Top 10 Learning Systems of 2024: Key Insights & Rankings
As 2025 approaches, the learning technology industry has seen significant advancements, with competition among the top systems tighter than ever. The rankings highlight various platforms excelling in employee development, customer training, and skills-based learning.
Key Trends & Insights
Narrow Margins & Ties—The competition was razor-thin, with several systems tied in rankings, reflecting the industry’s rapid evolution.
Diverse Solutions – The list includes platforms catering to enterprises, customer education, and upskilling.
AI’s Role – While some vendors integrate AI for personalization and automation, AI adoption did not influence the final rankings.
Top 10 Learning Systems of 2024
Learn Amp – Best for employee development, featuring a modern UI/UX and powerful reporting.
Cornerstone OnDemand – Strong in skill management, mobile learning, and user-friendly design.
Docebo LMS – Notable for extensive features and AI-driven content delivery.
Thought Industries – Excels in customer training but could improve data metrics.
LearnUpon & D2L for Business (Tied) – Both are praised for streamlined administration and customer training.
Eurekos – Effective in customer training with a strong focus on analytics, preparing for future AI integration.
CYPHER Learning & 360Learning (Tied) – Stand out for collaboration-driven learning and user engagement.
Learnster – Uses AI for highly personalized learning experiences.
Hive Perform – Specializes in sales training with AI-driven practical scenarios.
Skillable – Known for its hands-on lab-building tools but needs improvements in user engagement.
With these innovations, the learning technology space is set for even more significant transformations heading into 2025.
Post
What a year.
I won’t get into the “Let’s review 2024” post because that’s slated for January 2025, and what a gem that will be.
Instead, this is the end of the year, Awards for 2024 – Top 10.
You can’t get any better than that.
Razor’s slim margins between the top three learning systems, along with a historical three-way tie for #5 and multiple ties at the 6, 7, 9, and 10 rankings, underscore the significant progress the industry has made in developing elite-level systems.
Each one is special in its way.
The best systems from Enterprise and Large Enterprise are here.
Systems that were in the top two for customer training? Here.
Best learning system for skills? Here.
A vendor can refer to themselves as “whatever works for them” angle.
It’s an employee development platform (the vendor refers to itself as that), but I see it more as a talent development platform.
The grouping includes multiple LMS vendors, a learning platform, a skills-based platform, and a sales training enablement platform.
Some of the vendors’ analyses will be shorter than the others.
I only wanted to highlight some items/functions that intrigued or interested me.
These vendors believe I should have mentioned this or that.
Well, I didn’t.
Next!
The Acronyms
If the system is on my platform, FindAnLMS, it will be noted as FAL.
I want to make it very clear that whether or not one was on FAL was a zero-factor in the decision-making process.
While the goal is to have the world’s best learning systems, we recognize that not everyone has access to them.
Nevertheless, we continue to work towards that objective I set forth when launching the platform years ago.
An acronym you will see
Combo—This is the most common type of system in the industry. It focuses on internal (L&D, employees) and external (Training, and what I wrote up around CS) aspects. The system always skews one way (internal) or the other (external). And yes, it is common to have a combo system that offers multi-tenant—aka parent-child.
I didn’t place in verticals (because vendors always claim they cover all verticals or selectively choose them). However, if a MonsterXTW company with 500,000 users, not in their vertical, comes knocking, I’m betting they’ll take MonsterX.
If the system is heavy on compliance, then that is horizontal and goes across industries.
If a system focuses solely on FS and has functionality explicitly designed for FS and nobody else, that is different.
None are in the top 10, so it isn’t at play here.
AI did not play a role here because only some have it. Did I see it as a plus for 2024?
Sure.
I will mention it when I see significant successes with it, specifically to those vendors.
A great system in the top 10 doesn’t have it yet but will in 2025.
The system is still fantastic.
Knowing what I know for 25, with AI for them, impresses me.
It did not factor into the decision – i.e.24 vs. 25.
The analysis is based on 650 systems around the world.
One other piece of info before diving into the rankings is about AI.
Regardless of the rankings here, more of an FYI, because so many people read this post.
I want to clarify this: even if the AI LLM is trained with your data or the vendor’s data and has only your content in the system, it may still produce fake or false information.
I cannot stress this enough.
There are a couple of issues with AI today—every LLM, whether commercial or not, is built from scratch by the vendor, and the company added guardrails, RAG, and so forth—it doesn’t matter. It is a flaw of AI.
Secondly, there is no perfect LLM. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
Hence, the value of multiple LLMs.
If a vendor claims to be LLM agnostic, it’s likely a load of baloney. I could go on about the issues they are finding and what I hear vendors say, which seriously makes me wonder who is feeding them this garbage (when it comes to some claims they make).
Is it the exact old same that I’ve seen with other technical skills-focused systems?
Or does it bring something new and unique to the table?
Wins
Not everyone can jump into a lab and figure it all out. And frankly, I don’t believe that the administrator—or whoever is tasked with creating the lab or its content—can either.
When it comes to training people or Learning and Development, there’s often an assumption that IT will handle it. But let me be clear: this is a scenario I do not recommend.
So, what is Skillable Studio?
At its core, Skillable Studio is an authoring tool designed specifically for creating labs.
However, it goes far beyond the basics.
When you use Studio, you also gain access to analytics tied directly to its usage, offering valuable insights.
Other standout features include:
An interactive instructions editor,
Tools for lab configuration and cost controls
A wealth of pre-made templates.
These templates are handy for individuals who prefer ready-made solutions but still want the flexibility to customize. Think of them as tools to support tailored training and instructional design, helping you develop guided lab experiences that meet diverse needs.
If gamification is on your radar, Skillable incorporates it seamlessly into its labs.
That said, it is not without its challenges.
While Skillable’s UI/UX is solid, they still need some refinement.
Specifically, the platform falls a bit short in terms of learner engagement—something I believe users would greatly appreciate.
Another point of contention for me is the option to bring in content from third-party vendors.
Skillable makes it clear they are not a content library, so this choice feels a bit contradictory.
It raises an important question: why even offer third-party content integration in the first place?
From the moment it launched, I saw a big-time winner.
The pre-skill mapping to content was, to me, genius. I’m baffled by why other vendors don’t do this, which they could even do with third-party content from another provider.
It is a huge pain point for many people who have to do it themselves.
Moreover, BizSkills’ capability to incorporate job roles into its system is truly impressive, providing a comprehensive learning experience.
The user interface and experience of BizSkills are designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it a comfortable tool to work with.
It’s a fresh visual that captures a learner’s attention and encourages their use.
BizLMS
Super refresh with the LMS, and I love it.
The custom dashboard, on the admin side is sweet and easy to use.
Anyone, regardless of whether they have an L&D, training, or none at all—which is expanding in the industry—could figure this out.
Look at it. Not the assignment status – but the initial top
Create Learner – Anyone can see this and go, okay, click
Create Learning Initiative
Create Featured Playlist
And it goes on.
When you look at some of the data, what I love is what I don’t see.
I never understood why vendors show the number of licenses on the main dashboard page.
Who cares.
Nor views.
You are not a search engine.
Views do not tell your learning story.
It tells me someone clicked into the content, may have looked at it, and left.
What sets BizLMS apart is its ability to provide a comprehensive view of your learning journey, not just a mere ‘view’ of your interactions with the content.
From there, the head of L&D or Training can extrapolate and figure out what it means and how to tap into it.
Big Wins
The revamped UI/UX of BizLMS is a game-changer. It’s not just visually appealing, but it also makes the system incredibly easy to use, which is a win-win for both the client and the user.AI in BizLMS is not just a buzzword. It truly taps into a holistic approach to learning, a feature that many systems claim but few deliver. This should give you confidence in the system’s capabilities.
A video player with translated closed captioning in 11 languages and the ability to change the text into your language in handouts and materials.
Many systems do this, but it is often cumbersome. BizLMS isn’t.
Learner Onboard workflow is another slick look.
Straightforward with the following options:
a. I’m here for exploration
b. I like to learn really fast
c. Remember, people will retain and understand more when they select topics of interest.
Plenty of data shows that the #1 reason people leave a company is the lack of personal and professional development.
If you want someone to go into the system repeatedly to learn something beneficial to them (which should be your objective), interests will do it.
Clever.
I won’t dive into BizSkills right away, because you need to experience the system firsthand to see why it’s so useful for onboarding. Here is just a quick look:
Lastly, you may think this system, with everything it has, would be expensive. Nope.
It is very affordable, and that includes the content if you wish to have it (it may or may not be an additional cost).
BizLibrary verifies that you don’t have to drop a lot of $$$ to get a robust system.
I love that you get the power pack of sales learning developed by learning experts with a nice feature set of sales capabilities.
The latter includes real-world scenarios via sales coaching intertwined with AI.
Pipeline management is there.
Perform offers the ability to target specific strategies to improve sales reps’ performance and deal outcomes.
The system comes with a training repository so that content always stays updated.
There is a lot to digest here.
The system uses AI – called Sidekick.
The positive aspect is that it allows the use of thumbs up and down pieces, enabling someone to indicate, “If they pick thumbs down, this is incorrect.”
The downer is that Perform does not mention anywhere that AI may produce fake or false information.
It’s a rare occurrence, even in today’s AI landscape, for vendors to openly acknowledge the potential for AI to generate fake or false information.
This lack of transparency is a significant issue in the industry.
If you are seeking a system that is driven and heavily leverages AI, here you go.
I named them the #1 Learning System for AI in 2024.
They believe that, when used properly, AI should be based on learner engagement and organizational reach.
Not just productivity.
Big Wins
You want AI? Here you go. Yes, we are still in the baby stage with AI – nevertheless, they lead the industry.
Learning Companion – The companion is all about informal learning, whereas a learner using AI can choose text, quizzes, learning casts, and other formats that suit the way they learn. This includes thereafter learning paths for that specific learner – HUGE
The ability to select a variety of synthetic voices for your personal agent, including specific accents. Do you want an agent to have a British accent? You can.
Remixes are the coolest capability I have seen, period. A learner using their space can select a variety of pieces of content, including say podcasts (coming in 2025)—but I mention it here only because of how this works—and remix them in a different journey. Thus, maybe organizational content, third-party courses, PDFs, audio files, and remix. I love it.
When using AI – you choose your companion mode – Scholar, Coach, Expert – the system is all about learners first – which it should be. And individuality – rather than the assumption, let’s push out content and quizzes for everyone – assuming everyone learns the same way.
Compliance capabilities – Data visualization and the key information you need to know
Needs Improvement – or Tweaks
The home page, while currently resembling a familiar layout seen in platforms like Netflix, is in need of a fresh and innovative approach. The industry is saturated with similar designs, and it’s time to break the mold. Inspire with something new and exciting.
Better metrics—the internal is solid, but what about customer training? Not so much. Plus, on the metrics side as a whole, ensure it tells me my learning story.
360Learning does have AI but lacks the notification that it may create fake or false information, and you should always review before accepting it as correct.
I honestly can count on two hands the number of times I have seen a vendor post it—not just on the admin side, content creator piece, or anything that uses AI, but also on the learner side.
Anyway, one downside of AI with 360Learning is that they push the narrative around AI.
There are, though, plenty of pluses.
Wins
Their mobile app is the highest-rated app for learning systems on Google Play and iTunes.
I know plenty of people will be like, “Big deal.”
It is a huge deal.
One of my biggest pet peeves is vendors who roll out these apps, show them off, and then you read the reviews and see it is trash.
Or it is never updated.
Or it doesn’t work with the latest version of Android or iTunes.
I’ve seen vendors who still only have a mobile app for iTunes.
Ignoring folks who use Android.
Other wins:
I like that they follow the structure of the TOC, using the term chapters that are appropriate for WBT.
One of the cool aspects is that under each chapter or page you are viewing, you have the option to select either a thumbs up—I liked it, a smiley face—I learned something, another icon—this is outdated, or another icon—I have a question.
From a content creator standpoint, they have the best one in the industry using AI.
On the content side, it is all about collaborators—and in the system itself, they have a lot of power in terms of what they can do.
As the admin, you decide who a collaborator is, but once you do, you need to select the right folks.
Their 360Learning Skills has a few added pluses, such as the ability to integrate your own skills ontology or framework, with role development for onboarding, upskilling, and, to me, a crucial piece rarely mentioned by vendors – reskilling.
The most significant improvement in their skills is the data visualization for the dashboard.
This is what attracts attention and is easier to understand than a lot of what I see from other systems.
On a side note, they do allow clients to identify minimums, such as 1, which means you have zero knowledge about anything (uh, you choose what you want).
I am hyper-promoting this because so many systems do skill ratings and never tell people what a 1 to 2, etc., actually means—besides average.
Never use the term Rubrics for the explanations – You are not an elementary school teacher.
The overall UI/UX is solid.
But this system, while it offers many whams across the platform, does have a few warts.
Need tweaks:
The metrics for activities include “views” – you already know my feelings there.
The system’s SCORM feature, while functional, could be more user-friendly.
It’s not immediately clear that the system supports SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 3rd edition, and SCORM—xAPI until you click SCORM.
This lack of clarity could be improved.
The collaborator’s aspect, even after I was shown how it worked, left me with some concerns.
I didn’t see a comprehensive list of their capabilities within the system, which made me feel uncertain.
The lack of visible metrics to gauge their success or failure on the learner side seems like a missed opportunity for improvement.
Screens (Homepage showing the Collaborators piece, Mobile view – hey there is a reason their scores are the best)
Cypher Learning has some wonderful approaches to learning and strong AI, which is number two in the industry.
Wins
The task journey feature, located on the right side of the screen, is a valuable tool that guides users through tasks, enhancing their learning experience. The content creator, listed as a course, offers a range of options including gamify, writing style, persona, and synthetic audio, each designed to enhance and personalize course content. The writing style was also engaging. There were a few options, but I didn’t see how I could see what each style “looks” like. A hover item would suffice.
The admin side was both a plus and a minus. There were a lot of options on the plus side, but I felt it could have been streamlined.
The whole copilot mechanism played off, IMO, is the term itself. Does copilot have a place in the AI industry since Microsoft led the charge? It has some issues. And why would I want it when a personalized agent can go way beyond copilot – now, and I believe as AI evolves.
Gamification was another winner—from the standpoint that you could offer it in ways such as optional tasks people have to do—although there are potential consequences.
From the Gamify standpoint, I did find that different departments, for example, can create their own learning games
AI may produce fake or false information, so check before accepting it. It appears in various places on the admin side.
UI/UX is slick
Skills are strong in terms of approach, design, and output.
I like using Multiple LLMs, rather than the common method I see, where vendors are using only one
Needs Tweaks
Under the content creator (again, they note this as a course), I was baffled as to why traditional educators and another type of educator were listed. If I am targeting corporate, why would I select educator, which is a higher education and even a primary/secondary option?
I didn’t like the option of having this as a micro-learning course because the term alone is misleading. Anybody at any time, even back in 1999, could create a short – mini-course. I get that people still think this is “magical” because some vendors push this term or state their platform is a micro-learning platform. Always remember that short means short, and the duration will differ depending on what the learner wants to do in the course. Anyway, short never means good.
AI cross-check is interesting, but for all the info about notifying people about fake or false information, it doesn’t appear with cross-check
Metrics need improvements
I’m not a fan of the fact that depending on whether or not it is successful in terms of features or capabilities rolled out using learners/admin, etc., it will get shelved.
Why?
It implies that you are not the expert – which is what you will assume when you buy the system.
If you add a feature you are unsure about, don’t add it.
After years of complaints about having to choose between systems, Absorb took the “you get it all” approach and executed it effectively.
The LMS comes with stronger analytics, which are far better than the usual out-of-the-box metrics I see with so many other learning systems.
Wins
You get it all, including AI-powered Skills piece, Content Creator, and Assessment Engine (both are driven by AI)
Oh, did I mention that you can do AI voice-over with the Content Creator – Nice
If you want to elevate your content, they offer a package of pre-built courses, including ones that you can edit and customize. There are no more limitations to a compliance course that is the same one everyone else gets. Now, you can tailor it to your specific state requirements, for example.
AI-driven content recommendations by role – personalized for each learner (again, not universal, all for one – as though you are a Musketeer)
Advanced-level analytics for skills (think BI)
Stronger UI/UX on the learner side and admin side, especially with the dashboards (Oh, BTW, Absorb was the very first vendor to have dashboards on the admin side, for high-level info)
More than 100 new enhancements and updates – including new functionality in 2024
Together by Absorb is a mentoring platform that comes with the LMS, or if you have another system but want a good mentoring platform, you can purchase it as a standalone
Absorb, though, is the only one to have it here—or buy it as a standalone—that is in the Top 10 Learning System Rankings.
Improvements
While the data is all there, I wish it had better visualization.
The interesting item is that it does exist in some areas of the system, yet it is not universal.
I like the skills journey in appearance and ease of use, but I’d like to see more adaptive path options—like this way or that way, or that can be further this way or that way.
To date, no vendor has truly achieved what I am referencing, but hey, I’m greedy—here you go, Absorb—be the first!
Screens (Skills, Together by Absorb – Mentoring – it is included as part of the LMS)
The administration side has a very modern look. I like that you can add a signature, and it is evident in the elements—options right on the main screen.
AI currently exists in the question/assessment tool. You can take content, such as text from a course description or even the code script.
You (not the AI) choose the number of questions you want and their type, and then the AI generates them.
I’m intrigued by the possibility of integrating items from external training into the system.
The ‘External Training’ option on the learner page, nestled between ‘Learning Journeys’ and ‘Learning Paths ‘, is a promising feature that piques my interest.
I really can’t recall seeing that option on the home screen, with the others front and center.
Sure, I’ve seen calendars and listings of live events, but these aren’t internal live events; they are external—not associated with the company.
LearnUpon’s newest offering is Learn Anywhere.
There are pluses here, but at the same time, a bit of concern – because you have to remember who is behind the screen – and not it is not the Wiz. (i.e., Wizard of Oz)
It could be someone who has no idea what embed code is, which is worrying.
Anywhere achieves this as an integral part—which is to say you can put a course or content anywhere—from another platform to your web site to wherever.
It is a partial Content Delivery System (CDS).
