How to Build a Successful Educational App

In today’s world, everything is just a click away, be it shopping, eating, or entertaining. Learning has also become convenient, more accessible, and friendlier, especially during and after the pandemic. It’s no surprise, then, that startups and existing companies alike are frantically developing learning apps in an attempt to automate and revolutionize education. If you are one of those individuals who want to create educational apps and monetize from them, this is a thorough guide to help you get started.

• What is an eLearning App, and why are they so goddamn Popular
• Stats related to Market Potential
• Types of educational apps and their users
• Benefits of Educational app
• Essential features to include in educational app development
• Steps to follow App development
• What are some challenges at this first stage of creating an educational app
• Development
• Deployment
• Trends in the Edtech app
• Successful examples
• How much does it cost to develop an educational app
• How to monetize your idea
• Bringing it All Together

What is an eLearning App, and why are they so goddamn Popular?

Education is on the rise. Not to obtain degrees but to acquire insights. Nowadays, people value and rely more on foundational knowledge than grades. The purpose of mobile educational apps is simply to facilitate learning. The smartphone or tablet is the most convenient tool for learning different languages, how to drive, how to code, studying fine arts, or keep up with your schoolwork on the go. Even schools and universities use educational apps today to aid instructors. You can find awash apps catering to different target audiences, such as teachers or students. Thus, before venturing into eLearning app development, you should assess market potential. And if you want to make a difference with your idea, you must consult a noteworthy mobile app development company. This will enable you to have a finish of the latest technology and interactive user experience in your app.

Stats related to Market Potential

• According to Statista, the global e-learning market is expected to reach 243 billion dollars by 2022. 
• As of the second quarter of 2022, Mobile education apps were the second most popular choice, with a 10.44 percent share in the Google play store.
• Over 9.5 percent of iOS apps are educational, making them the third most popular category in the Apple app store.
• E-learning is being used extensively and regularly by more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies.

Types of educational apps and their users

In the beginning, educational solutions may aim to:

Teachers and student’s parents or guardians

You might also consider other possible clients, such as the administration of schools or marketing firms (interested in placing ads on your education platform). It’s crucial to keep in mind that managing the provision of your digital products will likely require an additional layer.

There are other subcategories, such as:

• Systems for managing education (aka LMS- Learning Management System)
• ERP solutions for education that manage classrooms
• When analyzing the best learning applications, we’ll focus on the most noteworthy categories.
• All you really need to know about the various educational app categories is who your product will be intended for and how you plan to aid this target market in effectively achieving their educational objectives.

Benefits of Educational app

Productivity

By using different educational apps, teachers and students can increase their productivity. Performing their regular tasks with advanced tools not only saves time but also aids in accuracy.

Easily accessible

Since the internet is now everywhere, users can access the app anywhere and anytime. This means that even if there is an occurrence of unforeseen events, students and teachers can convey queries and resolve them without hassle.

Analysis

Yes, this is probably the biggest advantage of every app out there, and the major reason we tend to use it. The educational app can provide the analysis of users’ performance and achievements with the time taken to reach their respective goals.

Saving

As teachers don’t have to do each and every task manually, it saves them a lot of time and money. And especially during the pandemic period, when students and teachers can communicate and resolve the issues in real-time.

Essential features to include in educational app development

Even if every education app is different, they nonetheless share a common set of fundamental features. We’ll discuss the fundamental components of an educative app below. Depending on the consumer group, we split them into two categories: both students and teachers.

For students

1. Sign-up and log in

With the help of these capabilities, each user may be properly identified in your app, enabling users to create profiles and monitor their progress. Your sign-up procedure should ideally only require a single step and require social media or email accounts.

2. Student’s profile

Basic user information and a profile picture should be included in a learner’s personal account. Users should be able to view individualized information and app-specific metrics like the number of courses they have purchased and signed up for, billing information, etc. On their profile page.

3. Search boxes and filtering options

With the help of a search bar, students can navigate the app easily and discover necessary academic materials. Amongst the most used search methods on digital learning apps are keyword searching and browsing categories. To provide students with appropriate courses and content, you could also integrate a recommender system.

4. Online Payment Portal

You must incorporate a payment mechanism if your educational app relies on paid memberships or offers premium courses. Integrations with payment gateways like PayPal make transactions simple and quick.

