Little did people know that when the philosophers talked about how learning was available everywhere, they would be referring to a situation that the entire world is caught in today. E-learning helps people learn subjects of their choice from the comfort and the confines of their homes. Needless to say, it is one of the manifestations of smartphones that are rich in features and high Internet speed availability these days. Given that there are many services that can be available using smartphone apps, learning cannot be an exception to this transformation.
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E-Learning as an On-demand Solution
E-learning applications are, in essence, like an Uber for learning and education. What they do is connect trainers with the knowledge and passion for teaching a subject or skill with students who would like to learn a skill. Just like any other on-demand service, it gives complete control in the hands of their customers, or in this case, the learners. They can choose a course of their choice, and more often than not, they can finish their course at their own pace. The payments can be made online, and the certifications can be made available through a link.
E-Learning for Professionals
It has also been passively assisted by the state of reality that people do not have time any longer to break away from their schedules and invest them in commuting to classes. There is also a constant need for people to upgrade their skills, but the relevance of certifications is slowly disappearing. There are also a lot of hobbies that can help you earn additional revenue for which you might not need formal education… like photography, art, calligraphy, and even music composing. The curiosity of people to explore new skills and strengthen their existing ones has massively contributed to the growth of these e-learning applications.
E-Learning for Tuitions
There are parents on the lookout for tutors to strengthen the foundation of their children in the school subjects or sometimes to be ahead in terms of learning, so children can be familiar with the syllabus of the upcoming term. Sometimes, finding a tutor involves either going to their place or inviting users to your homes, both of which have their own share of inconvenience. Also, there is no transparent and democratic method for you to find out the right tutor for your child. With e-learning applications, however, you can avail of these classes at your home through your smartphone or tablet or your desktop/laptop computer. What makes it even better is that you have a rating system and biodata of the tutors available online, so you can take a look before you make a decision.
The COVID-19 Transformation
The coronavirus crisis has mandated that people access only the essential services, and education and learning surely come under essentials. In an endeavor to keep schooling alive and active, a lot of schools have resorted to providing online classes through video conferences. Teachers have been handling remote teaching sessions for months together now.
E-learning, which was once considered an extension of the entire learning ecosystem, has slowly started to inch into the territory of becoming the mainstream because it is the need of the hour. This boost in relevance and acceptance can be felt in some expert statistics.
A report by Technavio suggests that the expected growth for this platform between 2020 and 2024 is estimated to be at $132.21 billion. Another report by GlobalNewsWire has determined that the tutoring market that was valued at about $133 billion in 2018 is expected to inch close to the $370 million mark in 2025. The CAGR for online tutoring apps stands at 15.7%. These numbers do not consider abstract factors like the increased desire for people to learn, the democratization of the learning landscape, and the growing relevance of skills to do more than certificates for skills.
All these factors put e-learning as a dependable form of investment and business. The business can be considered valid and proper only if there is a revenue model in place. There are different ways in which you can earn your revenue from these e-learning applications.
The Revenue Channels
The different revenue models for an e-learning app are:
Freemium model – this business model allows users to register for free and a few courses. At least parts of a few courses are available for them to access without any payment. However, if they would like to avail of the premium courses, they will have to pay a fee.
Subscription model – here again, the registration is free, but if the students have to access the course, they will have to pay a blanket subscription fee that gives them access to a wide variety of courses. This could be an ideal solution for institutions that would love to expand their portfolio of course offerings. It is also sought after by students who would like to master a few coaches related to a specific niche in a given time.
In both the above cases, there have been many instances where people get free subscriptions and event-free premium courses. This helps the app in getting users and in helping students familiarize themselves with the app. More often than not, the free models generally graduate into the paid territory.
In addition, there are a few other revenue channels, like in-app purchases and advertisements. Advertisements from a lucrative chunk of revenue because it is a perfect place for schools and a few institutions to advertise as they can easily reach the target audience by refining it through the course that they are taking.
Basic Features of an On-demand E-learning App
For an e-learning app to perform its intended task, there have to be a few features in place. The features can be separated for each app-one for the students, one for the teacher or the tutor, and another for the administrator.
The student app:
The first and foremost feature is needed for a student at its facilitation of easy registration and to create a profile. It is highly recommended that you incorporate a feature that helps students log in using their Google or Facebook credentials. It is not only convenient and helps save time but also increases the possibilities of sign up because they do not have to go through the hassle of waiting for an authentication link before they can start using the app.
The profile should contain a list of the student’s courses, their purchases of books, and if they have purchased any extra hours of tutoring from any tutor.
The student should be able to easily search for the theater by using multiple parameters like the subject specialization, the board, a specific exam, and even their language proficiency in teaching a subject. When choosing their tutor, students and parents should be able to check the reviews and ratings of the tutor. Going in line with this feature, they should come out after availing, of course, have an option to rate and review the tutor based on their experience with them.
Once they have finalized on the tutors, they should be able to select them easily and enroll for a class or a course without any hassle. This means convenience not only in terms of choice but also in terms of payment. The app should be tied up with a versatile payment gateway that can accept payments from multiple payment methods including but not limited to credit cards, debit cards, and wallets.
The students need to be actively communicating with. For this purpose, they should have an in-app chat that can help them communicate with the tutors during the session. The students should also be notified of classes or changes in schedules through a push notification. The push notification should also alert students about pending fees and canceled sessions.
Features for a tutor
Just like a student, the tutor should also be able to create a profile without any hassle quickly. The profile should have them include information like their credentials, their work experience, and their expertise in a specific subject that will help students narrow down on the right tutor.
The tutor should have the flexibility to work at a time of their convenience. They should have an option to choose their slots of availability. This is one of the parameters that students used to search for the tutor, and only if their availability matches the schedule they are looking for, they will accept the tutor. The tutor should also have the flexibility to accept and reject requests. The rejection can be based on the ratings that tutors have given to the students. The flexibility also has to go the extra mile in letting them change the timing of the classes in case of an inconvenience.
It is to be remembered that most teachers sign up with these apps to maximize their revenue, and they should be given a feature that tracks the revenues by a week or in a month. This saves them from the hassle of going to the bank account every now and then and checking their earnings.
The administrator features
The administrator functions like the all-seeing eye of the app. They should be vested with superpowers that govern the sanity and sanctity of the app.
The primary feature that an administrator would expect is a proper dashboard that provides analytics and intelligence to analyze the work behavior and experience both from teachers and students. The statistics on the number of courses available, the number of active students, the number of active teachers, and the total number of hours thought should be available for the administrator.
The administrator should be able to manage the tutors, the students, and the services. They should also be given the right to manage content, promotions, offers, and discounts.
The additional features
In addition to all the features mentioned above, a few features like having a referral program, cloud management, heat map view, multiple language support, and loyalty programs will help in strengthening the marketing muscle of your on-demand tutor app.
Conclusion
The profitability and dependability of an on-demand tutor app have been established beyond any iota of doubt. If you would like to capitalize on this opportunity, all you need to do is invest in on-demand tutor app development.
Instead of building the app from scratch, you can go for white label tutor app solutions that you can launch in no time. You can get in touch with tutor finder app development companies that specialize in this niche. It will ensure that you are all set to launch your on-demand learning app with minimal cost and in the shortest possible time.
