How to Create an Educational App: an All-In Brief

What is an education application?

Digital course platforms and online resources give users the ability to access knowledge remotely, on a comfortable path and on the terms and conditions they prefer. An educational app development company examines the objectives of every individual demand, fetching a hub that corresponds to the goals and complies with industry regulations.

They come in different forms:

• A separate subject portal (Brilliant, Photomath, Rosetta Stone, Duolingo).
• Evaluating products (Kahoot!, Exam Soft).
• Skill-building games (DragonBox Algebra, Prodigy).
• Virtual classroom solutions (Edmodo, LanSchool).
• Study management platforms (Blackboard, Moodle).

The portals are multipurpose, and built for various target audiences — from independent course takers who enhance their skills by choosing entertaining and beginner-friendly options to scholars from universities who conduct research and require tech advancements to automate routine work.

In the ensuing part, we’ll discuss the construction roadmap for such a tool.

How to create an education app: 7-tip guide?

Experienced app development companies in the UK divide the work into several pieces that go one after another. Knocking together all the components doesn’t happen simultaneously since to power designs with the code, they need to have layouts and to prepare imagery, there should be a vision of the final results.

Look at what it takes to create a fine-tuned training program:

Tip 1. Conceptualize your initiative

The building cycle starts when you immerse yourself in outlining the specifications of your venture. Will it be a portal that members of different roles, like students and teachers access? Is it going to support virtual conferencing and connecting with specialists?

During this stage, you specify what you want to present and focus on the targets you expect to fulfill, such as collaboration with schools, colleges and universities or setting a reliable source of revenue, you name it.

Tip 2. Carefully examine market

How to make an education app that has all the chances to be quickly accepted by people? The answer is to complete a comprehensive analysis of the audience and summarize the competitors. First of all, it’s vital to be aware of the long-lasting pain points of your intended consumers. If you launch a program that will close the gaps in the sphere, it has more chances to be adopted quickly.

Also, you investigate other propositions that are similar to yours in order not to release something that has already existed.

Tip 3. Select the tech suite and lay down a blueprint

Creating educational apps is a complex matter, requiring an extensive set of technical skills. If your platform is set up to run on smartphones, then coders will have to choose out of Flutter and React Native, which allow a solution to be available on iOS and Android or Kotlin and Swift for native building.

Tip 4. Draft visual

That’s where educational application development progresses to the design. A significant part of the efforts of a creative specialist are directed towards UI and UX journeys.

Designers choose fonts, colors, styles and paint images to capture the essence of the system. They form layouts for each page, taking into account the version of the delivery. If you are planning to make it compatible with laptops, tablets and phones, then they craft every facet of it.

Tip 5. Write code

At this point, the undertaking approaches the stage of creating an educational app when the illustrative elements turn into workable features. Front-end engineers render components of design, making them clickable and responsive. They also ensure interactivity, which is a cornerstone of modern interfaces, as well as add gamification segments.

Back-end experts dedicated themselves to connecting the platform to third-party integrations, such as enabling students to pay for monthly subscriptions, linking executables to databases and embedding protection mechanisms to make the solution secure.

Tip 6. Inspect outputs

Even when partnering with digital transformation leaders, the phase of evaluation can’t be bypassed. Educational app developers conduct thorough examination of the deliverables, checking such aspects as compliance with regulations. In this domain, it applies to GDRP, COPPA — if children under 13 are going to use it and many more requirements, which are unique for every country. Of course, they assess performance, functionality and protection.

Top 7. Launch and monitor

The ready program undergoes deployment, which is the process of transferring the outputs from the environment where it was constructed (coders’ computers) to the web. There are several ways it can go online — on-premise, cloud and hybrid releases or distribution on App Store and Google market.

When clients get access to it, programmers are tasked to collect their feedback with the intention of adding critical adjustments. Over time, they revise the code to ascertain that it works impeccably and update it — if you have such an agreement with the supplier.

What are the key features of education app development?

In the previous section, we highlighted the long way you need to cross to receive your seamless digital classroom. The purpose of this segment is to show what elements require such precision:

• Member profile.

It can be designed in the form of a separate page where an account owner can set up their photos and change personal information. Also, they can see the modules they choose, their timetable and the certifications they received. If access to some materials is time-limited, they quickly grasp it. A more light version of a platform that doesn’t provide documentation displays awards for achieving certain milestones.

• Page with courses.