To speed up the payment process, the majority of mobile apps also establish Google Pay and Apple Pay interfaces. Your possibilities for making payments are also further expanded by wallets, credit cards, and other tools. Irrespective of the method, account information and passwords must be securely maintained within the app.

5. Learning metrics

By utilizing comprehensive dashboards, learning applications can help to indicate the pace and grasp of learning. To do so, it can list ongoing and finished lessons, awards, certifications, achievements, and targets.

6. Precise academic materials

Educational contents are generally categorized by relevance, topic, and other factors in EdTech apps. Courses that cover theory, multimedia activities, audio and visual lessons, live streaming lectures, and exams might be included.

7. Cross-platform support and Cloud inclusion

You must ensure that both learners and teachers have a smooth user experience because both groups frequently utilize multiple gadgets for educational reasons. For users to be able to access the app from any device or platform, all progress should be stored and synchronized via the cloud. 

For tutors and teachers

1. Sign-up and Log in

Teachers must have the same access to their profiles as students in order for them to enroll in the system. In addition to profile information, an app profile should include a full dashboard with current tasks, their students, and other pertinent information.

2. Admin Console

This function informs teachers of their student’s academic obligations, projects, assignments, co-curricular activities, etc. Additionally, it needs to monitor students’ performance, scores, and presence.

3. Notification

Completion of assignments, assessments, and registered students can all be provided to teachers via notifications.

4. Test generation methods

The ability to create online tests for students should also be available to teachers. As a result, a test maker that can be customized is indispensable for tutors and teachers. It would be ideal if educators could offer tests online, keep track of the results, and grade them automatically.

Steps to follow App development

If you have no prior experience developing apps, the following stages apply to all projects independent of the sort of mobile application you’re developing:

• Exploration and finalizing idea 
• Designing prototypes 
• Full-fledged Development 
• Deployment

While each step is packed with several tasks in general, the same across projects, there are certain quirks when it comes to developing online learning apps. Let’s go over the main processes for creating an educational app. 

Finalizing an idea

Create a distinctive (to some extent) idea by considering what your clients prefer to see on their phones, as well as current trends and business potential.

In our view, every promising idea includes a discovery phase, and developing mobile learning apps is certainly no different.

Discovering your clients and their demands is what research is all about.

You will select a platform based on the audience your mobile solution is intended for and the purpose for which it is intended. 

Designing a prototype

It’s time to give your idea a form once you’ve decided who you’re doing it for. You achieve this by creating an interactive prototype that resembles a genuine app and developing the UX/UI.

The plan is to test this prototype on the intended audience and make adjustments based on what is learned. Consequently, you will approach the following stage well-prepared and with a refined prototype that has to be converted into code.

What are some challenges at this first stage of creating an educational app?

• Keep in mind that kids like to tinker with things, so when you design user tests to evaluate the viability of the UX, ask for one thing and observe how they carry out the other task that is most important to you.
• Use the best picture and video formats, caching, and other related techniques to account for some educational institutions’ slower internet speeds.
• The UI should be used by a very diverse range of people.
• Test all user roles, such as those of the student, instructor, parent, etc.

Development

It’s practically a cliché that programmers code and quality engineers test during the development phase. Of course, there’s more to that, but unless you need to personally manage developers, you don’t really need to know. 

You’ll require a development team made up of the following professionals to create an education app for iOS or Android:

• Project Manager
• UX/UI designer
• one or two mobile app developers
• One or two back-end developers (based on requirements)
• QA specialist.

You have two primary choices since you require the assistance of multiple people: recruit an internal team or use an outsourced company’s services.

Both of these strategies have positives and negatives. Internal teams facilitate better communication. However, because of the better living standards in some regions of the world, they frequently cost more. While maintaining the same level of skill and without sacrificing the quality of the final product, developers from outsourcing locations offer more competitive pricing and they can help you to shape up your idea.

Deployment

Although publishing the software to the App Store and Google Play may appear to be the last step in making it accessible to the general public, there are still a few considerations:

Avoid skipping the server component’s stress test

When a large number of people begin actively using your educational application, you want to know how it will perform.

Configure DevOps correctly

DevOps methods should have been established throughout the development phase but keeping them up after release guarantees that you can deliver updates without any issues once your app is available for download.

Trends in the Edtech app

Evolving technical developments are changing online learning trends in 2022. Thus, as businesses compete for customers, education apps are becoming more avant-garde. We selected a group of technologies that have an effect on the present digital learning landscape.

