In this digitalized world with the changing needs of the people the way we do things have changed a lot from shopping, eating out to the way we study and gain knowledge has also changed. The education industry has also moved to the digital era with the advancement of technology. Nowadays the paper and pen based education method has become obsolete since learners now prefer internet resources as more effective medium of learning.

Starting from the web we are now shifting toward the mobile apps so rather than learning from the static contents from the web people usually prefer mobile applications which contain a mix of all kinds of media materials like video, audio, text etc. Today if you visit app store and search for learning apps you will see a plethora of applications categorized according to learning domains.

These apps have come a long way before becoming so popular among the users so that they can rely on them for gaining knowledge. There might be something which makes these applications so popular among users so here we will discuss about some of the must have features which your e-learning mobile application should have in order to be a success.

1.   A good user interface

The UI is the first thing that catches a user’s attention. If your app has a good user interface then only it will invite users to explore it and rely on it for learning. A simple and structured UI containing a drill down menu formats for various kinds of learning courses is usually preferable. User must not be lost while browsing through the application or should not be frustrated while going to various menus on the app, so keep things as simple as possible.

The login mechanism should be user friendly and a user dashboard should be provided so that learners can keep track of everything.

When you are offering a variety of courses do not forget to classify them and then also make a note that you have tests and practice exams designed for each of the courses as these will help the learners monitor their learning and progress.

2.   Valuable and updated content

The content on your mobile application should meet the changing needs of the learners. It should always be updated and should present a worth reading content. The content should be easy to understand and users must gain from it. The way you present content to user is also an important criterion for your app success. Your database should be up to date and should provide latest information and statistics also retrieval of data should be fast enough so as to have a good learning experience.

One more important aspect in this is the content retrieval mechanism always try to cache your content of the courses along with images and web content so that user can easily get the contents in one shot they need not wait for loading of course content and the images for a long time  during their learning process.

3.   Video/audio lessons

An important feature of any app is the practical learning which it provides in the form of video and audio lessons. One always learns more by visualizing and listening than by reading so video and audio lectures are best suited for all groups of learners. The audio and video lectures should be of good quality and have minimum buffering time so that user remains engaged. One more important feature is to provide audio and video downloads so that the user can even learn while he is not connected to the internet and have an offline version of the app. The lesson videos should also be present in both landscape and portrait mode.

4.   Social network

Social media has become an important part of our lifestyle nowadays. We want to share everything that we do and achieve same is the case with the learning apps. The learning apps should have integration with the social platforms so that the learners can showcase their scores and feel motivated. This will also motivate them to compete with each other and have a good learning experience. Also the app will gain marketing by these means and will have more number of users. Try having a feature of sharing your video and audio on social media platforms this will lead to better utilization of social media tools for app benefits.

5.   Push notifications

Push notifications have become a new form of app promotion and marketing nowadays, but in case of e-learning applications they are not only for the promotion but also help the learners to remain focused towards their goal. They continuously remind the users about their incomplete courses and the new contents being updated so that user can take full benefits of the learning app. Also try not to bother the users too much with these notifications as too many notifications may be annoying so limiting the notifications per day is an excellent idea.

These were some of the important points that need to be kept into mind while designing your own e- learning application. Statista states that e-learning mobile applications are among top 3 in the world of mobile apps and soon will go beyond the other app categories as people of all age groups nowadays are interested in learning wherever and whenever they want.

The growing popularity of the e- learning mobile applications on both iOS and android platforms has benefited both the app developers as well as the users. The developers should initially provide a free version of these kinds of applications so that the users get acquainted and try to experiment with the application and then they can move to an upgraded paid version of the application if they like it, hence the app owners will also earn in this course of time.

The current rate of downloads of e- learning mobile applications from the app store is 8.47% and this is surely not falling less than this in the upcoming years.

Nitesh Behani, a creative and passionate mobile application enthusiast helps companies with Industry-specific solutions on Mobile Application, AI, IOT, ChatBots, FinTech, Real Estate and more. He is a co-founder of Magneto IT Solutions, a leading Mobile app development company in USA, India & UAE.