This word has appeared in 162 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
Lesson of the Day: ‘Why Do We Yawn?’
In this lesson, you will learn about what happens in our bodies when we yawn and investigate the question of whether yawning is contagious.
Film Club: ‘The Great American Lawn: How the Dream Was Manufactured’
How did a perfectly manicured lawn become an iconic symbol of the American dream?
What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 11, 2022
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
The Reveal
We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!
More?
• See all images in this series or slide shows of 40 of our favorite images — or 40 more.
• Learn more about this feature in this video, and discover how and why other teachers are using it in their classrooms in our on-demand webinar.
• Find out how teachers can be trained in the Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation method.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
7 Tips For Applying To Jobs In Tech If You’re Really Busy
If you’ve ever applied for jobs before, you know it can basically be a full-time job in and of itself. And it’s not uncommon for the process to take months.
Some of the reasons why it’s such a time-consuming process are out of your control — you can’t get a hiring manager to devote more time out of their day to reviewing applications, and you can’t clear people’s schedules so they can do interviews sooner. Fortunately, there are some things that you can control when it comes to speeding up the job application process, even if you’re really busy.
Here are seven ways to make the job-hunting process more efficient and help you land your next gig.
1. Get clear on your goals
When you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to your job search, it’s important to establish what your goals and expectations are so that you don’t waste precious time applying to a wide range of jobs that won’t actually line up with what you’re hoping to achieve.
The first step is figuring out exactly what you’re looking for in your next role. Try dedicating 30 minutes to putting your goals in writing. Are you looking for more flexible hours? The opportunity to manage a team? A new title that’ll help you advance in your career? What about your salary requirements?
You could also create a target list of companies that you’d love to work for and focus on their job boards. Thinking through the characteristics you’d like your employer to have is a good way to help you narrow down the companies for your list. For example, are you interested in working at a large company or a small company? Venture-backed or bootstrapped? Would you work for an international company?
Another way to approach this is by writing out your “must-haves” versus your “nice-to-haves.” Maybe health insurance, parental leave, and a 401k are in your “must-haves” column, and unlimited PTO and a sign-on bonus are in your “nice-to-haves” column.
Taking the time to figure this all out before you start sending in applications could save you time in the long-run so that you can narrow your search and focus on roles and companies that are more likely to be a good fit for you.
2. Optimize your LinkedIn presence
When you’re trying to make the most out of the little time you have for job-hunting, one thing you can do is focus your energy on doing the things that lead recruiters and hiring managers to you, instead of the other way around. In other words, let the employers do some of the work. “This is a very competitive job market, so we — the recruiters — are doing more proactive searching than ever,” says Danny Roberts, Senior Technical Recruiter at Codecademy.
Danny recommends starting with LinkedIn. “The secret is optimizing one’s internet presence as much as possible for SEO, especially LinkedIn profiles,” he says. A good place to start is setting yourself “available” for work on LinkedIn. When you turn this feature on, you can select to share your status with recruiters only or share with all LinkedIn members.
Another great way to get on recruiters’ radars is by using keywords in your LinkedIn headline and summary. You’ll want to pick out keywords that are directly related to the position you’re trying to get. You can find these keywords in job descriptions, and you can also get ideas by looking at the profiles of people who have the job you want. Pay attention to what keywords they decided to use and the phrasing they used.
Also, it may sound obvious, but keep your LinkedIn experience updated. When a hiring manager finds you on LinkedIn, they’ll scan your experience section to see if you have the background they’re looking for in a new hire. So you want to keep this section up-to-date with relevant details and measurable results to make sure you don’t miss out on any potential job opportunities.
Want more LinkedIn advice? Here are more tips about the do’s and don’ts of LinkedIn profiles.
3. Use job descriptions to help revamp your resume
When you’re starting out with the job-hunting process and want to revamp your resume, it can be hard to know exactly what skills and experience to include to get noticed, especially since the use of applicant tracking systems (ATS) — software that scans resumes for specific keywords and phrases — is increasingly used by hiring managers today.
But one way to make sure you’re including the right keywords is to find a few job postings that pique your interest and pull words and phrases from them to use on your resume. You’ll also want to include any specific tools, software, or technology that are often noted in the “Requirements” section. This way, you’re upping your chances of the ATS finding those keywords and flagging your application as a promising one.
Learn more about how to read a tech job description and incorporate details from it.
4. Set up a cover letter template to make quick edits
While many tech companies are moving away from cover letter requirements, it can be a helpful way to showcase what differentiates you from other applicants, especially if you’re just starting out or making a career shift. Thankfully, it’s not necessary to write a completely new cover letter for each job you apply to. But unlike your resume, where you can use one version to apply to similar jobs, you’ll need to make small tweaks to each cover letter you submit.
