How to Test E Learning Apps with Sample Test Cases

Testsigma Inc.
9 min readApr 30, 2024

As the demand for online education surges, ensuring the quality of e-learning apps becomes paramount. According to Statista, the online education market is estimated to reach a revenue of USD 185.20 billion in 2024.

Therefore, with billions of global learners relying on digital platforms, our goal is to not only meet but exceed the rising expectations of the students worldwide who have embraced digital learning, ensuring a seamless and high-quality educational experience for all.

In this guide, we will explore how to test e-learning apps, along with test types and some quality tips, aiming to enhance the reliability, accessibility, and overall user satisfaction of e-learning apps.

Why Test Your E-Learning Application?

You certainly might have this question if you are planning to build an e-learning platform.

The main reason behind testing your e-learning application is to ensure that the app offers the best user experience with quality, reliability, and effectiveness. Through rigorous testing, you can guarantee and validate the proper functionality and content accuracy of an e-learning application.

As an e-learning app comes with various features like courses, practice tests, live tutorials, webinars, etc., it is essential to validate each functionality to offer a reliable learning environment to the students. Failing to provide a positive user experience may lead to several consequences, such as user frustration, decreased engagement, impact on brand image, and reduced ROI.

Therefore, testing ensures that your e-learning app is not only functional and accessible but also capable of providing a secure and enjoyable learning journey across various platforms.

When to Implement Quality Assurance in E-Learning?

Always remember that testing the quality of an application is a critical process. Therefore, the implementation of quality assurance should be integrated throughout the entire development lifecycle. Consistent testing and review of course content and functionality are essential to identify and address emerging issues promptly.

1. Requirements Analysis: Implement QA during requirements analysis to align features with learning objectives and user expectations.

2. Design Phase: Integrate QA into the design phase to validate instructional design, user interface, and overall user experience.

3. Development Phase: Apply QA during development to ensure coding adheres to quality standards and functionalities work as intended.

4. Content Creation: Include QA in content creation to validate the accuracy and functionality of multimedia elements.

5. E-learning App Testing: Conduct user acceptance testing (UAT), scalability and performance testing, and security testing before launch to involve end-users, ensuring the platform meets expectations.

6. Continuous Monitoring: Continuously monitor and update the e-learning platform based on user feedback and evolving standards.

Types of Testing for E-Learning Applications

Only testing is not sufficient; you must know the right testing type to ensure that your e-learning app functions well and offers the best end user. Let’s check all the types of testing in detail.

1. Functional Testing

In this test type, the validation of all functional and user requirements is conducted against a checklist created by the product owner. It starts from testing the functionality of each course to validating audio and video quality. In case any third-party applications are integrated into e-learning platforms, like a payment gateway, thorough testing is crucial to prevent potential bugs.

2. Integration Testing

Integration testing in an e-learning app involves validating the seamless collaboration of different modules or components within the system. The goal is to detect and rectify any potential issues arising from the interactions between these elements, ultimately ensuring a cohesive and reliable user experience within the integrated e-learning platform.

3. Usability Testing

Many students use E-Learning platforms every day, making it crucial to check how easy it is to use the app. It should be simple to navigate, and the way information is shown should be easy for users to understand. All the rules are set, ensuring that users don’t have trouble using the app.

4. Performance Testing

Performance testing ensures that your e-learning app will be able to perform well even under the expected load. So, for example, if your application is developed to support 1000 students, then when it is used by 1000 students at the same time, the content of the app should work fine for everyone. Using JMeter or Gatling tools, you can achieve this.

5. Accessibility Testing

This test involves evaluating the design and functionality of the app to ensure it is easily accessible by all types of students, including those with disabilities. This software testing assesses features such as navigation, text-to-speech compatibility, screen reader support, and keyboard accessibility. Simply, the goal is to make the app more user-friendly and accommodate a broader range of learners with accessibility testing.

6. Security Testing

E-learning platforms require payment, making it crucial to ensure secure user access to content. You must confirm that the app is protected against potential hacker attacks by identifying and fixing vulnerabilities. Especially when a payment gateway is involved, and user card details are saved, security testing becomes essential to safeguard user data.

7. Compatibility Testing

It’s essential to test on different versions of browsers and platforms, including Android and iOS, so that you create a testbed with the supported devices and their version numbers. Online tools like BrowserStack can be used to validate the compatibility of our app across different devices and platforms.

5 Factors to Test in Your eLearning Mobile App

Ensuring the effectiveness and seamless performance of an eLearning mobile app involves testing key factors. Let’s discuss those 5 factors crucial for a positive user experience in detail.

1. Content and Functionality Testing

Testers ensure the eLearning app’s content aligns with the storyboard and client input. They verify the course’s functionality across diverse technical environments, addressing user needs from grammar to audio and video quality. The testing process encompasses both integration and regression testing, with special attention to third-party applications like payment gateways. Crucially, user authentication and authorization are thoroughly checked to maintain the app’s security and overall performance.

2. Usability Testing

As students are going to use your e-learning app every day, it is essential to evaluate the app’s accessibility and user-friendliness. Usability testing helps determine how easily users navigate and access core features. Ensuring straightforward navigation and user-friendly content presentation is crucial for an optimal user experience, preventing any difficulties during app use.

3. Browser and Platform Testing

This testing ensures the app and course compatibility across all operating systems and browsers, considering the varied devices and browsers learners use. The aim is to maximize compatibility across as many platforms as possible, including thorough testing on each Android and iOS version.

