Education is one of the most stable industries across the globe. Almost everywhere in the world education for children and adults is an important subject. Many options are available from kindergarten to professional career. Due to this, competition in the field of education is also rising. Due to this many organizations are creating an online platform of their own. Everyday, a large number of people are registering for part time online courses for upskilling. The demand for developing an online education platform is also increasing.
There are two different types of institutes that run online classes. First of all, there are individuals who create their own website. Some use the tools for online education. One the other hand there are small companies and marketplaces. An online education platform offers easy options to start teaching online. Most individuals use marketplaces and websites to start teaching online. You can select the one you like. In this article you will read about all of these aspects. In addition you will also read about how to start an online education platform and the benefits of online education.
At the end you will also get the trick to calculate the cost of developing an online education platform. Let us dive deep and understand it.
Basics of an Online Education Platform
First of all, an online education platform is a medium that connects a teacher with a student. To start with you can make a website that allows students to register for a course. We can divide the entire process in the steps mentioned below. As an educator you will need these things.
Online Student Registration
If you do not have students to take on the course, then the system will stall even before it starts. Therefore, you need to give students to register online. You can do it using free methods of student registration like Google forms. If not, you can also create a registration form on the website (that you own). If you have a website, then you can also accept money online using payment gateway.
Create study material for online education
You need to create content for both offline and online mediums of teaching. Above all, the quality of content is very important. For any online education platform this is like fuel to keep the engine running. You may record videos but if the quality is poor, students will not like it. There is no alternative to quality if you are running a business or providing online education. Therefore, I recommend using good equipment and checking everything multiple times. Once ready, you can deliver this digital material to students in the form of live sessions or login based access of recorded videos.
In addition you should also consider various online teaching methods. Select the one you like.
Online Teaching Methods
Student registration is only the first step and then starts the real thing. You need to deliver education because that is why students pay a fee. You can do this via many online education methods. Here is a list of options you have:
Upload Pre-recorded Videos
In this case you record the videos with the objective to create an online course. These videos should be recorded in a systematic process. You can upload these pre-recorded videos on your website. Registered students will have access to them. If you do not wish to do this on your own website, you can find an existing online education platform. This step will also help you save website development cost and time. Udemy is a good example to start online training using pre-recorded videos.
Conduct Live Sessions
There are many benefits of online classes. Due to this, many students prefer live sessions. A live session allows students to ask questions. As a result they get instant answers to the queries.
Cost of creating an Online Education Platform
The total cost of an online education platform depends on a list of things. Therefore, you must talk to the software development company for the exact number. Small changes in these requirements can make a huge difference. Consider these while making a website for online education or a custom software development.
Total Students
How many students you will teach is most important. If the count is less (let us assume 100 students), you do not need to invest. You can save this money for marketing your venture. There are free tools for online education that you can use. Free online education tools include WebEx, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Skype. You can use the free version and continue.
On the other hand, if you want to do it on a bigger scale, you need money to start an online education platform.
Server Space for Online Education Website
If you are making a website for teaching students, your course files will be limited. But student registrations have no limit. Due to this the space requirements change. For example: If you are asking students to fill their personal details and attach some documents for verification. The user may click a picture from the phone and upload. In this case the minimum space will be approximately 4 mb per student. The size may reduce or increase based on image quality. But sure there are tools to reduce size while uploading. You will get this information from the software development company.
To make the calculation easy. If your student consumes 2 MB of data, you can save up to 500 students per GB on the server.
All these collectively impact the cost of online education platform or an education website.
Frequently asked question
What is an online education platform?
This is a medium that connects a student with the teacher. Control of creating the course and exam remains with the teacher or institute. Students attend the course for the purpose of learning and acquiring completion certificate.
How much money do I need to start online teaching?
Initially, most marketplaces do not charge anything to upload your course. Your course should meet quality standards of the platform.
How to make an online education platform of my own?
Creating an online platform is expensive. The cost also depends on what you want from the development team. The companies bill you on the basis of how many man hours are needed to complete the job. In addition there is cost associated with quality checks, server etc. Therefore, the collective cost is your total cost of software development.
How to conduct live sessions or online classes?
There are many ways you can conduct online classes. There are tools like WebEx, Team Viewer, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. You can use any of them depending on your comfort level. Most of them allow screen sharing online for better results. In some cases, these perform better than an online education platform.
Can I get free templates for website development?
If you are a software developer, you can create a website using free html templates. You can also download free bootstrap templates and start working. You can also hire an ecommerce website development company to sell online courses.
What are some tools for managing sales?
Starting an online education platform is the same as starting a business. Due to this you need similar tools. You generate leads via email marketing or phone marketing. For managing these leads, you need a lead management software or sales management software. Once you close a lead then it will be business as usual.