Top 5 Mobile Tools for the New EdTech Startup
Over the past decade, the educational sector has undergone a digital revolution. Artificial intelligence and tech tools have gradually been integrated into classrooms, giving rise to the edtech industry. Now, there are tons of apps and platforms that make learning math for kids a seamless process for both students and educators.
However, venturing into this industry can be a challenge, especially if founders aren’t armed with the right mobile tools. Thus, this article will explore the best tools for developing and launching a new edtech product. Read on.
Contents
Why EdTech?
EdTech has slowly transformed into a billion-dollar industry, which explains why several startups are venturing into it. For example, in the first quarter of 2020, Google Play recorded up to 466 million downloads for learning apps. But that’s not where the numbers stop.
Research has shown that the global market value for EdTech in 2020 was pegged at $89.07 billion, and this is expected to grow to over $218 billion in 2027. Thus, it makes sense for any startup to grab a slice of this highly-profitable industry.
The Best Mobile Tools for an EdTech Startup
Any edtech startup looking to compete in the gigantic industry must create products that can solve users’ problems and meet their demands. In light of this, here are some of the best tools that will prove helpful for this purpose:
Corona Labs
Corona Labs is an easy-to-use cross-platform tool that lets startups develop games and apps quickly. With a single codebase, users can publish their projects to all major platforms and devices, including mobile phones and desktops. A key perk of this tool is that users can create games and apps in just a fraction of time. It’s also an excellent choice for startups who want to focus on creating educational games.
Features
- Open-source: This mobile tool uses Lua, a highly efficient open-source scripting language commonly used by popular franchises. It also operates an open-source technology that lets developers add new features to the core product.
- Plug-ins: Corona Labs offers users a wide selection of plugins for building efficient products.
- Full project templates: Users can visit the marketplace to gain access to project templates, sound effects, and so on.
Pricing
Corona Labs is completely free to use.
Platform
Android and iOS devices
Buddy
Buddy is yet another seamless tool that aids edtech startups in developing efficient apps and games. With this tool, users can build, test, and even publish Android applications in just a single click. It also supports and is compatible with various programming languages such as Elixir and Ruby. It’s also fully integrated with other popular third-party applications such as GitHub and Azure.
Features
- Over 100 pre-built actions: This software comes with over 100 actions that allow users to build, push, and run apps and websites in just one click.
- Integrations: Buddy has excellent integration with several deployment and development tools
Pricing
Buddy offers a free trial with a paid version that starts at $75 per month.
Platform
Android
Back4App
For edtech startups looking to create a low-code educational application, Back4app is an excellent choice. This open-source backend lets users scale applications seamlessly and improves productivity for developers. It’s also integrated with up to 6 popular tools, including JavaScript, GraphQL, Swift, Objective-C, and Xamarin.
Features
- Push notifications: Push notifications are essential for any educational product or application. Fortunately, Back4app helps developers integrate this feature into their products with a notifications queue.
- Efficient data model solution: This mobile tool offers an efficient data model solution to help startups create and sync all application data.
- Scalability: Back4app offers scalable hosting solutions that are useful for enhancing user experience.
Pricing
Back4app offers a free version to users. However, its paid version starts from $25 per month.
Platform
Android and iOS
Ionic
Ionic is a top-tier mobile app development platform that helps tech startups build efficient applications with no hassles. It currently powers up to 15% of all apps worldwide and has been used by some of the world’s most prominent brands. As such, it’s the perfect tool for the average edtech startup that’s trying to navigate its way into the industry.
Features
- Cross-platform technology: Ionic offers cross-platform integration for users. This means that startups will be able to create an app that can run on Androids, iOS devices, desktops, and web searches.
- Stable API: Ionic is built on Javascript, HTML, CSS, and other standard web technologies. It also utilizes standard web APIs, providing users with a reliable API for their products.
- Open-source: Ionic is open-source software built upon the MIT license.
Pricing
Ionic is free.
Platform
Android, iOS, desktops, and web search engines.
Appypie
Appypie is a no-code mobile app development platform that’s perfect for startups looking to launch their first edtech product seamlessly. Established in 2014, this app builder has helped users build over two million apps since its inception. For users who prefer to test the merchandise before committing, Appypie provides the opportunity to develop and preview a basic app from their web page. It also offers integration with some essential marketing tools such as MailChimp and Google Analytics.
Features
- Push notifications: Users can integrate push notifications into their products for marketing and enhancing user experience.
- Custom code: Appypie lets users add their own HTML code from scratch to create customized pages.
- Social media integration: With this tool, you can integrate your app with just about any social media platform.
Pricing
Appypie offers different paid plans, with the basic one starting at about $16 per month.
