Why Should You Build an E-learning Website

With the educational system down in several places due to the inclement weather, students turn to e-learning platforms to keep up and ahead with their education. However, you need to be aware of many aspects of building an e-learning platform.

E-learning is a popular method of training the workforce of today. As per Global Market Insights, by 2021, the global e-learning market will reach $300 billion in worth.

This leads us to ask, "How much will it cost to create a user-friendly e-learning website?"

While a significant chunk of the worldwide online education industry is based in the US and Europe, Asia Pacific has shown strong growth in recent years. The latest e-learning trends facilitate this growth by driving better collaboration within the community.

This article will discuss the process and factors considered while developing an online learning platform.

Why Should You Build an E-learning Website?

E-learning brings transformation for everybody, making education and training more available, accessible, and relevant. It also provides a better way to publish, distribute, and manage digital content across all levels of education, from K12 to universities and corporate training.

Virtual reality and e-learning are a perfect fit for European businesses. The most considerable boost to adoption happened in 2019, when the market share grew 35%.

There are many reasons to build an e-learning platform. Here are some of the most common ones :

• Online education is one of the fastest-growing markets because students can do it anytime, anywhere. The best e-learning platform can help you create engaging courses for your users to learn from.
• Due to students' reliance on the internet for self-education, dedicated e-learning platforms are lucrative.
• Today, millions of people are gaining essential skills through online learning. It is a vital aspect of both formal education and corporate training today.
• A recent report by Brandon Hall Research claims that organizations observing e-Learning platforms for their employees have experienced a 30% to 40% decrease in training programs.

Types of Online Learning Platforms

An e-Learning platform is a comprehensive and complex system. Before starting the development, we need to be familiar with Asynchronous and synchronous learning and other subtypes.

1. Learning Destination Sites

E-learning platforms provide a means for people to learn virtually. Different users and content providers can list their courses and training material and build it on a Learning Management System.

The e-learning platform or online learning management system is a platform that allows the users to take various courses of their interest as well as share knowledge and deliver training courses online.

Examples- Udacity, Udema, Coursera, EdX

2. Traditional Learning Management Systems

If you want to create an e-learning platform that offers tools to content creators, then TLMS is the perfect option. It does not just help you make the courses and allows you to do various other tasks like tracking the student's progress, generating reports, and creating profiles.

Companies or institutions can follow the steps to create TLMS based online learning platform for internal training. This helps employees get exercise and manage daily tasks independently without any hiccups. The re-usable project will help companies save time and money in the long run. Outsourcing can extend your scope to external audiences and help in increasing the number of visitors with continuous training programs.

Examples- Abara, CD2 Learning, Learn Dash, Easy LMS

3. Open Source-learning Management System

Open source e-learning platforms are a great way to create community-based content. You can easily integrate users into your platform and let them develop courses with rich gamification elements.

However, customization experts can help the creators modify the courses. The experts will ensure content quality and help make it more interactive.

Examples- Moodle, Sakai

4. Modern Learning Management Solutions

A modern LMS allows you to build and host your training course online. It's all about everything, from the content to the design to the pedagogy.

Users are specific; thus, the content creators will also be from particular knowledge domains. You can provide them with resources about creating a practical course for their users.

Examples- Lessonly, People Fluent

5. Learning Management Ecosystems

The NeXus platform is a dynamic, open-source LMS. It offers numerous e-commerce features, including user registration, attendance tracking, reporting, and more.

Such a comprehensive platform needs to be built with certain things in mind. The backend server is a complex process in itself. The users keep the money coming in, and they can have a strong loyalty towards your product.

Examples- Abara, NeXus

6. Tailor-Made-learning Platform

When you build a custom structured e-learning platform, you can use the best web and course technologies to create a virtual learning system that can transform your business.

Based on your findings, you have the option to create a platform that offers several features. This e-learning website will involve pedagogical learning and reporting systems and include an LMS. Developing the platform will ultimately allow you access to multiple features like course creation.

You need a platform that provides the basic features and also helps to provide an excellent User Experience to keep learners engaged and interacting with the e-learning platform.

Examples- HBX, Moodle

Monetization Models for Online Learning Platforms

It is essential to understand developing an app that gains traction. The creation process of a learning platform is more than having a great idea. You can utilize many strategies to monetize the solutions you offer for your clients.

Whether you want to create a free or paid open-source LMS, you'll need to find a way to generate revenue. In this post, you'll learn about several earning strategies and how they can be used together to make your project profitable.

1. Subscription- The excellent idea is to partner with universities and colleges, giving them an e-learning platform for their students. You can also create tutorials for the courses or a course on designing classes. Students can then use courses to learn online, then practice on your application.

2. Freemium method- Startups have an excellent opportunity to benefit from a freemium model in the e-learning platform. Freemium means that some services will be free for users, but customers must purchase completion certificates.

