The learning and training landscape has dramatically changed over the past decade. Web and mobile technologies have transformed from innovations into conventional essentials. While in 1995 only 4% of the USA companies used online training, in 2017 the number exceeded 77%.
At present 65% of US high education faculty support open educational resources and 67% of organizations offer mobile learning.
However, even more vital the aspect of online education and consequently software for e-learning development became during the pandemic of COVID 19.
According to Forbes, even before the global quarantine, the e-learning industry was expected to triple its size from 2020 to 2025 and expand the market up to 325 billion USD. The shift into virtual classrooms all over the world in March 2020 is likely to result in going beyond even these expectations.
No wonder, plenty of educational startups appear online aimed at building either an eLearning website or marketplace. However, having a unique idea, one should also bear in mind the other important details – a type of solution, its features, business model, building algorithm, team, and costs.
Let’s have a closer look at this.
E-Learning Platforms and Their Types
Speaking about the best eLearning development software and resources of contemporaneity, one will definitely recall such monsters as Coursera, Udemy, and edX. However, modern e-learning platforms differ in many ways, depending on the business model they use, as well as content delivery strategy, students engagement methods, and some other factors.
The primary types of online educational solutions are:
- E-learning web conferencing software,
- Online learning platforms,
- E-learning marketplaces.
E-learning web conferencing software is intended to simplify the process of online group learning. It allows holding virtual meetings and hosting live webinars. Students join other learners and their tutors and often interact in real-time. Since such products facilitate group training and aim at making user-platform interactions seamless, smooth, and bug-free, they are popular among those educational establishments, which need to engage large amounts of learners at a time.
Online learning platforms – are, in fact, training management systems, which allow the users access to digital courses. They often boast fully-responsive website experience, contain lots of educational materials and provide an experience similar to offline activities. The tutor provides video, audio or text instructions, along with tasks to fulfill. The users practice remotely, submit their tasks, complete exams and receive a certificate upon course completion from the administrators, who to track their progress.
Most popular educational solutions are e-learning marketplaces. Such websites provide students with the opportunity to take courses individually, according to their preferences and interests. The learners can select the course and the teacher they like, and then they are guided throughout the whole process. More than that, such sites allow various forms of content: textbooks, videos, podcasts, games, exercises, quizzes, etc. and give the materials gradually, not to overwhelm the learners by tons of tasks and exercises.
So it’s already obvious that the education over the internet attracts contemporary learners and the demand or flexible and continuing training is growing.
In case you are resolute to enter this market, you have to focus on what your product is about and craft an eLearning development project plan. More about it further on.
How to succeed in eLearning marketplace development
Without any doubt, the main key to success is the perfect user experience and superior quality of the knowledge you offer. However, there are some simple steps to consider for gaining a competitive edge. On the one hand, you should help tutors teach and on the other – help students master the knowledge they need, connecting ones and the others while creating a learning community.
Research the target audience
Before going to one of the eLearning development companies for service, you should investigate the niche and the target users you want to gain. You should know their age, geography, interests and how tech solutions can help them and engage in learning.
Investigate the competitors
As soon as you have the portrait of your target audience, study what the market offers them already, who tops the niche and what makes them successful. In such a way you can get an understanding of the features and functionality your future product should include, what can you do better than the others and which mistakes you can avoid.
Cooperate with great educators
Knowing a subject is not enough to be a good teacher, to inspire and motivate learners an educator should be a passionate expert able to deliver complicated knowledge in a simple way. Such teachers will be spoken about between the students and may become a bonus marketing tool for your platform.
Make outstanding content
Modern life is dynamic and the solution you create should provide maximum opportunities for learning, including various types of relevant content. Provide your students with text, audio, video, materials as well as infographics, and presentations. Think of what you can offer in the sphere of corporate eLearning development, consider including gamification and other methodologies workable for your target users.
Use a multi-language tactic
To be able to expand your platform later on, you should think about how to grow it to a worldwide level in advance. It means that the learners from different countries should be able to study in the language they prefer, either English or their native one. Get prepared for this in advance, create a multilingual website and implement the feature of switching between languages.
Define the method of monetization
Various platforms use different models of revenue-generating, it may be an hourly rate, a corporate subscription, a freemium model or monetization based on advertising. It’s up to you to decide either to charge a percentage of the course price or take the commission per each student enrolled, but it’s important to think about it in advance.
Craft a perfect User Experience
The simplicity and usability of the eLearning space are the key factors, which will help you keep your audience, so it’s vital to make your UX smooth and intuitive. Make your interface elements be clear, simple and stick to a simple layout. The learners should not be confused with the site elements when coming for knowledge.
Think about regular assessments and system of rewards
To motivate your students and make their learning effective you should offer them not only regular tests and quizzes but also track their progress and reward it. Besides, the results of the assessment tasks will be helpful for the teachers for content adjustment. While offering rewards throughout the course to motivate students, provide them with certificates on course completion. Consider granting them with some kind of honors or discounts for further courses on successive completion.
Create feedback and ratings section
To see the results of tutors-students interaction and evaluate the users' satisfaction, provide learners with the ability to leave their feedbacks and rate courses, teachers and content. On the one hand, it will provide you with regular insights on how to improve your platform, on the other, it will serve as an additional marketing tool in case of positive impressions. People nowadays believe real users' feedback more than official ratings.
Promote your web-based educational space
Good marketing is nowadays a must for any successful project, so think your promotion strategy carefully and in advance to make your product visible for the public.
Conclusion
Lot’s of eLearning development companies are now busy crafting the tools and solutions for distant education as a response to the crisis which has set it. However, the crisis will pass, but the most successful products will remain. Having disrupted the industry once, they will most likely become the mainstream in the future.
Our company is ready to offer an expert agile eLearning development to our clients. It will allow you to see the results of each iteration and alter your product according to the quickly changing circumstances and demands.
Without any doubt, eLearning is fruitful ground to seed now. The educational establishments worldwide will anyway look for the solutions, which will let them realize a prompt shift online and back in response to global emergencies, which may set in.