The selection of your proposals should be within reach. For example, if you offer language assistance with more than one option, a user needs to have an opportunity to switch between them without any effort. If your goal is to provide entry to career modules, there should be a separate panel, accessible from the main menu.

• Progress tracking tools.

Being oriented on gamification educational mobile app development or building a university management hub, adding the segment with improvement is paramount. Namely, in a game, beneficiaries check how many chapters they complete or how good their character’s advancement is. When it comes to state and private institutions, they inspect how many assignments they have done and their scores.

• Personalized configurations.

Setups are divided into several groups: operational and supplementary. While the first category is necessary to arrange the tasks in a manner that it will be easier to complete — such as sorting out courses based on your specifications, the other format of parameters is adjusted in accordance with the needs and preferences like accessibility, light and dark mood, messages and so on.

• Payment block.

Will your proposition have a premium version? If yes, you need to take care of the charging module. If you are asking how to build an educational app that will bring regular revenue, this section must be as refined as the services you deliver. First of all, it must be well-integrated with the solution and second, a few popular variations should be available.

• Security settings.

As students input their personal and billing information, sometimes both, it’s a matter of attention to embed measures that will help to prevent leaks and ensure withstanding attacks. Everything from authentication to data storage and threat detection instruments must run in accordance with the standards.

• Notifications.

Education app developers are able to customize reminders in any possible way. If your platform connects teachers and students, each party can get notices when mail comes to their inbox. Having leveraged the segment with assignments, students get informed about upcoming final dates to send their homework. Those updates also appear as prompts that bring a person’ attention to the application. And, of course, setting up must be included.

• Virtual assistant.

When offering people a multi-faceted digital asset with several pages, complex structure, it is important to supply them with the corresponding consulting. Whether they need to be acquainted with the overall flow of the progression or unlock additional features, there should be a panel with the most asked questions and answers to them or an AI-fused helper a customer can address their concerns and get questions.

• Support.

A reliable workaround can’t go without contact forms to connect with the management. To resolve problems regarding payment, point out troubles, or send feedback, customers call or write messages via email or social media. It will give you a chance to react quickly and grow loyalty to your product.

How much does mobile app development for education cost?

To receive the final figures, you need to connect with specialists and explain to them all the ins and outs of your idea. Then, after evaluation, they will provide you with the numbers. However, we couldn’t leave this synopsis without at least approximate meanings with some samples. Further, we briefed the expenditure plans with levels of accomplishments:

As you can see, there is a gap in educational app development pricing since suppliers charge differently based on the following criteria:

• Advanced technology — there is a big difference between constructing a simple utility with minimum features and customization and producing a complex platform that embodies VR in the form of ARCore or Zappar, AR, Blockchain and artificial intelligence functionalities that help with analytics, boost personalization and strengthen security. It might also include eye-tracking and gesture-control features.

• Premium instruments — expenses on building a training program don’t touch only workers’ salaries but include manufacturing costs as well. Production fees are mostly related to third-party integrations. While they raise expenditure plans when they make an educational app, in reality, using them is very cost-effective as there’s no need to write codes for all these functions, which would take a lot of time and other resources.

The gamification effect can be achieved by connecting your system with Unity plugins while enhanced security is reached thanks to Okta of Firebase Authentication.

• Location — when you, the place from which a company is can also be a key characteristic. It doesn’t always work as a rule. It is possible to find affordable services in the UK and expensive tags in Asia and India when developing an educational app. However, there is still a gradation that comes from the level of life in a particular country, competition in the market and refined expertise.
• Experience — involving seasoned professionals in your project has its cost. Further, you’ll find the hourly wages you can expect when you hire mobile app designers. Even though beginner executors have lower rates, their understanding of the construction is limited, and quite often, it isn’t cheaper than assigning your task to experts since, in such cases, deadlines have a tendency to extend.

Latest trends in educational app development

Thinking of giving your customers the best out of the best, direct your focus on the movements with a strong presence in the industry. Mainly, current directions are aimed at transforming the traditional way of learning and modernizing it with entertaining features. You can grasp more upon reading the preceding fragment:

— Gamification functions

Statistics show that offers that have characters, animations and battles possess better places in mobile stores. Such an approach allows to redefine the way people receive useful information and instead of just discovering something new, subscribers entertain themselves. When you develop an educational app, a good story behind it can simplify the path to people’s hearts and give inspiration for marketing strategies.

We can see the example in Duolingo, one of the most installed edtech products. Future pilots and regular users choose Microsoft’s Flight Simulator to be able to experience the flight in the closest conditions. Minecraft even released a special edition that helps students study different subjects.