One way to make these edits as quickly as possible is to set up a template and highlight the text that needs to be edited, like who your letter is addressed to, the title of the role, and the name of the company. Here’s an example from the first paragraph of a cover letter.
Dear Hiring Manager,
I’m excited to apply for the Full-Stack Developer position at Reddit, Inc. My experience with both the back-end and front-end stacks, as well as my proficiency in Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery, would be a great addition to your team and company.
If you have the bandwidth, it’s also a good idea to include a slot for a sentence that addresses why you’re particularly excited about the specific role or company. When you’re strapped for time, you want to avoid doing time-consuming edits, so the other details in your cover letter, like your experience and skills, can remain the same.
5. See if someone you know is connected to the company you’re applying to
It’s not uncommon for open positions to be filled by referrals. Sometimes the referral can come from someone already working at the company or from someone connected to the company in some way, like a former employee or a friend of the hiring manager. Take a look at the company’s employees on LinkedIn and see if you know anyone or have a mutual connection with someone there.
Depending on how close you are with the person, you could reach out and let them know you’re applying for a position at the company and ask if they could bump your application to the recruiter and/or hiring manager. Sometimes companies offer bonuses for employee referrals who get hired, so your contact may even want to upload your application into the system themselves.
6. Network efficiently
A feature like Open to Work on LinkedIn is a really efficient way to let recruiters and your professional network know when you’re job-hunting — but of course, you can’t always broadcast that you’re looking for a new role. If that’s the case for you, doing some individual outreach as early as possible in your job search is a good idea, especially since someone in your professional network could already be looking to fill a position or know of an opening that might be a good fit for you.
If you’re super busy, you could write one general BCC email to your personal and professional network letting people know you’re looking for your next job opportunity. Just make sure that these are all people who you trust and have a good relationship with. In your email, you want to include details like the positions you’re open to taking, the types of companies you want to work at, and when you can start your new role. Also, include a 2-3 sentence professional bio that your network can use to describe you in any referrals, and make sure to provide all relevant links for them as well, like your portfolio, professional website, and LinkedIn.
If there are any people in your network that you’d prefer to reach out to 1/1 — like mentors, former managers, or any colleagues you’re particularly close with — you could also take the time to send a few personalized emails. Just remember: Before sending any 1/1 emails, do a few minutes of homework about the person. Where do they work now? Do they know anyone on LinkedIn you might want to be connected with? Take a look at their company’s career page or LinkedIn jobs page to see what roles are open. Who knows? Maybe there will be a great role for you, and your note can mention that you’re interested in applying for it.
7. Use calendar reminders to stay on top of communication
Once you launch into the interview process, it can be easy to lose track of time when you’re trying to fit applications, emails, and interviews into an already-busy schedule. Remember: Technology is your friend when you’re trying to save time and reduce the stress of keeping up with communication. Get the information out of your head and onto a reminder app (like Google Calendar) so that you don’t have to worry if you missed an opportunity to show your interest in the role.
One way to help you stay on top of communication is to use calendar reminders to nudge you to send thank-you emails after interviews. Whenever you add an interview to your calendar, also add a reminder to send that person a thank-you note. While you’re doing that, you could even add a calendar reminder to let you know when to check in with the recruiter if you don’t hear back after a certain amount of time (at least a few days).
If you need some help drafting your follow-up email, here are some tips on how to write a professional follow-up email after a job interview.
Want more job-hunting advice? Here are some tips for writing a technical resume that will catch the hiring manager’s attention, plus tips for navigating a career change. And check out our Career Center, which is full of tools and resources to support you along every step of the job-hunting process.
Interview Prep Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy
Interviewing is an important step in your journey towards landing a job in tech. Technical interviews let you showcase your skills and knowledge, but practice is key. You’ll need to understand technical concepts and be prepared to talk through solutions with your interviewers.
How Important Is Mindfulness to Your Daily Life?
How do you cope when you feel stressed, sad or overwhelmed? Have you ever practiced meditation? Is it important to your daily or weekly mental wellness?
In “Meditations for Uncertain Times” Tara Parker-Pope shares a series of five-minute meditations. She writes:
Meditation won’t solve all your problems, but it can give your mind a rest and help you approach each day with more clarity and purpose.
We asked the teachers of the Unplug app to create a week of five-minute meditations to help you cope with some of life’s challenges. You’ll find meditations that will calm your mind, transport you to a happier place and leave you feeling energized.
So take a moment for yourself, and get comfortable.
Let’s get started.
Now, notice how you’re feeling in this moment. Are you excited? Tired? Bored? Annoyed? Then, choose one of the three meditations below, or one from the article, and listen to it in its entirety.
Students, try one of the meditations in the article, then tell us:
How do you feel after doing the five-minute meditation? Any different than you did before?
Is meditation or mindfulness a practice you’d like to include in your daily life? Why or why not?
In your experience, what are the benefits of meditation or other mindfulness practices? What, if anything, do you find difficult or frustrating about meditation?
