Key Insights into Developing an Educational App Helpful for Students and Teachers
- Mobile
- March 12, 2018
The 21st century belongs to technology, which has brought a drastic turnaround in nearly almost all industries. The core of this emphatic transformation has been the evolution of Smartphones and mobile applications.
You must have probably heard about digital education and e-learning. The classroom teaching has undergone an enormous change, becoming smarter with no more monotonous and tedious blackboard and chalk method.
Today, learning is not just confined to schools, colleges or universities, but the wings of knowledge have broken the shackles to embrace modern technology. Now you can learn anything, anywhere and at any time. All thanks to the educational mobile apps for offering this exciting opportunity.
However, the other side of the coin is that education is turning out to be a lucrative business niche for both entrepreneurs and app developers. If we go through a research report, which states that the educational app market in the US will witness a growth rate of CAGR about 6% during 2016-2020.
At the same time, Statista states that the global mobile education market volume will increase to $37.8 billion in 2020, which was only $3.4 billion in 2011. Therefore, the facts and figures indicated here speak volumes of the statement.
Benefits of Mobile Education Apps
As such there are a number of benefits that mobile education apps offer to the students, teachers and other learners:
- The students find it convenient to use as these apps are quite simple to operate. In addition, most of them can be downloaded for free, which makes it affordable as well.
- The apps offer ready-made solutions to problems such as solving a math problem, simplifying the hard concepts of physics or chemistry, etc. So, according to a study, about 63% of the students prefer studying with the help of mobile apps.
- Not only does it help the pupils and learners, but it also gives easy tips to tutors and teachers to teach a particular chapter.
- The apps also provide the facility for the students to interact with their friends and even teachers.
- Lastly, it makes study stress-free and provides a platform to the learners where they can grasp every lesson with ease.
The Classification of Educational Apps
Well, before moving on to the discussion further, it will be better if we just briefly outline the different types of an educational app.
To be precise, educational apps are not just limited to imparting knowledge on subjects that students study at school, but it can also be useful to other areas as well.
Apps that are focused on Particular Subject
Well, this is the most common type of app that most of the school going students use at frequent intervals. They are specifically designed to cater the problems of a particular subject such as mathematics, physics, chemistry etc.
They deal with the various chapters of the subject. For instance, if it is a mathematics app, then it will deal with algebra, geometry, trigonometry and its chapters. They are very helpful during the board examinations.
Apps for Competitive Exams
You will also find a number of apps today that specifically help students in their preparation for competitive exams. For example, you would come across apps particularly developed to help students preparing for JEE, AIEEE or PMT or for those preparing for IAS.
Educational Gaming Apps
These are highly interactive apps that provide useful insight into the learner through an interesting manner. They are very useful for kids. The children tend to learn the lesson in a playful environment.
Apps for Professional Online Courses
There are many institutes and universities offering distance education and professional online course. Getting connected to the app will allow you to attend live lecture sessions and also interact with the teachers to clarify your doubts.
Apps to Learn Foreign Language
There are many apps that offer you the facility to learn the most popularly spoken languages for free or at a very low cost. You can easily learn the basics of such language.
How to Develop an Educational App
If you are looking forward to developing an app that would prove worthy both for the students as well as the teachers, the inclusion of these features is imperative:
The Log-in or Registration
The gateway to building most of the mobile applications passes through the login or registration process. This goes for both the students and the tutors.
You have to log in to your account using your email id or user id along with the password. Once you login to your account, you can go to your profile or dashboard.
The Dashboard or User Profile
Again this feature is indispensable both for learning and teaching purposes. It contains the profile information of the user. This is a customizable feature, which means the developers can add elements based on the requirements of the target audience.
It will basically contain information about the course material, assignments, and their submission date, etc.
Adding Valuable Content
You need to remember that the content plays a very crucial role in an educational app that will probably grab the attention of the users.
If you are offering valuable readable content, which is worth their knowledge be sure to get more traffic.
- Please do include content that basically focuses on a particular topic.
- It should be explained in the easiest possible manner.
- Do pay a lot of attention to the language. The use of simple words is recommended.
- The content should also be mobile friendly supporting the UI and UX.
A Robust Database is what is needed
Well, if you want your educational app to rule then providing a strong and architecturally powerful database is necessary. The database is actually the storehouse where all information related to study material, the profile of each of the users and other data is stored.
You have to update it on a regular basis because new information on different topics keeps pouring. The students and the teachers both access the required information from the database. It should have quick access.
Interactive Live Video Sessions with Teachers
The educational app should have one segment where the students and the teachers come on one platform to have an independent live interaction with one other.
The live video tutorials are proving more than worthy and certainly, their demand is enhancing. So, you cannot miss out on this feature.
The students get an opportunity to solve their problems directly and ask any other query. In addition, you can even add a chat now option for the instant problem-solving process.
App Rating and Feedback
This is an important part. You have to necessarily take the valuable feedback from the students as well as the teaching using the app.
Their comments or feedback will give you an insight regarding how useful your app is. Based on the response you can decide what needs to be improved.
Adding the Search Option
You need to add the search option which will help the students and tutors to search a particular course or topic with just one tap of the finger. This will save a lot of their time and will enhance the user experience as well.
Access Information Offline as Well
This feature is something that will put you on the top. If you are providing the information to the students in the offline mode, it will be a huge boost. Alternatively, the students can save the documents.
Providing the Mock Test and Practice Sessions
You know the board exams are already on the roll. So, most of the students want to actually test how much are they prepared to face the examinations. So, if you provide a section where the students can enroll for a mock test, it would be an appreciating idea.
They would know from the results, which are the subjects and topics that need more focus. Additionally, you can add videos of teachers offering valuable tips before the exams.
The Push Notification is Important Asset
Push notifications are a must-have feature as far as the educational app is concerned. It offers important notifications to the students and teachers specifically, if there is a change in the course.
Apart from that, it also informs students about their class timings and days on which a particular subject will be taught. All this relevant information goes to the tutors as well.
Social Media Tools for Flourishing Apps
Social media is one of the most powerful and effective tools when it comes to promoting and flourishing the education app. Moreover, the students and the teachers can share vital information through social media such as via Facebook posts, sharing the audio and videos on Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms.
The Cost of Developing Educational Apps
It is not easy to determine the approximate cost of developing the educational app for learning and teaching because it comprises various features, each having a different costs.
Besides that, the cost also largely depends on the choice of the platform, for example, Android or iOS, Native or Hybrid. Plus, the cost also depends on the Educational App Development Company you hire for getting the project done.
Conclusion
There is no denying that education is getting more modernized and has traveled a long way to become digitalized. The educational apps have already become one of the best friends both for the students and the teachers.
With the progress of time, more students and the tutors are getting attached to such apps presenting a bright future for the education world as well as the app development industry.
Today knowledge is not limited to books only but with its amalgamation of technology has brought a huge revolution globally.
Therefore, if you are making up your mind for developing a purposeful educational app, then it is the right time to contact our app developers.
FAQs About Education App Development
There are many benefits of education apps like you can learn at your place and time, offers ready-made solutions to the problems, easy to connect with tutors, teachers can get tips for any particular chapter, etc.
You can develop many types of education apps that focus on a particular subject, professional online courses, foreign language learning, competitive exams, educational gaming apps, and many more.
An education app must-have some features like login, registration, user profile, add valuable content, robust database, live video session, search option, access information online, enroll for a mock test, push notification, etc.