Live Streaming

Real-time communication between viewers and streamers is one of the main market factors for video streaming. As an outcome, learning is becoming more and more interesting and customized.

Augmented and Virtual reality (AR/VR)

By analyzing readable content and presenting instructional materials visually, augmented reality (AR) facilitates holistic education. Regarding VR, it enhances visualization and encourages learners to have engaging experiences.

Artificial Intelligence

In educational apps, AI algorithms can automate note-taking and grading, produce personalized suggestions, and provide chatbot assistance.

Micro training

This training method presents information in manageable, bite-sized learning pieces so that consumers can more easily understand new ideas. Since smaller packages are simpler to master, micro training makes the material more palatable and interesting.

Gamification

In terms of in-app education, stages, incentives, and performance bars increase drive and motivate app users to advance more quickly. Additionally, using a scoreboard, intros, and other gamification tools can foster a productive atmosphere that motivates users to keep learning.

Successful examples

We recommend starting with a review of your rivals before teaching you how to make an educational app. It is vital to be aware of your major rivals if you plan to create a custom mobile app for educational purposes.

A brief overview of all the popular mobile learning tools so you are familiar with their conceptual frameworks.

• Language study apps Babbel and Duolingo.
• Users can utilize Mathway and Photomath to solve math problems with explanations.
• One of the most well-liked children’s apps, ABCmouse, includes reading, math, painting, and music.
• Teachers and students can collaborate online in a classroom setting using Google Classroom.
• Picture This Program recognizes a plant in a picture, instructs the user on how to take care of it, records watering, etc.
• A digital library for kids called Epic.
• Create and take quizzes using Kahoot.
• Socratic — ponder Google search for academics on AI-boosted, learner-friendly.

How much does it cost to develop an educational app

One of the most ambiguous issues in application development is the cost. The amount will be determined by a few factors because there is no conclusive solution. Your development expenses for an educational app will be determined by:

Vital features, UX/UI design, operational costs (Third-party APIs), analytics and motion graphics,  and much more. 

The investment required for the app increases with its level of sophistication.

We always advise creating an MVP first to assist reduce costs. The MVP aids app owners in reducing development costs while gaining a deeper comprehension of pertinent features and user requirements.

How to monetize your idea

There are quite a few ways and models to incorporate to gain a revenue stream from your eLearning app.

Let us go through several ways to monetize educational apps for you.

Freemium

Freemium is the revenue strategy that eLearning apps employ the most frequently; you provide your customers access to a condensed version and encourage them to upgrade to the full version if they enjoy it. A freemium business model attracts more customers and yields substantial profits. In this case, the app has a rudimentary or constrained set of functions and offers full capability in exchange for a premium fee.  Although it might be a one-time payment, most educational apps currently require a subscription.

The free version ought to be completely functioning.

For instance, the free edition of the Luigi language-learning app contains all of the same courses as the commercial version, but you won’t have access to the grammar bot and automatic speech testing until you pay the membership price. Although not all learners urgently require these features, especially if they utilize the app as a supplement rather than their primary source of materials, they nonetheless make for useful practice tools.

Subscription with a free trial

Another popular monetization strategy used by producers of educational apps is to provide a free trial.   With a free trial, you provide users with immediate access to all app features for a brief period before asking them to subscribe by paying. Usually, two weeks are sufficient to become familiar with an app yet not become bored of it.

Adverts

All industries can benefit from the business model of in-app advertising. It enables app creators to monetize their apps by displaying advertising. This revenue stream provides many ad forms, including banner ads, incentive ads, and more, to capitalize on the user base. In digital learning, ads as a monetization strategy should be utilized with moderation. Ads that interrupt lessons cause the user to lose focus, which is a major disadvantage.

Paid Download

The paid download monetization approach is the final one. Users pay a one-time price with this model to download your application and benefit from all of its features. For providers of educational services who already have a clientele, this is a viable option. Employing educational app developers will enable schools, universities, and providers of all kinds of courses to reach a wider audience and improve the learning experience of their students.

Bringing it All Together

Education-related apps have multiplied since knowledge is now more accessible than ever. The educational process is augmented by online courses, language-learning apps, and other online learning options, making it more interactive and individualized. Apps for mobile learning are more accessible and create a structured learning process in a distance learning setting. 

The time is here if you have been waiting for the ideal moment to enter the market. Get in touch with us, and we’ll assist you in developing a strong eLearning application.