Web App Development Services + Ruby on Rails Synergy In Education

Designing the websites in a way that can cater to a diverse range of people regardless of where they come from, and their physical or mental restrictions is important. However, this ideology needs to be the core of the educational software development and designing process and not an afterthought.

Educational websites generally have 03 main types of users; students, educators, and parents. Keeping these three personas in mind is essential to do the proper research and thereby designing the perfect website. Based on this, the research can be done.

• Team Research - Including developers, managers, and QA along with the designer and researcher in the meetings for an extensive discussion and design a better approach towards development.
• Being Considerate - Preparing and reading beforehand for a better grasp of sensitive issues and how to discuss them with the user.
• Observation - Visiting the campus or educational institutes to realize the technological requirements.
• Testing - To check whether the solutions meet the set requirements or not after the development process is complete.
• Different Approach - Focusing on making digital solutions more accessible for everyone instead of integrating the latest technology. 

Connect with a web app development services provider who is diligent and dedicated to designing a website based on methodological research. But, before that, let’s understand what we imply by improving accessibility in education.

Enhancing Accessibility in Education

To put it simply, accessibility is about developing solutions to maximize usability across as many diverse standings as possible. Today it encompasses almost everything from designing to functioning to information exchange and so on.

Online learning platforms are getting popular among people to access courses worldwide. So, to ensure success, you must design a solution with in-built accessibility features. Including components like closed captioning, audio descriptions and multi-lingual content can be beneficial for learners who don’t have much knowledge of the platform.

There are other features like text or image-to-speech which can be incorporated to assist people with disabilities as well so that even they are included in this digitally transformed learning experience.

Integrating these alternate ways to navigate through the website or platform, will facilitate engagement and enhance user experience.

These online learning platforms can be the breakthrough in the education sector which will open up opportunities for enabling inclusive education. Thus, allowing everyone to have access to education be it someone belonging to a place with fewer resources or someone with disabilities. 

But it is a challenging task to implement it. Some of the challenges that you may encounter during the Educational software development process, like: 

• Developing an Inclusive Curriculum: Since people from different parts of the world will be coming together to study, the course should be designed considering different ethnicities, abilities, disabilities, ages, gender, etc. to ensure that everyone feels included during the course.
• Personalized Education Plan: A variety of courses, curated for different types of learners can be incorporated when designing the online learning platform since you can get the flexibility. However, this requires you to have the technological resources for proper documentation, organization, and maintenance of the details entered by the learner.
• Well-Conducted Research: To design a platform that can be utilized by the larger population, you need to do thorough research to get an insight into what can be incorporated and up to what extent.
• Definite and Realistic Goals: Before you get started, it is important to set clear goals and expectations. Have a clear outline of the whole project, like features to be included, technological resources needed, and many more. This will assist you in setting realistic goals and hiring the right expert.
• Need for Skilled Professionals: Finally, when all the above challenges are dealt with, you need to look for the right technology and an adept expert to implement it. You need a feature-rich dynamic website.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an organization that sets the standard for the internet and in 1999 it gave a set of guidelines under Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that were to be met in order to ensure that the digital resource is accessible for everyone.  

WCAG 2.1 is the latest version of these guidelines, and it consists of three levels of compliance, 

Level A: The first level of accessibility guidelines requires content to be understandable, operable and perceivable. There should also be alternate text for images or captions for the audio, depending upon the kind of content.

Level AA: It requires content to be compatible with different assistive technologies, multiple browsers and devices. Other things like, alternate text for non-text content, good contrast, minimized scrolling, etc are also necessary.

Level AAA:  This is the highest level of accessibility and requires content to have additional features including the ones mentioned above. These features can include things like sign language interpreters, descriptions for videos and images, etc. These features help enhance the user experience. 

Some of the fundamental practices that can be incorporated to establish equity in learning opportunities to enhance accessibility with the same materials and resources are:

• Making sure that language is easy to understand and concise
• Having consistency in the final formatting
• Including images, alternate texts, etc. for easy comprehension
• Using multi-lingual subtitles and transcripts with videos 
   

These complicated challenges can be simplified with the right web app development services provider who understands your goals to provide the ideal solution while complying with all the legal requirements. And an efficient and fitting Ruby on Rails development service provider offer just that.

Why Choose Ruby on Rails for Web App Development Services?