Platforms
Android, iOS
Additional Tools for EdTech Startups
Launching an edtech startup requires a wide range of tools not limited to mobile development and even insurance for that alone. If you’re trying to launch an edtech startup that’s geared for success, the following tools will undoubtedly come in handy:
WordPress
Every edtech startup needs a website to boost online visibility and serve as a showcase for potential users. This is where content management systems like WordPress come in. WordPress is a low-cost tool that lets users create, manage, and publish content on their websites. It also offers a wide range of plugins that allow users to give their website an aesthetically pleasing and professional design.
It’s the perfect content management system for an edtech startup, not just because it’s affordable but because it requires only minimal coding. As such, there’ll be no need to hire a freelance developer or programmer to get your site up and running.
MailChimp
Edtech is primarily about revolutionizing the educational sector. However, this doesn’t negate the fact that edtech startups still need email marketing for visibility and reach. MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing tools for startups as they offer users a wide range of features for low prices.
With this tool, startups can send up to 12,000 emails per month to 2000 subscribers at no cost. Their paid plans offer users more flexibility and versatility and start at $11 per month. It also integrates with WordPress, Google Analytics, and Facebook, thereby linking each startup’s marketing strategies into one seamless loop.
Trello
For many edtech startups, it can be hard to manage employees and keep track of all the tasks at hand. Fortunately, efficient project management tools like Trello can help you handle basic team management and keep things under control. This tool uses a card-based system to help users create tasks, assign them, and work more collaboratively.
With a modern interface, it’s quite easy to navigate and create or modify projects. It also offers a free version where users can create unlimited boards and save files as well. However, the free version has a limitation of about ten MB of space for files. To get more storage space, users have to upgrade to the paid plans which start at $5 per month.
How to create an educational product
For any edtech startup, starting from simply kids math games up to complicated long-term projects, launching an educational app or product is a phenomenal experience. However, it involves critical research and consideration before delving into the developmental stage. Here are some essential steps for building the perfect edtech solution:
Set a clear goal
EdTech solutions are great but diving into them head-on without a proper plan is a recipe for failure. Before creating an educational product, it’s essential to first create an outline of your end goal.
What exactly are you trying to achieve? Is there a specific user problem or pain point that you’re trying to solve? Defining your goals will help you decide the right product to build and the features it should contain.
For instance, if you’re trying to help young kids enjoy the learning process without getting bored, you’re better off creating an educational game or a gamified edtech solution.
Conduct appropriate market research
Once startups have defined their goals, it’s essential to cover the next crucial step: market research. Market research helps you create a product that meets the specific needs of your target audience and is also viable in the competitive market.
When conducting market research, focus on outlining the fundamental demographics of your target audience, such as their age and gender, educational level, location, and so on. This will help you understand their habits and interests and subsequently create a product that fits into these interests.
You’ll also need to conduct a competitive analysis by studying your competitors. Find out the unique value proposition they offer to users, monetization strategies, as well as all the gaps that your product will potentially fill.
Create a prototype
After the initial research stage is done, you can then delve into testing. Creating a prototype before releasing a product is essential because it allows you to display your ideas in a tangible form, get appropriate feedback, and eliminate all potential flaws before building the final product.
When building a prototype, ensure that the interface is simple for users of all demographics (even outside your target audience). This will help you nail user-friendliness right from the get-go. Although in-house developers primarily do prototype testing, you can hire a freelance team if your startup doesn’t have one yet.
Develop and deploy
Usually, the proper app development stage begins after the prototype has been approved. However, when it comes to edtech solutions, you shouldn’t just stop at developing and testing your new product. You also need to deploy it.
The deployment stage should cover all the primary areas that might affect your users’ experience. For instance, it’s essential to carry out server stress testing during this stage. This involves testing your app’s server limit for any malfunctions that might occur when too many users are on the app simultaneously. This will help you avoid app glitches and enhance the user experience.
Figure out monetization strategies
There are several ways through which edtech startups can monetize their product. Before launching your product, it’s essential to determine which monetization strategy works best for your app and brand.
For instance, there’s the Freemium strategy which is the most popular among startups and huge brands. You could offer users a free version of your app with the opportunity to upgrade to a paid (premium) plan that offers more advanced features and exciting benefits than the free version.
Alternatively, you can have users simply pay a one-time fee to enjoy the full range of your app’s features with no need for premium or basic plans.
Another monetization strategy worth considering is in-app advertising. However, this can be tricky as users may find the ads annoying or inappropriate. To get around this, you might utilize in-app advertising in a free version of your app and offer users the chance to get rid of annoying ads by upgrading to a paid plan.
Conclusion
This article explores the best mobile tools for edtech startups and goes a step further to provide valuable tips for launching a successful edtech product.
Want to learn more about useful mobile app development tools? Read Top 20 Mobile Application Development Tools.
Good luck!