Over the past two years, how have you coped with the pain, sadness and stress of the pandemic? What strategies have helped you to navigate this difficult time?
Some schools teach mindfulness to help students deal with stress, anxiety and to cope with other difficult emotions. Do you think every school should teach this practice? Why or why not? Would you participate in a mindfulness class if it were offered at your school?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Do You Like Romance Stories?
Do you enjoy romance stories, whether in books or movies or on TV? If so, what makes a love story compelling to you? Witty dialogue? Character development? Suspense?
How much do you care about the identities of the protagonists? Do you enjoy romances more when aspects of your own identity — like sexual orientation, race, gender identity or disability — are reflected?
For years, Lana Popovic Harper wrote novels for a pittance she described as “jars of pennies.” So when her new project drew bids from seven publishers, she was thrilled. Stunned, really: The book was a romance about two women. Two women who happen to be witches.
“It was completely surreal to me,” Harper said. “People really wanted these queer witches.”
L.G.B.T.Q. romance novels have been around for decades, but they have been a quiet presence, almost entirely self-published or put out by small niche presses, and often shelved separately from other romances in bookstores. Now, they are coming from the biggest publishers in the industry. They are prominently displayed at independent bookstores and on the shelves at Walmart, and advertised on New York City subway platforms.
And when Harper’s book, “Payback’s a Witch,” was published last fall by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, it became a best seller.
“L.G.B.T.Q. romance is booming,” said Shannon DeVito, director of books at Barnes & Noble.
In many ways, this echoes a broader cultural shift. Gay characters were once confined to niche markets, or to peripheral roles and tragic endings in the mainstream — a tendency that spawned the sardonic catchphrase “bury your gays.” No longer. An L.G.B.T.Q. romance novel, in fact, promises two things: It will have L.G.B.T.Q. characters at its center, and the main couple (or thruple!) will have a happy ending.
“People want to see themselves,” said Laynie Rose Rizer, the assistant store manager at East City Bookshop in Washington, D.C. “Customers will come in and say, ‘I just want something that’s gay and happy.’ And I’m like, ‘I have ten different options for you.’”
Lesson of the Day: ‘In Wisconsin: Stowing Mowers, Pleasing Bees’
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “In Wisconsin: Stowing Mowers, Pleasing Bees,” photographs and text by Anne Readel from The Times’s The World Through a Lens series.
Do you have a front lawn? If not, have you ever fantasized about having one? Why do you think a lush, perfectly manicured lawn is a dream for so many Americans? Did you know that kind of lawn can hurt the environment and contribute to the decline of bee populations?
In this lesson, you will learn how the No Mow May movement aims to transform the traditional American lawn into an ecological benefit. In Going Further activities, we invite you to make the case for or against a similar environmental campaign in your own community. You’ll also have an option to act as a photojournalist and document the often overlooked life in a front lawn or field of grass.
Warm-Up
Part 1: Closely observe a lawn or patch of grass in your neighborhood.
Do you have a front lawn? If not, think of a familiar field or patch of grass that you pass by or visit regularly, such as a schoolyard, park or neighbor’s backyard. What plant and animal species do you imagine live there?
Go to this lawn or patch of grass and take some time to observe the life, big or small, there. Be sure to record and annotate your observations in a notebook. Consider bringing a magnifying glass, binoculars and a sketch book.
After conducting your observations, respond to the following prompts in writing:
What did you notice? What plant or animal species did you identify? (Don’t worry if you’re not sure. It’s fine to write descriptions like “insect,” “bird,” “small yellow flower” or “strange looking bug.”)
What stood out from your observations? Were you surprised by the variety of life you found? What did you learn from looking closely at something you may have passed by without much thought before?
What did you wonder? What questions do you have about the life you observed?
Part 2: Watch a short video on the decline of bees in America.
Before reading the featured article, watch the four-minute “Why Are the Bees Dying?” by PBS from 2016 on the alarming rates at which bee colonies, wild and domesticated, are disappearing.
What are three reasons that bees are dying?
Why are these tiny pollinators so important to the world’s food supply? What will happen if all bees disappeared?
What are some possible solutions to help prevent the decline of bees, according to the video?
What remaining questions do you have about bees?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the featured article, then answer the following questions:
1. What did Anne Readel, a photojournalist, discover was different about the lawns in Appleton, Wis., when she drove through it last spring?
2. What is the No Mow May movement, and what are its goals? How did Appleton become the first city in the United States to adopt No Mow May?
3. Look closely at the photos in the article: What story do they tell about Appleton or the No Mow May movement? Which image stands out to you most? Why?
4. What animal and plant species have flourished since Appleton adopted the No Mow plan? How do these species compare with the kinds you observed in the warm-up activity?