This opens up the possibility of saying, “Okay, I want to embed some content into my Instagram feed or in Salesforce or HubSpot.”
LearnUpon tracks everything from learner clicks, progress, completions, and even exam results—because, yep, you can place assessments, PDFs, or this or that anywhere.
Due to its unique features and impressive capabilities, I believe D2L is underrated, often perceived as only an EdTech (K-12, Higher Ed), and lacking what others have in the industry.
Wins
D2L’s extensive set of metrics and data is not just a feature, but a practical tool that tells your learning story. Functionality-wise, it matches the well-known players in the market that people perceive as leaders in the various segments
It is way better than Crowd Wisdom, the leader for reasons I still can’t figure out beyond it is tied to an association management platform – which FWIW D2L can tap integrate with too – plus any other association management platforms too (I should note that D2L has a system for associations, which I love as well)
D2L is the #1 learning system for the association market, three years running
They play strongly in the customer training market, with, wait for it – unlimited multi-tenant (parent-child, i.e., unlimited children). Do you know how many vendors do this? I can tell you, not many. In fact, on my top 10, three – including D2L. You may think, well, that is a lot – but seriously, beyond those three, not an extensive list does. Minute is the right word.
Content Creator+ offers numerous options for delivering content. One factor in its power is the acquisition of H5P, which provides flexibility for those who have some ID skill sets.
Workforce development components that are easy to use and figure out—I kid you not, there are a lot of vendors whose WD options are easy to use —and ease of use are two terms that should not be combined as one.
Ease of use—on the learner and admin sides—is enormous for the admin side. The learner is good, too, but the admin is big.
AI
For an additional fee, you can get Lumi. What is Lumi, you ask?
A series of AI learning tools.
Generate questions, answer questions, create content, and reduce workflow.
I liked it.
It opens up a lot of possibilities, and I look forward to what it can do in 2025.
That said, I wish it was included at no additional cost.
The UI/UX on the learner side is #1 for 2024, and their onboarding of clients is #1 for 2024.
This is the #1 system for customer training for 2024.
It was #1 in 2023 and #1 in 2022.
However, in 2024, the system dropped to number four, primarily due to the following two items:
However, they lack some data/metrics that I expect for a top-tier system, particularly when the core is customer training (they note it as customer education).
I’m not entirely sold on the entrance into L&D – simply because while they have skills and additional functionality to leverage strongly into that audience, it is an expansion.
I have a couple of concerns—whereas some folks would be “big deal,” and others, well, that is your aspect.
The system continues to charge a fee for Panoramas, which looks outstanding but should be included.
While the additional cost of multi-tenants (aka extended enterprise) is common, it’s important to question why this is the case and whether it’s justified.
Let’s jump to wins
Their onboarding approach, identifying and training two additional folks who are not on the training side, is brilliant. If the admin or head of training wins the lotto, who is going to jump in and handle it? Not Barney in HRIS—unless Rubble is their last name.
The system’s robust data reporting for customer training is truly impressive, providing a wealth of information and insights.This executive Summary gives you a quick snapshot of your site, learners, and financial performance—right to the point data that you will need.
Their learner side’s functionality is strong and easy to use, to exist.
It is a very robust system that still understands who is overseeing it, including who is running training or whatever their title is. Customer training is overwhelmingly about making money, and having metrics that identify what is working is huge.
Early adopters of AI – and they are very aware of the pitfalls, and recognizing that we still have a long way to go
An admin “zone” where everything you need for a variety of tasks associated with customer training, and yes, L&D—internal—is available. You do not need to look for these options, as many systems require you to do so—and I am referencing specifically for VLT and ILT.
Dedicated project manager and implementation consultant – LOVE it.
Add-ons you will need
Purchase the following add-ons to tap into the system completely.
Essential IMO.
Advanced Enhancement
Panorama
E-Commerce – I wish this was included as part of the system, without you having to pay extra for it – very robust with everything you will need, without having to go all over the place to find 3rd party pieces
Advanced integration – BI-Connector – should be an extra cost, along with other integrations – very common in the space to charge; some items should be included. IMO
Dashboard that the Learner can see (first screen), Second Screen – Executive Summary
Pronounced (Doh-Che-Bo). Think Italian because that is where their corporate HQ used to be and where the story of Docebo began.
Wonderful system, overall.
Wins
#1 Large Enterprise System 2024
Docebo was the first system to introduce the ‘content catalog where the publisher who created it is visible’ feature. However, they realized that this information was not relevant to users, so they restructured it by category, without displaying the names of the publishers. This was a smart move, and they have continued to improve this feature in 2024.Skills continue to improve, and new options and new capabilities.
Another vendor who added AI
Insights go beyond the out-of-the-box nothingness I see way too often. Insights tell the learning metrics of your system; however, does it tell the full learning story? Not yet unless you purchase the analytics advanced add-on. You will go, “Oh yeah,” and thank the Gods for it.
Admin side increased ease of use, learner side ditto.
AI capabilities that went beyond
Enrollments
Translations (seen in other systems, but still, their version stands out)
Content tagging
Automation of Skills tagging
Insights
They offer AI authoring, a content creation tool, for an additional fee. This includes the use of AI for revisions and rewrites, to name just two, plus the creation of activities, which is a bit different and offers additional potential down the road.
After listening to my ongoing irritation with their pricing structure, they have now gone tiers—and visible no less for anyone to see.
I love the new communities that are in the system.
To get communities, you must purchase either the Elevate tier or Enterprise.
Here are the tiers and what you receive in each one.
Elevate Pricing Tier: This should suffice for most folks.
There is a lot here to get when you buy the system.
I won’t regurgitate it.
That said, there are way too many à la carte (add-ons) for the Elevate tier.
This answers the question: Do you want to lead or be like others?
The items I dislike being add-ons in the Elevate Pricing Tier:
E-commerce—you need it for customer training or any training you want to charge a fee for, even offering it as a freebie. Worse, you pay yearly for this privilege. If you are buying the system for customer training, give it to this use case for free. Simple.
Extended Enterprise is a legacy term since the key monsters in the space use either customer training or customer education. Anyway, it is a yearly fee, and they charge, I believe, to buy the number you want (on top of that). If my use case is customer training and I have five children, give it to me for free. Ditto if I have 25 children. There is a reason why, but this isn’t the time for it.
Salesforce—Nowadays, it is quite common in the industry to integrate and use your content, blah blah. I know of vendors who jumped into this before 2015. Ditto on the Microsoft Teams angle, too.
The other add-ons make total sense.
I remain unconvinced that AR/VR will succeed in immersive learning, primarily because viewing content on a mobile device without a headset doesn’t constitute authentic VR learning.
To do that, you need a headset. AR? Sure, but VR is far better. Plus, the future ix XR.
Docebo isn’t the only vendor plunging full steam ahead with AR or VR as an option for their learning system. Cornerstone #2 offers the same thing.
C-O-R-N-E-R-S-T-O-N-E (whew, repeat three times, – like a choo-choo steam engine, whoosh). Why, you ask? Well, it’s more fun that way.
And oh, how fun we are having, unless you are not Cornerstone LMS, or you think they are some ‘traditional’ or ‘legacy’ system incapable of new functionality or unique value propositions, or you have been told that hey, they are too old to do anything that is on the edge like us.
I’m unsure what that means unless the ‘edge’ is a cliff, in which case, yes, I have heard of such a term.
The rest of us?
Okay, off the mountain top and onto the ‘edge.’
Look, I made a funny.
There is nothing funny about the latest version of the LMS.
It’s not just about being innovative, it’s about being user-friendly.
Which Cornerstone achieves with a bonus of AI.
It is still the leader in skill management (as they were in 2023).
They have a powerful mobile app with solid functionality.
They continue to add resources to the system’s development—not just once a quarter, but on an ongoing basis.
That doesn’t sound like a ‘legacy’ or slowly creeping along system.
Wins
#1 Skills Management 2024 (yeah, I mentioned it above, but folks can easily skip and go right to this section
#1 Compliance Management 2024
Top five for AI, 2024 – They have AI folks who understand the essentials for learning/training – that’s important
The UI/UX on the learner side is the best it has ever been, and I know this because I have seen this system every year it has been around.
Vast improvement for data visualization – You see nice dashboards
Assignments design – yeah, when you are focused heavily around L&D – onboarding employees too, this is relevant
Mobile app – It is good and capable of on-the-go learning with on/off synch.
HUGE WIN ALERT – HUGE WIN ALERT – A DAP (Digitial Adoption Platform) built into the LMS and included at no charge.
A DAP, for those unaware, is a platform that provides a ‘how to do it, show me, let me do it” approach, which everyone I ever met in L&D and Training loves – uh, the folks behind, and even learners – ‘Show, Tell, Let me do it.”
I’d argue for technical training, as well as business, customer service, and other relevant fields.
That is a DAP.
You can be a standalone that says they can do way more, but at the end of the day, its core is what I mentioned, and it is all you or your learners need.
Plus, I’m not just zeroing in on the learner but also on the admin.
Here is how the admin taps into it.
I need to know how to do this – because nobody trained me, I can’t remember, I was handed this ‘THING’ and need to figure it how to upload something called courses or add ‘learners’ to it. A DAP says okay, type in either a word or a series of words, and it will go to the specific area on how to learn that. Then, it shows you step-by-step. A good one goes further – ‘let’s do it together.’ Finally, you can do it. To learn how, simply repeat the steps or revisit a specific one.
Trust me, it will save you a lot of time.
You don’t have to go to some HELP section (which nobody uses) or watch videos (which are boring, and whoa, is that my pen?).
Nor contact the vendor’s support and ask them how to do it, because well, let’s just say some vendors’ support is lackluster.
A DAP takes that – away.
Which is why you see DAPs being sold as standalone to whatever “tech” training you need.
2. The Learner side—This is where a DAP can really help. It follows the same approach as above.
It leverages the system, though, by saving the ADMIN a lot of headaches. Learners are known to say, “My system doesn’t work.” “I can’t access blah blah because this is junk.” “I can’t find my catalog, so there must be something wrong with the system.”
Then, assuming they don’t just say “forget it” (using other lingo), they contact the admin and tell them about all those problems.
An admin who has been trained to do their own Q&A will first see if they can replicate the issue. Then, and only then, if they can’t find the problem (not the nav thing, which screams learner, not the system has a bug in it, or is actually junk), they—the admin—contact the vendor’s support.
99% of all issues learners contact an Admin on are human error—i.e., the learner hasn’t been trained on it or is unaware, and thus, it’s not an Admin’s responsibility to contact vendor support.
The vendor wants to avoid the calls because they cost them money, and you can see where this goes.
Hence, the DAP – with the learner using it too.
Skills mapping with AI
Mentoring – with the usual deliciousness of the learner being matched with the mentor, based on whatever variables (options the mentoree) selects.
They select the mentor(s) they want because they may need one for this or that.
Mentoring is not the same thing as coaching.
Any vendor who says it is or believes the word is interchangeable as baloney is to salami must try both and then ascertain if that is correct.
For those folks who are selected by the company to acquire skills in being a good listener, the company hires a coach or nowadays has you either going to a ‘coaching session’ or workshop or talking to an AI coach.
Do you want to know what is going to really take off in 2025, with systems tied within an LMS or LXP or learning platform, OR vendors who will launch their own on top of what exists today?
MENTORING
Anyway, it comes with the system, and Cornerstone recognizes its importance.
Course Content player with AI in it – yes, others have it too, I get that, still a plus
The admin side has vastly improved UI/UX-wise – including the reporting piece and the metrics that appear.
Can you tell me what your learning story is?
Yes.
It offers those metrics, right out the gate.
Cornerstone has data connections to hundreds of systems, including the ability to connect with other learning systems, not just HR systems.
Yes, other vendors can do this, but not all can say, “If so, go do this.”
Think Zapier, but you can experience offerings like Zapier without the disconnects.
Improvements needed
The visualization of data has the same issue as most systems in the market – out of the box – overall – looks like Excel 2000. I can get the same pie charts, too. It should appear modern. Yes, good data is presented, but you can’t get by or shouldn’t get by seeing such when, in other places, you see a different appearance of data – even on the same screen. Again, Cornerstone is not the only one in this approach. But if you want to lead…..
The reporting can be streamlined. The two biggest complaints I hear about Cornerstone are that the admin side is hard to figure out (that has been fixed) and that the reporting is challenging to understand and get the information—as in cumbersome.
It has improved. It can go a step further. That’s all.
Learn Amp identifies themselves as an employee development platform.
Learn Amp, a platform that is not just a learning system, but a platform that is solely dedicated to the development of your employees.
I know there will be vendors who say, “Mine does, too. ” Okay, then, why do you also accept customer training? You can accept employees and customers and then focus your system on one segment.
Thats fine.
Learn Amp says, “No. We see ourselves only for employees – that’s it.”
I could easily see them saying, “All aboard, the employee cruise ship to wonderment, where learning is free (for your employees), design is special – just watch out for icebergs (other systems that promise but fail), and engagement to what is needed and requested for you, is delivered on time (except your postal – HA).
Wins
Top 10 for AI
Wonderful UI/UX – Learner, Admin, and Manager
The important essentials you need as a manager – everything you think is relevant, well, for many companies, it may not be – Learn Amp has figured it out – what is essential for what you need
Easy use, figure out and extract your learning story
Ability to leverage tagging tied around skills with AI
AI recommendations include content and expertise.
AI skills taxonomy – I love that you can create a taxonomy quickly. That is big.
Opportunities
More than 50 canned reports (I counted them, and since they continue to add ongoingly) out of the box with relevant data to enable you to really get a solid grasp of your learners and thus learning
Create custom reports (I know folks will go, “We can too) with a built-in BI tool (as in built into the system already). Thus, why buy a BI solution for your learning and use a BI tool created for BI data? Trying to mush that into learning is a headache—and reading that info is a migraine.
However, many companies have already purchased their own BI tool or data lake and want to use it for learning.
You can – with over 100 data points combining your data with Learn Amp’s data – The “already you have a BI or data lake,” and get that info is an additional fee (other systems charge for a BI connector – as well, but how many data points they offer varies)
Outstanding support and service—I again, am aware that lots—okay, every vendor out there on the planet says they have outstanding support and service—but trust me, they really have it and back it up day by day.
I believe that folks who want performance management—unless they are buying a performance management system, talent development system, or management system—should have it available as an add-on and not just stuck into a system.
Not everyone who is all about employees wants or will use what comes with performance management that one vendor offers versus another.
Learn Amp sees it that way, too. If you want the full-throttle PM options, they are available as an add-on here; if you don’t and are fine with what we offer out of the box, they are included here.
Later, you can push it up to the next tier PM or say, “You know what comes with the system is perfect.”
I like that they list quite a few features of items, but you can read all of that on their website, so I didn’t see the need to rehash it.
Okay, two I will point out – the communities’ piece – which can easily be utilized as cohorts, and their widgets options – quite a bit to pick from – which your learner will see.
Add-ons
Everyone now knows (if they didn’t know before) my vibe around add-ons.
Advanced analytics – Okay, maybe – Definite if is its BI level
Performance Mgt – Yep
With Learn Amp, the two above are add-ons, and they have another add-on called,
“Advanced,” which, when you read it, is confusing regarding what some of that means.
When they explained it, I admitted, “I’m thinking WHAT?”
Then I thought, okay, the advanced analytics+ is there (which is also available as a standalone add-on), and there are other items in there that I would see as advanced tools.
However, multi-branding—white-labeling, for example—should be free and not part of the Advanced add-on, ditto for a custom domain. I will be clear that when a vendor says custom domain, it usually means your name. vendor name.com—which is garbage.
This is yourname.com or, let’s say, RubbleConsultationUni.com (you get the point).
This should be included. It is not as though custom domains are expensive.
I am very aware that the number of vendors who give a free custom domain (i.e., they never charge you) is few and far between.
And the whole multi-tenant (the number of children you get, which should be free, as you are aware, only a smattering of vendors do) includes it for free (heck, only a couple in the top 10 do).
I wish Learn Amp would do the same.
Excluding that aspect, I still say “Tally-Ho.” (That means, yeah – they deserve to be #1)
Skills Reporting, Roles and Opportunities
Bottom Line
There will be a version, second edition, available as a PDF arriving before the end of the month. It will cost you..NOTHING. It’s free but will have additional items such as updated images (when available – this requires vendor permission) and an AI synthetic voice – could it be mine (replaced by AI)?? – I say with a Jekyll like laugh!
The second version will be available by download – so you can share with colleagues.
I am aware of typos in this post – and rest assured that everything will be cleaned up by mid-next week (i.e. the 10th or so of Jan).
My goal was to publish this before the end of 2024, however, I wanted to provide as much depth an insight without this being an extensive report, that folks have to purchase to read or view.
For those keeping track – what you just read = 8,129 words, with an estimated read time of 49 minutes. Although for folks who skim, that means 10 minutes.
I’m fine with either. Take your time, take a few. The read time is based on a fancy reader thing I got, which I ignore, but since people always add “duration” to their course, and others mean it has to be, well, here is my fancy reader thing, and I added the duration, even though I promise to ignore it.
With the increase usage of AI in learning systems, whether they are an LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, a combo of LMS/LXP, Talent Development system, Mentoring platform, Coaching platform, or Sales Enablement Platform, where the whole focus is on sales training, or some other learning system that doesn’t want to call themselves any of the above and instead comes up with something they think is clever, but nobody searches nor asks for it.
As of today (late November 24), the industry is witnessing an evolution of AI trends in learning systems.
It’s important to note that AI, despite its potential, is still in its early stages.
Nobody knows how fast it will change in 2025, what will benefit industries, or what will scare the bejeebers out of people, including those who think AI is doom.
I looked solely at our industry and learning systems.
Not learning tech products, because the market isn’t at a mature stage, plus the usage levels, depend on the offering, updating, and approach.
You can be hot today and be a dumpster fire tomorrow. I’ve seen a lot of dumpster fires – even ones where raised capital would make your mouth drop.
EdTech—K-12 and higher education—is an audience, but the type of learning system is the same.
In other words, if Bonzo University is using an LMS, by vendor Dog, then you, Corporate could be using the same system.
The Vision 2025
The best way to explain what I see as the Vision 2025 for learning systems, to view it – and then break down all the points within it.
