University and college students are voracious consumers of technology. Well-designed and functional apps are an essential part of education, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when learning moved online. Hence, technology is unavoidable in the education sector.
Education doesn’t look the same in every field. Math and engineering students will have differing needs to the more essay writer orientated degrees in the arts and humanities. So if you want a strong following for your student app, then you must meet their stringent and varied demands.
1) Usability
UI and UX are fields that have blossomed in recent years; they’re incredibly pertinent in modern app design. Smartphones are now bigger in screen size than ever and more connected, making them handy tools to have around. Synchronization between a user’s laptop and smartphone is essential.
Making an app that is easy to use is the secret to getting thousands of downloads. It should look smart and clean, without the need for too much thinking when using it. Intuition is strong amongst young technology users, and they are quick to ditch an app that doesn’t click with them.
To achieve a good user experience, an app needs in-depth and rigorous testing before launch – and during the period of release. Bugs need finding and dealing with quickly. Without adequate tracking and tracing, an app’s usability will tank over time. College students are unlikely to continue using something which doesn’t make their life any easier.
2) No hidden fees
A student budget is a tight budget. Your app may require lots of work and development, and no one will begrudge paying for something which is of a high standard. The last thing students want to discover when using your app is that the full versatility of it requires an extra payment.
Navigating this can mean producing a free version and a paid-for version, or perhaps a lengthy free-trial period. Don’t just give users a week; let them try it for a whole semester or term.
3) Meet a key demand
One of the bugbears of essay writing is referencing. Every student can recall a time when they were putting the finishing touches to an essay and were struggling to remember which specific book or journal they used for sourcing their evidence.
With many different referencing styles available, it can get confusing and difficult when keeping track of all the citations. A modern essentials app for a student might include a referencing portal, as well as a calendar, and a timer.
Why a timer? There are many productivity gurus out there who espouse the power of the ‘Pomodoro’ method. Pomodoro means tomato in Italian, and it helps anyone with their workflow. You get 25 minutes on and then five minutes off.
4) Discounts, discounts, discounts
There is no deal-hunter quite like a student. This largely impoverished demographic will clip a coupon for a half-priced shot at a bar, so why not act as a meta-aggregator and gather all available coupons and offers? they could be online, local, academic, leisure-related. Such a money-saver is the perfect modern essentials app for a student population.
5) Lawtech
Lawtech is a developing part of the tech sector. After fintech, it seems logical that law is going next. Lawtech takes advantage of research in linguistics, natural language processing, and big data to perform many tasks in the field.
For law students, introducing themselves to this kind of tech during their studies could be incredibly beneficial. For instance, CaseCrunch is a British AI start-up that predicts case results.
They tested CaseCrunch against one of the top law firms globally; the lawyers and CaseCrunch had 800 insurance cases to evaluate. The teams had a week to assess and deliberate on the mis-selling claims. The lawyers achieved 62% accuracy, but CaseCrunch was far ahead with 87%.
Automation won’t steal lawyer’s jobs just yet, so law students can breathe easily for now, though these results show that AI and apps beyond smartphones have a big part to play in the legal sector from now on.
Another highly sophisticated piece of technology students will contend with is called Premonition. Premonition holds a massive dataset on legal cases in the US and around the world. The software deals with choosing a lawyer; “Select your lawyer on data, not anecdote,” goes their rather wordy catchphrase.
Regardless of their marketing, Premonition offers insights into which lawyers win cases. Such technology is useful for law students as it can help them track who and where they may wish to intern with to achieve the greatest successes.
Round-Up
Students and technology are inseparable; following the pandemic, many of us turn to technology for fixes. Education is no different. In order for an app to succeed in the student market right now, one has to work hard to get noticed and offer something that makes life easier.