5. Why are some residents and communities not so happy about the initiative?
6. Dr. Israel Del Toro cautions that No Mow May is only a starting point for bee conservation. What else can communities do to be more bee- (no pun intended, we promise) and eco-friendly?
7. What is your reaction to the article? What did you find most interesting, surprising or memorable? Does the article change how you think about the traditional American lawn? Will it make you notice the often overlooked and ignored natural world around us more fully?
Going Further
Option 1: Make the case for or against a No Mow May in your community
What are lawns like in your own neighborhood or community? Are they neatly manicured? Wild and weedy? Or a rarity?
Imagine that your town or city is considering adopting a No Mow May plan and that you have been invited to speak at an upcoming community meeting. Make a passionate and reasoned case for or against the proposal. Be sure to present evidence to support your arguments. Anticipate possible counterarguments to your claims. Inform listeners why they should care about the issue. And consider how you can draw upon your own experiences with lawns as well as your distinct point of view as a teenager.
As a bonus, create some visual media — a poster, infographic or public service announcement — to support your case.
Option 2: Watch and respond to a Times video
In 2019, The Times published a seven-minute film, “The Great American Lawn: How the Dream Was Manufactured,” that explored how a perfectly manicured patch of grass came to represent the pride of homeownership and community. Watch the film and respond to the following questions adapted from our Film Club:
What moments in this film stood out for you? Why?
What did you learn about the history of lawns, lawn mowers and how the dream of the ideal front lawn was created?
Were there any surprises? Anything that challenged what you know — or thought you knew?
Option 3: Learn more about bees — and contribute as a citizen scientist
Why do bees buzz? How do they clean themselves? How can we all help with their conservation? What questions do you still have about bees and their alarming decline?
To answer these questions and learn much more, scroll through The Times’s Bees topic page or read one of the articles or short ScienceTake videos below:
After conducting your new research, respond to the following prompts in writing or through discussion with a partner or small group:
What is one new interesting fact about bees you learned?
How did your article or video deepen or challenge what you already knew about bees?
What questions do you still have on the subject?
Still interested in bees? Want to help efforts to prevent the decline of bee populations in North America? Become a citizen scientist and learn how to help efforts to collect better data on native bee populations and to build more bee-friendly environments with collaborative projects like The Great American Bee Count, Bumble Bee Watch, the Beecology Project or the Great Sunflower Project.
Option 4: Document lawns where you live
What role do lawns and fields of grass play in your life? Why should we stop to notice, appreciate and, perhaps, rethink them?
Imagine that The Times hired you to document the lawns and fields of grass in your own community for the World Through a Lens series. Using the main article as a mentor text, photograph the overlooked life and beauty of a patch of grass in your neighborhood.
How would you reveal this setting to others? What would you photograph? What details would you show? When would you use wide, medium or close-up shots?
After you have captured at least three photographs, write a short artist’s statement that explains why you chose them and what they reveal about the lawns in your community. Additionally, where possible, include identifications for each plant and animal species you documented. (Free apps like Leafsnap, Picture Insect or iNaturalist could help.)
Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.
Best of the Best Customer Education 2022 Bracket
It’s time. The Best of the Best Customer Education Bracket for 2022. To review last year’s amazing competition, take a look at the 2021 Results.
I prefer a bracket because it adds some vibe and experience that is completely different than a grid. It tells a story, and well, is visible so there is no mistaking where X is versus Y, and why C is over there in G8, and not D3. I admit I find some grids so confusing, just as I find it confusing why anyone would get excited that the best their football club (soccer) can do in the premier league is 5th (it’s dominated by four teams). This would not be acceptable in the states for American Football unless you are a Lions fan (Zing!).
Bounce into the 2022 Bracket
Here are the 16. Just as in 2021, vendors were seeded on two sides – let’s call one side – “A”, and the other side “B”.
These are seeding not rankings.
(Region A)
- #1 Thought Industries (2021 Champions) – Nickname – Breakers (okay, I decided to have some nicknames) (Mascot – A person in a giant wave outfit)
- #2 Valamis (New Entrant) -Nickname- Vamps (Mascot – Nosferatu)
- #3 Docebo (R2, 2021) – Nickname – Dragons (Mascot – A dragon)
- #4 Raven360 (New Entrant) -Nickname – The Ravens (Mascot -A Raven who dresses like Edgar Allen Poe)
- #5 Cornerstone LMS (R1 2021) – Nickname -Quakes (Mascot-A person wearing rollerblades and dressed like George Kennedy – an actor who appeared in the awful but worth a view, Earthquake film of the 70s – he also appears in a lot of disaster films of the 70s)
- #6 LearnUpon (Just missed the cut in 2021) – Nickname – Flames (Mascot- A person dressed like a fiery arrow)
- #7 Skill Jar (R1, 2021) – Nickname – Blue Scorpions (Mascot – Scorpion)
- #8 D2L (New Entrant) – Nickname – Banshees (Mascot- A banshee)
Region B
- #1 Eurekos (R3, 2021) Nickname – Vikings (Mascot – Odin) – On a side note, you can see a full Viking ship fully restored that they found off the waters – nearly intact. It’s in Denmark – worth a view.
