Mobile App Development and Its Impact on the Education Sector
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A study conducted in 2014 by researchers at Baylor University found that college students spent an average of eight to ten hours daily on their cell phones. Teens are no better, with 75 percent of them possessing smartphones and 50 percent of them expressing an "addiction" to their phones. A 2012 study found that teens between the ages of 14 and 17 send almost 100 texts in a day.
This just goes on to prove how tech-savvy the current generation of students is. They have an almost instinctual grasp of all things mobile, be it games or apps. So, it makes sense that kids learn faster when taught digitally via apps instead of the more traditional methods like printed books and blackboards. In fact, Open Colleges states that 81 percent of US teachers believe tablets improve classroom learning, while 86 percent think tablets make learning more efficient. All this has given fresh impetus to mobile app development in major tech hubs, such as Florida and California. But the big question is, to what extent can mobile app development help the education sector? Take a look below.
Efficient Learning Possible Due to Mobile App Development
New mobile applications that facilitate and improve learning have made teaching fun. Using mobile apps enables students to enhance efficiency and precision due to the following factors:
• Independent Learning: Thanks to mobile app development, the learning process is no longer limited to the confines of the classroom. Students can now gain knowledge and resolve their queries from the comfort of their home.
• More Options: The sheer variety of applications available for learners on their tablets or smartphones is astounding.
• Easy Access to Administrative Resources and Knowledge: Educational courses become visually lasting thanks to e-learning applications.
• Improved Student Engagement: Some apps enable students to learn from an audio-visual medium, thereby helping them to retain the information for longer periods. When an individual watches videos or listens to audio files, they begin to understand and retain a concept better than textbooks.
What Goes into the Making of Mobile Apps for Education
A lot more goes into the app development than just technical know-how. Money is at the top of the list. While the development tools are often free, things like licenses and associated servers incur considerable charges. This is why some educational institutions prefer to get the job done in-house; they hire mobile designers and developers to keep their apps up-to-date. Some institutions even outsource their work. There are applications that provide access to private information, like grades. These apps need secure coding. In fact, some institutions have begun to use single sign-on to assure both privacy and security of data.
One can prevent any mobile app development issues through proactive communication between the network security team and the developers. Some security teams even review the codes before launching apps. Once the app goes live, the biggest challenge for developers is to keep pace with the rapidly evolving mobile marketplace.
Mode of Development
Some institutions have resorted to the use of an open source middleware framework for creating apps for students and the faculty. Architecturally, this framework seeks to create a sort of mobile web page template and then make it available for various smartphone models. Thus, it all comes down to cross-platform compatibility. This makes sense as most mobile apps adopt a browser-based approach for promoting their application.
It was only a matter of time before the education sector went digital and mobile apps served to hasten the process. It comes as little surprise that mobile app development is in demand in Florida and other forward-thinking places. Using mobile apps makes teaching fun and learning easier for students.
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Source by Luca E Brown
