Educational Software: What It Is, What It's For, and Its Benefits for Schools

Today, educational processes rely heavily on information and communication technologies to achieve comprehensive academic management. Resources such as apps or even educational software play a crucial role in giving schools greater control over what happens inside and outside the institution.

However, even though the educational software industry generates revenue of around 10.85 billion dollars and is expected to reach 11.6 billion dollars in 2025, it is still a topic to be explored, especially for school leaders and IT departments that want to improve their academic management.

That's why this article explains what educational software is, why it matters for a school to implement it, and what the best options are for doing so.

Table of contents

1. What is educational software?
2. What is educational software for?
3. Characteristics of educational software
4. Advantages of educational software
5. What types of educational software are there?
6. Main functions of educational software
7. Why should a school have educational software?
8. What should you consider when choosing the right educational software?
9. An example of educational software

1. What is educational software?

Educational software, or software for education, is a computer tool that brings together every area of an educational institution to achieve more effective and coordinated academic management.

The areas that educational software can cover include:

• Invoicing
• Academics
• Finance
• Accounting
• Administration
• Customer service
• Communication

Educational software is a highly comprehensive solution that centralizes every area of a school, enabling integrated information management in which everyone, from school leaders to students and parents, can interact easily.

2. What is educational software for?

Educational software is used to centralize all the areas that make up a school. This way, each department has tools to meet its own needs and requirements.

This solution aims to streamline academic management and increase productivity in every area. For example, teachers can concentrate on their school activities and focus their efforts on teaching.

How does educational software help teachers? Find out!Student Motivation and Academic Performance: What Role Does the Teacher Play?

It's important to understand that educational software is not only for teaching or instructional purposes. It is a comprehensive solution that serves a school on several fronts, such as academics, finance, security, and communication.

3. Characteristics of educational software

For educational software to fulfill its purpose, it must have the following characteristics:

• Provide comprehensive, centralized solutions for a school.
• Be fully interactive.
• Allow roles and permissions to be assigned.
• Offer a platform that can be accessed from anywhere without investing in infrastructure, with data stored securely.

Given that software is a computer system made up of the different logical components needed to perform specific tasks, none of the characteristics listed above is optional.

4. Advantages of educational software

Innovative technologies open up many opportunities in every field, and schools are no exception. Educational software helps improve students' education regardless of their grade level and age, but it also offers comprehensive advantages such as the following:

• Making internal communication easier across the school community (students, families, and staff).
• Providing tools for managing information securely.
• Offering high-level management solutions, such as tracking school transportation or students' extracurricular activities.
• Managing invoicing, collections, and accounts receivable quickly and easily.
• Providing user-friendly tools for enrollment, such as registration or checking available seats.
• Providing a wide range of non-academic processes that make it easier for the school to interact with the solution in a personalized way.

It's important to clarify that not all educational software is designed for students; it is also meant to meet a school's management needs.

5. What types of educational software are there?

There is a wide variety of educational software focused on different goals, actions, and activities, but two types are especially focused on providing comprehensive academic management:

1. Student Information System

A Student Information System (SIS) focuses on managing an institution's information, for example: personal data records, enrollments, and academic data such as grades and lesson plans.

Its goal is to carry out administrative, academic, and financial activities that make it possible to measure the quality and efficiency of the service a school provides. It enables better processes and, by systematizing information, makes it possible to analyze it and obtain feedback that supports sound decision-making.

The types of SIS for schools are:

• Administrative. They manage demographic, family, and personal data.
• Academic. They store information on grades, assessment processes, and the generation of reports and report cards.
• Financial. Designed for schools that need to comply with regulations such as e-invoicing, online payments, billing management, and accounts receivable analysis.
• Communication. They manage communication between teachers and students and, in some cases, with school administration and parents.
• Hybrid. Their architecture incorporates some or all of the above, providing greater technological support.

2. Learning Management System

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are software applications for administering, documenting, tracking, reporting on, automating, and delivering educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs.

Their main features and functions include:

• Smart integration. These systems typically bring together on a single platform talent and workforce management, a compliance platform, a Human Resources Information System (HRIS), Human Capital Management (HCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and payment processing.
• Content personalization. Educational systems can seek personalized learning experiences that give learners the skills they need.
• Blended learning frameworks. This system can provide a blended learning framework that can be adjusted to the needs of a course.

Other types of educational software include the following:

1. Instructional programs. These are teaching resources that support the teaching and learning process by presenting educational content along with practice or comprehension exercises. They can cover different subjects and levels.
2. Tutorial programs. Programs that, to a greater or lesser extent, guide students' work and aim to have them complete activities that put their abilities, knowledge, and skills into practice.
3. Simulators. A model or dynamic environment that students can explore and modify to learn inductively or deductively from different situations, speeding up their decision-making and helping them gain experience through a variety of simulations.
4. Digital tools. Programs that provide instruments to make certain tasks easier. Among the most popular are word processors, database managers, spreadsheets, graphics editors, communication programs, computer-assisted experimentation programs and languages, and authoring systems.
5. Virtual encyclopedias. Tools that speed up information searches and can be consulted from anywhere.
6. Educational games (Gamification). Teaching tools that let users learn about different topics, available for all ages and levels. Their goal is to hold students' attention and motivate them with rewards.

However, it's worth noting that the first two types of educational software mentioned are the most complete and are designed to meet all the needs surrounding a school. Their functionality isn't limited to academic areas; it also extends to security.