— AI and MI

The possible span of adjustments improved by Artificial Intelligence tools is fascinating. It aids every party involved — from service receivers to teachers and administrators. Such functions simplify the studying routine since when you create an educational app powered by AI, clients are enabled to contact virtual assistants and solve difficult tasks with examples. If tutoring is part of functions, teachers can shorten assessment time.

By way of illustrating these features, we can note Brainly’s aid with homework, Qanda’s maths solutions that can scan the book and give optimal ways to solve tasks and Iris’s valuable aid in grasping computer science. The generated enhancements push consumer experience to a new level.

— AR and VR

Trying to reach new heights in educational app development, evaluate the opportunities of virtual and augmented reality. With AR, you’ll be capable of visualizing complex matters, showing in practice how things like math and science work. VR will allow you to present complete simulations with incredible immersions — something that rarely can be achieved in traditional academic environments.

Of course, we couldn’t bypass some examples for you to consider. McGraw Hill’s interactive materials broaden students’ understanding of the various subjects, from languages to social fields. Not far from them are Google Expeditions and zSpace, which turn information delivery into a journey, boosting customer engagement and satisfaction.

— Microlearning

If you are thinking of how to make an educational app that doesn’t overload a student, but provides accurate and short explanations, direct your attention toward modular or just-in-time methods. A comprehensive outline of a topic in a mobile solution doesn’t always mean the best content dissemination, especially when we quickly swallow tons of data.

This approach is a perfect solution to address the problem of lousy concentration. It is also ideal when you know that your skills builders are interested in nuances rather than the entire coverage. The lessons are formed in a manner that they explain one detail at a time, last about 5 minutes and can be reached easily, elevating accessibility. Ted-Ed and Linkedin Learning adopt the solutions offered through this kind of education app development services.

— Personalization

Last but not least, it is the call for individualization. It is impossible to craft a utility that will please everyone equally if it only corresponds to some standards. Even if the best teachers are involved in lesson creation, there is a possibility of failure in choosing the level of exercise. However, seasoned providers close issues of any caliber.

When it comes to determining the start of a quest to mastery, algorithms can identify the tier of test taker’s knowledge and offer the lessons they need based on their answers, or, as it is with Quizlet. Each example of education mobile app development, Socratic, created by Google, is another interesting proposition of tailored tutoring — knowledge seekers input their requests and obtain valuable insights in different forms.

These tendencies are heavily intertwined with the interfaces that are launched in our days. With the progression of new technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, they evolve and transform. Adopting at least one of them can greatly enhance your system’s performance, especially if it is done in a distinctive way that you can expect when you hire app developers who are experienced. In the following section, we’ll explain how to find one.

How to select an education app development company?

The last piece of the puzzle is, of course, choosing a top-notch vendor who sticks to a well-thought-out engineering tactic and can put together all the elements you want to be at hand in your tool and integrate the trends so your delivery will have everything to satisfy your customers.

Start your exploration by outlining the candidates. It is better to pick a few providers as, during the assessment, you’ll be able to compare their strengths and weaknesses. To find a few, you can check our listing with education app development companies where we gathered accomplished suppliers with positive records. Another approach is to scroll through forums and websites you’ll find just googling them.

When you have a list with a few contenders, it is time to evaluate their might. Speaking of characteristics of vendors who build mobile classroom programs, there are a few points you need to focus on. First, get familiar with their educational app development services and determine whether they can cover all your objectives. For example, if you want your program to be accessible through various devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops.

After investigating their stated abilities, proceed to inspect their success stories to see how they apply the knowledge. Portfolios will hint at a variety of their qualities: design versatility, structured approach, meeting certain objectives.

Finally, note in a table the critical moments and decide what attributes play a pivotal role for you.

Note: The examples are made up.

To sum up

Now you know what is needed to knock together a worthwhile product for the EdTech sector. With an understanding of how to develop an educational app, features, pricing realities and market shifts, you’ll be able to not only realize your vision but significantly exceed it, making highly data-driven decisions.

If you want to tap into this clarity further, to be always informed about the procedure, and to partner with programmers and designers who are passionate about what they do and leave no stone unturned to facilitate the outputs you have in mind, then you can contact Limeup. We have received multiple awards and established long-lasting connections with our partners, who see us as a responsible and no-nonsense education mobile app development company. Don’t postpone your successful launch!