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Stephanie Neusser
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A learning experience platform (LXP) is a type of technology that goes beyond the traditional learning management system (LMS). In this blog, we'll explore the benefits of using an LXP and how it can help your organization's training and development efforts. From improving engagement and retention to providing a more seamless learning experience, an LXP can be a valuable addition to your learning and development strategy.
LXP stands for Learning Experience Platform. A LXP is a software (often with AI-based technology) that focuses on providing a good learner experience.
In a nutshell, learning experience is centered on the learners and the experience they have while interacting with the educational content. Among other things, thought-provoking and challenging tasks, an appealing UI, as well as relevant and interesting learning materials, make a good learning experience.
With a bunch of features, LXPs are designed to make every interaction with the platform as much fun and personal as possible. Some systems even feel like a social media platform made for the digital learning context and again others allow UGC which stands for user-generated content. It allows every user on the platform to create any kind of content.
The common way in digital learning is top-down learning (also called push approach) where learning is based on the needs of the organization. Mostly, the content is then delivered through a traditional Learning Management System (LMS). LXPs flip this around by putting the learner at the center. The learning is based on the learner's individual interests and, thus, learners can get educational content recommendations. What we get is a new approach called bottom-up learning (or pull approach).
A LXP has a whole bunch of features, that are all aimed at improving and individualizing the learning experience, as already mentioned. Five key features are the following:
As already mentioned, some LXPs allow their users to create or curate educational content like articles, papers, videos, podcasts, etc. on their own (UGC). In most cases, the creation process is easy and convenient since editing is based on the WYSIWYG principle (what you see is what you get). Content that is already available for and used by learners can be commented on and rated.
But in most cases, administrators of the system create the content for the learners. This way, the content is personalized and relevant not only for the company but also for the employees. Thus, company and branch-specific knowledge can be taught more easily. With content curation, it is possible that all kinds of learning material can be manually selected by administrators or automatically selected by an AI-based technology. Hence, it allows to personalize and recommend individual content to each user.
In order to provide a highly immersive learning experience for all users, a LXP is designed to have an appealing and intuitive User Interface (UI). Nothing destroys the fun of learning faster than a cumbersome and unintuitive interface. It is also not very pleasant for your employees if everyone is presented with the same learning content. People are different – and so are the learning needs of your workers. So it is not only important how to learn but also what to learn.
To make learning more personalized, generally speaking, there are two ways to do it:
Everyone has different skills and needs various new skills for the digital age. Depending on the industry and the working position, the skill selection can varify a lot. Do your employees work a lot with numbers? Then they probably need skills in Microsoft Excel and Data Reporting instead of Word or PowerPoint. Only if your employees acquire the skills they need, you will increase their productivity, save time and increase your ROI on company training. The more personalized this skill selection process is, the better these key figures will turn out for you. You should therefore make sure that your workers learn the skills that are the most relevant for them.
Once your workers have found the skills they need to succeed in their careers, the real struggle begins: How do you find and select the most relevant learning materials for them? This is a tough challenge and it should not be taken lightly. Each of your employees has a different educational level and therefore starts learning at a different stage. It is therefore essential that everyone receives learning materials that match their prior experience and knowledge.
Unfortunately, most corporate LMSs are a dull collection of PowerPoint-Slides, Sheets, courses, and quizzes. It is often hard to find the right content in traditional LMS, not to mention the high expenditure of time. This is boring and annoying for many learners. When offering your workers a training program, optional and mandatory recommendations of what to learn (next) should be included in their learning paths. Luckily, modern LXPs provide a highly personalized and individual learning path for each skill your employee learns. Like a perfectly tailored suit, the learning materials for your learners feel the same.
Most employees probably don’t have positive associations when hearing the word “learning.” After all, it often means reading dull textbooks, listening to lectures for hours, or clicking through standardized online tests. But gamification can make a huge change.
Gamification describes strategies that bring elements, often used in and associated with games, into a non-game environment. Gamification elements such as leaderboards, learning points and achievements, and quizzes are used to increase learner engagement and, therefore, improve the learning experience a bit.
However, gamification is not only about turning the workplace into a game. When done correctly, the benefits of gamification are huge: motivating your workers, driving higher employee productivity, and improving your business outcomes. Gamification provides the right tactics to make learning and performing on the job more fun and engaging and, moreover, ultimately efficient and effective.
You'll be surprised but gamification is not a particularly new concept. We probably all experienced the effects ourselves as children in school: group-based learning, quizzes and tests, and leaderboard in a class competition.
