While technology is changing at a rapid pace across all industries, the pace of change in education and EdTech seems to be accelerating even faster due to the demand for more hybrid learning environments. Schools and universities must keep pace with this change or fall behind competitors who can provide a more relevant learning environment and better serve their students.
To remain competitive in the education industry, school districts and universities must be able to adapt to new learning styles and curricula, advanced technologies and teaching methods, and updated learning management systems and interfaces while being responsive to the ever-evolving needs of their students. and teachers.
In this article, we'll look at the different types of apps and software solutions available in the education industry, the features these apps should have, and some projections for the future of this lucrative market.
Challenges facing the education industry
While education is one of the largest markets in the world, it is also one of the most fragmented with thousands of schools spread across every country, all with different needs and budgets. This fragmentation requires schools, universities, and districts to choose the best technologies for their specific needs.
In light of developments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the education industry faces a number of unique challenges:
- Work smarter, not harder: The teacher's job is not to make children work hard; it's about making their work smarter. Educators need tools that give them interesting information that can be easily communicated to their students.
- Get the most out of data: The education industry is in the midst of an analytics revolution. Teachers use the software to track student performance, measure student progress, and analyze student behavior. However, this deluge of data can be difficult to understand and communicating with other team members can be a challenge.
- Disruptive technology: Both teachers and students are using mobile and digital technologies to learn and engage with each other. Teachers are moving to digital learning platforms and students to smartphones and tablets.
Here's how technology can be used to solve these problems:
- Smart learning technologies: Smart learning technologies help teachers focus on what they do best – working with students and delivering lessons. These technologies can collect and analyze student data and provide teachers with relevant information and learning resources to help them better communicate with students.
- Visual analytics and tracking: Visual analytics is a new approach to data presentation that allows people to more easily understand complex data sets. Visual analytics can be used to create compelling, data-rich dashboards that make it easy to digest what the data suggests.
- More mobile technologies: To better connect the learning methods of teachers and students, we need to find ways to combine the resources they use to learn and engage with each other. This means that digital learning platforms will be more mobile and accessible to students.
With these challenges and solutions in mind, customized apps are one of the best ways forward.
Today's educational app market
Believe it or not, Education is the third most popular category on the App Store, behind Games and Business, and eLearning is the second most popular category on Google Play. That being said, these categories make up roughly 9% of the total on both platforms.
The global e-learning market is estimated to be worth $398 billion by 2026, according to another set of forecasts by data provider Research and Markets. Which is a pretty massive 300% increase from $107 billion in 2015.
Features that educational apps should have
When it comes to educational app development, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
High Personalization – When you're building an educational app, it's important that whatever you create provides students with personalized learning that allows each student to learn at their own pace and schedule.
Easy-to-use interfaces – All information should be easy to navigate and presented in a way that is easy to absorb.
Wide range of content – The app should provide different levels of learning and testing so that students can easily track their progress.
Interactive Lessons - If you expect students to use your app, you need to make sure your content includes a high level of interactivity (such as audio, video, and games) that goes beyond that of a typical textbook. Content that is gamified to encourage continued engagement is key to keeping students engaged.
Add social features – Social features allow students to connect with each other even when studying in a remote environment. Flexible and customizable lesson plans that can be shared with friends also encourage accountability and ensure they keep using your app.
Centralized Dashboard for Monitoring – Adding the ability for teachers and parents to track student progress opens up communication and keeps everyone on the same page.
Emphasis on security and privacy – When creating mobile apps for minors, it is especially important to emphasize security and privacy. Apps and platforms developed for children have specific legal requirements to protect minors, so it's important to learn about these rules before proceeding.
Build software solutions for education with Crowdbotics
Crowdbotics provides end-to-end software development services to clients worldwide. Our team of expert software engineers, designers and project managers have helped thousands of clients build and bring their products to market, and we have extensive experience working specifically with enterprise clients.
Crowdbotics is unique among technology companies in the industry because we offer a comprehensive approach to development. Instead of requiring clients to hire separate vendors for design, development, and project management, Crowdbotics allows clients to hire a single team that understands their business goals and can work together to build a product. Our community of experts has the expertise to work with all phases of development and can provide specialized assistance to clients in the education industry. To learn more about how we can help you with your project, contact us today for a detailed estimate!
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