The education system in India has come a long way. Slowly and steadily, e-learning apps are making their way into the mainstream education network. With the exponential growth of internet services, e-learning is acquiring solid grounds in the country. According to studies, India is among the top 5 nations to download or purchase e-learning apps, view video tutorials and read educative articles online. It is also the topmost nation in the world in terms of year by year growth (55%) in the e-learning app sector.

But there is more to it than meets the eye. Nowadays, regular education is a very costly business for both parents and learners alike. Even so, most institutions fail to provide a satisfactory experience to their students. This is what made e-learning a beneficial solution for millions of people. In a country like India where quality education is still a luxury, e-learning is effectively solving lots of underlying problems.

Recent times show that e-learning apps are gaining a constant popularity and in the process lots of companies are pushing out their unique solution. That being said, there are certain functionalities or key features that most offerings seem to miss out on. We kept these 5 features in mind while developing our very own Barnoparichay language e-learning app. Let us take a look:

Thorough Research

e-learning apps are supposed to match, if not exceed the level of content provided by textbooks. You need to conduct lots of researches on the matter you are going to publish. Factors that you should strictly check are authenticity of data, word usage, target audience and cultural essence. Without these you will create an unfinished product which will push learners away.
For Barnoparichay, we went through various renowned libraries and original book sources. We also conducted various researches on kids and appropriate learning patterns before commencing with the design. A survey was also conducted on the cultural variations of different lingual communities, in order to create an individual impact. The gathered data helped us provide a more unique and complete learning experience.

Vibrant design

Design is the most important aspect of creative e-learning. Books contain lots of texts that can make it a bit monotonous for readers. This is an area where e-learning gets to score big, but it is also one area where companies falter the most. While designing you need to make the interface striking and something that the reader can relate to.
When we started designing Barnoparichay, we had to go through different design blueprints before we could finalize on the most appealing one. The app successfully recreated the look and feel of the original masterpiece. When tested on kids it actually kept them engaged for long periods of time.

Interactive learning tools

e-learning is all about human-app interaction. When developing an app you should always consider integrating a live tool, e.g. a writing tool that registers touch to write, draw letters or objects to check his prowess. This lets learners be more active and have fun as they learn. Plus it saves money and resources by eliminating the necessity of buying notebooks for writing and practicing.
As Barnoparichay is a language learning app, we wanted to introduce an interactive tool for daily practicing. To make it more authentic we decided to replicate the original slate and chalk pencil our generations used for studying, as an app feature. After lots of complexities we were able to perfectly add the slate and chalk pencil for kids and adults to practice drawing on alphabets and have fun while doing it.

Challenges

What is life without challenges. And e-learning is a field which needs a share of it. Apps should always implement the concept of challenge in their apps. Be it a quiz or draw what you see, this introduces gamification and also tests the student/ learner’s knowledge. This also makes them try harder to score higher than friends and earn in-app prizes & offers.
In Barnoparichay we added puzzles in the form of Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra-La for kids to rearrange alphabets in order. This tests their thinking/ response time and pushes them to solve the puzzles faster.

Feature updates

As in any field of learning you’ve got to keep yourself updated. New and developed learning methods, features and tools need to be constantly added in e-learning apps to keep the learner interested. You should go the extra mile by constantly researching advanced learning methods and ways to implement which would help students get more out of their in app learning experience.
In the latest update for Barnoparichay Bengali, we’ve added a collection of Bengali rhymes recorded in a professional studio by young voice specialists. This feature helps young learners frame sentence starting with every alphabet they learn and helps them advance to the next stage of mastering the language.

These are some of the most important features that I feel every e-learning app should offer to their learners. With the progress of time the demand for quality e-learning apps keep increasing in our country. Sooner or later we will see a larger shift in institutes/ universities utilizing this technology as a primary mode of education, rather than complimentary. It is our job to put more effort into creating quality products rather than concentrating on volume. After all, this might be one of the largest and lucrative industries to bank on, for the future.

You can check out Barnoparichay on the following links and give us a feedback.