E-learning Apps- Empowering Education Sector to Go Digital

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Information Technology has revolutionized the Education sector in a way that no one has ever predicted a few years back. From traditional model, education is moving towards the online channels, and e-learning applications are playing a bigger role in this transition. An eLearning mobile app is certainly a big tool for universities and educational institutions to keep their students engaged and empower them with learning even during the current COVID pandemic. E-Learning application development has become a top trend of 2020-21.

Virtual classrooms and virtual training have led to a massive rise in the trend of e-learning apps across the world. With time, more schools, universities, and academic institutes are exploring e-learning apps to reach their students and deliver them the best possible education. e-learning apps are empowering the students to gain the access to the resources they want at their disposal. These applications are instrumental in developing an alternative medium between the students and the teachers. e-learning applications are making it possible to implement the concept of paperless classrooms, which used to be a fantasy a decade back.

eLearning mobile app offers innovative features like online content availability, personal messaging with teachers, sharing notes, video conferencing, and more, which enable teachers and students to interact effectively and engage in the study without having to visit the campus. The COVID pandemic has enhanced the scope of e-learning, as there is a low probability that educational institutions and universities will open anytime soon. Amid such a situation, e-learning mobile apps have proved their worth and they have become the best option for students to remain engaged in learning and avail assistance from their teachers if required.

E-learning Industry: Market Size, Growth and Trends

The global e-learning market has been increasing like a wildfire, it is evident from the fact that in 2018 it was valued at $190 billion, whereas in 2025 it is expected to reach $350 billion with a health CAGR of 8%. This meteoric rise of e-learning is assisted by some emerging e-learning technology trends such as gamification, AR/VR-enabled online learning, learning management systems, cloud-based e-learning, and so on.

As per Forbes survey

  • By 2025, the e-learning industry will be worth $325 billion.
  • Approx. 51% of smartphone users today are using an e-learning app on their smartphone.
  • Approx. 64% of users consider educational content from e-learning applications quite useful.
  • By 2020, the expected revenue from e-learning applications will be $35 billion.

Technology Trends in eLearning App

The recent technological advancements in education sector, especially in area of eLearning are breaking all the psychological and traditional barriers to facilitate the intellectual growth of a common student. While developing an e-learning application, you must be aware of the current technology trends such as progressive web apps which may influence the development of such apps. Here we have few technology trends, which are hard to ignore.

AR/VR – Augmented Reality and Virtual reality are playing an important role to expand the horizons of e-learning. These innovative technologies enable an educator to experiment with innovative methods of learning. AR/VR helps educators to incorporate a practical aspect to traditional and theoretical learning, which helps them to devise the solutions for many complex problems. E-learning app developers can utilize AR/VR technologies to add immersive features to the applications, which ultimately enhances user engagement.

Gamification – It does not matter if you are a small kid or an aged student, everyone loves the learning when fun elements are incorporated in it, as it helps them to understand the concepts quite easily. Gamification makes e-learning easy and more engaging it helps users to interact with the education content effectively. Some of the most utilized gamification methods are badges, points, leaderboards, rewards and recognition, and progress bars. For example, Byju’s kids learning application is one such example where gamification techniques are used.

Microlearning – This is the latest trend, which is gaining immense popularity among the people who are finding it difficult to get spare time for education. Microlearning is a simple process of segregating the educational program into multiple parts, which enables students to spend little time to complete these parts and grasp the knowledge. Students get a high degree of flexibility to complete their educational courses at their own convenience and pace. As per education experts, this bite-sized education approach is 17% more effective than the traditional full-fledged classes. There is no doubt that microlearning would soon overcome traditional learning.

Mobile Learning – Mobile learning is gaining huge momentum gradually and it is expected to generate revenue worth $78.5 billion by 2025 (report by GlobeNewswire). In the last 2 decades, we have seen an enormous adaption of mobile technology, which has increased the number of smartphone users exponentially, at the same time, a greater number of people are preferring mobile learning methods. This trend is going to be strong in the future, as people are opting for mobile learning, as it gave them freedom to continue their learning at their convenience from any location. Adaptability and Accessibility are certainly two important aspects that fueling the uplifting of mobile learning trends.

Artificial Intelligence – AI is taking the education sector by storm, and it gives the need personalized touch to e-Learning. Artificial Intelligence helps us to understand the user’s learning style and behavior, and it can easily recommend the personalized learning customized for a specific learner. AI-enabled Voice assistants can help students to interact with the educational content, without interacting with the teachers. AI also helps teachers with grading students and assessments, which makes the overall process effective and less time-consuming.

Why go for e-Learning applications development?

That is the most commonly asked question, and it is important to understand the significance of e-learning applications. The recent technological development such as the creation of e-learning apps and educational portals are certainly redefining conventional education and paved the way to transform to modern and digital methods. All the stakeholders, including students, teachers, and parents are eagerly looking for a platform, which can be used to collaborate virtually and bi-directional communication with all entities.

Here are the reasons, why e-learning app development is a way forward.

  • e-learning apps facilitate advanced and organized learning
  • e-learning apps ensure efficient and effective interaction
  • These apps offer a plethora of features in a single application
  • Ensure convenient learning
  • Offer better methods to track and manage student’s performance
  • Offer Cost-effective and 24*7 Accessible learning environment
  • Facilitate seamless and productive learning
  • Ensure On-the-go and highly flexible learning
  • Immediate Tutor Support
  • Wide variety of Educational content availability (e-books, videos, FAQ, books, and assessments)
  • Adequate reporting and analysis features
  • Highly Interactive learning via games, videos, and quizzes

How e-learning mobile application development is empowering education?

