By 2022, the global eLearning industry is projected to surpass $243 billion, per Statista, while a study by Research & Market predicts the market size to be $336.98 billion by 2026. The eLearning industry was growing at a healthy rate even before the pandemic, but since last year, the growth has been exponential, especially with the proliferation of learning apps.
When it comes to numbers, Statista says Duolingo was the most popular learning app worldwide in April 2021 based on monthly downloads, with more than five million users. Cake, another learning app was second on the list with Lingokids at the third spot.
Numbers don’t lie! Learning apps, which blend gamification, have become an increasingly popular learning mode for adults and kids. They are also proving to be increasingly effective in learning due to accessibility and inclusivity. Let’s see why.
7 Benefits of Learning Apps
1. Novel learning techniques: These apps employ many novel learning techniques, which are refreshing from the traditional monotonous learning patterns of restricted and upright book learning. They add an element of fun and engagement through puzzles, games, and other exercises. Additionally, using the latest technologies like AR and VR, such apps effectively break down complex learning topics into simple approaches.
2. Enhanced interaction: Learning apps make learning more interactive and increase the engagement factor. Students are more attentive; even the participation between instructors and students and parents and instructors is better and productive.
3. More learning resources: Learning apps give learners a vast trove of resources like ebooks, pdf files, presentations, and other online learning materials that are otherwise impossible or difficult through the traditional learning approaches. Everything online means such resources are accessible to all, irrespective of geographies.
4. Convenient and accessible: Learning apps are convenient; you don’t have to be physically present at a location. As mentioned earlier, they are also accessible, portable, and mobile.
5. Utilization of leisure hours: With TV, the internet, and gaming becoming addictive, learning apps have become a relief for parents and educators. Instead of engaging in such activities, children can spend their time learning new things and gaining knowledge.
6. 24/7 availability: Learning apps can be accessed 24/7, unlike the traditional learning formats where instructors aren’t available all the time to clear learners’ doubts.
7. Inclusive: Learning apps are inclusive as the courses can be structured, designed, and tailored for all demographics. They are also a helpful tool to educate learners on complex, difficult, or taboo topics, such as sex, racism, abuse, etc.
Top Training Areas for Learning Apps
Speaking of inclusivity, learning apps are indeed helpful as they can be used as an effective tool in several areas.
1. Skill development
Learning apps can be effectively used for focused skill development programs. For instance, you can have an app to teach specific skills like music, baking, hospital management, or coding. Within the larger education fold, you can have apps as per student levels like pre-school, high-school, or a college graduate, even competitive exams.
2. Building language proficiency
Learning apps make learning a new language effortless. It’s not always possible to learn from a native speaker or even visit a particular school to learn. Voice directives allow the user to hear how a word is pronounced and practice with the speaker.
3. Soft skills training
Most soft skills young people need to succeed, like communication, social skills, empathy, even a positive outlook, must be built through interaction with other people. Learning apps make such interactions possible. For example, a restaurant chain or a retail outlet can leverage a learning app to teach customer service skills. The apps would be especially helpful in such a scenario as the employees can’t afford to spend long hours in the classroom. A gamified quiz or a bite-sized microlearning nugget that’s quick, engaging, and easily delivered would be engaging as well as effective.
4. Product training
Learning apps can be used to train employees and channel partners on the company’s products and solutions. The depth of product knowledge needed for each learner group can be designed accordingly. For the customer-facing teams, a scenario-based learning approach can help prepare for the typical questions faced on the products. Adding gamification can make learning competitive and engaging. Learning apps enable companies to customize product training, conduct assessments and employ analytics to track preparedness.
5. K-12 education
For the K-12 education sector, learning apps have been extremely helpful, especially when the world has been forced to embrace online learning rapidly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learning apps can work as a complete learning management solution where there are device constraints. Teachers can manage their classes, interact with students, set up lessons, create interactive presentations and lesson plans, and perform student evaluation procedures. Setting up multiple classes, sharing documents, and creating different projects are easy for teachers, while students can access lessons and complete assignments online. Parents can also monitor their children’s activity and performance. When the infrastructure is not an issue, learning apps make a great learning companion tool.
In Conclusion
In today’s connected world, training and education require a delicate balance. As the traditional learning approaches often do, packing too much information can confuse the learners and hinder learning and productivity. On the other hand, learning apps make eLearning more accessible, interactive, and fun in a modern learning environment. As an experienced digital learning company with white-labeled learning apps as one of the core offerings, Liqvid helps organizations roll out standalone learning apps and companion apps to achieve the training goals.
For a mobile-first strategy, a wide range of templates can be utilized to create engaging, interactive content and branded learning apps on Android and iOS platforms. If the strategy needs companion apps for continuous learning, better retention, and reinforcement, a personalized learning experience via learning apps help. The backend applications of learning apps are hosted on a learning management system (LMS), enabling easy progress tracking and custom reports.
Our learning apps are the preferred choice for global organizations with robust content authoring, LMS integration, and analytics. Contact us today to see how we can create interactive learning apps for you.