When developing an educational platform, it is important to focus on the user experience (UX) designs for it will determine the user engagement, interaction and perception of the platform.  A good UX design for an educational platform would be user-centric and will ensure that the learner gets an effective and inclusive learning experience.  This will increase engagement and satisfaction among the learners. Some of the key principles are: 

• Usability - This includes creating a user-centered design, easy navigation, and consistent and clear structure to make it easy for users to interact with the platform.
• Accessibility - Providing alternative texts for non-textual content, using simple language, and ensuring efficient functioning across different devices are a few factors that are needed to ensure that the course can be accessed by all users.  
• Personalization - Providing customized learning plans, schedules, and recommendations based on user’s needs and goals can make eLearning more beneficial and engaging. This can be done via various tools like Learning Management Systems (LMS), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning(ML).
• Responsiveness - This refers to designing the course in a manner that adapts in response to the users’ needs. It is done using algorithms based on learner engagement, performance, etc. Based on that, the course is tailored in sync with their preference, learning patterns, and environment. This makes learning more flexible, enjoyable, and productive.  
   

Few of the many reasons why Ruby on Rails development services are the perfect choice to build an ideal UX design for your eLearning platform are listed below:  

• Easy to Learn 
  Ruby on Rails is a server-side web application framework that is widely used by many because of its simple and optimized syntax. Its well-managed and well-written documentation feature makes it an easy-to-learn framework.
  In comparison to other frameworks, it also gives much neater codes which makes it easy to read and comprehend, thus making it an ideal choice for educational software development as it can fasten the development process by as much as 50%.
• A Cost-effective Choice 
  Ruby on Rails is an open-source framework that reduces the licensing cost along with less training time which further saves resources. It is perfect for developing dynamic web portals with a huge amount of diverse data from multiple sources. It will save you development and maintenance costs.
• Secure and Reliable 
  A lot of businesses big and small have decided to hire Ruby on Rails developer to develop reliable web projects. It offers automated testing, neat codes and follows standard security protocols for web apps. Thus helping the developers build robust web apps securely  
• Easy Maintenance
  Ruby on Rails is a consistent and easy-to-maintain web application framework. It is well-optimized for new developers to understand old codes in the middle of the project or for the ones to get an idea about where they left off the last time. This makes it easy for developers to design and maintain the portals.
  Also, the framework is backed by thousands of Ruby on Rails experts who keep working on upgrading the existing codes which helps in updating the library with contemporary solutions. It also provides access to a variety of resources that can be utilized to solve any complex issues during the development journey.
   
• Clean Codes for Catering to Modern Needs
  Coding with Ruby on Rails frameworks can get well-optimized. It offers smaller codes for clean and extensible coding. This makes it an easy-to-maintain and scalable framework. With Ruby on Rails, even the complex eLearning platforms can be easily modified to cater to the need of a growing business. 

It can easily synchronize with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and many other programming languages. Thus, developing and designing modern and elegant applications can be made efficient with Ruby on Rails.  

 

Build Dynamic Web Applications Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails relies on four principles that help develop complex and dynamic websites in a simple manner: 
 

• Model-View-Controller (MVC) Architecture - Ruby on Rails framework is based on MVC architecture that helps it build interactive and user-friendly web solutions. It stores the codes and can point out data manipulation for the application. It also controls application-user interaction like how the data is displayed in different forms like HTML, PDF, XML, RSS, etc.
• Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) Principle - This principle makes it easy to make any changes or reduces errors during the educational software development process. It minimizes the chances of information repetition in the system. Since the majority of its codes are in English, coding gets simplified as the syntax feels similar to English.
• Conventions over Configurations - This is a design principle that quickens the development process with pre-defined conventions rather than configuring every single thing from scratch. This reduces the complexity of the framework. Additionally, it also comes with pre-written code fragments which are updated regularly by the community and can be used to enhance the functionality of the web app.
• Scalable Web Apps - Ruby on Rails is beneficial for developing eLearning platforms because of its excellent scalability and reliability. Companies hire Ruby on Rails developer with the necessary expertise in the domain to get efficient solutions.

Key Accessibility Considerations in Ruby on Rails Development

Ruby on Rails is not just a developer-friendly framework but also provides an enhanced user experience for learners. This is why when you look for web app development services for your eLearning platform, Ruby on Rails can be the perfect solution. Some of the important accessibility features that Ruby on Rails experts can incorporate are:  

• Ensuring Proper Semantic HTML Structure for Accessibility
  Writing semantically correct HTML helps the browser understand what the content is about and how different sections are related to each other. This streamlines the functions of other assistive technology like screen readers which turns text into speech.
• Implementing Keyboard Navigation and Focus Management 
  This helps users with disabilities to easily navigate through and interact with the website. It can also enhance the overall user experience and makes learning accessible for everyone.  
• Utilizing ARIA Attributes and Landmarks for Improved Accessibility
  Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is W3C-specified markup that can be added with HTML. It helps assistive technology in providing a better understanding of the context, thus making it easier for users to understand and navigate through the website. It also helps the users to identify the important sections of the page.
• Handling Color Contrast and Visual Impairments 
  Color contrast has a significant impact on the readability of the content. It is especially needed for people with poor vision or are colorblind. With Ruby on Rails, developers can easily build high contrast color-palette or larger font sizes to make sure that everyone is included in the learning journey.
• Providing Alternative Text for Images and Multimedia
  Using alternative texts for non-textual content helps people with visual disabilities to easily understand the content through screen readers. This will ensure that they too have access to the learning resources. 
   