- #2 Intellum (R3, 2021) Nickname – Mustangs (Mascot – Mustang)
- #3 Absorb (R2, 2021) Nickname – Sasquatch (Mascot -Sasquatch – aka Bigfoot)
- #4 Meridian LMS (Just missed the cut, 2021) – Nickname – Marbles (Mascot – A very scary looking marble)
- #5 Fuse (R2, 2021) – Nickname – Cannons (Mascot – A mishmash of a cannon with a fuse on its head)
- #6 SAP Litmos (Just missed cut, 2021) – Nickname – Steel Blazers (Mascot – A beam of steel with a tweed blazer)
- #7 Workramp (New Entrant) – Nickname – Whispers (Mascot – Invisible the Whisperer)
- #8 CourseStage (New Entrant) – Nickname – Packers (Mascot – The state of Wisconsin)
Opening Round 2022
Background – The Methodology
As previously covered in other posts, the industry has splintered into audience-focused types if you will, as in systems whose focus is employees, customer education, or a combo – employees and customers. The majority of learning systems are combos, which usually skew towards the employee side – there are a few exceptions. To be fully customer education-focused, the client makeup is at a minimum of 90%, which means 90% of the learning system’s clients are using the system for customer education/partner training/B2B. The old legacy term would be extended enterprise. I slide associations under B2B, because you are providing education/training to an audience base that is external (the main focus).
Employee-focused means that 85% or higher of their client base is for employees.
In our bracket, the systems are either “Combo” or “Customer Education Focused”. The latter market is now that large – system-wise, compared to the Combo, which adds additional features you usually wouldn’t find in a CE-focused system. This is changing, because a client can look at a combo and see features that are geared towards employees, like it, then compare them to a Customer Ed focused system and expect the same thing, not realizing that external audiences do not need workforce development for example. Skills are a key area in this example. Skills should be strong in Combos and Employees, not in CE-focused systems. That said, across the board, skill capabilities across the entire segment are still at the infant stage.
There are systems in this bracket that are actually doing far better than quite a few systems in the employee-only, and two vendors who are Customer Ed that have surpassed Combos. That’s the nature of business today.
Customer Education Focused Systems in the Bracket
Ignore the marketing hype that some “Combos” pitch as customer education-focused, here are the actual players (in our bracket)
- Thought Industries
- Eurekos
- Intellum
- Meridian KSI
- Raven360
- CourseStage – Association heavy focus
- Workramp
The Combos
- Docebo
- Skill Jar
- Cornerstone LMS
- Absorb
- D2L
- Valamis
- LearnUpon
- SAP Litmos
- Fuse
Methodology
If you wanted the NCAA tourney, as I did, why should teams get extra timeouts, because the refs are reviewing the replay? They should be required to just stay on the court. I’m not griping, okay, I’m griping.
With any bracket (or old school grid) there is a methodology for selection. I always hear from folks saying, well so and so doesn’t have this vendor, but you do, and thus, this and that. No analyst or firm will use the same methodology. Nor the same approach. I mean, look at Burger King? Flame-broiled. Mcdonald’s – Fried. Pete’s Burger Joint – Layered with chia seeds and grilled.
Customer Education Systems, even combos should recognize, some key capabilities and functionalities that will make a huge difference. The majority of clients sell courses/content – now sell can be free or it can be fee-based or some combo of it. Anyone who oversees the CE for a company, entity, association, or training provider knows they have one chance to roll this out and make it look slick. Archaic and stale won’t cut it. It has to be easy to use for some, but it can have some additional robustness if the client wants to push it forward as their audience grows or even as they desire additional flexibility.
When putting together the methodology, I tapped into what I know about this space – customer education – which is extensive, what folks are looking at today, and what is needed in the coming year.
Core
- UI/UX – You have one opportunity to make this look good to an external audience, whomever that may be. Folks are used to finding places on the web, with slick websites. Why would they think differently about your system? Every vendor says their system is modern, clean, and user-friendly. I can tell you, that a lot is not. On the Learner Side – the end-user needs to be able to go to the catalog to pick courses/content – so the navigation has to be there, the selections visible on this page, playlists should exist – again, it is not universal, but at least a Grid view, – think “What are these folks seeing every day in their non-work world?” Netflix and other streaming sites. Lots of content. Lots of new experiences and exploration.
- Admin side – Should ideally have a home dashboard, just as you would have a learner dashboard. Navigation is huge here. Fluidity and Agile are a must. Drag and Drop is a big plus, the majority of systems lack it.