You can download my wonderful PDF – as a souvenir or you want to read and decipher with this post. I didn’t add a watermark, because I’m not a huge fan of them.
I did though add my wonderful name on it, because you will be able in a year from now go “That’s Craig’s Vision, and he was right. Where is my dinner?”
The Entire Process
The Breakdown of AI Levels
The beginning is the term “learning systems” which is an umbrella term for all the different types of learning systems – such as an LMS and so forth. In this first part – the umbrella appears followed by one ofThe three for the Vision of 2025 are based on trends in the market and where I see vendors will slide under, showcasing the promising potential of AI-driven learning systems in the near future.
AI-Driven, AI Options – with some splitting into AI Focus, Little to no AI functionality
AI-Driven
This term will, I believe, identify those learning systems, regardless of type, that present themselves as AI-Driven LMS, AI-Driven LXP, AI-Driven Talent Development, and so on.
What separates them from the rest of the pack is not only their commitment to AI but, more importantly, the level of AI functionality they are adding to the system.
There are quite a few out there for 2024, and if you can see their roadmaps or talk to them, it is obvious that they are pushing ahead, recognizing that the future of learning, online learning here, will require a boost with AI to achieve the next level of training and learning—regardless of whether it is customers/clients, employees, students, association members, and so on.
Who Stands Out Early On – AI-Driven
My Top Four – #1 is below
Learnster– Impressive items with a lot coming out by the end of this year and early next year. The document report with AI is cool. They have the ability for a Q/A – which will be, for many vendors in our space, the “next big thing” to do. Again, there are vendors who have it – some are better, others it is just okay, next. I like Learnster’s approach.
I like the library each Learner can use, where they can add their own AI media to the system.
They are developing personal agents, which go beyond the co-pilot stuff you hear about, and is underwhelming – but comes off as “cool.”
A personal agent helps the Learner by recognizing what items it can do and allow the Learner to focus on other.
A personal agent can be a coach or mentor to the Learner as the Learner uses the system. When you think of personal agents (autonomous agents – the goal you want), you have to think about it from the learning standpoint – for the Learner.
Learning needs to be about the Learner and what they can do in the system, not the person overseeing e-learning or the admin.
I digress.
Big Early Wins – And this is just a few of them
Learnster AI Learning Companion – In basic terms, it taps into the data of the Learner as they are using the system (yet still protection and you – admin/overseer, identify what data cannot be seen or utilized – I recommend talking to them to know more)
Learning Spaces: AI identifies the topics and subjects to explore based on the learner selections themselves—hard to explain, cool to see.
The learner, based on the initial response of the AI, can decide what they want to do next – choose a quiz, create a presentation, create an online document, and much more. You can even do something they call a “remix.
AI podcasts with a synthetic voice are coming soon. They will be tied around the topics the Learner is interested in. You can even remix them.
The entire AI approach is 100% based on informal learning, which so many systems say they are but, surprise, are not.
AI translation is in the works, too.
This is AI-Driven– The Other Three
Fuse – While I cannot identify what they have in the works with AI, I came away very impressed in a few areas and intrigued by others.
IMC-AG – A multi-agent (persona, in a way, beyond co-pilot) – expected to roll out in in Q2, 2025. If interested, chat with them. And again, other items are in the works. I was surprised by how far they are with AI compared to the market.
Cypher learning – Their authoring tool – the advanced one, an ID or someone with intermediate skills that utilize this. They also have a co-pilot (legit and different than personal agents) and AI assistant (which is intriguing, but they never tell people that it may output fake or false information and you should verify things – which is surprising since they note the warning in numerous other areas), personal agents – coming soon. This is heavily focused on the Learner – as it should be.
AI Options
AI Focus are vendors who list the usual I see all the time (okay, nowadays) and then have others in the works or have a couple that vendors do not have (in general, skills is a growth AI area—and yes, the top two are right in the mix), but I can see at least one of these vendors saying AI-driven.
And no, I won’t mention them.
Here are vendors that I surmise will push AI Driven, that right now, what I see and what I am aware of, slides them into my next category – AI Options.
This is really a split between AI Focus and then the options side.
AI Options – I see a few as AF (which can they jump into AI driven?
Any system can, but it needs more than five feature sets.
Those that are AI-driven—wow, there is a big difference between them and AF and AI options.
Regardless, most of the market is here – either AF or AO. This is just a short list – so don’t disappear if you are not here.
There is one that has AI in it, but just because they have raised a lot of capital means little to me.
I overwhelmingly believe it is going into their AI solution and not per se into the learn solution.
Thought Industries
Docebo
Cornerstone Learn
KREDO learning platform
SanaAI, the Learn system—surprising because they have AI in their name, but they have two offerings: one is the Learn side, and the other is this AI Assistant capability—which is, well, AI Assistant, a total separate entity.
At this time, you cannot integrate the AI Assistant (nor can your learn salesperson help you with it – seeing it, etc. – yep, they have another salesperson for that – worst idea ever) – that they are continuing to boost up with capabilities, and the learning solution – which has AI offerings – but a chunk is around their content creator. They do have an AI Q/A – which is nice, using generative AI – again, this, I believe, will be the “next” feature vendors in the AI Options will add.
Absorb Learn
LearnUpon
The Splinter
When you commit to AI, whether you are AI Driven or AI Focus – the Overhaul of UI/UX is a must.
There is no, well, we can stay with what we have and just roll with it. No, No.
It’s pretty simple- you either do it, or you don’t.
I believe those that do, well again push ahead.
I understand that cost is always involved here, which is why I would focus first on the learner side, and then on the admin side (which is what vendors do anyway).
There is no doubt in my mind, that AI with metrics is coming at a level that hasn’t been seen before, because of AI’s capabilities here, and where it will go, in the next year and year thereafter.
Already one system I have seen, has some AI in their metrics. It’s cool.
And the potential is massive.
Thus, on the admin side, on the metrics side, it has to be tweaked to deliver. Nobody likes wow, and on the back end, blah.
When you get to UI/UX, the idea that you shove as much as you can on the front is a huge mistake.
You can easily streamline (which is what I would do), then on another screen have the stuff you want to showcase the learner to see – which is the content and so forth.
That said, as an industry, the long in the tooth, Grid look is getting stale.
New UI/UX Example
Fuse’s next UI/UX coming out in 2025.
It is streamlined.
The top has the Q/A AI gen item. Which makes 100% sense. Get that front and center. Let the learner ask questions, see retorts, narrow down see retorts.
Perhaps, the retort goes somewhere into the system – a path, some content or skill or a video or 3rd party content with that specific subject matter or whatever.
Always remember that just because a vendor trains the LLM on their own data, and you then place your content into the LLM, it may still make mistakes.
I have listened to vendors make the argument that isn’t true. Yes, yes it is.
The inherent flaw of AI are hallucinations.
Even AI bias is a problem.
No LLM on the planet, not home made, commercial or open source, trained on whatever you choose – may generate hallucinations.
Even if a vendor uses a RAG, pitches guardrails, has multiple LLMs (which I always recommend), hallucinations exist.
Oh, and that LLM agnostic thing some vendors are now saying?
100% not true in 2024.
That said, a Model As A Service, I believe is the way to go. Okay, let’s move on.
Could a vendor limited to no options go straight into UI/UX overhaul in 2025, with the approach that they plan to get to the next step or the higher step?
Absolutely.
That said, trust me, a lot won’t do it. Ditto on the ones who are AI Options, even AI Focus. Would I want to buy a system that has zero plans to update their UI/UX in 2025? No.
What if they updated in 2024? They will still need to make some tweaks for 2025, due to AI.
This isn’t a skirt and hide, and tada!
Business Productivity
This does not mean with the system you boost productivity – because every system can do this, without AI.
This is saying that within the learning system (I will use an LMS just as an example; it can be any type of learning system)
Today, companies that have implemented AI to their employees have, overall, no idea how often their employees are using AI – especially if the employee continues to use ChatGPT or any other that is free – and there are a lot out there – thus you may block ChatGPT at your company, but how do you block others? Plus, there is no way you can block it at their home or on a mobile device – that isn’t from the company.
Do not underestimate how an employee, who is a human being, can access various LLMs – AI here to use to build a report, complete documents, send e-mails (with a copy and paste), create and send over presentations, and so much more.
A lot of people do this at home.
Even if you block ChatGPT and tell them you can’t use another, unless you block them on the entire internet, they still—okay, some will—go elsewhere and do a cut-and-paste.
Heck, you may get prompt leaking within your own AI you have added with whatever LLM. A new can of worms.
Okay, back to productivity.
We know that using a Talent Dev system, HRIS is at the forefront, even with any system out there, including LMS and Mentoring.
What BP says is okay; you are connecting with various business tools (not HR-related, nor Business, but productivity-related).
You connect with Office365. You connect with Google Workspace.
You connect with OneDrive, Google Drive, Google Worksheets, etc.
Employee access is with Office365, which includes PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.
How do you track what is being utilized with Gen AI?
You don’t unless you embed an AI tracker within each product.
Each of those offerings has AI options, and I am not referring to the use of Co-Pilot.
If the employee is in a learning system where you have connected Office365 so that they can use it within the system, now you can track when they use the AI in the learning system because the vendor would need to use it, for example, the ability for the learner to create documents, presentations, and so on.
In the Learning System Vision of 2025 – the learner starts to have control in their learning – not the usual approach of Admin dominates the learning angle.
I see vendors incorporating the ability for folks to create presentations and documents (similar to what Learnster is doing) and then publish.
People want that control.
The AI can track.
Want an employee to do some reflection on the content? Track.
Want the employee to create their own content?
Thus, they get access to the content creator tool, which is 100% a great idea. I have seen this already sans AI—track it.
The spaces angle, let’s say it is a place where they house the content of what they created. Then, they can add it to wherever is doable in the system—reflect, review, refresh—a system with AI tracking can do it.
Heck, Adobe has an AI solution in its system, and there are vendors who can have an employee sign, read, and download a document—it is embedded.
Then there are those who require a download – and thus, the employee can do similar.
I like the former.
BP pushes the whole streamline tasks by using the learning system – okay, leveraging it, with the vendor’s multi-agents and personal agents (autonomous), which the vendor wants anyway.
The Vision says a vendor pushing AI may take that step rather than just angling around the HR side.
Already some companies want the learning system vendor to connect to the company’s LLM.
Why not go the extra mile?
I should add that you can be AI-driven and not incorporate all of BP. Heck, none is fine, too.
Then there are vendors that, in reality, are already there, without them realizing it.
The biggest challenge for any entity, even edtech, is getting the person to stay in the system and do other things.
AI changes that, with a Q&A piece on the learner’s side and other options the learner can choose from.
This shouldn’t be limited to formal learning because when you are AI-driven or AI-focused, the learner is the main being here—truly informal learning.
That will get them to stay.
Oh, and those folks all about gamification—AI will tap into it with a vendor utilizing it. I think AI in 2024, with gamification as a vendor, would use it, and some vendors use machine learning, which is a form of AI.
Vision 2025, says if you are no on overhaul of UI/UX then the Vision of 2025 ends for you. If you decline BP, vision ends. If you decline both Vision 2025, ends.
To Deliver the Vision of 2025 – five core items that are needed.
No exceptions.
And all of them make 100% sense.
Reflective – this shouldn’t just be in a piece of content. It should be in numerous areas to stimulate thinking. Reflective is deep thinking. Right now, AI can’t do deep thinking.
If a learner is listening to a podcast, or watching a video, or discussing ideas in a cohort, or using an AI Coach (another hot item in 2025) or an AI mentor, add reflective here.
Never limit deep thinking. It stimulates a thought process, helping with retention.
AI Q/A – with the extension of multimodal – There are quite a few LLMs out there that are multimodal. Just text generative is no longer the king. I totally understand why vendors are not at multimodal, or just using PDF for summaries (a couple of vendors do this today – it either looks slick or not). AI Q/A with text is effective, especially when the learner can do a deeper dive and it can go to specific areas in the system.
Multimodal pushes the envelope far more. The premise I type in some text and it outputs a video (they are not long, and the time to view it, is not quick), would be of use in some entities, but not all. The tech around this from an AI standpoint will evolve.
I know folks that are using 3rd party platforms integrated to get better capabilities and multimodal. However, there are some LLMs out there, that can hit the multimodal quite well, especially when they open it up, so that people can create capabilities – I can’t recall what they refer these people as – that can be free or fee-based.
When you recognize that Open Source LLMs will catch up to Commercial, depending on the vendor, and even today, there are some that are really impressive (and vice versa), a community can develop and you can pick what you want in that LLM.
The cost? Probably nothing to use it.
Lastly you want to use a 3rd party you are confident will be around in say three to five years. This industry is already flooded with AI offerings, and just like dot com days, there are ones getting a lot of capital, and still failing.
UI/UX – Already discussed.
Personal Agents (autonomous) – discussed in other posts – here and here.
Revamped Metrics – Ditto
Other AI items not listed? – The AI world has no limits – okay quality, use case to have it in there, benefit to the learner specifically (remember informal), and token costs – will tamper that down. Still, just the idea of what is coming, what is here – a vendor hasn’t used it, or what they are doing – is open.
Bottom Line
There is a lot to digest here. A lot.
However, the Learning System Vision 2025
Never was meant to be short and sweet.
If you wanted that, here is a summary,
“The blog post titled “Vision 2025 by Craig Weiss” outlines a futuristic perspective on learning systems and their integration with artificial intelligence (AI).
AI Integration: The document emphasizes that many learning systems will possess some AI capabilities, but not all will be AI-driven. It suggests that as AI technology advances, more learning systems will integrate AI functionalities necessary for achieving the outlined Vision 2025 goals.
AI Capabilities and Focus: Some vendors are expected not to prioritize AI due to market trends, which will result in systems with minimal to no AI functionalities. In contrast, others will heavily focus on AI, enhancing user interfaces and user experiences (UI/UX) to be learner-centric with streamlined, AI-driven operations.
Enhancements and Goals for 2025: There will be an overhaul in metrics and a revamp of deep thinking strategies, with additional learning and training metrics linked to AI.
Features and Learning System Types: The document discusses the inclusion of multimodal options, personal autonomous agents, and a variety of learning system types such as LMS (Learning Management System), LXP (Learning Experience Platform), coaching, sales enablement, and more, each focusing on core aspects of training and learning.
This vision reflects a shift towards more AI-driven functionalities in learning systems by 2025, with a broader and more integrated approach to online learning aka e-learning.
(And like I said, always check to make sure of accuracy)
One area I added is niche when identifying learning system vendors for the 2024 awards (end of the year).
It doesn’t mean that every vendor has to have this, but rather, it means exploring those who do and whether or not they find success.
I like to think of niche as a way to differentiate vendors because some accept all verticals and industries, and some do not.
Today, vendors are rumbling by the masses into the association market, which is generally recession-proof.
The problem, though, is that many vendors have no idea what area to focus on: trade associations, professional associations, or both.
Do they need to be able to integrate without an issue with an Association Management Platform (yes)?
Do they need to have already some processing providers they connect with, and will some associations need this because they have never done it? (Yes).
Are they familiar with ASAE? (They should become a member).
Does their system have capabilities specifically for the association space, which is relevant? (You better).
Do they know the #1 player and leader in the association market? I find many have no idea. And no, you have to find out yourself.
Sure, you will get some associations—everyone does. But if you want to be among the top five vendors, you must decide if you will be committed.
I always wondered why vendors are happy with being at the bottom or mid-tier in any market. It is as though they watch and understand the Premier League (English soccer), whereas fans get excited about finishing 8th.
I bring this up because it is a factor in my decision for 2024, not just with associations but across all market segments.
It plays a role, more so than in the past.
Niche and Christmas
I’m not sure how it works in your country, but many stores in the States put out Christmas stuff in July. I always wonder who sees this and says, “I must have it now, to prepare.”
You don’t see this with Valentine’s stuff—i.e., putting it out in November. Nor do you see it with Easter bunny stuff, nor Halloween—i.e., putting out stuff in April.
Christmas, though, is different.
I spent a whopping eight minutes, seeing if other places like the UK, with Harrods – the overpriced tourist trap, with stuff nobody needs – but hey it is from Harrods.
Oh, thank God. Harrods has over 780 products for Christmas in September.
Niche.
The stores that sell Christmas stuff are targeting customers who want it early assuming, no doubt, that they will get it for far less than if they wait until, say, November or December.
There isn’t any validation to this presumption.
Nevertheless, those stores see demand – and therefore aimed towards an audience – a niche.
While I am not eyeing a niche for Christmas here, I did place it as a small factor, as noted earlier.
The Approach for End of the Year Awards 2024
People always want to know my Approach, specifically what factors I consider when deciding which vendor ends up where.
My philosophy is simple – who is the buyer here? It’s not me – it is you.
What does the buyer see as relevant – from an overall perspective AND what the buyer should be looking at.
After all, the buyer has limited knowledge, generally speaking, of the trends to look at, what learning tech is in a system, why X or Y doesn’t make sense for adding in a system (not in 2024), and why you must look to the future.
Way too many vendors rely on what their clients tell them they want in a system. I always tell the vendor you are supposed to be the expert, not the client.
Why are you in this industry if you are not the expert? Have you ever thought about selling chestnuts around the wintertime?
Clients have purchased your system for various reasons – and wait for it; they are clients. Your job is to land new business. Did you read that? New Business.
A retort I often hear is that the potential buyer never mentioned X or Y, so it isn’t relevant or necessary at this time.
Again, who is the expert here? The vendor or the prospect. It should be the vendor.
I’m not saying that people lack knowledge here.
Rather, if you are buying a system, you better know this or this—or identify what are truly your needs—and not stuff I see like, “I need a system that offers a course catalog and can upload video.” Uh, every system can do that—but besides that, if you are relying solely on that as the key, then I promise you, you will end up with a system you hate.
The Factors
I decided to focus this year, on some different factors, new ones, plus some you have seen before. Each are weighted, and points assigned to each – with the maximum score being 150 points which is perfect. I am still looking at systems – so those vendors – surprise, I’m looking at the following:
UI/UX – This should be anyone’s number one priority. And yet, I’ve seen systems that look like they came from 2000 and yes, they land big clients. Personally, I believe they achieve this because they are really cheap OR they give the system to clients and such a low price point that the client can’t move on – it is just super cheap. I’ve seen this a lot. One company (name to be withheld) stayed with a vendor, because the price point on 22,000 learners was about $5,000 USD. And if the client went up with users, the pp would stay at 5,000 USD.