Implementing Accessibility Features using Ruby on Rails

The importance of including the accessibility features was mentioned in the initial sections of the blog. Now, let us see how these features can be effectively integrated during the educational software development process with Ruby on Rails.

• Integrating Accessibility Gems and Plugins in a Ruby on Rails Project 
  Identify the accessibility gems and plugins you require and install them with the command line or with a Gemfile. After that, you can easily integrate it into the project’s file. You can also leverage the diverse Ruby on Rails libraries to add accessibility features seamlessly. Finally, test the project to ensure that all the gems and plugins are successfully integrated and performing the intended functions.
• Creating Accessible Forms and Input Validation  
  A few things can be incorporated to create accessible and easy-to-use forms with input validations using Ruby on Rails projects. Start by writing a semantically correct HTML structure by properly labeling and organizing them.
• Ensure that the data entered by users is valid by adding the required attribute per field using HTML5. Specific input validations can be achieved using Rails FormHelpers. Then finally, JavaScript can be used to enhance the user experience by suggesting hints and options
• Building Accessible Navigation Menus and Site Structures  
  Since learners will be mainly interacting with the website, it is essential to create easily accessible navigation menus and sites. There are various techniques like creating semantic HTML for a clear and easy-to-understand navigation menu. This will help users with disabilities to easily interact with the website. ARIA attributes can also be incorporated for easy navigation through assistive technologies.
• Incorporating Assistive Technologies Compatibility 
  Developing a robust website that is compatible with different assistive technologies and devices can provide an enhanced user experience. These technologies provide enhanced comprehension, text-to-speech conversion, note-taking or highlighting features, and many more to increase accessibility and usability.  
   

When you choose web app development services, make sure that their experts are well adept with the Ruby on Rails framework and can efficiently incorporate these accessibility features to ensure the success of your web application.

Efficient Testing to Maximize Accessibility

Testing is an essential part of every development process, including eLearning platform development. Thorough testing ensures that the final product is actually fulfilling all the requirements and is accessible to everyone. To do so, three methods can be utilized:  
 

Conducting Usability Tests to Identify Accessibility Barriers

Usability testing is generally conducted to understand how the user is engaging with the platform. It is conducted to identify problems, understand user behavior and look for opportunities to improve the platform.

In the case of a learning platform, it can be utilized to understand whether the functions and tools which are incorporated are actually enhancing the user experience up to the required level or not.

Even if you work with the best team of developers, it is only natural to miss out on some aspects, that can be easily identified with usability testing. There are a variety of user testing methods available from which a preferred one can be chosen depending on the project type, size, and budget.

Gather Feedback From Diverse User Groups 

Including a diverse range of groups to get feedback on the final product can be beneficial as it will help you determine how different people interact with the platform based on their needs and knowledge.

This will help you better understand the associated accessibility barriers and how to address them efficiently. It can also provide useful insight into the tools and functions that worked out in your favor and optimize them.

Making Improvements Based on User Feedback and Testing Results

When you hire Ruby on Rails developer who is well versed with the framework, improvising web apps will be seamless. Based on the test results and user feedback, you can make the required changes to make the platform accessible to everyone.

Ruby on Rails web app development services simplify both the development and further maintenance of the eLearning platform.

On the business side, the insights you gather from testing can make your platform more successful while on the user’s side, it can give them better access to knowledge that would otherwise won’t be accessible to them due to various restrictions and boundaries. 
 

Conclusion

The purpose of these online platforms is to make sure that no form of limitation, be it in the form of borders or disability, can stop anyone from getting the knowledge they want to have to live a quality life. With Ruby on Rails, this is possible.

From its easy-to-learn framework to a simplified coding experience for developers, Ruby on Rails is a framework that offers a multitude of features for both Agile development and an enhanced user experience.

Using this, you can design the platform with enhanced accessibility to make education more inclusive. And to achieve this, you need expert solutions, for which you can hire Ruby on Rails developer who are masters of this field.

You can also partner with a web app development services provider that can provide you with just the required expertise for your firm to grow and expand.