- E-Commerce – Included at no charge. We are not talking about a payment processor like Authorize.net, but some e-commerce is tapped into Stripe, which will work. You need to be able to have discounts, promo codes, send invoices (a nice plus), bundling, subscription (again, depends on the audience), VAT, and accept credit cards – VISA, MasterCard is a must. AMEX is a plus – because a lot of companies have corporate AMEX cards. Discover – ehh. It cannot be limited to just PayPal (that’s not what I consider full e-commerce). If you want to take it to the next level, I’d seriously look at adding Venmo and Zelle (which are being tested by various banks as payment in retail locations, such as Walmart). Amazon Pay is doable, again, the options are nice. If a vendor isn’t using Stripe or similar, then I have yet to see someone offering Apple Pay or Samsung, or Google Pay. Cryptocurrency is a wild card here – I’m not seeing a lot of folks overseeing training using crypto. Several years ago, there was one vendor who accepted bitcoin.
- Multi-Tenant – It has to be there. And it should be free. If you can’t go free for as many sub-tenant as the client wants (and yes, there are vendors who offer it), then include at least 10 for free, and then charge in bundles, but do not overcharge – a lot do.
Under the Multi-Tenant (some vendors refer to them as portals. TI refers to them as Panorma)
- Skin your colors/add logo – aka as white label or branded (Everyone offers this)
- Ability to decide if each child (that is how I refer to sub-tenants) can add or remove their courses/content, set up rules for managers (if applicable) other entities, what the admin can do, instructors, etc – hierarchy rules (Every system offers this, some do a better job and offer more flexibility than others). Always remember the parent – The main tenant – i.e. you, set the rules for each of the children. A child can only see themselves, no one else. This means they can’t see the data from another child or access it (unless the parent allows that, which they never should). The parent – you, can see everything, all the data, etc.
- Parent when viewing the metrics, data – can break it out by each child, and drill down into the data – it isn’t limited to just reports (I’ve seen the latter, and trust me, you want to see it on your screen, not via a CSV – Excel file). Some systems do an aggregate of all the children – and that’s it. I hate that. It tells me zip when it comes to customer education.
- Custom Domains (Every system does this, but it gets tricky on what they see as a “Custom Domain” and what you may think it means.
Custom Domain
A lot of vendors say they offer custom domains when it comes to the sub-tenants, and even the main tenant as well, but what I have found, is that what they consider it to be, and what anyone who has ever had a custom domain (and knows what it is) are not in alignment. Again, there are exceptions with some systems.
The common way, when I hear custom domain is that the vendor will say yes, but then explain it as
- Yourname.vendorname.com – or something similar. The vendor’s name is in the domain. It is not just your name and only your name. So, if you have a tenant called Pumpkin and your main tenant or site is called WallaceUniversity, the custom domain would look like – WallaceUniversity.Vendorname.Pumpkin.com or again something similar. Think about it, you are providing this to customers, members, partners, etc – do you really want to have the vendor’s name in it? Sometimes you have no choice because the vendor doesn’t offer that capability, but if they do, then you want it. What is worse, is when a vendor charges for this. Many vendors include “custom domains” and what they are referring to is the example above. Docebo follows this approach, but they are not alone- it’s very common.
A custom domain really means
Yourname.com – Pretty simple. You go and purchase a domain and then have the vendor help you with the server setup (since the domain sits elsewhere). When your customers come, they will be in the learning system, but with a branded URL – i.e. domain. I do this all the time, and I did it when I ran customer training aka customer education. An example: WallaceU.com – and let’s say, for a child, you are going to partners – generic, so it is WallaceU/Partners.com OR let’s say you have a client who wants their own name. No problem. It is Theirname.com (again a custom domain).
There was a time when vendors would offer the above at no charge and set it up for you. It’s difficult to find now, and thus, for me, with my methodology, vendors who offered the true custom domain option scored higher – in points than the “custom domain” angle. The majority of the vendors in the bracket, go with the first example – their name is in the domain.
FWIW – If you want a custom domain, another option is to see if the vendor can do URL Masking. I did it one time, and the end-user can’t tell. Nowadays vendors stay away from it, but if they can, that may be an option for you. It didn’t have any bearings on the methodology or points – this is more just for you to know.
Metrics
- Customer-Education systems should offer metrics that go far beyond what you usually see in a system or should. If you are doing CE, and selling courses/content – the end goal is to generate profit, find out what courses/content are selling, which ones are not, how much usage (how often someone goes in), if you offer a Table of Contents in a course, which sections/chapters they are going to – which will help you when it comes to adding more courses on specific areas, than say generally.
- Additional metrics should include trend lines or similar to show over a period of time, with filters, usage, content purchase, access – each should be a trend line, aggregate but breakdown by day, and then you can drill further down. Quite a few do the above, but really drill-down is a different scene.
