8 Minutes of reading
There are plenty of reasons why you might be interested in investing in a learning experience platform (LXP). Perhaps you’ve noticed that your existing LMS isn’t quite cutting it anymore—or maybe you’ve still been organising all of your training the old-fashioned way, and want to try something new. No matter what your reasons, there are some key features you need to look for in an LXP.
Thanks to our team’s broad and extensive knowledge of educational software, we can help you in your search for the perfect platform. Find out all of the must-haves in an LXP and make sure you choose the right system for your business!
LXPs: A quick introduction
There was once a time when learning management systems (LMSs) were the hottest property in educational software. It’s easy to see why: using these portals, you can easily streamline all of your business’ training activities and offer a broad range of content to your employees.
The need for LMSs has never gone away. However, in recent years, some of their shortcomings have come to the fore. Notably, companies have realised that it’s harder than ever to keep employees motivated—and the existing solutions are in need of an upgrade.
Enter learning experience platforms, or LXPs. These tools include a number of features designed to increase engagement and to make the training process more effective. Where LMSs focus on the management aspects of training, LXPs, by definition, are centred on the learners themselves.
When choosing a platform, it’s important to remember that LMS vs LXP isn’t necessarily an either-or question. Platforms such as Rise Up combine elements from both of these kinds of software, benefiting learners and training administrators alike.
What are the key features of the best LXPs?
By now, we know that an LXP builds upon what an LMS has to offer and adds additional functionality. As such, it helps to improve how training is run within your business. But what are the most important learning experience platform features to look out for?
We’ll go into detail on the features that any great LXP needs to have, enabling you to choose a platform that’s a cut above the rest.
Educational content
It should go without saying that any training platform worth its salt should give learners access to world-class content. However, many systems fall short of this goal, whether by failing to offer a sufficiently diverse range of formats or simply not keeping up with the latest developments.
Rise Up, meanwhile, supports not only well-known e-learning formats, such as SCORM and Tin Can, but also allows you to incorporate a variety of different learning methods and materials into the training pathways you create. Podcasts, videos, webinars, microlearning… you name it, Rise Up does it.
To make things even easier, Rise Up has a complete library of off-the-shelf content available for use, covering a broad range of topics in a number of different formats. So, if you’re looking to hit the ground running, you can grab a pre-existing module and get started almost instantly.
Creation tools
Though there’s already plenty of useful content available at your fingertips, there are times when it’s best to take matters into your own hands. For example, you might be operating within a more niche sector and offer highly specialised training—or you may simply prefer content that’s specifically tailored to your business.
That’s why the best LXPs offer content authoring features built into the platform. These tools make it easy to create your own training materials and publish them without ever switching apps. For example, you can create your own videos and animations, make interactive quizzes, and even gamify your course. You can even collaborate in real time with your colleagues.
Already have your content created in a different app? No problem: Rise Up integrates with a range of different educational software. This means that you can import your existing training materials in just a few clicks.
Of course, with an LXP, users are at the centre. That’s why it’s not just the course admins who can add new content—so too can the learners. There are a number of features that make it simple for anyone to contribute and share links, recordings, media and documents.
Personalised learning
Any business aiming to grow employee engagement needs to take into account the needs of each individual. However, offering highly personalised training to every member of your staff at scale is no mean feat. Indeed, you could argue that this is the issue that LXPs were created to address.
The best LXPs out there use machine learning to provide each employee with the right training pathway. This works by taking into account a variety of important data relating to the user. Some of this relates to their experience on the platform: the results they have attained; the groups they are part of; the types of content they have enjoyed the most; etc. Other important information concerns the employee themselves, such as their job role, previous training completed, and existing skills.
With all of this data to work with, learning experience platforms can put together tailored training pathways for each user. They can recommend areas for the learner to work on, and offer content in formats best suited to their needs and preferences. This is known as adaptive learning, and it’s a must-have feature for any great LXP.
User interface and experience (UI/UX)
It can be easy to think of aspects such as UI and UX as secondary to the main functionality of a product. However, they serve a purpose beyond just making your software visually appealing. They can also play an important part in helping to keep your learners engaged.
Think about it this way. Imagine your business’ training platform was drab, hard to navigate and difficult to use. Your learners may eventually make their way onto the training content you want them to find, but it won’t be an enjoyable experience.
Now think about how different the experience is when using an LXP built to follow intuitive design principles. Users can log on easily with your company’s single sign-on. The platform they see fits seamlessly with your company’s branding, and it’s easy to find everything they need within just a few clicks from the homepage. No prior computing knowledge is required to complete a given task, and the app works just as well on a tablet or mobile as it does on a PC.
Add together all of these features, and it’s easy to see why great UI and UX are vital to the success of any learning experience platform. They make it possible for all of your employees to get the training they need, as well as making the process simpler and more pleasant.
A great experience on all devices
We’ve already touched upon the benefits of ensuring your LXP is mobile-friendly. Naturally, this means that the platform has to get the basics right, with responsive design used so that content looks great on both mobile and desktop.
However, a really great LXP will also account for the different ways in which we use each device. An employee accessing training content on their mobile, for example, is unlikely to want to spend an hour going through an e-learning module.
Instead, content should be repurposed and reformatted to best suit the device. Better options may include microlearning modules that can be completed in a few minutes, or podcasts that the learner can listen to on their commute.
Social features
Our social interactions shape the way we learn from infancy through to adulthood. Nonetheless, many educational platforms treat learning as a solitary activity to be completed silently at one’s desk. It’s no wonder that these tools often prove to be ineffective and fail to keep learners’ attention.
With employees no longer based solely in offices, the need for connection and interactivity is greater than ever. The best LXPs respond to this by offering social learning features that bring people together even when they’re working remotely.
Rise Up, for example, allows for the creation of virtual classrooms to simulate the experience of learning together in person. There are even features that enable small groups to split off and work collaboratively on a given project.
Other social features, meanwhile, include discussion boards and messaging, along with the ability to share content, as well as commenting on and liking each other’s posts. Combined, they help to create a far more engaging environment than is possible when learners are left to train alone.
Learn what makes a great LXP in 2022
Reporting tools
LXPs may focus primarily on the learner, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits for trainers and administrators, too. Chief amongst them is the range of reporting features they offer. Thanks to the powerful insights and analytics tools available, tracking learner progress is a breeze.
Reporting is more than just about checking results, though. Using these features, you can see which of your training courses are working and which are falling short, giving you the opportunity to rectify any problems. You can also offer targeted support to any employees who are struggling.
Equally importantly, reporting tools allow you to show the overall benefits of training to your organisation as a whole. If you need to prove your return on investment, this is a must-have feature—and Rise Up makes it possible.
