as well as web development, so that you don’t have to search for another partner in case you want to develop an end-to-end e-learning website portal as well in future.
Maintenance and post-development support
Once you launch your app into the app stores, there are bound to be bugs. You need your e-learning app development partner to stand robustly with you when you face such issues. Clarify on the post-development support and maintenance part, what shall be the cost, in how much time and to what extent would they support you.
Summing it up
Every app development company has a particular set of expertise and there are very less app development service providers that have the knowledge and the expertise across various industries. While you make your requirements clear the app development company should be able to understand them and further suggest you with the most optimal solution along with certain improvements.
Author Details:
Ashish Parmar is the CEO of Prismetric- one of the reliable big data analytics companies. He is an enthusiastic entrepreneur who is interested in discussing new app ideas and rich gadget tricks and trends. He admires and readily embraces signature tech business styles. He enjoys learning modern app crafting methods and exploring smart technologies and is passionate about writing his thoughts, too. Inventions related to mobile and software technology inspire Ashish and he likes to inspire the like-minded community through the finesse of his work.
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