The dissemination of knowledge, learning, and exchange of experience in an interactive way is becoming an increasingly urgent need in today’s world. Educational online platforms perfectly solve these problems. In this article, we will consider why education software solutions development is important in the modern world and figure out which features a good educational platform should have.
Types of educational platforms
An educational platform is an online platform designed for interaction between teachers and students. Thanks to this portal, you can provide users with access to an unlimited number of teaching materials and make the learning process as convenient as possible for each student. There are several types of educational sites:
- Educational platform
An online platform that accumulates courses in various subjects. This platform offers automatic knowledge testing. The owners of these sites receive the main income from commissions from the purchase of courses.
- Online shop for courses
This type of project does not imply interactive passing of classes and tests, but only serves as a showcase where customers can buy paid courses, articles, webinars, and other educational materials.
- Web app for online school
This IT solution is mainly for learning foreign languages, allowing you to create the most convenient environment for learning. Useful articles, assignments, and assessments of teachers will be located in a single place.
- Enterprise platform
This type of project will help to introduce modern methods of training for the company. This platform will help to improve the competence of all employees, regardless of their number, as well as create a single knowledge base for the company.
- Website for searching tutors
This platform is aimed to organize the learning process online. This project contains questionnaires of teachers in various specialties. Smart filters help you find the right specialist according to the specified criteria.
- Automation of offline school
This platform helps to take the learning process to a new level: grades, homework, lesson schedule, honor roll, and tuition fees. All in one student office.
Main advantages of building a learning portal from scratch
There are some benefits of developing a learning platform from a scratch. Let’s consider some of them.
- Complex functionality
Individual development allows you to implement a countless number of technical modules on the site, which is impossible when using ready-made solutions.
- Monetization channels
One of the main advantages of designing from scratch over boxed solutions is building several monetization channels and a convenient tariff system for each client.
- Administrative panel
This type of project requires the development of a multifunctional CMS system. Using it on the site will make it easier to moderate and add new information to your site.
- Chat for communication
Creating a site from scratch allows you to implement an online chat on your platform for quick and convenient communication since in the course of the training platform users may have questions and it is important to quickly give a high-quality answer to them.
- Different types of tasks
In addition to test tasks, you can create tasks for watching videos, costing, analytics, and situational tasks.
- Forum
Adding a forum to your site will increase communication and help you share your experience and advice with other users.
Which functions should an educational platform include?
Every educational platform should have the following features to provide users with quality services.
Student profile
In addition to creating a teacher’s personal account, a user’s personal account is being developed on the site. It is important to ensure that the user has access to:
- class schedule;
- educational materials;
- results of tests and assignments;
- payment statuses.
Teacher’s profile
This project is characterized by the creation of several personal accounts for different types of users. For a teacher’s profile on the site, it is important to ensure:
- adding content;
- course editing;
- scheduling classes;
- viewing student results.
Efficiency dashboard
A functional module that allows you to display the main metrics of your platform
on one page in real-time. Thanks to this technical element, the effectiveness of the project can also be monitored.
Payment systems
The buyers of your courses or the clients of your online school can be people from different countries. Therefore, connecting several payment methods reduces the entry barrier for different customers. We will connect:
- Visa & Mastercard;
- PayPal;
- Payoneer;
- online banking;
- others of your choice.
Things you need to provide on the educational platform
It is recommended to implement the following features to benefit from an educational platform.
- Moderation of customers
This function allows us to simplify the registration process on the site by automatically authenticating users through social networks.
- Participant review
Thanks to the creation of additional fields and forms on the site, users can rate and write a personal opinion about the teacher or course.
- Training calendar
The interactive calendar helps to choose the most convenient time for classes for both teachers and students.
- Search for information
Our team of experts will develop smart filters and a search bar to make it easier for the user to find the right course and teacher.
- Data upload
Some assignments or lesson materials may require additional time to review. For example, it is recommended to implement the support of documents in: csv, txt, and pdf.
- Rating creation
Creating competition on your platform improves the quality of learning and personal competencies of participants. Thanks to the rating system, you can choose the best courses, teachers, and students.
Third-party services that need to be connected to the educational portal
- Accounting systems
You can integrate your project with CRM systems to improve the quality of interaction with your clients.
- Payment systems
You are recommended to connect payment systems that are the most relevant in your country, such as Liqpay, Stripe, PayPal, and others.
- Youtube
You can order the development of an API that will allow you to place video materials from Youtube video hosting on your platform.
- ZOOM
Thanks to this integration, you will be able to conduct online conferences without leaving your personal account.
- Viber/Telegram
By connecting instant messengers, you can directly interact with users in a format that is convenient for them.
- Postal services
Integration of the site with these services will allow informing platform users about current offers and discounts.
Conclusion
Nowadays, online education is gaining enormous popularity. More and more people want to learn a new profession or simply improve their skills, learn a new language or improve their skills in their hobby.
The development of an educational platform is a complex and delicate process that requires not only good knowledge in programming but also an understanding of human psychology. Inoxoft provides a full cycle of project development from idea to site commissioning. The company’s team specializes in complex projects, so it is aware of the subtleties and nuances of developing educational platforms.
