In the past few years, we have observed the shutdown of many schools and colleges around the globe as the increase in the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire educational system was moved to online learning during that time. Both professors and students use e-learning platforms for their studies and courses. So you want to learn how to create an e-learning platform connecting teachers and students digitally.
These virtual learning platforms are no longer exclusive to online courses. Businesses are now using online courses to train their employees. According to some surveys and reports, it is found that the online teaching business will have a valuation of $300 billion. Now here comes the questions like how to build an e-learning platform? What are the benefits of creating an e-education platform, and what are the steps to follow to construct a virtual learning platform?
Before we answer these questions, let's look at what an eLearning platform is. To put it simply, E-learning is a digital teaching method with the help of electronic devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. In this method, Students are not required to present physically in the class. They can attend the classes from anywhere. And they can learn the course at their speed. There are different sorts of learning systems available nowadays, such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), video streaming platforms, and discussion forums are a few examples. Now let's take a look at the steps to implement for building an e-learning platform.
Building an E-Learning Platform: Steps to Implement
Building an e-learning platform is a lengthy process with several steps. And if you are a person who doesn't know about coding or tech, then it will be complicated for you to make an online education platform. So to create an education platform, you need to follow the steps that are mentioned below:
Find Your Idea
To create a virtual learning platform, you must first develop a concept that will address an issue and benefit people. You can take the reference of various reports and analyses to find out your idea. According to several reports, the global eLearning market is predicted to reach $300 billion by 2025. So to become successful in this virtual learning industry, you have to make a product that is both effective and affordable. You can also discuss with others their problems in virtual learning and find a solution to their problems. By doing so, you will better understand your target audience and how they will respond to your concept.
Research Your Niche
Once you've come up with a solution to a specific problem, you have to find your niche. By analyzing your idea, you will get an understanding of your niche. You can concentrate on popular categories such as business and entrepreneurship, health and fitness, personal growth, arts and crafts, and computer and technology. You can take the help of your learner's demographics (age, gender, and other sales-related details). Getting the idea of your targeted users by their age, gender, and educational background will give you an edge during the platform's evolution.
This will help you understand the age of your audience and their gender so that you can develop some quality according to them to get their attention and increase your business. You can also consider their key objectives and learning preferences. You can validate your idea and easily find your niche by doing all these things.
Choose A Business Model
Before choosing the development approach, the first thing you must do is to choose a business model. This business model will decide how your learning platform will generate revenue. You can take a look below at some of the popular business models.
- Subscription-Based - In this business model, the users buy a monthly or yearly subscription that gives them unlimited access to the website content or courses.
- Affiliate Model - In this business model, you can provide integrated affiliate links along with the courses. Which people can share to promote the courses. As well as they can also earn a commission whenever someone joins the platform by using their links.
- Paid Certificates - In this business model, you can also provide certificates to the users on completion of the courses. It is observed that the users pay for a platform-verified certificate.
- Corporate Partnership - In this business model, you can work with businesses to develop customized courses and charge them accordingly.
- Paid Courses - In this business model, you can provide paid courses. And when the students buy any course, the money goes to the instructor and the website owner.
These are a few the best and most used business models. That will help you generate your revenue and make your business a profitable online business.
Choose The Development Approach
Developing a leading virtual learning platform requires planning, frameworks, technology, and maintenance. There are two types of methods available in the market for developing these platforms. The first one is Custom Software, and the second one is Ready-Made. Let's talk about them in detail:
- Custom Software Development
Custom Software Development is the best option if you wish to deliver specialized traits to a large number of people. Although editing or modifying something in this method takes longer, it allows you to implement any desired functionality and scale it simply.
- Ready-Made Development
The second option is Ready-Made Development, Moodle, Joomla, and Canvas are some examples of open-source or ready-made software with basic student administration tools and a lot of free plugins. However, implementing a specific feature or importing custom themes in these methods may be difficult. If you would like to stand out from your website from the crowd, then you must have to select the best technology, unique design, and interesting attributes. That will catch the user's attention and give our website a different look from others. Simplicity is crucial in UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience). The eLearning website should be simple to navigate and operate. Furthermore, because mobile devices have become such an integral part of our lives, the learning program should be responsive to work properly on different devices.
Add Interesting Features
The core of a practical eLearning platform consists of several qualities. Students, instructors, and the admin panel can be classified into three categories. Building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with only the most essential property is a fantastic method to validate the utility of your idea with real-world users.
Some basic features of the three categories are:
- Student Profile Features
Search and Filter - These basic options allow you to look for certain keywords and courses sorted into categories based on subject, price, and experience level.
Suggestions - This feature will help display appropriate courses depending on the user's interest or the history of the courses in which the student is already enrolled.
Simple Payment Options - Student profiles should be linked to a payment gateway for easy and safe purchases. Aside from that, each profile should include basic information about the individual, their purchase history, and the profile settings.