Anyway, I look at the learner side across the entire system, not just the home screen, because there are vendors who have a nice UI/UX for a few screens, and then the rest is awful.
Another aspect I focus on is the admin side of the system. The cleanliness of this interface is a significant factor in the overall usability of the system.
It’s important to consider whether non-technical users, without L&D or Training knowledge, can navigate the system without needing to contact support. A user-friendly system is key to its successful adoption.
If the system has been tossed over to HRIS or Marketing, for example, could that person figure out how to use at least the basics of it?
All relevant – and yet so many people ignore it.
The UX—user experience—is by far the most crucial aspect here, and it is looked at by those who have no idea what they are looking at, including folks I know from L&D who do not know what metrics are relevant.
All played a role here.
Oh, UI is essential – because people want fresh, and not yesteryear.
Metrics and Reporting – Relevant. Does the data tell me my learning story? It’s as simple as that. If you are providing customer training as your core – i.e. 60% or higher nowadays, ideally it should be 85% or higher (yes, the number has dropped due to many customers focused now seeking L&D, and on the other spectrum vendors who were strong in L&D, now going after or landing more customer training clients).
Anyway, do those in customer training have the right metrics that are relevant to people who overwhelmingly sell content or whatever and need to generate revenue?
Yes, I know plenty provide fee, still certain data is highly relevant.
View for example? Is not.
But the number of people selecting X content versus Y, which you created, tells me that something is wrong with Y.
Was it designed poorly?
Does it provide the right information? Is it static or engaging? If you are in training, for example, you need to figure it out—not the system.
And if you are seeking to generate profit – what content is selling the most? What is popular? What trends are you seeing?
If you have chapters – which ones are people going into the most – that tells me, that it is relevant to create another course on that chapter expanding it.
You want to see which courses/content are duds. This is essential, but sadly, it is rare for a vendor to offer this data point.
L&D has to include the skills tied to the content data point, such as how often someone is going into a course/content on that specific skill more than another.
What courses on soft skills are effective and which ones are not. I recommend you read my latest post on LinkedIn under my name – trust me you will find it very important.
Too many folks zero in on how long – that isn’t relevant – because they could have the course open to a specific area and be surfing the net on another tab or on their phone.
What is relevant is how often, what day of the week (you will see a trend here – over some time), trend lines that make sense and are relevant to your learning story, types of content to usage – you are using 95% videos and 5% authored courses. You see that your audience is going into the content that isn’t a video 82% of the time.
That’s relevant – However, you need to ask yourself why?
While many people do not believe in learning styles, I do—and have seen it firsthand, as have many people in training and L&D.
Unless you have been in the trenches, and in various business or markets, you wouldn’t know.
I couldn’t care what Fred on the net says from their research – You and I know it’s true.
Again, this data point is rare to find, but it is so relevant, and it is the preferred type of learning from a content side.
Anyway, I look at the metrics. And yes, the reporting, too. Can I see the report data visually, or do I have to download it to chop up stuff?
•Ability to assign CEU/CPD to content and capture data on the CEU/CPD by learner (seems so easy, but yowsa it is all over the map. It should be visible on the main screen when determining what course/content to take. Not on the page, where they must click to learn more about the course. Notifications and reminders are highly relevant here. Oh, metrics/reporting on this data plays a significant role.)
Notifications – Can you notify a bunch of people at the same time – tied to content – i.e., a group of learners, whether the content is ILT (boo) or online learning. How does the process work? Is it straightforward or convoluted? What is the process for notifications and reminders?
On the L&D side, the Manager dashboard, what can you do from the manager side? What can you see? Should you be able to see certain information? If it is debatable, what rules can the admin set up?
Rules are very important – and yet so many people ignore them.
Multi-Tenant – If you are an association or doing customer training/partner training, etc. OR you are in a company that owns their locations -let’s say X meal land, or different LOBs who want their child – think of you as the parent, and then the folks below as children. What can you do with it – uh, the tenant? Can you have a custom domain (where the vendor’s name is not in it)? What rules can you do – see relevance? Does MT cost?
E-commerce – if you need it, how does it look? Does a vendor charge you?
L&D here – HCM, HRIS integration – which ones does the vendor already have ready to go – i.e., API or a REST API? What systems can they integrate with today? If a prospect wants to talk to a client who has that specific HRIS/HCM system, can they do so? (they should).
Skills – Relevant nowadays. – Is reskilling BTW in the platform, and how does it work?
Workforce Development – total L&D side. If you are heavy in L&D and Workforce Development, tied around job roles and career pathways – how does that work? Do you have the right, i.e., minimums, to achieve success? I mean, goal management is relevant. A transcript is not.
Workflows (NEW)
Customer training features for the learner
L&D features for the learner
AI—It was weighted very low this year, but I am curious what they have today—ready to be seen with generative AI? And let me see it.
The big three are content creator, assessments, and skills pathways (growing). Okay, the big two are content creator and assessments. And yeah, that feedback loop is critical, but as noted, I can count on one hand how many vendors offer it. Oh, what LLM or LLMs are you using? Important, but nobody asks. Trust me; you will see the moment that it stinks or is poor with Y compared to another vendor. Lastly, does the vendor charge token fees? I don’t care how cheap they are; you either are charging a fee to the client or not. Pretty simple. For vendors who do not have AI, but it’s on the roadmap, I’m cool with that. And yes, people looking at a system are not asking about it as important. Nevertheless, uh, you are the expert, not them.
Support—I talk about this all the time. I want to stress this because a lot of folks never put it on their RFP, don’t ask about it in their demo, and ignore it—yet it is THE NUMBER ONE REASON people leave their system.
The vendors all have data on support ratios avg number of tickets per issue; they all have response time; they all have data on the top issues the learn about. Any vendor who says they do not – I strongly recommend not using them.
I hear vendors tell me they don’t know the prospect until they become clients.
I’ve also heard the NDA a prospect must sign to find out about support.
What are you – the secret police or a learning system? If a vendor makes you jump through hoops to learn about this data – move on. It yells out RED FLAG.
Ignore the NPS score—and if you are like, “I must know this,” ask them how many detractors they had (very relevant) and what their methodology was.
Funny, I find vendors never require folks to sign an NDA.
Demo score: I am looking at every system, going far deeper in the weeds than prospects go, and extracting all types of information. If a vendor shows me a deck (they always do), I ask them to send it to me after the call. Then I see how many do it. No surprise, I get vendors who never send it.
On the other hand, I will often ask a vendor to send me the deck ahead of hand and see if they will comply.
I can read and use my brain.
If I have questions, I will send them ahead of time.
Less than 40% of vendors ever do this.
I’m looking at that for my analysis.
Marketing – This goes to my marketing awards only – not for the above calculations – Does their marketing effectively work for their target audience? What is their marcomm approach? (Marketing Communications) This is basic stuff because I know a lot of vendors who hold dearly to this, as though they are in a lifeboat. None of the findings – i.e., what works or doesn’t- will be published for the record. Just #1, #2, #3
Best Vendor in Support – A new category. Every vendor says they have fantastic support. Trust me, I know who does and doesn’t.
That’s the list! I do look at some other lesser items, forward-thinking for one, but the above is the real stuff—the meat, if you will. Plant-based is recommended.
What Awards will be given out
Best Learning System (regardless of type)—The top five here. There will be two blogs, though, as in the past, with one covering 11-20 (not in-depth stuff, but enough) and then #10 to #1—this is the one folks want to know the most—and thus, I try to present the key data I found relevant.
Best LMS
Best LMS/LXP combo—this is common nowadays, but LMS is still the monster in terms of type.
Best Learning Platform – Any vendor who says they are none of the above – It’s like magic – okay.
#1 System for Enterprise (I will note #2 and #3)
#1 System for Customer Training (#2, and #3)
#1 System for the Association market (#2, and #3)
#1 System for SMB
#1 System for Support (#2, #3 noted)
Best Learning Technology for 2024 (think new products – I have seen one that is unbelievable, and others that are good – and yeah, go back to the drawing board)
As always, this is a global analysis – in other words, I am not focusing solely on the US. If you look at previous years, you will see systems from all over the world.
Bottom Line
As in year’s past, the rankings will slowly trickle out in early December. The Top 10 post comes out the second week of December.
Coding has always served two purposes: the intrinsic drive to build something, and the practical path to a lucrative career. Even the most passionate code aficionados don’t dream of variables or syntax — they want to make a website, a tool, a game. For years, the career upside was impossible to ignore. You could land a stable SWE job, bootstrap your own app, or join a buzzy startup as a first hire.
Generative AI flipped the script. AI now handles the repetitive tasks that used to define entry-level developer roles. At the same time, the barrier to entry for coding and building is lower than ever — you can spin up a working prototype with just an idea and a natural language prompt.
This shift hasn’t eliminated the desire to code, but it’s changed what and who coding is for. If you’re not learning to land a junior dev role, you’re learning to build the thing you’ve been imagining, to add a technical skill to your existing career, or to understand the tools you’re already using at work. And here’s the catch: those goals all require understanding your code, not just having code that works.
At Codecademy, all of these changes excite us about the future of learning to code. We’re introducing the AI Builder, a new project-based learning tool that flips the script by teaching you how to work with AI-generated code from the start. Our approach brings together the immediacy of modern AI tools and the rigor of real instructional design.
Why we created the AI Builder
AI’s speed and efficiency often come with a tradeoff; you can get working code immediately, but you don’t really know what it’s giving you or why it’s built a certain way. Developers use the term “vibe coding” to describe this phenomenon — it’s fast, fun, but shallow; great for demos, less great for long-term skill-building.
If your goal is to understand what you’re building, generic AI output alone won’t get you there. And the more you push these tools into real-world complexity, “the harder it is for them to give you exactly what you want,” says Zoe Bachman, Head of Learning at Codecademy.
Switch to Learn for behind-the-scenes insights and your personalized roadmap.
With the AI Builder you get an education along with the AI output. In the workspace, you can toggle between two tabs: Build, where you work directly with a project and can modify and change code in real time; and Learn, where you get a personalized learning roadmap that’s based on your project.
“We pair the experience of having a working app with a learning path that allows you to reverse engineer how it’s built, so you can deeply understand it and modify it confidently,” Zoe says. We’re calling our hybrid approach to learning-driven development “vibe learning” — it’s powered by AI guidance but rooted in learning science.
Build first; learn continuously
With AI Builder, you start with what you want to do: build the thing in your head. Whether that’s a habit tracker, a portfolio site, or the seed of a bigger idea, you don’t need to have prior coding knowledge to learn and build with the AI Builder. In other words, there are no pre-requisites for creation.
You create a prototype by typing what you’d like to create in natural language. The AI chatbot will ask a few clarifying questions about your needs and overall goal before generating the project. Once the project is created, you can use the chat function to continue describing what you want. (You’re also welcome to go right into the code and start making changes if you already know your way around!)
“It was fun to build something so quickly and be able to see the code and a learning plan for it,” says Grace Krishna, a Code Crew member who beta tested the AI Builder.
When you need clarity on what’s going on behind the scenes in your code, or you hit a wall with AI, that’s a great time to flip over to the Learn tab.
We’re calling our hybrid approach to learning-driven development ‘vibe learning’ — it’s powered by AI guidance but rooted in learning science.
Your project becomes the curriculum
Rather than teaching concepts in the abstract and hoping learners translate them later, AI Builder removes that translation tax entirely. “We’re showing you specifically your code from your project and helping you understand it,” Zoe says.
Rework your prototype in real time with the help of AI.
To build that personalized curriculum, the AI Builder breaks your project’s code into clear milestones and tasks. For each task, it generates an interactive learning loop, which is an activity designed to help you form a mental model of what your specific code is doing.
These loops help you understand the logic behind each part of your project, so you can confidently apply the same thinking to other sections, or even future projects. This approach also ensures everything you learn is directly relevant to what you’re making — so you don’t have to guess when you’ll ever use this.
Why this is vibe learning (not vibe coding)
A key misconception about AI‑assisted development is that it makes learning superficial. AI Builder challenges that by grounding the entire experience in learning science rather than simple code generation. Our entire system is intentionally designed for you to retain knowledge. So, while it might not feel like you’re taking a course, you’re absorbing key concepts just by interacting with AI-generated code.
A Socratic AI, not an answer-spitting chatbot
Our educational AI chatbot is designed to guide you toward an answer through an in-depth questioning approach that’s based on the Socratic method of teaching. Instead of spitting out shortcuts or answers like AI typically does, you get strategic nudges, hints, and questions that build durable mental models.
Research on AI in education shows that just providing an answer makes it harder for learners to retain the information on their own. Zoe compares the Socratic AI to “a personalized tutor, facilitating you acquiring more knowledge, so you’re not totally left on your own.” Our method encourages you to think critically so you really grasp the concepts and can continue to use them in the real world.
Learning loops with real instructional design
Behind the scenes, every learning loop in the Learn tab is built on proven frameworks like inductive learning and the 5E model, a popular STEM teaching framework that’s shorthand for engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.
You’ll notice that the questions and exercises in the Learn tab feel different than the rest of our courses and paths, and that’s intentional. “The learning loops are designed very well — they get you there inductively,” Zoe says. They’re exploratory without being overwhelming, and evaluative without feeling like tests.
Negar Vahid, a beta tester for the AI Builder appreciated the AI’s interactive question format. “The question-based learning feels engaging, and the starter project it builds is simple but useful,” she says.
This structure ensures you don’t develop the wrong mental models — a known risk in fully constructivist or student-centered environments — while still giving you the freedom to explore.
Why learn when AI can build?
There are some projects that are well-suited for simply vibe coding, like making a personal HTML website or a single-use script to automate a one-time task. Tools like Lovable and v0 are suited exactly for these types of projects.
The longer your code needs to live, and the more complex your project becomes, the more you need to actually understand what you’re building. Joe Holmes, Codecademy Curriculum Developer in the AI and machine learning domain, uses the term “ignorance debt” to describe what happens when you don’t:
“It’s like tech debt squared. It’s much, much worse,” Joe says. “You don’t know what kind of code is coming out. You just are only looking at: Does this kind of generally appear to be what I asked for? You don’t know if there are security flaws. You don’t know if there are performance flaws. You don’t know if you’re leaking sensitive information. You don’t know how to fix anything.”
The tipping point comes down to two factors: complexity and time. If you’re developing software professionally, you’re legally responsible for the code you output. If you’re building something that will serve actual users, you need to be accountable for security, performance, and maintainability. And if your project will need updates or fixes over time (which most do) understanding your codebase becomes essential, not optional.
The good news? Learning doesn’t have to feel like eating your vegetables. “Kids hate veggies and broccoli because we don’t cook it well enough to make it tasty when we first introduce it to them,” says Nhi Pham, Codecademy Curriculum Developer. The same is true for teaching AI: “If you do it well, you’re inspiring people to have these very hygienic practices when working with AI,” she says.
That’s exactly what AI Builder is designed to do — make learning feel as immediate and rewarding as building, so you develop good habits from the start rather than building a lifelong aversion to understanding your own code.
Get started with the AI Builder
AI isn’t a replacement for learning, it’s a tool — and a powerful one when it comes to education. Our new AI Builder allows for “just‑in‑time learning that’s highly personalized,” Zoe says. Even the best teachers or bootcamps can’t deliver that for every learner, on every project, instantly. Perhaps the most exciting vision is how AI changes what a learning environment can be.
Zoe described it beautifully: “I imagine the AI Builder as a workspace… like having all your resources around you and an AI tutor in the background.”
That’s the shift: from learning before you build to learning while you build. We can’t wait to see what you create.
Coding has always served two purposes: the intrinsic drive to build something, and the practical path to a lucrative career. Even the most passionate code aficionados don’t dream of variables or syntax — they want to make a website, a tool, a game. For years, the career upside was impossible to ignore. You could land a stable SWE job, bootstrap your own app, or join a buzzy startup as a first hire.
Generative AI flipped the script. AI now handles the repetitive tasks that used to define entry-level developer roles. At the same time, the barrier to entry for coding and building is lower than ever — you can spin up a working prototype with just an idea and a natural language prompt.
This shift hasn’t eliminated the desire to code, but it’s changed what and who coding is for. If you’re not learning to land a junior dev role, you’re learning to build the thing you’ve been imagining, to add a technical skill to your existing career, or to understand the tools you’re already using at work. And here’s the catch: those goals all require understanding your code, not just having code that works.
At Codecademy, all of these changes excite us about the future of learning to code. We’re introducing the AI Builder, a new project-based learning tool that flips the script by teaching you how to work with AI-generated code from the start. Our approach brings together the immediacy of modern AI tools and the rigor of real instructional design.
Why we created the AI Builder
AI’s speed and efficiency often come with a tradeoff; you can get working code immediately, but you don’t really know what it’s giving you or why it’s built a certain way. Developers use the term “vibe coding” to describe this phenomenon — it’s fast, fun, but shallow; great for demos, less great for long-term skill-building.
If your goal is to understand what you’re building, generic AI output alone won’t get you there. And the more you push these tools into real-world complexity, “the harder it is for them to give you exactly what you want,” says Zoe Bachman, Head of Learning at Codecademy.
Switch to Learn for behind-the-scenes insights and your personalized roadmap.
With the AI Builder you get an education along with the AI output. In the workspace, you can toggle between two tabs: Build, where you work directly with a project and can modify and change code in real time; and Learn, where you get a personalized learning roadmap that’s based on your project.
“We pair the experience of having a working app with a learning path that allows you to reverse engineer how it’s built, so you can deeply understand it and modify it confidently,” Zoe says. We’re calling our hybrid approach to learning-driven development “vibe learning” — it’s powered by AI guidance but rooted in learning science.
Build first; learn continuously
With AI Builder, you start with what you want to do: build the thing in your head. Whether that’s a habit tracker, a portfolio site, or the seed of a bigger idea, you don’t need to have prior coding knowledge to learn and build with the AI Builder. In other words, there are no pre-requisites for creation.
