Speaking of educational technology, people rarely talk about money. They mention the benefits for underprivileged children, the blessings of remote learning, the shifting role of educational institutions, and other impacts. Yet, in fact, developing education apps, a startup or large enterprise can make big money and enter the fast-growing business niche.
According to the Global Online Education Market report, by 2025, the worth of the online education market will reach $319+ billion compared to $188 billion in 2019. The number of people interested in upgrading their skills through online solutions is also impressive. E-learning software takes third place among the most popular Apple App Store categories and second place on Google Play. In total, on both platforms, up to 9% of users choose educational applications among many other types of apps.
That’s why we decided to dedicate today’s article to educational app development. Read on to find more about:
- What trends and factors to consider developing educational apps?
- Types of educational apps
- How to create an e-learning app: technologies, features, and development stages
- Educational app development cost: What variables matter most?
What Trends and Factors to Consider Developing Educational Apps?
Before you get down to the development of learning management system software, make sure to run a market analysis. It’s not enough to know that educational app ideas bask in popularity, you have to dig deeper. To help you with research, we’ve collected the main trends and factors to consider.
Focus on certification and professional content
Users prefer to be sure that after finishing courses, they will have proof of completion. That’s why the most renowned digital learning resources, including Lynda LinkedIn Training, Oxford Home Study, or Google Digital Garage, provide certificates. Hence, if you want your custom e-learning solutions to look reputable, take care of valid certifications. Educational apps for kids may be the only exception. It’s also recommended to engage professional educators and industry experts to develop the training package tailored to the needs of the target audience.
An abundance of videos and microtraining
Flexibility and optimization of the learning process are among the main reasons why students opt for educational apps. Thus, developing your next solution, you should favor short informative videos over long texts. Besides, it’s important to split the program into multiple smaller lessons followed by tests. Such an approach is the most effective and convenient way to teach something remotely.
Gamification, VR, and AR in educational technology
80% of US employees believe that game-based learning methods are more engaging. 50% has managed to improve their productivity thanks to gamification training features. Virtual and augmented reality also become more widely used in online learning solutions. They can make your app stand out in the crowded market and attract users who love innovations.
Intuitive UX/UI and ease of use
A quality interface and smooth navigation are critical to creating an app that encourages users to proceed with the next learning level. The assistance of a UX/UI specialist should help you design a convenient product and enhance user experience.
Types of Educational Apps
The market analysis has probably shown you that there are multiple categories of e-learning software aimed at several target groups. Sure, learning tools for teachers, adults, and kids require different solutions. The type of future app also depends on the field of study and learning approach. Currently, the following apps are topping US charts:
Generally, educational apps can be grouped into 6 broad categories:
#1. Remote tuition
These applications connect teachers with students to conduct the learning process remotely. Although remote tuition apps are particularly popular among native speakers and language learners who want to master their speaking skills, they can be used for any other purpose.
#2. Apps for kids
Heavily based on gamification and engagement, apps for kids enable parents to make the screen time of their children more useful. DragonBox for math lessons, YouTube Kids for educational and safe content, Spelling Stage for writing, and similar tools are usually designed to improve a specific set of child’s skills.
#3. Language learning
Babbel and DuoLingo are two most renowned language apps among dozens of others. Such applications include interactive tasks in multiple foreign languages offered at several learning levels. They also have lots of gamification elements and can be used both by kids and adults.
#4. Grading apps
Tests and regular checks are an integral part of the educational process. You may develop mobile solutions for corporate users and educational institutions to enable them to run check-ups more efficiently. Online tests are perfectly suitable for multiple-choice or short questions.
#5. Learning solutions for adults
Such services have more industry-specific tasks than apps for kids or language learning tools. This category also includes deadline keepers, proofreading apps, citation apps, collaboration tools, and other solutions that can optimize the learning process.
#6. Classroom apps
These apps help teachers to create, distribute, manage, and grade assignments. They don’t fully substitute classroom activities but make them more organized and easy to track. The primary target audience of classroom solutions is educational institutions that want to enhance the communication between teachers and students and/or launch remote learning.
How to Create an E-Learning App: Technologies, Features, and Development Stages
Once you know your target audience and decide on the type of custom learning management system software, it’s time to deal with specifics. Let’s talk about the technological stack first.
Educational app development tech stack
For custom learning solutions, educational app development companies recommend Kotlin (for Android native apps), Swift (for iOS native apps), Java, Node.js, React and Blockchain (for backend development).
Note that these are just recommendations that aren’t universal for all educational app ideas. You will need to consult with your in-house education app developers or hire a third-party software development provider to choose the final tech stack that allows you to implement all necessary features and capabilities.
Must-have features of mobile e-learning software
Even though the functionality will vary depending on the type of educational applications, some features are present in most e-learning solutions. Pay attention to them while planning your next product.
- Login/Signup. Limit access to educational apps to protect personal information, including learning progress, contact info, payment details, etc.
- User profile. Enable users to view all the completed courses, access tasks, and track their learning achievements from a separate profile.
- Search. Help users to quickly find the necessary content by different filters such as name, subject, duration, etc.
- Menu. Simplify in-app navigation allowing users to access a specific section of the app in just a few taps.
- Learning materials. Add courses, games, exercises, and/or tests as applicable.
- Monetization. Think about the most suitable way to get profit from the deployed solution (That’s why you create it in the end). For instance, you can implement ads, in-app purchases, white labeling, or paid subscriptions.
- Payments. Take care of secure payment functionality if your app supports financial transactions.
Apart from the mentioned features, many e-learning applications also include statistics dashboards, push notifications, scheduling, social sharing, and cross-platform support features. Before initiating the development process, make sure to determine what core features you want to have in the app.
How to create an online learning platform — development stages
E-learning app development doesn’t differ much from the typical mobile software creation cycle. First, you will need to come up with educational app ideas and dive into market research to understand whether they are relevant and profitable. If you find out that the future solution has a strong chance to succeed, it’s time to talk with professional education app developers.
The cooperation and development roadmap consists of the following stages:
- Business analysis and requirement discovery
- Prototyping
- UX/UI design
- Development and testing
- Deployment
- Maintenance
You can either fully cover all of these stages with your in-house engineering resources (if you have any) or outsource e-learning software development. In particular, Binariks offers several team models to take up projects at initial or later stages. We can assemble a dedicated team of business analysts, UX/UI experts, developers, and QA specialists to design a learning solution from scratch or provide team extension to power an existing staff.
Educational App Development Cost: What Variables Matter Most?
We understand that you would like to know the final amount before starting educational app development. Unfortunately, the duration and scope of the engineering process depend on too many variables to tell this without details. When an education app development company estimates an approximate cost of engineering services, they rely on the following factors:
- Engineering team size and experience of tech specialists
- Local market hourly rates (In Eastern Europe and Asia, you can get the same quality at a more affordable cost)
- Technical specifications of the app, number of apps (in case you need both iOS and Android versions, the development cost will be higher)
If you want to find out the educational app development cost for your project, contact us for a talk. Our tech specialists will evaluate your idea and offer the optimum way to realize it. Binariks works with a broad range of technology and has already completed educational projects for customers across the globe. Yours can be the next.
