How to Create an Educational App: Process, Costs and Features

Education application development is a promising idea and a growing source of income as more and more people prefer to study anytime using only a smartphone. Even though the transition to distance learning was a necessity back in 2020. Lots of people all around the world embraced the benefits educational apps can bring, and use them on the daily basis

According to Statista, the global EdTech market is expected to grow by over $370 billion by 2026. And education apps market is expected to reach up to $70.5 billion by 2025.

So, if you’re interested to know how to create an educational app, this article is for you.

Education App Development Market

Traditional education that has taken place in a classroom suddenly switched to the use of technology. It transformed the way students perceive education into an interactive approach that is not interrupted regardless of location.

Here are some numbers:

• 62.5% (4.95 billion) of the world’s population used the internet in January 2022
• there are 5.31 billion unique mobile phone users in the world
• 92 million new users came online over the past year
• 92.1 % of internet users go online via mobile devices
• 42.3% of internet users (aged 16- 64) use the internet for educational and study-related purposes
• 29.8% of internet users watch educational videos each week
• 15% of internet users pay for study programs and learning materials each month

Types of Educational Apps

The educational mobile app development market introducing more and more interesting concepts. The most common types of mobile apps for education are:

Multipurpose learning platforms

Let’s take a look at the example of Coursera or Udemy. These are educational platforms that offer more than just one course or one sphere. There are a variety of options in different areas. Users with any background can choose a field, specific course, or a full-scale graduate program and enjoy the learning process.

Specific subject apps

There are lots of apps that provide only one particular subject to study. For instance, Duolingo for language studies or Yousician for music instruments.

Assessment platforms

Created to help teachers test and assess students, their understanding of the information, and achieved scores.

Educational games

Interactive learning is one of the educational trends so, gamified training allows people to take their minds off heavy stuff while continuing studying. This type also includes Kid-focused educational applications.

Learning management apps

Created for educational institutions to manage the formalities of the learning process: communication, schedules, attendance control, work submission, grading, etc.

Classroom apps

There are two types of classroom apps:

• The one that serves as tutorial material and helps organize the learning process.
• The second one is a cloud-based application, used for remote learning.

Platforms like Kahoot, Google Classroom, and Classtree keep teaching materials in one place, serve as a communication channel between teachers and parents, and control of behavior and knowledge.

How to Develop Educational Apps: Required Features

Education application development cost depends on different factors, including the number of added features. We grouped them according to the user role:

Features for teachers

Authorization

Teachers start using the app by signing in to the system via email or phone numbers.

Sign-in

Teachers start using the app by signing in to the system via email or phone numbers.

Profile

Teachers create personal profiles with data such as name, job title, courses offered, certificates, contact information, etc.

Course management

With the help of dashboards, teachers can effectively manage courses: view progress, students’ information, and tests, leave comments about completed tasks, and give marks. Also, teachers can upload learning materials: videos, photos, PDF documents, and interactive exercises to test knowledge.

Test

One of the essential features for teachers is the ability to examine students. It’s possible to organize via the educational platform with online tests. You can create a variety of options: test with several questions and answers, multiple-choice, yes/no questions, etc.

Learn more about developing e-learning app

Features for students

Customizable profile

It’s very convenient when users can customize their profile pages with information about who they are, what classes they take, what assignments are due, etc.

Advanced search

This feature allows students to find the right course, subjects, teacher, etc.

Student dashboard

This feature provides students with access to important information: personal progress, purchased courses, schedule of upcoming classes, or exams.

Payments

Most of the time, eLearning platforms are paid. Students pay for each course or create a subscription for a certain period. While developing an educational app, integrate a secure gateway, using a platform (e.g. PayPal), to make sure this process is convenient and secure.

General features

Course page

Before enrolling in the course, students must read a course description, plan, lectures, schedule, assignments, information about the lecturer, etc. So, this feature is one of the most important in the process of developing an educational app.