You create a prototype by typing what you’d like to create in natural language. The AI chatbot will ask a few clarifying questions about your needs and overall goal before generating the project. Once the project is created, you can use the chat function to continue describing what you want. (You’re also welcome to go right into the code and start making changes if you already know your way around!)
“It was fun to build something so quickly and be able to see the code and a learning plan for it,” says Grace Krishna, a Code Crew member who beta tested the AI Builder.
When you need clarity on what’s going on behind the scenes in your code, or you hit a wall with AI, that’s a great time to flip over to the Learn tab.
We’re calling our hybrid approach to learning-driven development ‘vibe learning’ — it’s powered by AI guidance but rooted in learning science.
Your project becomes the curriculum
Rather than teaching concepts in the abstract and hoping learners translate them later, AI Builder removes that translation tax entirely. “We’re showing you specifically your code from your project and helping you understand it,” Zoe says.
Rework your prototype in real time with the help of AI.
To build that personalized curriculum, the AI Builder breaks your project’s code into clear milestones and tasks. For each task, it generates an interactive learning loop, which is an activity designed to help you form a mental model of what your specific code is doing.
These loops help you understand the logic behind each part of your project, so you can confidently apply the same thinking to other sections, or even future projects. This approach also ensures everything you learn is directly relevant to what you’re making — so you don’t have to guess when you’ll ever use this.
Why this is vibe learning (not vibe coding)
A key misconception about AI‑assisted development is that it makes learning superficial. AI Builder challenges that by grounding the entire experience in learning science rather than simple code generation. Our entire system is intentionally designed for you to retain knowledge. So, while it might not feel like you’re taking a course, you’re absorbing key concepts just by interacting with AI-generated code.
A Socratic AI, not an answer-spitting chatbot
Our educational AI chatbot is designed to guide you toward an answer through an in-depth questioning approach that’s based on the Socratic method of teaching. Instead of spitting out shortcuts or answers like AI typically does, you get strategic nudges, hints, and questions that build durable mental models.
Research on AI in education shows that just providing an answer makes it harder for learners to retain the information on their own. Zoe compares the Socratic AI to “a personalized tutor, facilitating you acquiring more knowledge, so you’re not totally left on your own.” Our method encourages you to think critically so you really grasp the concepts and can continue to use them in the real world.
Learning loops with real instructional design
Behind the scenes, every learning loop in the Learn tab is built on proven frameworks like inductive learning and the 5E model, a popular STEM teaching framework that’s shorthand for engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.
You’ll notice that the questions and exercises in the Learn tab feel different than the rest of our courses and paths, and that’s intentional. “The learning loops are designed very well — they get you there inductively,” Zoe says. They’re exploratory without being overwhelming, and evaluative without feeling like tests.
Negar Vahid, a beta tester for the AI Builder appreciated the AI’s interactive question format. “The question-based learning feels engaging, and the starter project it builds is simple but useful,” she says.
This structure ensures you don’t develop the wrong mental models — a known risk in fully constructivist or student-centered environments — while still giving you the freedom to explore.
Why learn when AI can build?
There are some projects that are well-suited for simply vibe coding, like making a personal HTML website or a single-use script to automate a one-time task. Tools like Lovable and v0 are suited exactly for these types of projects.
The longer your code needs to live, and the more complex your project becomes, the more you need to actually understand what you’re building. Joe Holmes, Codecademy Curriculum Developer in the AI and machine learning domain, uses the term “ignorance debt” to describe what happens when you don’t:
“It’s like tech debt squared. It’s much, much worse,” Joe says. “You don’t know what kind of code is coming out. You just are only looking at: Does this kind of generally appear to be what I asked for? You don’t know if there are security flaws. You don’t know if there are performance flaws. You don’t know if you’re leaking sensitive information. You don’t know how to fix anything.”
The tipping point comes down to two factors: complexity and time. If you’re developing software professionally, you’re legally responsible for the code you output. If you’re building something that will serve actual users, you need to be accountable for security, performance, and maintainability. And if your project will need updates or fixes over time (which most do) understanding your codebase becomes essential, not optional.
The good news? Learning doesn’t have to feel like eating your vegetables. “Kids hate veggies and broccoli because we don’t cook it well enough to make it tasty when we first introduce it to them,” says Nhi Pham, Codecademy Curriculum Developer. The same is true for teaching AI: “If you do it well, you’re inspiring people to have these very hygienic practices when working with AI,” she says.
That’s exactly what AI Builder is designed to do — make learning feel as immediate and rewarding as building, so you develop good habits from the start rather than building a lifelong aversion to understanding your own code.
Get started with the AI Builder
AI isn’t a replacement for learning, it’s a tool — and a powerful one when it comes to education. Our new AI Builder allows for “just‑in‑time learning that’s highly personalized,” Zoe says. Even the best teachers or bootcamps can’t deliver that for every learner, on every project, instantly. Perhaps the most exciting vision is how AI changes what a learning environment can be.
Zoe described it beautifully: “I imagine the AI Builder as a workspace… like having all your resources around you and an AI tutor in the background.”
That’s the shift: from learning before you build to learning while you build. We can’t wait to see what you create.
This is the time of the year when the deadlines are getting tighter, and people are wondering if they will have to try that new dish from Tommy, a recent hire who told you secretly that he worked at a place that was shut down due to health concerns. Oh, and he was the cook.
Writing two posts about awards, while exciting, is equally daunting. No analyst goes into this thinking Hey, I can write this up in an hour and then head over to the pharmacy because Tommy happens to be your boss and he is making his famous hot dog soufflé.
The best in class awards are broken down into two areas – this week, it’s all AI.
Next week – Best in Class covering the aspect of strategic outcomes for the business – with frontline, enterprise, mid-market, mentoring ,etc.
AI Factoids
We often say that AI is still in its infancy, but it’s important to note that the current capabilities are just the beginning, with significant growth expected within a year or two.
One AI vendor whose valuation is over 1 trillion dollars may not be around a year from now, because it is a capital-heavy investment with so far a lack of return.
The AI market is in a bubble (and as I’ve written before, there is no doubt it will go the dot.com route, sadly). Recognizing this volatility can help you stay cautious and make more informed decisions.
When a vendor in our space, including learning systems, adds AI, they should carefully consider how it aligns with their core mission and expertise – (Impact of Learning), in this case, strategic outcomes for the business (regardless of vertical).
Add it – just for the sake of it, and place it where clients want it (BAD idea, but common) or add it, be diligent about where it should go based upon the vendor’s expertise (not common, but the smart move).
The Categories under AI for Best in Class are
Top 5 AI-focused learning systems
AI Content Creator
Analytics and Metrics – 100%: There are some folks out there who do it way better than others and show what is possible at this stage in the space.
Admin Functionality – These vendors are leveraging an AI assistant on the admin side – very early here – but still stand out
#1 AI-Powered Learning System (yes, one stands above the rest – and includes it all – uh, AI capabilities when you buy the system)
AI Assistant – Learner Side – This is gaining popularity, but some are the early leaders, and two I see do the best job, sadly, only one can be Best in Class (or can it be two?)
Regarding AI, please note that you should always ask what LLM (Language Model) or models they are using, and whether they charge token fees. As of 12-10-25, the number one LLM is Gemini 3 (Pro).
If a vendor says they use Bedrock (that is great – because Bedrock identifies the best LLM or the one it feels aligns well with your use case – Bedrock is from Amazon, which is AWS in this regard).
Cornerstone Learn. I am referencing Learn here – which is excellent, and to the ideal Talent Development system – you should add Elevate.
AI Admin Functionality – Includes an AI Assistant where the admin can create a report, receive product help, navigate the system, manage compliance, use the content manager, access suggested training, and search training.
Automated content creation, with a different look than the common ones I see
Streamline learning operations
Learner functionality – Personalized learning and recommendations
Managers – AI summarized reviews and check-ins
Skills development tied to content (which is in Elevate+, but there are some items in Learn+)
Everywhere you can with their AI – they always note that it can create mistakes and check for accuracy.
Based on all the systems I have seen with AI, the most significant universal problem is the lack of that little statement.
2. Absorb LMS – There is a reason that they have pushed the envelope with AI. They get “it”. I was blown away with features such as Create a Podcast (yep) with AI – an intriguing angle in the space (oh it is just for within the system, and not for public podcast sites) – but it taps into people’s learning styles; Aura Assist which speeds up the admin processes, beyond the content (a usual piece), but items such as strategic learning playbooks and running reports.
Together – their mentoring platform, which comes with Absorb LMS (you can also buy it as a standalone) – uses AI in a variety of ways: matching profiles based on skills and factoring in time zones. These AI-populated agendas evolve with each session, making it easier for mentors to sustain engagement with their mentorees.
3. LearnAmp – AI tutor, a slick AI Assistant (different than a tutor) – known as Volt, a multi-agentic framework with different agents handling various tasks, a content creator, to name a few.
One big ticket item you want when you purchase a system utilizing AI is MCP (Multi-Cloud Platform), they are in the process of having it – that is a significant win. RAG (Retrival Augmented Generated) – is quite common, LearnAmp has it, but they are working on adding MTP (Multi-Tenant-Platform), which is new in the market – again, you want this.
4. Cypher Learning – Really has taken it up a notch. Always been strong on the content creator side, but the Assistant’s UI/UX really works for me. Other items include AI cross-check, AI image generation, and administrative guardrails, allowing platform administrators to set open-text instructions to control the types of questions the AI will answer (e.g., blocking specific topics). CL also notes the potential of AI mistakes.
5. Docebo Harmony – Two takeaways here. 1. 2026 Q1 is going to have a very cool feature that I have yet to see with AI and your browser. 2. The search, discovery capability with AI in their system today – on the learner side, really worked for me. I really liked the option to search the platform or the web. Vendors nowadays place heavy restrictions on content within the platform.
The problem is that it limits the learner’s opportunities to learn. Clients assume that a content platform will only eliminate hallucinations (not true), AI bias (not actual), and output more effective results (depends on the content, and even then, the top two above are in play).
Without a doubt, the best use of AI with analytics. The system is 100% focused on customer training/education, product enablement, and B2B, and thus, the data output shows it off.
They debuted with a support analysis, which, from a customer/client standpoint, means that the client is using the system for product tech, for example, or for call-ins on issues.
Support eats into the cost of running a business, and can really impact whether the costs can be reduced for those calls.
The other one, though, I felt more comfortable when it comes to customer training and insights.
This is data you can utilize in numerous ways to boost sales (a key objective for customer training/education, B2B, and even with associations).
Cornerstone Learn
This is the AI Assistant on the Learner side. The goal should always be about helping the learner, not as a co-worker, which doesn’t benefit the learner – you want the learner to learn, and there are ways to do it with the assistant.
As noted in my LinkedIn post – “I loved the ability to track elements within the content – let’s say a video you have, or a PPT, which then generates insights that validate learning impact to business outcomes.” Other wins include:
Converts PowerPoint decks or long-form videos (e.g., YouTube URLs) into new units or modules.
Extracts information, including speaker notes, and organizes it into editable pages.
Allows selection of templates for consistent branding and look.
Incorporates intentional friction points that require human review and editing before content is made available to learners.
Can generate knowledge check questions based on page content.
H5P interactives offer better tracking and metrics (e.g., scores) than basic elements. I recommended they drop the H5P term, because it isn’t relevant; what is relevant is the data tracking and stronger metrics.
Allows remixing content by increasing or decreasing text complexity and adding custom instructions.
Complexity refers to the use of more precise technical terms, complex sentence structures, and enhanced vocabulary.
Suggested improvements include using more transparent labels, such as “Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced,” for complexity, and offering specific tone options.
It can modify content for different target audiences (e.g., junior vs. experienced members).
It offers suggestions for summarizing paragraphs, spacing, and incorporating additional assets.
The big downer?
Only some of these items are included in D2L Core (the base LMS). Other items are an additional cost, which I believe is a massive mistake given their remarkable capabilities.
Bottom Line
With AI expanding, these systems/platforms above are leaders. They may not have everything you want, and yes, others are doing this or that that you do want.
The notion that RAG, extended guardrails, and fine-tuning make the platform 100% accurate is 100% not true.
In fact, researchers have found that a lot of fine-tuning actually has a negative impact, outputting garbage, which impacts your learning and training.
I suspect the salesperson who pitched you on AI probably failed to mention that when they talked about extensive fine-tuning.
Agentic AI is early. Automation is what all the systems I have seen utilize, or at least tap into.
Fast. Fast. Fast.
Augmentation is what you want first and foremost for your learners.
And for you,
The understanding that AI is very early.
And ignore the hype around the latest version of an LLM, like OpenAI, and focus instead on the terms MTP and MCP.
They are technical, but if someone is pitching higher accuracy, ask them about MTP.
Finally, the most repetitive statement I hear about AI is that it will improve and advance NLP (Natural Language Processing).
The systems above are learning and training driven, with AI as a complementary tool – as it should be.
Not a gimmick.
Not a way to sell you their system.
A tool to drive your learning and training
E-Learning 24/7
The PDF version of this post, with additional screenshots, will be available on Dec. 21st. I will provide a link to find it.
This is the time of the year when the deadlines are getting tighter, and people are wondering if they will have to try that new dish from Tommy, a recent hire who told you secretly that he worked at a place that was shut down due to health concerns. Oh, and he was the cook.
Writing two posts about awards, while exciting, is equally daunting. No analyst goes into this thinking Hey, I can write this up in an hour and then head over to the pharmacy because Tommy happens to be your boss and he is making his famous hot dog soufflé.
The best in class awards are broken down into two areas – this week, it’s all AI.
Next week – Best in Class covering the aspect of strategic outcomes for the business – with frontline, enterprise, mid-market, mentoring ,etc.
AI Factoids
We often say that AI is still in its infancy, but it’s important to note that the current capabilities are just the beginning, with significant growth expected within a year or two.
One AI vendor whose valuation is over 1 trillion dollars may not be around a year from now, because it is a capital-heavy investment with so far a lack of return.
The AI market is in a bubble (and as I’ve written before, there is no doubt it will go the dot.com route, sadly). Recognizing this volatility can help you stay cautious and make more informed decisions.
When a vendor in our space, including learning systems, adds AI, they should carefully consider how it aligns with their core mission and expertise – (Impact of Learning), in this case, strategic outcomes for the business (regardless of vertical).
Add it – just for the sake of it, and place it where clients want it (BAD idea, but common) or add it, be diligent about where it should go based upon the vendor’s expertise (not common, but the smart move).
The Categories under AI for Best in Class are
Top 5 AI-focused learning systems
AI Content Creator
Analytics and Metrics – 100%: There are some folks out there who do it way better than others and show what is possible at this stage in the space.
Admin Functionality – These vendors are leveraging an AI assistant on the admin side – very early here – but still stand out
#1 AI-Powered Learning System (yes, one stands above the rest – and includes it all – uh, AI capabilities when you buy the system)
AI Assistant – Learner Side – This is gaining popularity, but some are the early leaders, and two I see do the best job, sadly, only one can be Best in Class (or can it be two?)
Regarding AI, please note that you should always ask what LLM (Language Model) or models they are using, and whether they charge token fees. As of 12-10-25, the number one LLM is Gemini 3 (Pro).
If a vendor says they use Bedrock (that is great – because Bedrock identifies the best LLM or the one it feels aligns well with your use case – Bedrock is from Amazon, which is AWS in this regard).
Cornerstone Learn. I am referencing Learn here – which is excellent, and to the ideal Talent Development system – you should add Elevate.
AI Admin Functionality – Includes an AI Assistant where the admin can create a report, receive product help, navigate the system, manage compliance, use the content manager, access suggested training, and search training.
Automated content creation, with a different look than the common ones I see
Streamline learning operations
Learner functionality – Personalized learning and recommendations
Managers – AI summarized reviews and check-ins
Skills development tied to content (which is in Elevate+, but there are some items in Learn+)
Everywhere you can with their AI – they always note that it can create mistakes and check for accuracy.
Based on all the systems I have seen with AI, the most significant universal problem is the lack of that little statement.
2. Absorb LMS – There is a reason that they have pushed the envelope with AI. They get “it”. I was blown away with features such as Create a Podcast (yep) with AI – an intriguing angle in the space (oh it is just for within the system, and not for public podcast sites) – but it taps into people’s learning styles; Aura Assist which speeds up the admin processes, beyond the content (a usual piece), but items such as strategic learning playbooks and running reports.
Together – their mentoring platform, which comes with Absorb LMS (you can also buy it as a standalone) – uses AI in a variety of ways: matching profiles based on skills and factoring in time zones. These AI-populated agendas evolve with each session, making it easier for mentors to sustain engagement with their mentorees.
3. LearnAmp – AI tutor, a slick AI Assistant (different than a tutor) – known as Volt, a multi-agentic framework with different agents handling various tasks, a content creator, to name a few.
One big ticket item you want when you purchase a system utilizing AI is MCP (Multi-Cloud Platform), they are in the process of having it – that is a significant win. RAG (Retrival Augmented Generated) – is quite common, LearnAmp has it, but they are working on adding MTP (Multi-Tenant-Platform), which is new in the market – again, you want this.
4. Cypher Learning – Really has taken it up a notch. Always been strong on the content creator side, but the Assistant’s UI/UX really works for me. Other items include AI cross-check, AI image generation, and administrative guardrails, allowing platform administrators to set open-text instructions to control the types of questions the AI will answer (e.g., blocking specific topics). CL also notes the potential of AI mistakes.
5. Docebo Harmony – Two takeaways here. 1. 2026 Q1 is going to have a very cool feature that I have yet to see with AI and your browser. 2. The search, discovery capability with AI in their system today – on the learner side, really worked for me. I really liked the option to search the platform or the web. Vendors nowadays place heavy restrictions on content within the platform.
The problem is that it limits the learner’s opportunities to learn. Clients assume that a content platform will only eliminate hallucinations (not true), AI bias (not actual), and output more effective results (depends on the content, and even then, the top two above are in play).
Without a doubt, the best use of AI with analytics. The system is 100% focused on customer training/education, product enablement, and B2B, and thus, the data output shows it off.
They debuted with a support analysis, which, from a customer/client standpoint, means that the client is using the system for product tech, for example, or for call-ins on issues.
Support eats into the cost of running a business, and can really impact whether the costs can be reduced for those calls.