- Does the data tell me, a story? Data should always do this. If you can look at the data and say, I can show this to someone above me, the CEO for example, and say “this is why we do this and look at the revenue”, then the data offers a good story. Profit centers will open up budgets and get you more you need. Remember the old, ROI-prove-me attitude? Okay, here you go. Even without money tied to it, showing trend lines are relevant. Telling me only views – is worthless. And I don’t care that I can see how many licenses are being used (put that in settings and not on the home dashboard).
- Modern UI/UX for data and reports. I’m a big fan of “Favorites” and dashboards that go beyond pie charts. Data visualization is called that for a reason, not a bar graph, which is a bar graph. Vendors who did well here, received more points.
Functionality
I used my Learning Systems template for this area, looking at features I knew are needed in a customer education-focused system. Items such as the ability to add CEUs to a piece of content (continuing education units), the ability to generate certificates, multiple ones even tied to one course/content, learning journeys (different spin/approach with curriculum paths or learning paths), peer to peer learning, and the list goes on.
Mobile
Scored higher if you have a mobile app – that is available in iOS and Google Play with on/off synch, and can be white-labeled. You did all four – you got 12 points. You did three – 9 points. You did two – 6 points. You did one – three points. You did none – Zero points.
White-label if your vendor offers it, I recommend it. The fee at the high-end should be about 10K USD. But it removes someone having to use VendorX app, and instead goes to WallaceU app in their app store.
Cornerstone does a lot of nice things with its mobile app, but you cannot white-label it. So, using them, they scored 9 points. Intellum – they do it all, 12 points. Docebo can do it all – 12 points. Thought Industries doesn’t have a mobile app (as of April 8th, 2022), they didn’t make a basket. In fact, the biggest minus on TI, is the lack of the app.
It should be noted that there are vendors who have an app in Apple but not Google. And there are a lot of vendors who have the app in both but do not have on-off synch. Rule of Thumb if you have to explain it to them, then, they likely do not have it. You want On-Off synch.
Other tidbits
- Notifications – very relevant as reminders for maintaining certification (if applicable) and just reminders in general. E-mail is common in the industry, SMS is very rare. Notification schedule i.e. times you can send it, etc – is a must.
- Event management – vILT/ILT – Waitlists are a must, auto waitlist is even better – you want this if you are doing vILT or ILT
- Ability to capture data and add it to your system for external is a must for CE systems. I mean, I may have attended online nine events that are not by you, but as the client – you see value for them doing it.
- Gamification – Customer Ed can do well here – depends on the perks – I mean, I get 75 points – what do I get for that? A 30-second email?
- Skills – I went really low here – if you have skill ratings with the ability to explain what each number means, you scored two points; if you offered more skill capabilities then think of it as free throws. A lot of bricks were tossed (which means they missed). Skills should be tied to the content here, job roles shouldn’t be relevant. The goal here is to educate and train folks, not by job role and oh by the way, not by assigned learning – which is a BIG NO-NO for customer education.
Additional three’s
- Support – This is massive. It’s major regardless, but for folks using the system for customer education/associations/B2B even B2C, partner training – you need good support. There are vendors on this list that outsource implementation/configuration – which isn’t ideal, especially since you – the client have no idea – about how that partner handles support or their track record. Anyway, support should include not just onboarding (everyone does this), but ongoing sessions when needed (for the admin or head of the dept or both) for free, videos, a knowledge center, and a discussion area that is checked frequently. Nobody is checking out your FAQ or Help section. I can tell you there are vendors who are in the bracket, whose support is below avg to poor. They did not score any points here.
- Aiding the client in best practices to generate revenue (if that is your goal) or whatever. This goes beyond just your use case. And it is rare. Two vendors in the bracket offer it.
- Messaging – Marketing is huge here, and so does the vendor message Customer Education in their pitch, on their website, beyond SEO purposes. This is a major problem in the CE space, or for anyone who seeks a system for customer education. The reason being is that vendors as a whole, believe L&D is the only game in town, forgetting that in the Customer Ed segment including Associations, its people with a background in training, or education. In fact, it is rare to have someone in L&D oversee customer education/partner training/B2B, even an association’s education dept. I can tell within the first 60 seconds if a system’s salespeople even the CEO know the difference. And I can tell you, there are a lot of vendors whose CEOs, even founders have no clue. And it should be a wake-up call because when you walk the trade show floor and the vendor is pushing “employee learning or employee development” and you want customer education – you will not stop and check them out.
I cannot say this enough, L&D and Training are not the same things. Different modalities, different approaches. Ever heard of OD? And as one vendor found it, there are companies that have both departments, and they do not talk to each other, nor like each other. I never met anyone who was in L&D wanting to report to Training, nor Training report to L&D, and nobody wants to report to HR.
The Games – A system could score up to 110. Nobody did.
