The digital world isn’t just the domain of cats and funny videos. The amount of knowledge on the internet that can be gained is immense if you know where to look. 

Access to education has been growing at a rapid pace, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. A report by Vieira, Mutize, and Chinchilla showed that over the last two decades, higher education enrollment has gone from nineteen percent in 2008 to thirty-eight percent in 2018. They also emphasize how online education has played a major role in allowing more people to access higher education. 

E-learning portals like Coursera have stated that they have seen over 20 million new learners in 2021. This tells us that the number of people eager to learn is substantial. It is no wonder, then, that so many entrepreneurs are trying to start their own online education platforms. 

With this in mind, let us explore three essential aids that can help you make your platform a successful one.

1. Learning Management Software 

Learning management systems, or LMS, have become something of a game-changer for online schools and universities. The fact that many of them can be customized for a specific educational niche makes them extremely popular. 

They simplify the logistics of running an online educational platform by making course management easy. Learning management systems often include features that streamline the entire content delivery process. 

LMS.org also states that these platforms are not just useful in conventional education contexts but also in the realm of employee training initiatives. Lms.org believes that they can be of great help in hybrid work environments to manage the learning and development of employees.

LMS solutions include everything from text or video-based educational content to quizzes, assessments, and more. The main aim of these systems is to act as a centralized platform where students, teachers, and administrators can interact. 

These systems often come as a SaaS-based subscription model, but you may be able to find licenses that you can purchase outright. 

If you are building an online education platform, it can be almost impossible to handle the logistics without an LMS. Even if you could, online learners have come to expect the user-friendliness that these software solutions offer. 

They provide easy accessibility with mobile apps, an easy-to-understand interface, and in many cases, multilingual support. From an administrator’s perspective, benefits like data backup, scalability, and the ability to tweak aspects of the software for specific needs make them highly attractive. 

2. Gamification Tools 

Given how prevalent gaming is in the lives of Gen-Z, it makes sense to incorporate some of the aspects of video games into learning as well. Gamification tools allow for features like: 

  • Achievements
  • Points and Progress Bars
  • Leaderboards
  • Quests and Missions
  • In-game Currency

Several studies have shown that gamification engages students through an interactive approach. Seeing one’s progress bar fill up or completing a study “mission” releases dopamine in almost the same way that video games do. 

The end result is a learning experience that is both effective and fun. Moreover, it often helps students unlock their competitive nature (in a healthy way) and makes them more ambitious in their goals. 

This is partly because learners have instant feedback on how their actions produce instantly visible rewards and results.  

3. Uniform Lesson Plan Templates 

Every teacher has a unique style of teaching and how they work with students. This is perfectly fine, and as far as possible, it is a good idea to give the teachers you hire a certain degree of flexibility. 

With that said, consistency is going to be important in an online education platform. For one, it lends an air of professionalism to the courses you offer. Parents and students are likely to appreciate clarity and organization in terms of how learning content is structured and presented. 

There are several lesson plan templates and design tools that you can find online. You may get some pushback from some teachers, who are adamant about using their old lesson plans, but you need to draw the line somewhere. Remember, you aren’t going to have the same staff forever. 

Some of them might quit, or you might have to let them go. In such situations, new teachers will find it much easier to adapt if lesson plans have been made according to a uniform template or guideline. 

Conclusion

Online education platforms are where it’s at right now. Sure, there is a stereotype that anyone who wants to make money online is doing so by selling a course. That doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people greatly benefit from e-learning platforms. 

It is never a bad thing to have multiple sources of education in a society. Not everyone learns the best through conventional school systems. 

There can be no denying that the flexibility that online education platforms provide is appreciated by many learners. It makes learning convenient for those who need a little more freedom in terms of time, approach, and content. 

It is a good idea to keep these aspects in mind when designing your e-learning platform and hiring teachers and other staff.