The other one, though, I felt more comfortable when it comes to customer training and insights.
This is data you can utilize in numerous ways to boost sales (a key objective for customer training/education, B2B, and even with associations).
Cornerstone Learn
This is the AI Assistant on the Learner side. The goal should always be about helping the learner, not as a co-worker, which doesn’t benefit the learner – you want the learner to learn, and there are ways to do it with the assistant.
As noted in my LinkedIn post – “I loved the ability to track elements within the content – let’s say a video you have, or a PPT, which then generates insights that validate learning impact to business outcomes.” Other wins include:
Converts PowerPoint decks or long-form videos (e.g., YouTube URLs) into new units or modules.
Extracts information, including speaker notes, and organizes it into editable pages.
Allows selection of templates for consistent branding and look.
Incorporates intentional friction points that require human review and editing before content is made available to learners.
Can generate knowledge check questions based on page content.
H5P interactives offer better tracking and metrics (e.g., scores) than basic elements. I recommended they drop the H5P term, because it isn’t relevant; what is relevant is the data tracking and stronger metrics.
Allows remixing content by increasing or decreasing text complexity and adding custom instructions.
Complexity refers to the use of more precise technical terms, complex sentence structures, and enhanced vocabulary.
Suggested improvements include using more transparent labels, such as “Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced,” for complexity, and offering specific tone options.
It can modify content for different target audiences (e.g., junior vs. experienced members).
It offers suggestions for summarizing paragraphs, spacing, and incorporating additional assets.
The big downer?
Only some of these items are included in D2L Core (the base LMS). Other items are an additional cost, which I believe is a massive mistake given their remarkable capabilities.
Bottom Line
With AI expanding, these systems/platforms above are leaders. They may not have everything you want, and yes, others are doing this or that that you do want.
The notion that RAG, extended guardrails, and fine-tuning make the platform 100% accurate is 100% not true.
In fact, researchers have found that a lot of fine-tuning actually has a negative impact, outputting garbage, which impacts your learning and training.
I suspect the salesperson who pitched you on AI probably failed to mention that when they talked about extensive fine-tuning.
Agentic AI is early. Automation is what all the systems I have seen utilize, or at least tap into.
Fast. Fast. Fast.
Augmentation is what you want first and foremost for your learners.
And for you,
The understanding that AI is very early.
And ignore the hype around the latest version of an LLM, like OpenAI, and focus instead on the terms MTP and MCP.
They are technical, but if someone is pitching higher accuracy, ask them about MTP.
Finally, the most repetitive statement I hear about AI is that it will improve and advance NLP (Natural Language Processing).
The systems above are learning and training driven, with AI as a complementary tool – as it should be.
Not a gimmick.
Not a way to sell you their system.
A tool to drive your learning and training
E-Learning 24/7
The PDF version of this post, with additional screenshots, will be available on Dec. 21st. I will provide a link to find it.
In a recent post covering the latest around AI and its impact on tomorrow’s workforce (event today), the one constant that kept appearing in my research was the importance of mentoring.
Not just once mentioned but repeatedly.
There wasn’t anything besides the re-skilling and new skills, such as transitioning from current coding to AI programming, that showed up a bit.
But mentoring surpassed them all.
Yet, one of the major surprises is that, as a whole, the mentoring standalone systems are what I call overall stagnation.
This is one factor why the growth spurt and I forecast continued spurt will be driven not only by standalone, but rather by other learning systems (mentoring is under a learning system), such as an LMS, learning platform, talent development platform, workforce dev platform, and similar ilk.
Vendors on the non-mentoring initial standalone side are already fully recognized.
It is why, out of systems as a whole, sans AI, the #1 new feature being added is.
Vendors, though, seem to assume coaching and mentoring are the same.
One would think, “Okay, this is the minus, because those mentoring standalone platforms do know the difference, and never pitch the same.”
How wrong you are.
I encountered standalone mentoring platforms from companies whose sole objective, besides landing new clients and making money, is mentoring. Yet, they used the term coaching either in their marketing copy or during our discussions.
I found this odd.
It is one thing for the client to ask, “Can this be used for coaching, or do we want to do coaching?” and for the vendor to respond, “Sure, it can be used for coaching.”
Not ideal, but then again, any learning system targeting one specific thing or another can be used by the client in a completely different way.
Mentoring, therefore, is open to interpretation by the client – it should never be by the vendor directly.
Three years ago, I interviewed with Dr. Ravishankar Gundlapalli, who has written a book about mentoring. He covered a variety of topics in the blog post, including how mentoring is different from coaching.
Let’s say you are looking at getting a mentoring platform, whether it is a standalone or already in another type of learning system, for purposes of the post, I will list the big two – LMS and a Talent Development Platform (which honestly, is an LMS with enhanced some serious performance aspects to it – I see the latter as the revamping of the old talent management systems and performance management systems which were quite lame by today’s standards, although a few are still around and still have the same lame mantra – seriously, it is 2025 folks!).
In your search, you are likely to find some commonalities across the board, regardless of the specific vendor.
The typical standard fare includes (I will add, how good the job they do is another matter)
Pick a Mentor or mentors – Some vendors refer to them as experts. I question that assertion.
Mentor selection can be based on a variety of criteria, including skill level, level of experience, job role, areas to improve, and location (more on that in a bit). I found it odd that a few lacked a preferred language, which, to me, is highly relevant. I know it is hard to believe, but not everyone wants to speak English.
Mentor Profile – I should have listed this above the mentor selection. An avatar – i.e., a picture of the person is standard. I never saw like an animal for the “avatar” or some funny face thing – although that might be cool depending on your audience. Anyway, universally, it was the human themselves. In theory, it could be AI.
A series of topics or interests that the mentee chooses ahead of time, before the match or matches. Most often, it was skill(s), but a few had additional options. I prefer a balance between professional and personal skills, rather than focusing solely on workplace skills. A mentor is well-rounded. A coach is only tied to that skill. Always remember that.
Mentoree Scheduling – This is where the mentoree can schedule a session or sessions through a calendar of said mentor(s). The “on-site and online” were the two options. The former seemed odd to me in today’s workforce landscape; however, if you wanted to meet up with your mentor at Bob’s Greasy Food Joint since they live close by, then go for it. Just make sure they pick up the tab.
For the online – that truly is the route to go for a couple of reasons.
a. It is a recorded session – you and them. You can go back at any time to review, and if they ask for some deep dive/probing questions for you to think about and retort in a follow-up, there is now a way to recall.
b. You may choose to have it in your library of content – most systems offer a library of content, so the recording is a logical place for it.
c. Once the system offers an AI summary and transcript and other capabilities like this one – Grain (I use them, but there are others out there), then the whole recorded session takes on a whole new meaning and value.
Goal setting – Pretty standard – but the level and quality of what you can do, etc, varied all over the map.
Role-Based Permissions (if your mentoring platform or mentoring piece in another type of learning system lacks this – run..run and keep running)
Video Conferencing integration – Extremely standard. I should give kudos to Chronus, which offers its own VC option too. I’m not sure if they charge extra for it, so it’s best to ask. I think they do, but it’s worth checking.
Custom Program Creation – Parameters of what should be included in the program. The level and types of parameters vary as a whole, but duration is common. Milestones aren’t, but they should be, and objectives were a mix.
For me, the objectives are intriguing. If the goal of the mentoring is long-term, meaning you can tap into them from time to time, are the objectives relevant?
This is subjective; nevertheless, vendors recognize that many clients want this, and the whole set of these objectives must be met.
For me, it depends on what you need the mentor’s assistance or guidance with, and how you define the goals and milestones. The admin or whoever oversees the program will see it the same way.
Admin functionality overall, I found similar; there were a couple of items that stood out, but that was definitely due to the system itself, rather than the industry as a whole—a shame.
AI – Overall, it existed in more platforms than it lacked. Nevertheless, some vendors lack it; some are offering machine learning only (a form of AI), and a couple are doing a combo Gen AI and machine learning. As with any learning system, the AI is at a very, very early stage.
AI Tutor or similar. This is where the whole “coach” side of this can co-exist or exist alone. You can tap into an AI tutor (think AI answer engine with “tutor” and some data points you can see – depending on the platform), and then have a human enter the picture after that. I strongly recommend a human element here. I mean, it’s mentoring. Not asking whether or not you can wear sunglasses at night – Cory Hart says you can. I trust him!
I will add a FWIW – that they (researchers) are finding that mental well-being is becoming a crucial need with AI. Too many people are taking AI’s advice to heart, both mentally and behaviorally, which is leading to some fatal consequences.
And I won’t go into the whole AI partner relationship, which is becoming an issue too – again, with some fatal results.
Trust me when I say this: you must include a mental well-being program in your learning strategy and talent strategy if you have or plan to use AI.
I think you should do it regardless, since your employees are already using AI at home or online.
Yeah, I know I got off the subject a bit, but it isn’t something to gloss over or ignore.
UI/UX in general is pretty standard.
Yes there are standouts, but overall, I went into it with “let me see different,” and walked away thinking, “This is it?” – It’s like everybody got into a room at Disneyland (like they need the business) and said, “Hey, let us all do this or that, what do you all think? And everyone was “Yeah, that’s great. Why do they charge so much for a park map?”
Guided Mentoring
This is one area that I found of most interest. And while one vendor noted that they didn’t or weren’t aware of any other system doing this, I found another one that did.
Each of them, Chronus and Mentor+ from NovoEd, approaches it differently, as they should, but it is guided mentoring.
This is without a doubt a huge plus, IMO.
Intriguing Potential
There is a lot to cover in mentoring platforms, and time is limited – I mean nobody wants to read a 10,000-word scribe from me on this happy week (isn’t every week a happy one – Bobby McFerrin thinks so – although a factoid – he hates signing the song. Guess, he isn’t happy).
Pre-Assessment
Chronus does this, and I loved it.
As with any analysis, it only works if you are 100% true about yourself and not answering the way you think you should reply.
Their system relies heavily on the analysis, so being honest is the crux here.
I still have my assessment – and yeah, overall, I concur.
It was fun to take, and made me think – a plus!
Many moons ago, CrossKnowledge conducted a pre-assessment from a non-mentoring angle. Although it had potential and some interesting aspects, it never reached its long-term goals—a bummer.
Regardless, CK wasn’t into mentoring then, and Chronus is – that’s their whole stake here, so kudos to them.
Role, Segment, Audience, et al..
First and foremost, it should be noted that based on a wide swath of conversations from mentoring platform standalone, and those with another type of learning system plus mentor, there are some commonalities on who is buying a mentoring platform (today)
Large Enterprise by far. We are talking more than 25,000 learners here. And in many cases exceeding 100,000.
Enterprise is next up – and as I always note, it depends on what a vendor defines as Enterprise. What I heard is the 5,000 and up side, which, to my delight, is how I define Enterprise (5,000+).
FWIW – Large Enterprise to me is 20,000 plus. The industry as a whole ranges from 10,000 to 50,000, with Large Enterprise being an additional tier, which doesn’t matter – say 10,001 and above, to cover large enterprise.
Anyway…
The target buyer by job role?
CLO – yes, the CLO. And where do you find that fine title??
Overall, they are on the Large Enterprise side.
Before you spam me that your company has 2,000 people and your title is CLO, I get it. The above is based on feedback from vendors.
Retail and Hospitality – you would think it is the driver vertical here, but it isn’t. There wasn’t one specific vertical that stood out as far and beyond the dominator, although technology and manufacturing are popular.
It’s easier to identify the weak side (i.e., not a huge amount).
Financial Services by far. You would think, sure, FS sides, such as insurance and banking, would be ideal for mentoring.
I also found healthcare to be on the low end.
If you have 250 or more employees, implementing a mentoring platform can be both feasible and highly valuable. As a small business (defined by the industry as 50 to 999 employees), you can still benefit from mentoring.
And any industry where churn (here one day, gone tomorrow) (hello – retail and hospitality) is high, a mentor is relevant and beneficial.
It was interesting to see how many mentoring platforms seemed to fail at recognizing the idea that someone in an industry – a solo practitioner – could be a mentor or offer a mentoring program to those new to the industry they are in, let alone a mentor program between a university (current, or recent grads) and an alumni (I see this all the time with my undergrad – right after they find me seeking funds – how is it possible that every other place can’t locate you after you move, but your college/uni can see you – uh, seeking money).
Anyway, the above use case(s) do exist – nevertheless, across the board, the majority of vendors seemed incapable of wrapping their head around the use cases, especially a solo or a couple of folks in an industry offering mentoring to others entering the industry (example: a few real estate execs – owners of RE firms – offering mentoring to those entering the real estate market).
Current Leaders in the Standalone Mentoring Platform Market
Based on my research, including conversations with a lot of mentoring platforms, standalone or otherwise, these vendors were listed as the leaders (in no particular order)
The mentoring platforms as a whole never brought up any providers who were not learning focused with mentoring per se – I found many who were unaware that Together had been acquired by Absorb, which thus changes the dynamic, and therefore the retort – of none to okay, actually one of these folks because they bought Together.
The Mentor Template Percentage Success
Using my mentoring section with my Learning System Template, only three vendors achieved a score of more than 90% on the 36 items listed.
Those vendors are
Mentor+ by NovoEd (they scored the highest) – Brand new to the industry. Can be a standalone, or you can add it to Learn+ (their LMS)
Chronus is a terrific mentoring platform – far better than Qooper or MentorCliq (how are these folks the top leaders in the mentoring side?)
Together by Absorb – Together was a standalone entity before Absorb acquired them. You get the Together platform when you buy the Absorb Learning Suite – it is already fully integrated. If you prefer only Together, you can purchase it.
Bottom Line
Mentoring.
It’s a novel idea for many companies across various segments, markets, sizes, and company culture focuses.
It doesn’t have to be limited to the Global 2000 or other very large enterprise entities.
It doesn’t have to be limited to a company that has a CLO or one where L&D is running the show.
It can be for your customers. Your members. Your students. Your alumni (no need to contact me for funds, URI).
Think of your interns. Apprentices and recent graduates entering the workforce, particularly within your company, can benefit from ongoing assistance through mentoring.
Employees who have been at your company for six months or more can all benefit from mentoring.
When I considered identifying the most significant impacts of online learning over the last 25 years, I realized it wasn’t as simple as its initial premise.
Creating this list required me to look beyond just learning systems and content creators (formerly known as authoring tools).
I had to consider other types of learning technology, content itself, and even core standards.
It wasn’t just saying, “Here are the top things, which is why they’re great.” Instead, I needed to analyze the past 25 years’ positive and negative effects.
The goal was to determine whether these impacts have benefited everyone or if we have learned to correct any issues that arose.
Learning systems
The first type of learning system was an LMS, which stands for Learning Management System. Another early system was the LCMS, or Learning Content Management System. These were the two big players when systems first got going.
When considering these systems, I had to consider the system type, the vendors, and their impact. There is a significant misconception about why LMSs were created.
Some vendors today claim that LMSs were created for compliance training or regulatory learning, but this is untrue. LMSs were made because those running training and L&D needed to know whether a person understood and comprehended the material.
In instructor-led training, it’s challenging to gauge comprehension. You can have someone take an exam at the end, but this only shows if they are good at memorization or can apply pieces of knowledge.
It doesn’t guarantee proper understanding and synthesis.
Long sessions were not feasible in corporate settings. Data shows that attention spans max at 45 minutes, yet many sessions go beyond this.
Evaluations using Likert scales were also problematic, as they often provided misleading data.
An LMS was established to address these issues by determining what learners know and what they need to focus on.
For example, ideally, there should be no more than 25 people in technology training, and the pace should match the instructor.
If learners don’t comprehend something, they must revisit the session, which costs time and money.
The LMS helps manage this by providing a structured learning path. Over the past 25 years, LMSs have had a significant impact.
They were designed for both formal and informal learning. Anything you can do today, you could do back then, minus AI. Skills development and skill gap analysis were always part of the LMS’s capabilities.
When I refer to e-learning, I mean online learning, which was initially accessed through a modem and now through broadband. It was never on the desktop or through a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).
Moodle
Moodle is free, open-source software designed for academia. It allows users to build their own LMS without purchasing commercial systems like Blackboard or Instructure.
The active community continues to develop plugins, enhancing the system’s functionality.
Biz Library
You purchase the content; you get the platform. Others followed this approach with mixed results.
Litmos
The Lite LMS. Nowadays lite means streamlined.
Absorb
When considering customer training, the initial term evolved into customer education in the mid-2000s. Now, it’s split; some people say customer education, while others say customer training. Some even create terms nobody will ever look for in a search engine.
When I ran training at various companies for external audiences, I used the term customer training because that’s what you’re doing—training the customer, client, franchisee, distributor, etc. It’s B2B.
I remember buying Absorb LMS in 2009 and conducting a global search. I wasn’t looking at one specific system versus another; it was all about an external audience and our clients.
I couldn’t find a system dedicated to the customer training segment with the needed features, functionality, and modern look.
Absorb thought differently.
When it rolled out, they were, in my opinion, the first system to focus on the customer training segment.
It had a very slick user interface and user experience, which was essential for my learners.
One of the biggest things I loved about the system was its ease of administration. Plenty of canned reports already came with it. It also had an ad hoc capability, which has been extremely popular since 2000 and has become more extensive.
I loved it, but I also liked doing some ad hoc things because otherwise, it would be a long story on how that would work. I loved that piece.
Another thing I loved was that a learner could log in, click a button or a side thing, and select the language they wanted the system to be in, minus the content.
I loved that because I could be a client, and my employees could be doing Latin American Spanish while others preferred Canadian French, and so forth.
It was just one click, boom, and it was a quick change.
That was brilliant, but I hadn’t seen that before in a system that could do it so quickly without an administrator selecting the language for each group.
The learner was empowered to pick the language they wanted, and I thought that was a smart move.
Cobent
The system was 100% dedicated to compliance and regulatory training. You weren’t buying that system for informal learning.
You weren’t buying it for a slick UI/UX because that wasn’t its focus.
You were buying it because it had extensive compliance functionality, making it unique.
Otherwise, you could go to any of these other systems and do compliance, personal, professional, or whatever you wanted.
In today’s market, finding a system 100% dedicated to compliance with an extensive list is rare. There isn’t one out there that matches it.