Round 2 Results
- Thought Industries 95, D2L 86
- Cornerstone LMS 90, Raven360 89
- Valamis 84, Skill Jar 76
- Docebo 93, LearnUpon 82
- Eurekos 94, CourseStage 80
- Fuse 90, Meridian KSI 86
- Intellum 92, Workramp 79
- Absorb 93, SAP Litmos 82
Key Takeaways
- Meridian LMS’s biggest weaknesses fall into two areas – Data/Metrics – which on one side are extensive, the other side, the UX is very dated and needs a massive update; plus some of the data I found missed some key CE indicators folks I think would want. The general UI/UX for the system itself is dated – which is a shame because this is a very solid system. I like a lot of it, but these were huge areas to overcome. Lastly, the forward-thinking I’m not seeing it. And they lacked in a few areas around functionality.
- Thought Industries biggest miss is mobile – they lost 12 points right there. The admin side when it comes to their new dashboard is a vast improvement, but there were a couple of areas that needed tweaks. Panorma is outstanding.
- Valamis is a work in progress – they will build it (you will pay), but the key tidbits that are essential, are missing a couple. The LXP spin is a joke – I remember going thru it, and what they thought an LXP is, and what it really is, are two different things. And what with the buy of a vendor who plays in employee development – that has me worried. I still like the system, they offer a slick UI/UX, and lots to like, but those areas probably will catch up with them – in the bracket.
- LearnUpon is a nice system that plays well in association and customer education. I wouldn’t buy them if I was Large in user base, but that wasn’t a factor here. They just missed in a few areas, specific metrics for CE a big clanker (off the rim), and the sub-tenant capabilities need an improvement.
- Cornerstone LMS – Probably the big upset in R1 over a very good Raven360, which is under the radar for so many people. Cornerstone LMS, is a nexgen system (so forward thinking is there), I didn’t consider the EdCast acquisition (the bracket was done before that, and anyway as it relates to CE, it makes no impact whatsoever). Minuses for Cornerstone – Marketing/Messaging around CE is really poor. If you doubt me, go to their website. A white-label mobile app is unavailable. They do need an update on UI/UX on Learner and Admin side, and the metrics again for the CE specific are subpar. That said, this is a very robust and strong system, and it just slides by.
I should note that “pricing” was not a factor in the bracket. Add-ons dependent on whether they are a need or just a nice to have. When reviewing Absorb – I based my analysis on the following (you will want all) – Absorb LMS, Engage, Analyze and Create LI – their authoring tool, for CE market, having an authoring tool really helps – it won’t ever be a deep threat to a commercial, but they are not designed to do so). For Docebo – I based it on Docebo Learn, Discovery/Coach, and Share (an add-on with Docebo Learn, you need and want), Learning Analytics – but dependent on what widgets you select and Docebo Flow – there are metrics that are key for CE space, and then those that are not). All of them are add-ons, i.e. additional costs on top of Docebo Learn.
Round 3 Results
- Thought Industries 95, Cornerstone LMS 90
- Docebo 93, Valamis 84 (Fans were leaving early in the 2nd half)
- Eurekos 94, Fuse 90
- Absorb 93, Intellum 92
Takeaway
Fuse, the #1 learning system overall for 2022, is a great system, but for the customer ed segment, it is still just not fully there yet, compared to Eurekos. Eurekos has a couple of things in the works (two of which do not appear in any system in the CE let alone the Combo side). The system has come a long way, in just a short time, and continues to improve. I like the authoring tool – a lot you can do, and ideal for beginners, but folks with experience can do a few more things too. Fuse has an authoring tool too, but the systems are just structured differently.
Absorb’s add-ons definitely made the difference here, and again, they were included in my analysis. That said, if you want heavy skills today, in a CE-focused system, Intellum does the best, of any way, with the exception of the Combo system – Cornerstone LMS, which is the #1 in skills capabilities in the entire industry. But this isn’t a bracket for the entire industry for skills, let alone employee-focused.
Round 4 Results
- Thought Industries 95, Docebo 93
- Eurekos 94, Absorb 93
Takeaway
What more can be said, than what is listed above. They are all outstanding in their own right – for the CE segment, although, I’m not fully sold on Flow – the metrics for CE are very good, the rest – I mean flow of work? Great, but how is the messaging for the CE segment here? That’s a miss. I recommend additional practice.
Best of the Best – Championship Round
Thought Industries 95, Eurekos 94
Both suffer from the mobile app issue, which made an impact as you can imagine. Remove that though, and you are watching two Titans stack up. One has been that way for a bit, gaining more traction in the CE space, the other an upstart.
If I was Thought Industries I wouldn’t be waiting around to see what Eurekos is up to, I would be pressing forward. And I was Eurekos, I know that a few things here, few there, and well, who knows?
Very few people who watch college hoops had ever heard of this school named Gonzaga when they started to appear.
And now?
Everyone does.
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