How To Build an Online Learning Platform - Feature Analysis

Are you looking for how to build an online learning platform? Custom el-earning development is the way for businesses who would like to build their own e-learning platform like an education marketplace, a Learning Management System, a language-learning platform, an app for K-12, a solution for corporate training needs or just a cool original course. If you don’t know where to start when building an online learning platform, this guide from the learning company Trawex International LLC would be the best place for it.

What is an Online Learning Platform?

An online learning platform is an information system that provides a safe learning environment where students can take online courses.

These online learning platforms are often called ‘online course marketplaces’ because they give learners the opportunity to search for and pay for online courses directly.

While some of these course marketplaces are used to feature online courses that you can create, the majority is more educational-based and strictly offers university-level education.

Choosing an Online Learning Platform

If you are willing to develop a learning system, you have two options here: creating a new system or customizing an existing system

Choose to develop a new system for eLearning if you prioritize:

• Scalability - If you expect millions of users on your product, you can design the architecture and structure the code to ensure it is ready for the high load;

• Unique features - A project utilizing rare features (e.g. virtual reality or artificial intelligence) should likely be developed from scratch;

• Few budget constraints - A completely new eLearning system is expensive and takes months to build.

Customizing an existing Learning Platform is right for you if you have:

• Lower scalability requirements - The LMS would have features that are excessive for your product. This tends to make customized solutions more “heavy” and harder to scale than their turnkey counterparts;

• Unique process - An eLearning project which differs from the competitors primarily by teaching methods would be easier to implement by customizing an existing solution;

• Limited budget - Existing LMS’ already have most (if not all) of the functionality a learner and instructor might need. This helps cash-strapped startups save money on development.

Either way, the circle of the e-learning Software Development process will look pretty much the same and will include the following:

• Requirements analysis - Preparing a detailed specification takes a lot of time. But there should be at least a set of basic requirements so the team knows what they need to build.

• Design - Organize and draw the visuals for your product.

• Implementation - The stage where the programming work is done.

• Testing - It is needed to make sure everything works as it should.

• Evolution - After the product goes live, it’s time to listen to the feedback and add new features.

Features to Amplify Your Existing Online Learning Platform

Customers’ demands for online education are instantly growing. Insufficient experiences can lead to interruption of studies, platform abandonments, and low ratings.

To stay on the safe side, it’s essential to keep the platform’s functionality up to date, and in full compliance with the expectations of a modern learner, such as:

Virtual Classrooms

These are online spaces that share some offline classroom features and ensure the possibility of connection for the distance learning participants.

Many courses are missing in-person communication; video-on-demand courses are unable to fulfill this psychological need of a human being. In real-time, students can voice their answers and questions, and interact with teachers and fellow students.

Virtual classrooms often include the following functionality:

• Video conferencing

• Sub-chats

• Video recording

• Digital whiteboards

• Messaging

• Participation controls

Mobile Learning

If your project does not have a mobile app yet, it’s time to consider developing one. We are living in a mobile-first world. 

Mobile learning platforms often include the following functionality:

• Push notifications

• Gamification

• Multimedia content support

• Offline learning

• In-app networking

• Progress synchronization

Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning is often considered as the future of employee training, since the learning paths are unique for each student. Courses are built to provide just-in-time feedback, pathways, and resources.

Adaptive learning often includes the following functionality:

• Adaptive content

• Instant analytics

• Advanced online assessment

Marketing Strategy For An Online Learning Platform 

You know how they say: build it, and they will come… to your competitors, who have invested in promotion. To achieve success, make sure people will hear about you.

There are several major options for marketing your learning product:

Ads

It includes contextual advertising on search engines, banners and promotion blocks on social media. There are tons of available tools and the costs are reasonable. 

Social media marketing

Choose the social network(s) where your prospective clients gather and build a community around the product. Besides attracting new customers, social media can help track what people want and gather feedback.

Content marketing

Making useful content and promoting it demonstrates your expertise and helps you rank higher on search engines. A blog of an e-learning company, for example, might have advice about teaching/learning methods, research, stats and more. Don’t limit yourself to text - videos and infographics are also quite popular.

Online Learning Monetization Strategy

As for monetization, there are many ways of earning money with the help of ready products in e-Learning, including:

Paid lessons

• The whole course could be a product that the users can buy and access at will. Having a free trial version showing off your advantages will be useful to bringing learners.

Freemium

• The product is free but has one or more paid versions offering extra benefits: no ads, personalization, priority service and more.

Subscription

• This model is similar to the first one but offers user’s temporary access to the product for certain payment.

Ads

• If you’re e-learning app has a free version, it can bring revenue through ads. The tricky part is finding the balance between earnings and user satisfaction. Nothing irritates a user more than nagging ads everywhere.

Commission

• This model suits the marketplace. If a learner pays a tutor or a course vendor through your system, you can take a cut of the transaction.

Conclusion

We explained how to build a custom online learning platform from scratch and how to amplify an existing project so that it meets the expectations of all those involved.

At Trawex, we know how to deliver growth and turn your ideas into a game-changing reality. If you want an exact estimate for your eLearning platform or website development project and to create a solution that fits your requirements and budget, feel free to contact us for a quote or book a demo on our LMS.