How to Develop an Education and eLearning App

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin

Education is the grass-root of any civilized human being. The divine culture of imparting education and learning through teachers or educators has been rolling for hundreds of years and has remained an unchanging, moral necessity. What has only changed in time is the way of imparting education.

What belonged to chalks and board shifted to whiteboards, and projectors and now we are living in the present where we have virtual classrooms, eLearning apps, and educational websites.

Now reflecting on the current state, the COVID time! The biggest driver of digital transformation yet that has disrupted every sector where education is no exception. No, during and post-COVID, e-Learning App Development has soared like an inflated balloon, leaving no room for an option but only a compulsion or say a ‘new norm.’So, let’s start by understanding the most vital stages of the eLearning app. In this blog, you will learn:

• Types of eLearning Apps
• Key Features of an eLearning App
• Top Competitors
• Technology Stack
• The Total Cost Required For eLearning App Development

Types of e-Learning Apps

1. Courseware App

These type of apps helps students build skills with online courses that have videos as well as text and runs only within the app. The best example of this app is Coursera, edX.

2. Classroom Aids

This software platform is used in distance learning classrooms and school classrooms. To impart the education the course content is projected on whiteboards or white screen. An example of it is Google Classroom.

3. Assessment Software

Assessment software is mainly used by educational professionals to create and administer tests to students via a digital platform. The software provides instructors with a format for writing questions and inserting answers, which in turn allows students to take assessments through quizzes, tests, and exams via a website portal or mobile app. E.g. StudyBlue.

4. Educational Purpose Software

Created for a specific subject or domain education and learning app development includes on-demand learning and training for diverse sectors like healthcare, corporate learning, pandemic or crisis management, and more. These types of apps have extensive discipline knowledge and focused learning.

5. On-Demand Learning App

The most popular example of this type of app is the on-demand tutor app. These types of apps allow tutors and students to connect and take online classes via real-time video calling built in the app. E.g. Everly, Chegg tutors, Flipclass, etc.

6. Memorization Apps

These types of eLearning apps use memorization techniques for a faster and more long-lasting memory. Generally, they use flashcards, and built-in audio to recite words.

7. Exam Preparation Apps

These apps come in different types such as tests and quizzes, flashcards, and databases with materials. E.g. ExamPrep, SAT Up, and Gradeup.

Essential Features of an eLearning App

1. Online Courses

This feature allows students to access hundreds of courses (paid or free) and gain specializations developed by colleges and universities.

2. Video-based Content

This feature allows students to listen to pre-recorded video lessons that are saved topic wise by instructors in the app. The video formats can be any of these types:

• Animated videos featuring infographics and text
• Scenarios Or Story-Based Videos Featuring People
• Explainer Videos Featuring Experts
• Videos Featuring Kinetic Text And Videos In The Background
• Whiteboard Animation videos
• Interactive video content

These types of videos allow students to take classes anytime, rewind, or fast forward, giving full liberty to students.

3. Interactive Content

The interactive eLearning apps are crafted by making the learning process more engaging and take full advantage of interactive tools to make learning fun and engaging. The types of formats include:

• Quick brain teaser that triggers the cognitive process
• Interactive flashcards and newsletter
• Game-based learning via classroom or parental collaboration

4. Reading Material

This feature enables you to add ebooks, research, and pages (realistic page-turning); it can be available to read at any time, and users can bookmark, categorize, highlight, adjust the font size and choose a custom font style.

5. Activities and Events

This feature will help you promote quality learning via activities, templates and tutorials. It can be in the form of an infographic template, photo comic strips, stop motion animation, interactive digital posters, virtual walking tour and other creative slides.

6. Live Tutorials and Sessions

Many times simple content-based education app does not serve the purpose. Students need live classes where they can connect with the instructor or teacher in real-time and clear the doubts instantly. Live tutorials, video session like in on-demand tutor apps gives the chance to have live interaction with the tutor and receive answers without any external dependency on in-app course material.

7. Gamification

Make students as well as adults learn in a fun way. Many organizations are using this gamified feature to make learning fun and exciting for everyone. Say like TedEd creates entertaining videos for all ages and other gamified apps like this make learning languages, music, history, art, and coding in fun way. Integrating this feature will allow you to attract more users and make them learn topics delightfully and engagingly.

8. Online Quizzes, Mock Tests and Exams

While your app imparts education in these many forms described above, it becomes equally essential to assess the learning absorbed by the learner. Keeping a dedicated feature of tests and quizzes and mock tests based on the courses can help assess the learning graph of students and find their weak areas.

9. Social Media Integration

By integrating social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, twitter, Instagram, etc. you can share the links of your uploaded tutorial videos, and audio clips to increase the number of viewers and user base. This increases the engagement rate and motivates people to download the app.

10. Easy Payments

By integrating multiple payment gateways you can assure seamless, easy and quick payments via cards, mwallet and net banking.

11. Notifications

This feature can help you send important and timely alerts and notifications via SMS, email and push to instructors and students and help them take quick actions.

12. Multi-Language

By making your app available in multiple languages you can increase your user base across geographical boundaries.

13. Augmented Reality

AR-based student learning and education apps like Quiver, and Elements 4D use scannable technology for deep learning and connect the topic with multiple learning environments, allowing students to interact with content in a completely new way.

Competitors of eLearning Application

• For Teachers and Students: Kahoot
• For Teacher to Make Announcements: Google Classroom
• For Exam Preparation, contains quizzes, study guides, etc: StudyBlue
• Helps Students Starting from a Class Level: Socrative
• For Solving Mathematical Problems: PhotoMath
• For taking online courses, building skills from universities: Coursera, edX
• A bibliophile-type app: Amazon Kindle
• Video-based learning app: Periodic Table
• Online learning and teaching marketplace app: Udemy

Tech Stack To Build an eLearning App

Mobile SDK: Android and iOS

Frontend iOS Development: Swift, React Native

Frontend Android development: Android studio (Java), React Native

Payments: Braintree, Authorize.net, Paypal, Google Pay, mWallets

Notifications: Twilio, Nexmo

Emails : Mandrill, Sendgrid

Cloud environment: AWS

Real-time Analytics: Hadoop, Spark, BigData, Cisco, IBM

Database: MySQL

Streaming Video : WebRTC

Cost to Develop an eLearning App

The cost of developing an E-learning app depends on various factors:

• Number of features and complexity of app functionalities
• Number of third-party integrations
• Developers and their location
• Hourly rates of the eLearning app development company
• Marketing and SEO expenditures

The total cost to develop an eLearning website depends upon:

• UI/UX development
• Web front-end development
• Web back-end development
• Quality assurance and testing
• Project Management

A Ballpark Figure:

A basic version of the education app costs you around $17000-$20000 (depending upon the features), a complex app with advanced functionalities and features can go up based on the features you opt to integrate.