Best online schools creation services

How to choose the best online school solution 

Free buyer's guide to the right online school service
 
Has your language school outgrown your old online school management system or are you just looking for a new solution for your online school?

There are some basic tips when it comes to choosing a platform that will work for you now and 5 years from now when your business is 50 times bigger.

Many new online schools start by combining the 5 basic tools for running an online school:

• A centralised information system for students (excel spreadsheet, google sheets, Insightly).

• scheduling software (Google calendar, , Calendly, Acuity).

• live video (Skype/Google Hangouts/Zoom, LearnCube virtual classroom).

• interactive online whiteboard (Twiddler, LearnCube online whiteboard)

• payment gateway (Paypal, Stripe and WePay)

• This works well if you are an independent tutor, but as you scale up it becomes difficult to manage and your professional growth starts to slow down.

• When you are ready to take your organisation to the next level, manage multiple teachers, hire administrators, teach hundreds of students (online or in a physical school)... that's when you need a professional online school administration solution.

• Here are 5 things you can find in the online school service of your choice :

• ease of use

• switching costs

• automation

• characteristics

• vision for the future

• Ease of use

How easy is the service to use? Almost all online school solutions have a free trial that you can use to get a quick overview of how user-friendly the solution is. Before you start, describe the 5 most common problems you hope to solve with a school management system.

Here are the 5 most common problems that cause you to "hire a service program" to solve problems in your school. Can the platform:

• Manage the learning of students, staff and teachers effectively

• plan lessons and courses without much effort

• record your students' and teachers' attendance (both for online and offline classes)

• optimize online payments from students

• receive information and reports on how your school is doing.

 
2. The cost of switching

How easy is the new solution to transfer your data? This is a key question that can significantly increase or decrease your cost of implementing the service.

The first thing to look at is how the new solution imports your current data. The most important information will be your pupil data:

• first name (first and last name)

• contact information (e-mail, phone, address)

• learning information (subjects, notes etc.)

Every system should at least have the ability to import student names and contact information in bulk. Different solutions handle learning information differently, so this may be harder to import at one time, but at least look at 'Note' or 'Student Information Fields'.

The second thing to consider is the references to the previous point about ease of use. If the solution looks outdated or everything seems complicated, this can be a big problem. Trying to retrain your administrative and teaching staff can be time-consuming and costly. So balance simplicity with "unusual features" that you may never actually use.

3. automation

Does the service make your life easier by automating repetitive tasks? This should be built into any new solution. Here are some examples of what the system could do for you:

• Automatically reconcile paid and completed classes.

• nudge users who are studying online to buy extra markers when they run out.

• email reminders before classes start

• make reasonable arrangements for cancellation of classes.

• centralise your data (and protect it by agreement of a representative).

4. characteristics

Does the solution have all the features you need to be able to manage your school online?

Efficient management of staff and student records (i.e. a modern CRM contact management system).

Data privacy (can you set different data permissions for administrators, teachers and temporary teachers?)

attendance management (did students and teachers show up?)

simple schedule management (class times, recurrent classes, courses)

reminders and smart class notifications

student learning information (what have students achieved?)

E-purchase fee collection (Did students pay? Can they pay online?

private messages (can students communicate directly with teachers, but in a secure way that protects your data as a school owner?)

The possibility of using branded labels, or customisation (can you make the platform look more like your own?).

5. Vision

Will this online school solution support your growth in the coming years? Is its provider innovative, useful and future-oriented?

One of the reasons many schools are unhappy with their current provider is that they haven't seen any transformational change for years.

Ironically, the solutions that were around some time ago are often the least able to keep up with technology. They don't evolve because their customer base is equally resistant to trying new ways of delivering services, and the cost of retraining them becomes dire. This is a major problem because technology is changing very rapidly and millions of people expect the platform they use to be modern, elegant and user-friendly.

Here are a couple of simple tips to help determine whether a service provider will keep up with technology:

Is the look and feel modern, friendly and easy to understand what to do?

Google some client names and look at their websites. Do these clients look like innovative, interesting companies or do the websites you see remind you of your favourite 1980s sci-fi film? It's amazing how often the clients they're advertising to no longer use the solution provider...

take a look at their blog or news page. Have they released any innovative new features that give you confidence that they know what they are doing?

on their website, do they draw your attention to the number of features or how they can actually help your business grow?

is "online learning" part of their core offering or is it just a record-keeping service? Online learning is growing at 14-23% a year and will become an integral part of your business in the future.

So, to summarise, you can choose an online school solution that is easy to work with, that easily imports your data and that has a clear vision for the future.