4. Performance Testing

Performance testing involves evaluating numerous parameters, such as load, stress, and graphical component testing, along with assessing the app’s performance in different modes. For instance, it checks how much the app uses the device’s battery, helping to understand how well it works and how efficient it is. Performance testing is important to ensure the optimal functioning of the eLearning application.

5. Security Testing

Ensuring the app is safe and doesn’t have any problems is very important. For instance, companies should make sure that paying for specific courses is completely secure. When a payment gateway is connected, and user cards are saved, security testing becomes crucial to protect user data.

General Test Cases for E-Learning Apps

The following are some of the most used test cases for learning management systems. You can apply these to ensure a seamless and effective learning experience for users.

  1. Check for any spelling or grammar mistakes in the course content and whether it is consistent and easy to understand.
  2. Confirm good-quality images and proper alignment for a better user experience.
  3. Check that audio and video quality is top-notch for the best learning experience.
  4. Ensure easy navigation with no missing links and that all links in the app work well.
  5. Make sure all parts of the app are interactive and not inactive.
  6. Check that the app is responsive and looks good on all devices.
  7. Confirm that the app works perfectly on different web browsers.
  8. Ensure content is accessible to everyone and FAQs are easy to find.

Can We Automate Test Cases for E-Learning Apps?

The answer is yes.

However, even though you choose to opt for automation testing, you need to consider manual testing for aspects like usability, visual appearance, and exploratory testing. The optimal testing strategy often involves a balanced combination of both automated & manual testing to ensure comprehensive test coverage and the delivery of high-quality e-learning mobile apps.

How to Automate Test Cases for E-Learning Apps with Testsigma?

Automating test cases for E-Learning Apps with Testsigma is a streamlined and efficient process. With product offerings like Testsigma Cloud, Testsigma Community, and Testsigma Enterprise, test automation for E-Learning Apps becomes a seamless experience.

The user-friendly interface allows test designers to easily create, execute, and maintain automated test scripts without the need for extensive coding skills. This enables comprehensive test coverage, accelerates the testing lifecycle, and ensures the reliability and scalability of E-Learning Apps, ultimately contributing to a superior user experience.

Potential failures while Testing E learning Apps and how to prevent them?

During the testing of your e-learning app, you may encounter various issues that should be proactively prevented at the earliest stages. Check the list along with their prevention tips.

1. Content Inconsistencies

Regularly update and review course content to ensure accuracy and relevance. Implement version control mechanisms to track changes.

2. Device Compatibility Problems

Test the e-learning mobile app on various devices to ensure compatibility. Utilize responsive design principles to optimize the app for different screen sizes.

3. Browser Compatibility Issues

Perform testing on different browsers to identify and resolve compatibility issues. Stay informed about browser updates and ensure the app is compatible with the latest versions.

4. Security Vulnerabilities

Implement thorough security testing, including penetration testing, to identify and fix potential vulnerabilities. Regularly update security measures to protect app from the emerging threats.

5. Data Privacy Concerns

Implement robust data privacy measures. Encrypt sensitive user data, ensure secure authentication methods, and comply with data protection regulations.

6. Integration Challenges

Test the integration of third-party tools, payment gateways, and external APIs thoroughly. Monitor and update integrations as needed.

7. Accessibility Issues

Incorporate accessibility testing to ensure the app is usable for individuals with disabilities. Adhere to accessibility standards and guidelines.

Best Way to Test E-learning Apps

Incorporating the tips into the testing strategy can enhance the quality and reliability of your e-learning apps, helping you deliver a positive user experience.

1. Real-World Scenarios: Design test cases for e-learning apps according to the real-world scenarios, which behave as expected in practical use.

If you are executing these tests on a regular basis, automating these is a good idea.

2. Mobile Responsiveness: Given the prevalence of mobile learning, test the app’s responsiveness on different devices and screen sizes.

3. Data Security: Ensure the implementation of rigorous security testing to safeguard user data.

4. Performance Under Load: The load test will help you evaluate how your e-learning app will perform under heavy traffic and peak usage times.

5. Integration Testing: If you have integrated your E-Learning app with other systems, then thoroughly test these integrations.

Conclusion

As the global demand for online education skyrockets, ensuring the quality of e-learning apps is imperative. To fortify this commitment, comprehensive testing is essential.

Testsigma, with its user-friendly interface, offers a streamlined process to create, execute, and maintain automated test scripts, ensuring reliability and scalability for an unparalleled user experience. Join Testsigma in revolutionizing the future of e-learning app testing.

Explore Testsigma for automating the end-to-end UI test cases for your e-learning applications

Frequently Asked Questions About Educational Apps (FAQs)

What is the QA process for Testing eLearning Apps?

The QA process ensures a systematic approach to testing E-Learning Apps, validating their functionality, security, and overall user experience.

1. Requirements Understanding: Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure a clear understanding of functional and non-functional requirements of the E-Learning app.

2. Test Planning: Develop a test plan encompassing testing goals, scope, resources, and timelines while defining test scenarios and testing environments.

3. Test Case Design: Generate comprehensive test cases for the E-Learning App, covering user interfaces, functionalities, and integrations, prioritizing based on criticality and impact.

4. Execution and Reporting: Systematically execute test cases, log defects, and generate reports to communicate testing progress, coverage, and identified issues.

5. Regression and Performance Testing: Conduct the testing post-bug fixes to ensure existing functionalities are unaffected and the app is responsive and scalable under various conditions.

--

--

Testsigma Inc.

Testsigma is a completely cloud-based codeless test automation tool that lets you create stable and reliable tests for web, mobile & APIs — all from one place.