How to Create an Educational App? Guide for 2024

With the convenience and flexibility that online education offers, it is very popular today. This explains the continuously growing demand for educational app development services. Thanks to the technological progress achieved in recent years, it is possible to build highly advanced and engaging solutions for various target groups. As a result, the learning process can become significantly more involving and result-oriented. This article will explain how to create an educational app that supports users in achieving their learning goals and helps you secure a strong position in the e-learning software market.

The education mobile app development process involves creating digital solutions that enhance virtual learning and teaching. The target audience for such applications can vary widely depending on the project's concept. For instance, you might build an educational app for children, university students, adults committed to lifelong learning, or employees in various industries.

Some apps are designed to complement traditional educational processes, while others serve as independent learning tools.

If you are considering the development of an e-learning app, it is wise to analyze the advantages and new opportunities this solution can offer to users. The list of benefits can be extensive, but let’s focus on the key points.

• Enhanced accessibility. With a mobile app, users will always have their learning materials just at hand and will be able to study them even on the go at their own pace.
• Higher engagement and motivation. Various quizzes and gamification elements make education more enjoyable and encourage people to learn more.
• Variety of content formats. Videos, animations, audio recordings, interactive diagrams, and other available formats can help to address the needs of learners with different preferences.
• Better communication. You can enrich your app with such features as chats, discussion boards, and group projects, which will boost collaboration among students. Moreover, thanks to feedback tools and direct messaging it will be possible to build close communication between educators and learners.
• Progress monitoring. Such solutions can track the progress of each learner and offer detailed analytics that help find learning gaps and achievements.
• Reduced paperwork. This is a huge plus for both teachers and students. Instead of handing in tons of papers, students can pass various tests directly on the app. Moreover, a lot of materials can be available in the digital format. This helps to avoid printing textbooks.
• Inclusivity. Today many applications offer a row of features to support learners with disabilities. Among these features are text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools, enlarged text, and other accessibility options.
• Lifelong education. Modern apps often provide bite-sized lessons and modules that are suitable for adults who want to learn new skills or get knowledge in short segments. Such resources are perfect for continuous education and professional development.

Today education can be delivered in different forms.

• Language learning apps. These applications usually offer interactive lessons, vocabulary tasks, grammar exercises, speaking practice, and language games.
• Test/exam preparation apps. With such solutions, users can get access to practice tests, study schedules, flashcards, and performance tracking.
• Early childhood education apps. They are targeted at the youngest users and contain such features as age-appropriate games, educational videos, and interactive learning activities.
• Online course platforms. These solutions allow users to study different courses provided by individual experts or educational organizations.
• Educational apps for schools. They can cover various school subjects and provide students with new practical learning experiences. 
• Corporate training apps. Companies can launch such solutions for their employees to share all the required materials with them and test their knowledge.

The development of any software solution is composed of a number of steps and each of them includes multiple tasks. Let us briefly describe the entire educational app development process for you to make it clearer how the realization of such projects is organized.

Discovery

This is a critical part of the software development lifecycle. This phase involves a series of procedures and tasks aimed at ensuring that the final product will meet the needs of its users and stakeholders. The components of this phase are:

• Interviews with stakeholders to discuss their expectations and goals;
• Market research (analyze existing solutions, explore the market landscape, define gaps, and find ways to address them);
• Target audience analysis;
• Gathering of functional and non-functional requirements;
• User journey mapping;
• Tech stack selection;
• Defining project scope and deliverables;
• Project planning;
• Budget estimation;
• Preparation of documentation.

All these efforts help to mitigate risks related to project realization and increase the probability of project success.

Prototyping

Once the team has a clear understanding of the project’s concept, objectives, and details, the next stage is prototyping. This involves creating interactive prototypes that closely resemble the final UI/UX design. Prototypes should be tested with the target audience to gather feedback, allowing developers and designers to refine the interfaces before moving on to the complete app design phase.

Development

This is the central stage of project realization, focused on coding and testing the app’s functionality. The development team’s task is to build the desired features according to the requirements. Modern development approaches allow for changes even after the project has begun. It is crucial to thoroughly test all app components, their functionalities, and their interactions.

Deployment

When all bugs are fixed and stakeholders are satisfied with the results, the app can be made available to users. For mobile solutions, this means publishing the app on the relevant app marketplaces. After the app is released, the team will still have many tasks related to tech support and maintenance. Additionally, changing requirements for learning content, its format, or app functionality may necessitate future updates and modernization.

The educational app development cost will vary for every project depending on its peculiarities. The key factors that will influence the price are the following ones:

• The type of mobile app development (native or cross-platform);
• The tech stack that your development team will use;
• The desired functionality and its complexity;
• The number of integrations;
• Your specific requirements for the project realization (like the expected team composition and deadlines).

The more complex app you want to have, the higher the price will be. When you turn to an educational app development company, you need to share your requirements with experts to get a quote. 

When planning to launch your own application for the education industry, you should also consider how to monetize it. Educational apps can be monetized in various ways, so it is important to think about this in advance. Different monetization strategies may require the development of specific features.

Here are a couple of ideas for you:

• Freemium model. This model presupposes that you offer a basic version of the app for free. However, this version may provide limited features or content. To get access to advanced features, premium content, or an ad-free experience, users will need to make a one-time purchase or buy a subscription.
• Subscription model. This option includes taking a recurring fee for continuous access to the app’s features or additional content. We recommend you offer various subscription tiers with different benefits and opportunities to address the needs of a wider audience.
• In-app ads. This model is the most popular one. But you should be very careful with it, as all the banners and video ads that you will place in your app shouldn’t spoil the user experience.
• Certification and exam fees. You can provide courses that will ensure the possibility for users to get certificates upon completion, with a fee for the certification. Another variant is to charge users for taking exams or tests that will allow them to obtain official certifications.
• Merchandising. You can offer branded educational materials, like books or workbooks, Moreover, when your brand gains popularity, selling branded merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, or other promotional items can be also a good earning opportunity.

Today, our portfolio already includes a range of successfully delivered educational app development projects targeted at different groups of learners.

One of the solutions built by our team was a platform for online courses with video streaming which makes this product unique. Our task was to develop web and mobile versions fully from scratch. The key idea behind this project was to provide both individual educators and organizations with a simple way to set up virtual classrooms for learning, workshops, corporate training, and other online events. The solution lets users organize live broadcasts in real-time with feedback, accumulate all the required educational content in one place, test learners’ knowledge, and perform certification.

Another example of educational software developed by Cogniteq is the Teleseminar platform built for the Belgian company specializing in remote training and education. We were responsible for creating solutions for iOS, desktop, and web. The platform provides video seminars for those who want to acquire new professional skills in different areas. Teleseminar also has user authentication, honesty detection, and copyright protection tools. Moreover, after completing courses, learners can get certificates.

If you are planning to create an education learning platform or any other solution for this industry, you can always rely on us. Our team can boast solid expertise in this domain and has a good understanding of how to apply the most advanced technologies to make learning an engaging and inspiring journey for students and teachers. We can cope with tasks of different levels of complexity and are always open to new challenges.

Contact us to learn more about how to create an elearning app and what terms of cooperation we offer.