What they did is now seen in other systems.
Cornerstone OnDemand
It changed how we looked at learning from the L&D side of the house.
Compliance, structured approach to learning, tapping into ILT with an e-learning attitude.
It’s changed over the years, but skill capabilities and extensive data metrics were offered in those initial days.
Degreed
The first legitimate LXP on the market matched all the standards for an LXP.
Content Creators, aka Authoring Tools
Macromedia Flash
Talk to any instructional designer or e-learning developer from the past or even today, and they’ll tell you that Flash was a game changer. Flash’s interactive and multimedia capabilities revolutionized how content was presented and engaged learners. Adobe eventually acquired Macromedia Flash, and the rest is history.
If you knew what you were doing, you could create interactive, engaging, fun, and exciting content with Flash.
You could even do both asynchronous and non-asynchronous microlearning as early as 2000. I had a course created back in 2003 that was so unique, leveraging Flash, that even into the 2014-2015 period, people were blown away by what was possible. That was the power of Flash.
Authorware
Authorware was one of the most difficult authoring solutions ever created on the market.
There were other tools like Toolwire and Dazzler Max, which were also challenging but not as tricky.
Authorware had a hierarchy of chapters, pages, scenarios, assessments, or however you wanted to structure it.
This hierarchy is still seen in some solutions today, although they’ve changed it a bit, calling pages “slides” instead.
If you talk to an instructional designer who’s been around a long time and used Authorware, they’ll tell you it was the solution.
If it came out tomorrow with a new UI/UX, many people would flock to it, far more so than Storyline.
Articulate Studio
I always viewed Articulate Studio as nothing more than a Flash converter, but it was a game changer.
You could take a PowerPoint presentation, stick it in there, click a button, and it would create a table of contents and do all sorts of things. It tapped into templates, which we heavily utilize today.
It was designed for anyone—you didn’t need an instructional design or learning development background or knowledge of instructional design. Use the template, and boom, you’re ready to go.
It revolutionized the industry in the authoring space.
Course standards
SCORM
I recently posted a question on LinkedIn asking which standard had a more significant impact: AICC or SCORM. The majority of respondents said SCORM.
When I spoke to various industry professionals who utilized core standards, they overwhelmingly mentioned SCORM.
A few people have mentioned xAPI, but I believe it has never made the impact it should have. While it’s still around and people are starting to use it, it has been out for a long time and never fully tapped into its potential.
Mobile Learning
On/Off Synchronization
Two pieces have made the most significant impact in the world of e-learning. One of them is obvious: mobile learning.
The other one is often overlooked but changes everything: on and off synchronization.
Before this, if you were taking mobile learning content and lost internet connectivity, there was no way to sync back that data and information into whatever learning system you were using.
With on/off sync, you can be anywhere, lose your connectivity, and still work on the content. For example, you could be on an airplane, still working on content on your mobile device. When the plane lands, and you get off, all the information gets pushed back into the LMS or other learning system once connected. This capability is still lacking in some vendors today, which is surprising given our world of connectivity.
For example, I can be in my office with 5G, walk out to the road and have 4G, walk to another room in my house and have 4G, or even go into the desert without a signal.
If I were taking content on a mobile device while wandering around, watching videos, and lost connectivity, the data would be pushed back once the signal returned.
I didn’t include social learning on the list because, while discussion boards and forums may be worthy, they didn’t represent a significant change factor.
I had a website in 1994 with a discussion board and chat room, but the site had nothing to do with learning. Therefore, I don’t see it as having a significant impact.
Bottom Line
Over the last 25 years, the most significant impact of online learning has been on the people in learning and development, training, HR, marketing, sales, B2B, direct-to-consumer, and all those who want to get into online learning.
Today, universities have students studying e-learning, which is remarkable.
Who would have thought that in 25 years, we would reach this point?
Students are not only taking content online but also studying it.
To all those who saw the possibilities of what online learning could offer, far more than instructor-led training, you are the ones who made and are still making it.
You are the people who saw a much bigger picture than others. You are the ones who said, “This way works, but this way is better.”
Some of you might initially have been reluctant but eventually embraced online learning.
Change can be challenging, but there are always those who lead the charge for change at their company, organization, association, government role, high school, or university.
Those who have adapted, adopted, and enjoyed online learning have impacted the industry most over the last 25 years.
Without you, online learning would still be a fringe concept,
Not the dominant form it is today.
E-Learning 24/7
I went back and pulled some stuff on my blog, which shows how far we have come.
There is an assumption, with too many vendors, that anyone reaching out to them for a learning system, regardless of type, has a strong foundation for an e-learning (aka online learning) program.
Equally, they believe these individuals, with their unique roles and responsibilities, have or know that this foundation is crucial.
Instead, many folks are unaware—they have just been told or see they need a learning system, often listed as an LMS or maybe a talent/employee development platform.
The problem with that is there is no foundation in place.
The LMS or another type of learning system—let’s say mentoring—is gaining steam, more so than before.
Even if their company has multiple learning systems, assuming that the person overseeing the program/department/division has a foundation is significantly erroneous.
The vendor focuses on whether or not the buyer has another learning system, such as an LMS, their use case, and other information.
What they never ask is whether or not the person (often an admin, who is unlikely to know these details – unless they are also the same individual who runs the entire program) knows e-learning, if they have a strategy in place, a foundation – the core and the list goes on.
Instead, they zero in on whether the buyer/prospect has other systems they need to connect to, often focusing on HRIS, payroll, or similar systems.
That is excellent information, but it doesn’t answer the core question—does the prospect have an e-learning program or a foundation for it? This goes beyond just a quick strategy.
Does this person, say the head of L&D, understand or know why e-learning was established and what its impact was on that foundation?
Nowadays, vendors go right to the CEO, or the CEO is the key decision person, and follow that route.
Again, this person will not know about e-learning strategy or the foundation of building a top-tier e-learning program.
They do not have a background in L&D (including OD).
They will not have a background in training.
My guess is that they have no idea what Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction are, let alone the ADDIE model or Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation—granted, many people in L&D have no idea either, and HR?
Forget about it.
This post will provide you, whoever you are, with the foundation. I will present the steps in detail.
How do you start, where do you go, what essentials do you need, and why are they relevant? I will not go into assigned learning – that doesn’t come into play for a foundation.
However, I will ask you to do a few assignments—and here is the twist: I will ask you to send them to me, and I will review them and provide constructive feedback, ensuring you’re on the right track.
In May, we will also have a special webinar to discuss this further and where anyone can ask questions.
Think of this post as a workshop with no fees.
You can access the assignments on Tuesday.
How are you notified?
At the bottom of this post is a “special subscribe” – enter your e-mail address, which tells me you want to go to the site on Tuesday.
If you have already subscribed to the blog, click the ‘special subscribe ‘button to indicate your interest in the upcoming workshop.
You will receive an e-mail from me with the link.
Once you access the site, you must enter some info to gain access.
I will ask for your name, e-mail, title, and whether you wish to attend the webinar in May.
However, you will not be put on a marketing list or spammed.
The data provides additional insight, enabling me to tailor the workshop to your needs and ensure a productive learning experience.
I will ask if you wish to be contacted when the webinar part takes place.
If you say yes, you will receive an e-mail with an “FYI” and instructions for signing up.
The Foundation
Upfront here – I have developed and succeeded everywhere I worked with an e-learning program.
My e-learning program has proven successful in various settings, whether tailored for employees, customers, or associations. Its adaptability ensures it can meet your specific needs.
I have done it with start-ups, mid-market – enterprises, and large enterprises.
I have either built from nothing, or the company had something in place – and I tore it down, rebuilding it from what I believe would deliver.
ROI is a bunch of liverwurst best suited for not eating.
What you want is IOL – Impact of Learning. IOL measures the actual impact of the learning program on the business, such as improved productivity, reduced errors, and increased customer satisfaction. This is what truly matters in the context of e-learning.
This will tell you far more and enable you to present a dashboard to whoever you need to show it is working.
Granted, if you are the CEO, you can ditch the dashboard.
However, I strongly recommend going with IOL since it aligns with the company’s metrics and approach for that year.
From the customer side, a combination of associations and even non-profits, which can’t use the financial perks in the department themselves, have seen a significant increase in revenue. This program has the potential to turn your financials from red to black.
Turning black to red in profit.
How much?
At one place, I generated nearly a million dollars in less than a year.
It is doable, but in the above scenario, you have to know some financial metrics—that anyone can learn—including markup.
I am a massive believer in Blue Ocean.
It works, but as anyone knows, it isn’t just a flip of a switch.
I present this information only because I have the knowledge and experience for what I am about to publish.
Being in the trenches and building success is what you need.
Otherwise, you are just floating along, hoping it will work.
This is what the post will cover, even with employees.
And yes, you can provide whomever that this working, and not that you are wasting their money.
Step 1 – The Questions
A foundation requires you to think from the standpoint of what you want to do.
Not just get a learning system – that isn’t the first step to the foundation.
Instead, it asks questions to establish this.
They are not in any order because everyone thinks differently—especially our right-brain folks (me included).
Assuming you are not in L&D or Training and thus have the background and insight between good and bad around training and/or learning – it is surprising how many vendors think L&D is the only game in town for employees – it isn’t, and L&D and Training have different modalities.)
Do you have any experience with training employees (again, this post is around employees, but you could slide this into any of the together types – oh, and the questions below are universal. The money angle is not, hence an assignment)
a. Do you know why e-learning was created?
Most people think yes, and I often find no.
Ignore searching the web; it is full of garbage. I have included a couple of posts I did about why it was created and what are the pros/cons and benefits) – What is WBT? The History behind e-learning.
b. If yes, what is your comfort level? If not, okay
What do you want to accomplish with this e-learning program? Understanding the purpose and desired outcomes will guide your decisions and actions throughout development. What are your goals, not just now but long-term (think three years, and recognize that external factors may change. A lot of people focus on one year, which is fine, but if you can, think long-term. You can always modify as you go along)
What will you need to do this?
If this is the first time an e-learning program will be built – you can ignore the following questions. If there is a training or L&D department(s) in place, where they have provided whatever level of training (sans e-learning, and I often ran into the pre-existing side, especially with employees)
Are there any metrics/data they can provide to you? (I often was shocked that there wasn’t anything except worthless evaluation statements on what people thought about the training they were presented with)
If there are metrics, can you see the information? Where is the information located? (The usual answer here is yes. If they have the metrics – regardless of what they collected, the challenge is where it is and whether you can get it. I have run into HR on this, and it is as though HR is keeping it for whatever reason, usually for doing nothing with it)
Are you doing a full rollout to every employee? OR will this be to specific departments, groups, or entities in another country (assuming you have this part)?
Will you eventually do a full rollout (assuming the specific angle is taking place)?
Does a senior executive support what you are doing? (They must have buy-in, especially if you roll this out to every employee. Ideally, you want the support. I see people focusing on the head of HR – at the VP or SVP level. This was acceptable when I worked at an association; the CEO – whatever their title happened to be supported this initiative. At a non-profit, I met with the CEO and COO; they had buy-in – and the non-profit was not tiny – we had 46 agencies )
You should have started to build your foundation.
Write it all down. You can go back and modify or tweak as you complete the following steps because something else will pop into your head. Therefore, saying, “AHA, I need to change an item or item from the original questions I wrote makes sense. “
If you are doing a rollout, regardless of whether it is small or large
Will I have a certification program?
Will I need to provide sales training?
Will I need to provide training/learning for safety or not?
Will I need to have compliance and/or regulatory training? (The answer here is usually yes for companies, but the answer is often no in an association (trade and member).
What other items do you want as part of your e-learning program besides an LMS, another type of learning system, multiple LMSs, or learning systems? (Content, Learning Technology, Authoring tool – which creates content, but you may already have videos for whatever reason – and thus it is different than an authoring tool – plus you may want to hire someone to develop the content)
Ha, if you think that is all you need, and now you have a foundation in place—congratulations—you are wrong.
Write all this down. Uh, your responses above.
You can add it as a separate section, which is part of the overall. I recommend this because otherwise, you will dull your eyes when reviewing and miss some info.
Final Questions
How many employees will access the Learning System and view or take content?
If it is a small rollout, how many?
Assuming it won’t be or just be assigned learning, will employees be able to access other available content?
Will they be able to access content across the board, or will it be limited only to their job role and the skills needed or best suited?
Now, you have most of the foundation.
Why did I say most?
Because of those assignments, you will need to complete and send them back to me.
This is the area I will review and provide responses to you.
Like your old professor, you wondered whether time stopped because you swear they were alive before the dinosaurs; give me some time to respond.
If I get 500 assignments, I need time to review them.
I will not shove this into AI, so let us provide the feedback.
Nor do I recommend you shove the questions into AI and let it respond for you.
It is a bad idea, and due to hallucinations, you could get wrong responses if you do not review, so hey, complete them with that wonder brain of yours.
These systems leverage AI across many areas – I found them overall to be top of the class for AI.
Comment on Top 10 Learning Systems 2024 by Skillable Launches New Performance-Based Validation – The HR Gazette and HRchat Podcast
Summary
Top 10 Learning Systems of 2024: Key Insights & Rankings
As 2025 approaches, the learning technology industry has seen significant advancements, with competition among the top systems tighter than ever. The rankings highlight various platforms excelling in employee development, customer training, and skills-based learning.
Key Trends & Insights
Top 10 Learning Systems of 2024
With these innovations, the learning technology space is set for even more significant transformations heading into 2025.
Post
What a year.
I won’t get into the “Let’s review 2024” post because that’s slated for January 2025, and what a gem that will be.
Instead, this is the end of the year, Awards for 2024 – Top 10.
You can’t get any better than that.
Razor’s slim margins between the top three learning systems, along with a historical three-way tie for #5 and multiple ties at the 6, 7, 9, and 10 rankings, underscore the significant progress the industry has made in developing elite-level systems.
Each one is special in its way.
The best systems from Enterprise and Large Enterprise are here.
Systems that were in the top two for customer training? Here.
Best learning system for skills? Here.
A vendor can refer to themselves as “whatever works for them” angle.
It’s an employee development platform (the vendor refers to itself as that), but I see it more as a talent development platform.
The grouping includes multiple LMS vendors, a learning platform, a skills-based platform, and a sales training enablement platform.
Some of the vendors’ analyses will be shorter than the others.
I only wanted to highlight some items/functions that intrigued or interested me.
These vendors believe I should have mentioned this or that.
Well, I didn’t.
Next!
The Acronyms
If the system is on my platform, FindAnLMS, it will be noted as FAL.
I want to make it very clear that whether or not one was on FAL was a zero-factor in the decision-making process.
While the goal is to have the world’s best learning systems, we recognize that not everyone has access to them.
Nevertheless, we continue to work towards that objective I set forth when launching the platform years ago.
An acronym you will see
I didn’t place in verticals (because vendors always claim they cover all verticals or selectively choose them). However, if a MonsterXTW company with 500,000 users, not in their vertical, comes knocking, I’m betting they’ll take MonsterX.
If the system is heavy on compliance, then that is horizontal and goes across industries.
If a system focuses solely on FS and has functionality explicitly designed for FS and nobody else, that is different.
None are in the top 10, so it isn’t at play here.
AI did not play a role here because only some have it. Did I see it as a plus for 2024?
Sure.
I will mention it when I see significant successes with it, specifically to those vendors.
A great system in the top 10 doesn’t have it yet but will in 2025.
The system is still fantastic.
Knowing what I know for 25, with AI for them, impresses me.
It did not factor into the decision – i.e.24 vs. 25.
The analysis is based on 650 systems around the world.
One other piece of info before diving into the rankings is about AI.
Regardless of the rankings here, more of an FYI, because so many people read this post.
I want to clarify this: even if the AI LLM is trained with your data or the vendor’s data and has only your content in the system, it may still produce fake or false information.
I cannot stress this enough.
There are a couple of issues with AI today—every LLM, whether commercial or not, is built from scratch by the vendor, and the company added guardrails, RAG, and so forth—it doesn’t matter. It is a flaw of AI.
Secondly, there is no perfect LLM. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
Hence, the value of multiple LLMs.
If a vendor claims to be LLM agnostic, it’s likely a load of baloney. I could go on about the issues they are finding and what I hear vendors say, which seriously makes me wonder who is feeding them this garbage (when it comes to some claims they make).
Top 10 Learning Systems 2024
#10. Skillable (Combo – Skewed towards employees)
I didn’t know what to expect with Skillable.
What is it? I thought to myself.
Is it the exact old same that I’ve seen with other technical skills-focused systems?
Or does it bring something new and unique to the table?
Wins
Not everyone can jump into a lab and figure it all out. And frankly, I don’t believe that the administrator—or whoever is tasked with creating the lab or its content—can either.
When it comes to training people or Learning and Development, there’s often an assumption that IT will handle it. But let me be clear: this is a scenario I do not recommend.
So, what is Skillable Studio?
At its core, Skillable Studio is an authoring tool designed specifically for creating labs.
However, it goes far beyond the basics.
When you use Studio, you also gain access to analytics tied directly to its usage, offering valuable insights.
Other standout features include:
These templates are handy for individuals who prefer ready-made solutions but still want the flexibility to customize. Think of them as tools to support tailored training and instructional design, helping you develop guided lab experiences that meet diverse needs.
If gamification is on your radar, Skillable incorporates it seamlessly into its labs.
That said, it is not without its challenges.
While Skillable’s UI/UX is solid, they still need some refinement.
Specifically, the platform falls a bit short in terms of learner engagement—something I believe users would greatly appreciate.
Another point of contention for me is the option to bring in content from third-party vendors.
Skillable makes it clear they are not a content library, so this choice feels a bit contradictory.
It raises an important question: why even offer third-party content integration in the first place?
#10 BizLMS with Biz Skills (FAL) (Internal)
I am a massive fan of BizSkills.
From the moment it launched, I saw a big-time winner.
The pre-skill mapping to content was, to me, genius.
I’m baffled by why other vendors don’t do this, which they could even do with third-party content from another provider.
It is a huge pain point for many people who have to do it themselves.
Moreover, BizSkills’ capability to incorporate job roles into its system is truly impressive, providing a comprehensive learning experience.
The user interface and experience of BizSkills are designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it a comfortable tool to work with.