Almost any LXP you can find on the market allows you to collect and analyze data of the learners' platform usage. Administrators can then extract important information from the analytics, such as
On the other hand, learners themselves have access to their own personal dashboard where they can find all information about their learning progress, mostly displayed on a leaderboard. In addition, new and innovative companies provide a personal skill profile which is kind of a personal dashboard of the skills and knowledge acquired. The skill profiles also reveal your current skills gaps and give you recommendations on your "next step" in order to increase your learning progress. Learning is much easier when you know the topics you need to repeat or deepen.
However, there are three possibilities to think about learning content:
In fact, the third point is the most dangerous one in learning in general. That's also why so many learners develop a lot of skill gaps. It keeps them from mastering a subject really really well. But don't worry, this is often the case. How could you know what you don't know if you don't know your gap in knowledge?
But that's where the skill profile comes in: Skill profiles help you with all three points and give learners one of the most detailed skills analyses ever. Learners get deep insights into even the smallest gaps in their knowledge that are still missing to master a subject. So when using a skill profile, learners can be sure they learn about every important and relevant topic for their skill to acquire
LXPs can be connected with almost any other eLearning application and platform. You can expand your materials with those of other eLearning providers and thus offer your learners a much broader library of courses. Or you can use an API integration in order to connect your LXP with other business software applications such as cloud services, ERP, or CRM.
Learning Experience Platforms are often confused with a Learning Management System. But they have more differences than the similar names suggest. Learning Management Systems, or in short LMSs, are standalone software applications that provide frameworks that handle all aspects of the learning process. A LMS is used by companies for purposes like administration, tracking, reporting, and delivery of educational courses and employee training programs. All types of content (videos, courses, documents, etc.) can be included and managed in a LMS. And just like in a library, learners go to the LMS portal and search for courses that interest them most. In short, a LXP is all about the learning experience, whereas a LMS is based on learning management solely. eLearning experts even state that LMS systems were never designed to be employee-centric. This shifted focus leads to a lack of personalization which is also one reason why most LMSs are outdated nowadays.
But the differences are even greater when you look beneath the surface:
There are many reasons why companies use a LXP. However, here are the four most important ones why you need to introduce an LXP in your organization:
Learning for the sake of checking off a box or visiting an obligatory training requirement will not make a difference. So do not only make sure your educational content is still relevant and timely but also it is tailored to your employee's needs, and current skills and knowledge, too. To make your training more efficient, you need to provide your employees with the right content at the right time when they need it. Your learners will absorb the content quicker if the materials are just right for them and their learning style.
What do we mean by this? When many of your employees use resources online on any electronic device to educate themselves you should consider using a LXP. Especially LMS lack the capabilities to use additional educational material from the web.
The biggest learning repertoire is useless if it is not used with joy and pleasure. Seriously, a great learning experience is important. Employees don't just want learning events, they want experiences. We truly believe that better learning experience = better learning per se.
You can improve your learning experience by incorporating gamification elements or simply enhance your UX. As a result, the more engaging the content is, the better the learners remember information and if your workers enjoy learning, they will be able to recall and apply the concepts better.
Your employees do not develop the skills they need? Your employees' retention and completion rate are low? Then a LXP can help you. Through the high degree of personalization and the relevant selection of learning content, LXPs provide your employees with the most important subjects to learn for your company. If you connect a LXP with other platforms or allow UGC, you can see what other learning activities employees are engaging in and track their progress. And when incorporating social-driven learning which is far more rewarding than learning alone, your learners are much more likely to finish the program.
A Learning Experience Platform (LXP) provides learners with a better learning experience than the typical LMS does. This is no coincidence. LXPs have a bunch of features that try to make the learning process as much fun and personal as possible. In contrast to a LMS, you can expand your educational material by making use of different integration capabilities. You can also use UGC and give your learners more freedom to decide which content they want to consume and how. But this freedom comes at a cost for companies: they give up a lot of control over the relevant learning material your employees should study. You should also remember that the bottom-up approach is not the holy grail of digital learning. In fact, some experts say that a good mix of both top-down and bottom-up learning is essential to provide a good learning platform for all users.
Our solution makes learning for the consumers engaging and fun. With tracking of results of each individual it makes it easy to demonstrate the real return on investment of upskilling your workforce. Through interactive courses, personalized learning paths and a user-friendly interface we provide an unparalleled learning experience. In addition to these features, we offer a range of tools and resources to support learners in their journey and help administrators manage their contents to save time and maximize results.
Check out our Learning Experience Suite.
edyoucated is funded by leading research institutions such as the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