This is another important aspect of e-learning, most people are unaware of the ways how e-learning has empowered the education sector. Here are few factors, which show how e-learning is empowering education gradually.

High degree of Flexibility in classes – This is certainly the best aspect of e-learning mobile apps. Remember, in a conventional method of learning, one must visit the school or university to attend classes, which puts several types of additional constraints and costs on both students and teachers. Whereas the e-learning mobile app can help them to attend or conduct the classes from anywhere and anytime, without having them travel to any specific place. They can decide the content they want to cover and devote their time as per their convenience. As far as teachers are concerned, the mobile app helps them to communicate important information with the students and track the performance of students with a single click.

Cost-effective and highly Affordable education – When it comes to education, money is certainly an important and deciding factor for any student. E-learning mobile applications make education affordable for the students, as it cut down lot many administrative expenses and constraints, which helps institutions to reduce the cost of online programs. It does not matter if you are taking an online class or watching pre-recorded sessions, e-learning mobile applications save you unnecessary expenses on tuition fees.
We do have few portals and mobile apps, which provide e-learning modules absolutely free of cost. For example, LinkedIn and Google offer a plethora of digital courses free of cost, whereas Udemy charges a very nominal $10-$20 for a lifetime content access for specific courses. Several international and renowned universities have signed pacts with e-learning platforms like Coursera, which offers free or affordable learning modules for students across all geographies.

Remote Access to e-learning- This is certainly the biggest advantage of e-learning mobile applications, as it allows students to access quality content remotely. There are a huge number of students who cannot afford to travel to faraway places for their education. E-learning mobile apps come as a blessing for such students, as now they can access quality content from any location, all they need is a smartphone and a high-speed internet connection.
This feature has literally revolutionized the education sector, as now renowned universities can also offer their elite course to the people living in faraway locations. A person living in a rural area can avail of education from a university in USA or UK with ease.

Diverse learning – E-learning mobile app is not limited to classroom study, many renowned universities have equipped their e-learning applications with several other important courses or modules, which help the students to explore other areas along with the core areas they are enrolled for. Students can learn different languages, cultures, and skills, which are going to help them in their future. Today, e-learning mobile apps have opened numerous opportunities for students to learn and upgrade.
E-learning mobile apps also provide courses for soft skills and management capability development. Students can easily improve their memory skills and enhance their mathematical and logical reasoning knowledge via interactive games and quiz. E-learning mobile applications have made possible this massive transition from conventional education to digital education in few years.

Interactive classes – E-learning mobile app development offers a highly dynamic and interactive environment. Though people may not find it as interactive as conventional classes are, it does offer a high degree of interactive engagement between teachers and students, where they can communicate, share their ideas, and engage in further activities. Students can ask questions and clear their concepts and get required assistance for their projects and homework by connecting with their peers and teachers. Through e-learning mobile apps, teachers can create breakout sessions or groups for students, assign them activities or projects that students can easily complete via the application.

Types of e-Learning Applications

Educational applications or eLearning mobile applications have gradually become the primary method of imparting education for schools, educational institutions, and universities. We have witnessed the increase in demand for such applications, as these applications can modernize the education sector and impart education during this COVID situation. Below are the categories of e-learning mobile applications that are in huge demand.

E-learning Apps for Pre-schoolers

Educating the pre-school kids is not an easy task, the teacher must use creativity and employ innovative methods to make kids learn and understand various concepts. We have several firms, that remain highly focused on building e-learning apps for preschoolers. Such applications enhance the following traits of children.

  • Language and Character learning ability
  • Skill learning and improvement
  • Creative and Cultural learning
  • Enhancement in Thinking capability
  • Improvement in problem-solving skills

E-learning Apps for Teachers

E-learning apps developed for teachers does help them to replace the conventional method of teaching and management, where they must fulfill all their activities virtually. Teachers can easily assign tasks or activities to the students and track the progress of their tasks in real-time. Apart from this, such mobile applications do offer several other benefits

  • Highly flexible access to information
  • Class scheduling at anytime
  • Effective communication with parent and students
  • Push notifications to inform students about any task or information
  • Leave management

E-learning Apps for Coaching Instituted and Professional education institutes

E-learning applications are developed for Coaching and Professional education institutes, which help them offering a variety of online courses, where students can register in the courses and complete them at the comfort of their home. Students can register themselves, create their profiles, enroll in their designated courses very easily. With such e-learning applications, the institutes can avail the following benefits

  • Creation of leaderboards to make learners compete
  • Development of assignment and quizzes to help students evaluate their skills
  • Interactive Discussion forums

Conclusion

No one can deny that the world is rapidly transitioning towards a digital era, and education cannot remain untouched by this paradigm shift. With the advent of digital channels, education is bound to derive numerous benefits. E-learning applications are steadily and slowly replacing the conventional study content, and app development is also rising as more and more schools, universities, and academic institutes understanding the potential of e-learning and several benefits it offers to students and teachers.

E-learning app offers easy-to-use and convenient features, it provides adequate flexibility to both teachers and students to decide their study schedule. Using e-learning apps, teachers can easily get connected to the student’s parents and offer them detailed performance reports and other information. These applications also facilitate online meetings of parents and teachers, which saves a lot of their efforts and time.

Rahul Mathur
Rahul Mathur is the founder and managing director of ARKA Softwares, a leading mobile app development company, delivering high-end IT solutions across the globe. Rahul takes pleasure in sharing his experiences and views on management, latest technologies trends and business development.

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