Education has always been the backbone of careers and future personal growth endeavors, and in today’s tech-savvy world, everyone is accustomed to using mobile applications for everything.
They are software applications developed and made to work on mobile phones for people’s convenience. Because of their powerful functionalities, mobile applications have paved their way in every aspect of people’s lives. From online shopping, delivery of food, and e-learning, there is nothing mobile applications have yet to revolutionize.
Why Use Mobile Learning Applications?
Teenagers and children consider studying to be a dragging and boring process and they negatively depict this even though they are aware of its importance.
Parents and schools should let the younger generation use educational applications with the elements of gamification they get two benefits in one which is learning and having fun, eventually increasing the appeal of studying and learning.
What Are The Benefits of Mobile Applications For Education?
Mobile learning is a revolutionary way to teach kids and adults alike, these applications also come with many benefits such as
- Organized and structured learning – A well-designed application offers organized and systematic content that is easy to find and repeat, this logical flow helps many students adapt to systematic learning.
- Readily available – These mobile applications are readily available and accessible to students from any age around the world. The students can decide when to use the educational application, letting them learn anywhere and everywhere, from the car to standing in long queues.
- Fun and educational – Bright interactive educational applications is a fun way to let the children learn this can be used to complement their studies through installing a mobile application.
- Keeping track of progress – Many applications offer progress tracking, helping students and adults alike give them a clear sign of what is about to come and realizing their achievements thus motivating them for future accomplishments.
- Revolutionary learning methods – New methods can now be easily implemented into an educational application, these innovative features appear in the smartphone with a new update intact.
Features All Educational Applications Must Have
Now that we have established the many benefits of mobile applications, online learning with smartphones is becoming more popular and practised more.
But developers should keep in mind that only well-designed education applications can stand a fair chance in the vast market. Here are some features of mobile applications every developer should implement.
Video-based content
A great educational application features an option where students can view and listen to chapter-wise lessons and pre-recorded lectures provided by their instructors. Giving students easy access to the lessons at any time of the day.
Benefits with video content are the following:
- Rewinding/Fast-forwarding the video at any time.
- Zooming into an image.
Interactive and engaging content
Education applications need to create a fun and interesting concept when it comes to learning, a game with fun characters as guides is ideal since this will make the kids feel comfortable and less stressed, and eye-catching and vibrant surroundings are also recommended.
Developers should avoid lengthy phrases, keep it simple and easy to understand to further engage the children in your content. To get your application downloaded numerous times, here are some vital factors to take into consideration:
- Create content according to the target audience.
- Create mobile-friendly content.
- Add in fun facts to keep the learner engaged.
- Create content that is simple and understandable.
Gamification
Gamification is vital to attract the maximum number of users, children, teenagers, and adults alike it doesn’t matter what subject the application is about if developers add in mini-games and tests that look like games it will prove to be both fun and educational, keeping their attention and let them learn in the process unknowingly.
Badges and rewards also help motivate students to study more and take on challenges to reach the next level. It massively helps the cognitive development of students and further increasing their level of engagement with the application.
Availability of the application even when there is no internet connection (offline mode)
Not everyone has a stable internet connection and developers should keep this in mind. The ideal mobile education application should be capable of offering their services even if the user is offline. This can drastically keep the students’ interest thriving because they know they have access to it whenever even if they are offline.
Simple and clear user interface
The sign-up and log-in form should be simple and short, and users should be able to see and understand the important features of the educational application within a few minutes.
Updating regularly
Developers should remember to update their content regularly to hold both the interests of adults and children. Here are some update suggestions to keep users engaged:
- Add in videos, facts that are related to your application.
- Add new levels to the games featured in the application.
- Add new mini games to the application.
Live sessions and tutorials
An ideal education application should have interactive live sessions and tutorials to further polish the learner’s skills and it is a great additional competitive feature for them since they can ask questions and get their answers fast.
What Does A Great Mobile Educational Application Look Like?
- Simple and easy to use
A good mobile learning application should be a streamlined experience that engages its users and learners with their training.
- Reliable
The application should provide a smooth and consumer-grade experience, this will build the user’s trust in what the app is offering.
- Available on all smartphones
No one should ever miss out on training and learning because they have an old model of a smartphone if the application is available on both Android and Apple stores not only everyone will able to learn, that means more downloads and users for the developers.
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Mobile Learning Applications?
Advantages:
- Faster – These applications are programmed for specific devices letting them faster than a responsive Learning management system.
- Online/offline synchronizations – Giving freedom to learners, being able to use the application without an internet connection, letting them learn anytime.
Disadvantage(s):
- Manual downloading – Eager learners without extra storage space on their phones will not be able to download the application.