Video streaming

There are two options this feature has to cover: recorded videos and real-time lectures. So it’d be better to think about the server in advance. Users need to have the ability to watch online courses in real-time and to re-watch the lecture to the broadcast.

Offline mode

Attract more users by providing them with offline access to the platform: downloaded content, course materials, answers to tests, etc.

Push notifications

Students and lecturers get notifications about any updates that may occur during the learning process: new assignments and grades, shifts in timetables, deadlines, and so on.

Chat

Ensure a quick and easy way for users to reach out to the support team for any assistance or other classmates.

History

Advanced features:

• Augmented reality
• Virtual reality
• Chatbot
• Artificial Intelligence

Read more: Examples of big data in education

How to Develop an Educational App?

To build an educational app, there are six main stages necessary to conduct. Usually, it all starts from requirements gathering, then planning, designing, developing a product, testing it, and providing support.

Here are a few tips from Inoxoft’s educational app developers on how to make the development process as convenient as possible.

Start with idea

One of the most essential things behind a successful app is a solid idea. But despite how awesome your concept may appear, you need to evaluate it, by conducting market research. Here is a list of tips:

• Explore existing products and your competitors
• Surf online resources for the information
• Get insight with the help of forums (e.g. Quora) and Google Keyword Planner
• Conduct questionnaires among potential users
• Speak to stakeholders (any educational institutions) about their pain points.

Determine target audience

How to make an educational app without understanding who your end-user is and his pain points. Do you know :

• Who will be interested in using an app?
• What will the learners use an app for?
• Why will they use your app?
• How will learners use your app?
• What benefits an app will bring to make them download it?
• What problems can it solve?

Monetization model

Choosing the right monetization approach is the key to overall success. There are several most popular types of models:

• In-App Purchases
• Subscriptions
• Freemium
• In-app advertising (native, interstitial, video, and banner ads)
• Paid Apps

Each has its pros and cons, so read our article that will help you make a decision.

The team

To develop educational apps you need a team. Here is a list of experts you need for your project:

• Business Analyst
• Project manager
• Android/iOS developers
• Flutter developers (if needed)
• Back-end/ Front- end developers
• UI/UX designer
• QA engineers

*The presence of each team member is discussed per case.

Design

Doesn’t matter if your end-user is a student, teacher, the whole school, or employee who needs to pass training, each of them chooses mobile apps with a simple and clear UX/UI.

Here are a few things to follow:

• Read Google and Apple guidelines to be accepted in their stores
• Make design intuitive by following the 2-tap rule (if it takes more than two taps to do what the user wants, make some changes)
• Your design must be responsive to all operating systems
• Logical design elements follow the 5-point rule (count each different font, color, the size on a screen. If the number of elements is more than 5, redesign it.)

Security

If your app stores personal data (e.g. banking information, payment, contacts, etc.), security is a crucial matter. Common security practices include:

• Cryptographic key management
• Encryption of the local database, API communication, or cache
• Integration of safe communication standards

Maintenance

Users will abandon the app if they experience repeating errors. Regular updates, fixed bugs constant improvements, new features, performance, and security are things that keep your app on the market.

How Much Does it Cost to Make an Educational App?

The cost of creating educational apps depends on various factors such as project complexity, features, development approach, tech stack, cooperation model, etc. However, factors affecting cost the most are development time and the hourly rate of your e-learning software development company.

Approximate time-cost estimate

Also, you can use our app calculator to estimate app development cost!

Read more: how to develop an educational app

Consider Inoxoft Your Trusted Partner

Inoxoft is an education software development company that knows the new technologies used in the industry and offers application development services to satisfy your business needs. Change traditional learning methods into an enjoyable experience with our:

• School management software development services
• LMS development
• eLearning software development

Check out our story of creating a language-learning solution, based on an interactive board game, that allows learning different languages in real life with native speakers from all over the world.

Final Thoughts

Knowledge is limitless, as well as the studying process. Today access to education is more important than ever. Especially considering the outputs of the pandemic. And so as education mobile app development that is more relevant than ever before. Contact us if you’re ready to create a unique educational solution for the world.