6. Main functions of educational software

The functions of educational software depend on how the tool is used. However, some of the most notable functions are the following:

• Academic planning, grade entry, reporting, and management of student materials.
• Management of teaching materials.
• Student and teacher management.
• Invoice and payment generation.
• Communication management.
• Security management.

However, some educational software provides these functions and more in a single centralized system. These are the most complete solutions a school can implement to coordinate each of its areas and make them more efficient.

7. Why should a school have educational software?

Today, schools use various types of digital solutions to improve their academic management. However, very few offer the integration needed to meet all the needs of every area of the school.

That's why educational software becomes essential for properly managing all the information surrounding the school community—not only to keep close track of teachers and students, but also to properly handle financial and cybersecurity matters.

Learn more about cybersecurity in schools:Basic School Cybersecurity Tips You Might Be Overlooking

8. What should you consider when choosing the right educational software?

Every school has different needs, so educational software must adapt to them. Some requirements any tool of this kind must meet are the following:

1. Intuitive interface

Educational software should be easy for any user at the school to implement, understand, and operate. Exploring and navigating it should involve clear instructions, concrete actions, a range of tools that simplify processes, and strategically placed elements, among other things.

2. Easy to use

User experience is very important when choosing educational software for schools, as it must be simple and easy to use. Even though it is a highly innovative tool, it has to be accessible to the many different people who use it every day.

It should also have a design optimized for the different functions and tools each area of a school requires.

3. Coordination of all management areas

Regardless of a school's size, educational software should cover most of the areas that make it up. This is one of its main functions, and it also makes communication easier across the entire school community: from school leaders to students and parents.

This also means educational software must have special tools and functions for each area, designed to simplify procedures, inquiries, and assessments, save time, and improve the efficiency of everyone at the school. All in one place, without the need for external configurations or implementations.

4. Support at all times

It's important to make sure the educational software provider has a help and support center available during the institution's working hours and through various communication channels.

9. An example of educational software

A great example of educational software is Phidias's academic management system.

Phidias educational software is a cloud platform that manages a school's processes through a secure, fast, intuitive app accessible from any device.

Its main features include:

• Security, thanks to its first-class infrastructure.
• Integration, by centralizing a school's data and making it available at all times.
• Support, by providing ongoing guidance before, during, and after the educational software is implemented.

Educational software can be divided into modules to offer comprehensive solutions tailored to each of a school's needs. In the case of Phidias's academic management system, there is a module for each of the key processes involved in running an educational institution.

With that in mind, the modules Phidias offers are:

1) Academic module

It lets teachers assess and review subjects according to the grading scheme, and makes it easier to record and analyze academic results in order to produce performance reports and provide real-time information to families and students.

Its main functions include:

• Management and publication of the strategic and curriculum plan
• Customization of report cards and gradebooks
• Multiple assignment of teachers and homeroom teachers
• Management of academic files and plans
• Generation and sending of report cards and reports
• Creation of homework and support materials
• Recording of honors and awards

2) Administration module

It manages each student's profile and family unit and lets the school analyze its statistics for better administrative decision-making. Some of its functions are:

• Creation of unlimited profiles and users
• Management of each family's information and contact details
• Management of pending documents and permissions for each user

3) Admissions module

The admissions module handles registrations and provides more academic information. Its functions include:

• Online registration of families and students
• Tracking of new student registrations
• Creation of enrollment seats for courses
• Validation and follow-up of online registration processes

4) Transportation module

If a school offers transportation for its students, this module lets it manage and administer routes and keep a detailed record of passengers and incidents from any device. Other functions include:

• Recording and collection of vehicle information
• Tracking of passenger data, boardings, and drop-offs
• Online route lookup
• Logging of updates or incidents
• Access to history, requests, and maps

5) Extracurricular module

With this module, parents can quickly and easily enroll their children in subjects beyond the curriculum. Some key functions are:

• Defining which students can enroll in extracurricular activities
• Checking enrollment fees
• Seat allocation by activity
• Easy invoicing for extra subjects

6) Communication module

This module manages all of the school's communication across different channels, mainly email, web, and mobile apps. Its standout functions include:

• Sending internal, mass, and individual messages
• Sending announcements and circulars
• Embedding forms and videos in messages
• Scheduling meetings and tutoring sessions

7) Follow-up module

With this module, schools can keep full, personalized, and unlimited control of their non-academic processes. Its main functions are:

• Recording tutoring reports
• Special notes about individual students
• Tracking students' eating habits
• Disciplinary and merit tracking

8) Treasury module

This module is specially designed for document planning and invoice management for all school activities and operations. It offers the following features:

• E-invoicing
• Custom templates

9) Online processes

Within this module, users can run surveys, collect authorizations, handle registrations, or promote data update campaigns. Other functions include:

• Organizing in-person or online enrollment processes
• Processing and planning pre-registrations and registrations
• Running surveys and votes
• Updating student and family data

10) Education Intelligence

This highly innovative module lets schools study the historical trends in students' academic results, all through charts and dashboards with key indicators. Here, users can:

• Perform statistical analyses of results
• Get graphical representations of their school's data
• Use the results obtained to make decisions

In addition, as you can see, there is a Phidias for every client, which means this educational software can adapt to each school's needs in both configuration and use.

By providing access to information from a single centralized database, Phidias can perform any operation from anywhere, at any time—securely, and with the certainty that each user will work with the tools and functions relevant to their area.

For more detailed information on how Phidias educational software can support your academic management, we invite you to click this link.