3. Online Advertisements- This is a standard revenue generation method for most websites. Putting advertisements on your e-learning platform can bring a constant revenue stream into your business.

4. Marketplace- The marketplace model is a great way to start your e-learning business. It makes use of the existing platform you built with your e-learning modules, which helps you scale it up quickly by making use of the internet.

Must-Have Features for the MVP Version

Next up in creating an e-learning platform is the feature and function integration. A successful online curriculum needs to provide a systematized experience for its users.

1. Login and Authentication- Creating a secure registration sequence for the e-learning platform is necessary. A guide and pre-registration are essential for users new to the online learning platform. For trainers, set their profiles and preferences.

2. Searching Options- A good e-learning website must make it easy for students to find relevant courses. A good e-learning website allows students to create their course lists.

3. Dashboard- Building a student and a teacher dashboard helps them easily access information on a single window. It also increases engagement and interaction with the users.

4. Smart Reporting and Analytics- Students must know their crucial improvement areas for better learning. Include intelligent technologies to create e-learning websites that leverage students' course data and allow AI to make personalized recommendations and tips for students.

5. Information Management Systems- With IMS (Information Management System) for both students and teachers, you'll get a single chart of all your previous activities. This way, you can see which courses are gaining traction and identify underutilized or outdated content.

6. Gamification- Gamification uses game elements and a storyline for a non-game environment. Primarily, gamification is used in instructional applications, where the learner gets cues and feedback while participating in activities to achieve a goal.

According to data gathered by Gamification in Learning Consortium, gamification is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion. It is also essential to add such functions when building an e-learning website.

7. Add Video Content- According to Forrester Research, employees believe video courses save time. Researchers also observed that students understand more from watching videos than from reading notes and books.

8. Course Creation- This platform allows private teachers and institutions to create courses for your e-learning website. Enabling teachers to sell their studies can also become a revenue generation model for your e-learning website.

9. Payment Systems- It is essential to add all payment options to the e-learning platform. The greater the payment options, the easier it will be for the users to interact and use your website.

How to Build an E-learning Website?

Before you start building an e-learning platform, it is essential to know how everything works. That should include the workflow, team composition, tech stack, and potential challenges.

Creation of Idea

1. Ideation- The first thing you need is a great idea. But the real question is not whether we need yet another app or platform; the real question is why do we need one? You're already ahead of the curve if you can answer that with market research and a solution to a pain point.

What to do?

• Create Flow Charts
• Identify the workable aspects of your idea.

2. Understand your Audience- Before creating your online learning platform, it is imperative to know who you will be providing the product for. Who is your target audience? If you can relate to the audience's needs better, you will create a solution that will be useful for them. Once you know what your audience needs from you, find an area where the competition fell short and make improvements there. The last step is how to capture your audience once they use your online learning product.

What to do?

• Visualize your Audience
• Interact with as many potential customers as possible.
• Create Customer Personas.

Research the project's details

1. Market research- To streamline your learning platform, analysis and create a strong foundation built on a solid business case. Doing this will benefit your company immensely because the technology market changes quickly. Keeping track of these changes can help you adapt to the market around you.

What to do?

• Jot down your idea.
• Build an understanding of the whole concept.
• Try Different assumptions.
• Test those assumptions against the market position.
• Understand the scope of marketing, promotions, and development.

2. Competitors research- With the idea and knowledge of the market, you should list the closest competitors. The information will help you to identify the main steps for the business. Compared with other startups, it leads to core features, finding unique positioning, and focusing on the growth strategy.

What to do?

• Research competitors using Google or Capterra.
• Make a list of the closest competitors. Identify them in comparison with your concept.
• Make a comparison table of features, marketing activities, and potential customers.

Challenges of Building an Online Educational Platform?

1. Lack of motivation

If you are an e-learning entrepreneur or have online courses, you are likely struggling to keep users engaged. The answer lies in gamification. This means enhanced marketing and community engagement.

2. Choosing a learning model

Creating an e-learning platform is complex, as each one has specific development models. It's essential to determine the model you need before delving into the development process.

Cost Input to Create E-learning Website

If you have an idea and want to build an e-learning platform, it would be best to opt for one of the three employment models. These include an In-house team, local agency, or outsourcing.

The total cost to create an e-learning website will depend on several factors. For instance, Indian developers charge on average $20-$50 per hour if you take the outsourcing route. It will take somewhere between 1100 and 1260 hours to create the desired e-learning app.

Want to Build Your E-learning Platform?

Noetic offers all the assistance that helps your idea of creating an e-learning platform materialize. Partnering with us is the best bet to make a scalable online learning platform. We develop intelligent solutions for learning management systems like LMS. We work along with you to ensure that we deliver the correct answer.

We believe in using an agile approach to development. This lends itself to a better understanding of your business and, ultimately, a higher quality product.