- Teacher Profile Features
Teacher's Dashboard - A basic feature for teachers to keep track of the courses they have uploaded, the number of people who have participated, the retention of the students, and a discussion panel where the teacher can discuss with other students. Creation and Updation of courses - Instructors should be able to modify and edit their courses whenever they need.
- Admin Profile Features
Some basic properties that an admin must have are adding, editing, removing the courses, statistic reports, and managing notifications. Consider sending subscribers to push and email notifications about new courses, recommendations, events, etc. These are some basic and important for an admin of the course.
Test Your Idea On Users
After all these points, you must make your brand known to people by marketing it. Acquiring the first customer is difficult, but you can attract your first customers, students, and/or teachers with a proper plan and execution. Another key aspect of testing your product is getting feedback from the first users. You'll learn what works best for your customers and where you may make improvements. This useful information can assist you in scaling up your platform, making it stand out, and effectively responding to your learners' needs. This leads us to the final step.
Engage With Your Users
You can engage with your users regarding their experience with your products. You can also provide tutorials or guides to teach them how to use the program and help them solve their issues on time. This will increase your relationship with your customers, and your customers will also promote your brand and also share their positive reviews with others.
Use Feedbacks To Improve Your Product
When you get feedback from your users, you can use them to improve your product. This will assist you in keeping your product up to date to meet your users' needs. By implementing the points per the users, your product will easily stand out in the market compared to others.
Benefits Of Creating An E-Learning Platform
At present, after the covid, the search engines all over the web reported a gradual increase in the search terms like- Digital schooling, education platform, and MOOCsall over the world. The evolution of the teaching system from a traditional to a digital learning environment greatly impacts the students' learning. The online learning environment has many advantages; here are a few of them:
- Flexibility: You may simply combine employment and study with eLearning, and you are not limited to a classroom, city, or even your nation. If the classes were online, the students could attend their classes from anywhere.
- Learn at your own speed: This is one of the amazing factors of the virtual learning platforms: you can learn things at your speed. You can log in to your desired courses whenever it is convenient for you to learn. To clarify anything you missed, go back to prior lectures or classes.
- Control over research: Students in digital classes learn at their own pace and, according to IBM, can acquire five times more material than students in traditional courses.
- Time-efficiency: According to Brandon Hall, online teaching requires a student to commit 40-60 percent less time than a traditional classroom.
- Retention rates are high: It's never easy for a teacher to keep students engaged during a course. eLearning, on the other hand, has raised student retention rates by 25 to 60 percent, according to the Research Institute of America, compared to retention rates of 8 to 10% in traditional teaching.
These are some advantages of virtual teaching platforms and apps, as well as the growing need for them, which are guaranteed to pique the interest of budding entrepreneurs and businesses. Now let's discuss some common questions that will come to your mind while creating a virtual learning system. Like - How long does it take to build an eLearning platform? What does web-based learning need? Why build your online teaching apps with us?
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to create an eLearning platform?
According to some research, the minimum amount of time required for medium interactivity courses will approximately take 180 hours in its programming if you work every 1 hour. So, according to these calculations, a 20-minute course would take approx 60 hours to produce. If you work a 40-hour week, you've put in roughly a week and a half of effort. But to reduce all this pain, you can choose our services. AppMaster provides services like- Mobile Apps Builder, Web Apps Designer, Data Models Designer, and much more.
What does an e-learning platform need?
Some basic qualities are must need for virtual learning. Some of them are:
- An easy-to-use and intuitive intellect interface
- Use of a responsive design
- A wide range of teaching resources
- Use of a variety of teaching tools in tandem
What kind of e-learning platforms can you build?
On AppMater we can build Mobile Apps, Web Apps, Data Models Designers, and Business Process Editor. We can also integrate all your custom trademarks into your desired Web or Mobile based teaching program. You can explore all these aspects and pricing of our services on AppMaster Pricing.
Why build your online learning apps with us?
If you are searching for How to build a virtual learning platform, then AppMater is a ready-to-go option. Because we will provide you amazing and ready-to-use tools, web, and Mobile Apps. We have a team of very talented developers who will help you bring your idea Into a reality. If you have any doubts or want to communicate with us, then you can contact us.
Conclusion
Due to increased demand for online learning, the market for virtual learning platforms has been steadily growing. Numerous app development options are available to meet your business strategy's requirements. Some virtual learning MVP app development tools are more cost-effective, ready-to-market, and quicker to construct solutions.
Other custom-built e-learning apps offer more advanced app features, tech stacks, and more functionality, but they cost more. The type of e-learning application you construct is determined by what app development is optimal for your users. The more user-friendly your virtual learning app is, the more opportunities you'll have to monetize its trait. The ability of your programming team to create successful virtual learning applications is equally important.