It’s a fresh visual that captures a learner’s attention and encourages their use.
BizLMS
Super refresh with the LMS, and I love it.
The custom dashboard, on the admin side is sweet and easy to use.
Anyone, regardless of whether they have an L&D, training, or none at all—which is expanding in the industry—could figure this out.
Look at it. Not the assignment status – but the initial top
And it goes on.
When you look at some of the data, what I love is what I don’t see.
I never understood why vendors show the number of licenses on the main dashboard page.
Who cares.
Nor views.
You are not a search engine.
Views do not tell your learning story.
It tells me someone clicked into the content, may have looked at it, and left.
What sets BizLMS apart is its ability to provide a comprehensive view of your learning journey, not just a mere ‘view’ of your interactions with the content.
From there, the head of L&D or Training can extrapolate and figure out what it means and how to tap into it.
Big Wins
Learner Onboard workflow is another slick look.
Straightforward with the following options:
a. I’m here for exploration
b. I like to learn really fast
c. Remember, people will retain and understand more when they select topics of interest.
Plenty of data shows that the #1 reason people leave a company is the lack of personal and professional development.
If you want someone to go into the system repeatedly to learn something beneficial to them (which should be your objective), interests will do it.
Clever.
I won’t dive into BizSkills right away, because you need to experience the system firsthand to see why it’s so useful for onboarding. Here is just a quick look:
Lastly, you may think this system, with everything it has, would be expensive. Nope.
It is very affordable, and that includes the content if you wish to have it (it may or may not be an additional cost).
BizLibrary verifies that you don’t have to drop a lot of $$$ to get a robust system.
I love that.
#9 Hive Perform by Hive Learning (Combo, internal and external)
I love that you get the power pack of sales learning developed by learning experts with a nice feature set of sales capabilities.
The latter includes real-world scenarios via sales coaching intertwined with AI.
Pipeline management is there.
Perform offers the ability to target specific strategies to improve sales reps’ performance and deal outcomes.
The system comes with a training repository so that content always stays updated.
There is a lot to digest here.
The system uses AI – called Sidekick.
The positive aspect is that it allows the use of thumbs up and down pieces, enabling someone to indicate, “If they pick thumbs down, this is incorrect.”
The downer is that Perform does not mention anywhere that AI may produce fake or false information.
It’s a rare occurrence, even in today’s AI landscape, for vendors to openly acknowledge the potential for AI to generate fake or false information.
This lack of transparency is a significant issue in the industry.
#8 Learnster (Combo) (FAL)
If you are seeking a system that is driven and heavily leverages AI, here you go.
I named them the #1 Learning System for AI in 2024.
They believe that, when used properly, AI should be based on learner engagement and organizational reach.
Not just productivity.
Big Wins
Needs Improvement – or Tweaks
#7 (tie) 360Learning (Combo, but skews internal)
The Analysis
360Learning does have AI but lacks the notification that it may create fake or false information, and you should always review before accepting it as correct.
I honestly can count on two hands the number of times I have seen a vendor post it—not just on the admin side, content creator piece, or anything that uses AI, but also on the learner side.
Anyway, one downside of AI with 360Learning is that they push the narrative around AI.
There are, though, plenty of pluses.
Wins
I know plenty of people will be like, “Big deal.”
It is a huge deal.
One of my biggest pet peeves is vendors who roll out these apps, show them off, and then you read the reviews and see it is trash.
Or it is never updated.
Or it doesn’t work with the latest version of Android or iTunes.
I’ve seen vendors who still only have a mobile app for iTunes.
Ignoring folks who use Android.
Other wins:
I like that they follow the structure of the TOC, using the term chapters that are appropriate for WBT.
One of the cool aspects is that under each chapter or page you are viewing, you have the option to select either a thumbs up—I liked it, a smiley face—I learned something, another icon—this is outdated, or another icon—I have a question.
From a content creator standpoint, they have the best one in the industry using AI.
On the content side, it is all about collaborators—and in the system itself, they have a lot of power in terms of what they can do.
As the admin, you decide who a collaborator is, but once you do, you need to select the right folks.
Their 360Learning Skills has a few added pluses, such as the ability to integrate your own skills ontology or framework, with role development for onboarding, upskilling, and, to me, a crucial piece rarely mentioned by vendors – reskilling.
The most significant improvement in their skills is the data visualization for the dashboard.
This is what attracts attention and is easier to understand than a lot of what I see from other systems.
On a side note, they do allow clients to identify minimums, such as 1, which means you have zero knowledge about anything (uh, you choose what you want).
I am hyper-promoting this because so many systems do skill ratings and never tell people what a 1 to 2, etc., actually means—besides average.
Never use the term Rubrics for the explanations – You are not an elementary school teacher.
The overall UI/UX is solid.
But this system, while it offers many whams across the platform, does have a few warts.
Need tweaks:
Screens (Homepage showing the Collaborators piece, Mobile view – hey there is a reason their scores are the best)
#7 (tie) CYPHER Learning (Combo) (FAL)
Cypher Learning has some wonderful approaches to learning and strong AI, which is number two in the industry.
Wins
Needs Tweaks
Why?
If you add a feature you are unsure about, don’t add it.
You can’t have it both ways.
Either go all in, or not.
Lead or Follow
What do you want to be as a vendor?
A driver or a passenger.
Screens – Variations of home pages and styles.
Another tie at #6 – Eurekos, Absorb
#6 Absorb LMS (Combo) (FAL)
After years of complaints about having to choose between systems, Absorb took the “you get it all” approach and executed it effectively.
The LMS comes with stronger analytics, which are far better than the usual out-of-the-box metrics I see with so many other learning systems.
Wins
Absorb, though, is the only one to have it here—or buy it as a standalone—that is in the Top 10 Learning System Rankings.
Improvements
While the data is all there, I wish it had better visualization.
The interesting item is that it does exist in some areas of the system, yet it is not universal.
I like the skills journey in appearance and ease of use, but I’d like to see more adaptive path options—like this way or that way, or that can be further this way or that way.
To date, no vendor has truly achieved what I am referencing, but hey, I’m greedy—here you go, Absorb—be the first!
Screens (Skills, Together by Absorb – Mentoring – it is included as part of the LMS)
#6 Eurekos (External, including Associations) (FAL)
The #2 Learning System for Customer Training.
Eurkeos metrics—yowsa, there are a lot to choose from—are all about customer training. They are home runs in my book.
What a concept – that 98% of customer training-focused systems ignore.
While Eurekos is one of the vendors holding off on AI, and I fully understand why, they bring a lot to the table without using it.
Summary
The learner side punches through with lots of options.
Ditto on the admin side.
Wins:
The system has come a long way.
Their support and training of clients is first-rate.
The best way to show off the system is to take a quick look.
And remember, this is all about customer training, not compliance-driven or L&D internal only.
#5 LearnUpon (FAL) (Combo including associations)
#5 D2L for Business (Combo including associations, entering L&D segment)
A two-way tie – LearnUpon, and D2L for Business
In no particular i.e. order, like why is X ahead of Y?
Because I just wrote it that way.
LearnUpon
Very streamlined system.
The administration side has a very modern look. I like that you can add a signature, and it is evident in the elements—options right on the main screen.
AI currently exists in the question/assessment tool. You can take content, such as text from a course description or even the code script.
You (not the AI) choose the number of questions you want and their type, and then the AI generates them.
I’m intrigued by the possibility of integrating items from external training into the system.
The ‘External Training’ option on the learner page, nestled between ‘Learning Journeys’ and ‘Learning Paths ‘, is a promising feature that piques my interest.
I really can’t recall seeing that option on the home screen, with the others front and center.
Sure, I’ve seen calendars and listings of live events, but these aren’t internal live events; they are external—not associated with the company.
LearnUpon’s newest offering is Learn Anywhere.
There are pluses here, but at the same time, a bit of concern – because you have to remember who is behind the screen – and not it is not the Wiz. (i.e., Wizard of Oz)
It could be someone who has no idea what embed code is, which is worrying.
Anywhere achieves this as an integral part—which is to say you can put a course or content anywhere—from another platform to your web site to wherever.
It is a partial Content Delivery System (CDS).
This opens up the possibility of saying, “Okay, I want to embed some content into my Instagram feed or in Salesforce or HubSpot.”
LearnUpon tracks everything from learner clicks, progress, completions, and even exam results—because, yep, you can place assessments, PDFs, or this or that anywhere.
Learner Home Page, Admin page
#5 D2L Brightspace (Combo) (FAL)
What can you say that hasn’t been said already?
I really dig this system.
Due to its unique features and impressive capabilities, I believe D2L is underrated, often perceived as only an EdTech (K-12, Higher Ed), and lacking what others have in the industry.
Wins
AI
For an additional fee, you can get Lumi. What is Lumi, you ask?
A series of AI learning tools.
Generate questions, answer questions, create content, and reduce workflow.
I liked it.
It opens up a lot of possibilities, and I look forward to what it can do in 2025.
That said, I wish it was included at no additional cost.
D2L Home Page, Content Creator+ (second screen)
#4 Thought Industries (Combo, heavily skews customer training) (FAL)
Two-time system of the year.
I have always been impressed with the system.
The UI/UX on the learner side is #1 for 2024, and their onboarding of clients is #1 for 2024.
This is the #1 system for customer training for 2024.
It was #1 in 2023 and #1 in 2022.
However, in 2024, the system dropped to number four, primarily due to the following two items:
However, they lack some data/metrics that I expect for a top-tier system, particularly when the core is customer training (they note it as customer education).
I’m not entirely sold on the entrance into L&D – simply because while they have skills and additional functionality to leverage strongly into that audience, it is an expansion.
I have a couple of concerns—whereas some folks would be “big deal,” and others, well, that is your aspect.
The system continues to charge a fee for Panoramas, which looks outstanding but should be included.
While the additional cost of multi-tenants (aka extended enterprise) is common, it’s important to question why this is the case and whether it’s justified.
Let’s jump to wins
Add-ons you will need
Purchase the following add-ons to tap into the system completely.
Essential IMO.
Dashboard that the Learner can see (first screen), Second Screen – Executive Summary
Top Three
#3 Docebo LMS–Elevate Pricing Tier
Pronounced (Doh-Che-Bo). Think Italian because that is where their corporate HQ used to be and where the story of Docebo began.
Wonderful system, overall.
Wins
Admin side increased ease of use, learner side ditto.
AI capabilities that went beyond
They offer AI authoring, a content creation tool, for an additional fee. This includes the use of AI for revisions and rewrites, to name just two, plus the creation of activities, which is a bit different and offers additional potential down the road.
After listening to my ongoing irritation with their pricing structure, they have now gone tiers—and visible no less for anyone to see.
I love the new communities that are in the system.
To get communities, you must purchase either the Elevate tier or Enterprise.
Here are the tiers and what you receive in each one.
Elevate Pricing Tier: This should suffice for most folks.
There is a lot here to get when you buy the system.
I won’t regurgitate it.
That said, there are way too many à la carte (add-ons) for the Elevate tier.
This answers the question: Do you want to lead or be like others?
The items I dislike being add-ons in the Elevate Pricing Tier:
The other add-ons make total sense.
I remain unconvinced that AR/VR will succeed in immersive learning, primarily because viewing content on a mobile device without a headset doesn’t constitute authentic VR learning.
To do that, you need a headset. AR? Sure, but VR is far better. Plus, the future ix XR.
Docebo isn’t the only vendor plunging full steam ahead with AR or VR as an option for their learning system. Cornerstone #2 offers the same thing.
Docebo home page, Communities
#2 Cornerstone OnDemand LMS (Combo, skews employees) (FAL)
C-O-R-N-E-R-S-T-O-N-E (whew, repeat three times, – like a choo-choo steam engine, whoosh). Why, you ask? Well, it’s more fun that way.
And oh, how fun we are having, unless you are not Cornerstone LMS, or you think they are some ‘traditional’ or ‘legacy’ system incapable of new functionality or unique value propositions, or you have been told that hey, they are too old to do anything that is on the edge like us.
I’m unsure what that means unless the ‘edge’ is a cliff, in which case, yes, I have heard of such a term.
The rest of us?
Okay, off the mountain top and onto the ‘edge.’
Look, I made a funny.
There is nothing funny about the latest version of the LMS.
It’s not just about being innovative, it’s about being user-friendly.
Which Cornerstone achieves with a bonus of AI.
It is still the leader in skill management (as they were in 2023).
They have a powerful mobile app with solid functionality.
They continue to add resources to the system’s development—not just once a quarter, but on an ongoing basis.
That doesn’t sound like a ‘legacy’ or slowly creeping along system.
Wins
A DAP, for those unaware, is a platform that provides a ‘how to do it, show me, let me do it” approach, which everyone I ever met in L&D and Training loves – uh, the folks behind, and even learners – ‘Show, Tell, Let me do it.”
I’d argue for technical training, as well as business, customer service, and other relevant fields.
That is a DAP.
You can be a standalone that says they can do way more, but at the end of the day, its core is what I mentioned, and it is all you or your learners need.
Plus, I’m not just zeroing in on the learner but also on the admin.
Here is how the admin taps into it.
Trust me, it will save you a lot of time.
You don’t have to go to some HELP section (which nobody uses) or watch videos (which are boring, and whoa, is that my pen?).
Nor contact the vendor’s support and ask them how to do it, because well, let’s just say some vendors’ support is lackluster.
A DAP takes that – away.
Which is why you see DAPs being sold as standalone to whatever “tech” training you need.
2. The Learner side—This is where a DAP can really help. It follows the same approach as above.
It leverages the system, though, by saving the ADMIN a lot of headaches. Learners are known to say, “My system doesn’t work.” “I can’t access blah blah because this is junk.” “I can’t find my catalog, so there must be something wrong with the system.”
Then, assuming they don’t just say “forget it” (using other lingo), they contact the admin and tell them about all those problems.
An admin who has been trained to do their own Q&A will first see if they can replicate the issue. Then, and only then, if they can’t find the problem (not the nav thing, which screams learner, not the system has a bug in it, or is actually junk), they—the admin—contact the vendor’s support.
99% of all issues learners contact an Admin on are human error—i.e., the learner hasn’t been trained on it or is unaware, and thus, it’s not an Admin’s responsibility to contact vendor support.
The vendor wants to avoid the calls because they cost them money, and you can see where this goes.
Hence, the DAP – with the learner using it too.
They select the mentor(s) they want because they may need one for this or that.
Mentoring is not the same thing as coaching.
Any vendor who says it is or believes the word is interchangeable as baloney is to salami must try both and then ascertain if that is correct.
For those folks who are selected by the company to acquire skills in being a good listener, the company hires a coach or nowadays has you either going to a ‘coaching session’ or workshop or talking to an AI coach.
Do you want to know what is going to really take off in 2025, with systems tied within an LMS or LXP or learning platform, OR vendors who will launch their own on top of what exists today?
MENTORING
Anyway, it comes with the system, and Cornerstone recognizes its importance.
Can you tell me what your learning story is?
Yes.
It offers those metrics, right out the gate.
Cornerstone has data connections to hundreds of systems, including the ability to connect with other learning systems, not just HR systems.
Yes, other vendors can do this, but not all can say, “If so, go do this.”
Think Zapier, but you can experience offerings like Zapier without the disconnects.
Improvements needed
It has improved. It can go a step further. That’s all.
Compliance insight, Data dashboard
#1 Learn Amp (FAL) (Employees)
Learn Amp identifies themselves as an employee development platform.
Learn Amp, a platform that is not just a learning system, but a platform that is solely dedicated to the development of your employees.
I know there will be vendors who say, “Mine does, too. ” Okay, then, why do you also accept customer training? You can accept employees and customers and then focus your system on one segment.
Thats fine.
Learn Amp says, “No. We see ourselves only for employees – that’s it.”
I could easily see them saying, “All aboard, the employee cruise ship to wonderment, where learning is free (for your employees), design is special – just watch out for icebergs (other systems that promise but fail), and engagement to what is needed and requested for you, is delivered on time (except your postal – HA).
Wins
However, many companies have already purchased their own BI tool or data lake and want to use it for learning.
I believe that folks who want performance management—unless they are buying a performance management system, talent development system, or management system—should have it available as an add-on and not just stuck into a system.
Not everyone who is all about employees wants or will use what comes with performance management that one vendor offers versus another.
Learn Amp sees it that way, too. If you want the full-throttle PM options, they are available as an add-on here; if you don’t and are fine with what we offer out of the box, they are included here.
Later, you can push it up to the next tier PM or say, “You know what comes with the system is perfect.”
I like that they list quite a few features of items, but you can read all of that on their website, so I didn’t see the need to rehash it.
Okay, two I will point out – the communities’ piece – which can easily be utilized as cohorts, and their widgets options – quite a bit to pick from – which your learner will see.
Add-ons
Everyone now knows (if they didn’t know before) my vibe around add-ons.
Advanced analytics – Okay, maybe – Definite if is its BI level
Performance Mgt – Yep
With Learn Amp, the two above are add-ons, and they have another add-on called,
“Advanced,” which, when you read it, is confusing regarding what some of that means.
When they explained it, I admitted, “I’m thinking WHAT?”
Then I thought, okay, the advanced analytics+ is there (which is also available as a standalone add-on), and there are other items in there that I would see as advanced tools.
However, multi-branding—white-labeling, for example—should be free and not part of the Advanced add-on, ditto for a custom domain. I will be clear that when a vendor says custom domain, it usually means your name. vendor name.com—which is garbage.
This is yourname.com or, let’s say, RubbleConsultationUni.com (you get the point).
This should be included. It is not as though custom domains are expensive.
I am very aware that the number of vendors who give a free custom domain (i.e., they never charge you) is few and far between.
And the whole multi-tenant (the number of children you get, which should be free, as you are aware, only a smattering of vendors do) includes it for free (heck, only a couple in the top 10 do).
I wish Learn Amp would do the same.
Excluding that aspect, I still say “Tally-Ho.” (That means, yeah – they deserve to be #1)
Skills Reporting, Roles and Opportunities
Bottom Line
There will be a version, second edition, available as a PDF arriving before the end of the month. It will cost you..NOTHING. It’s free but will have additional items such as updated images (when available – this requires vendor permission) and an AI synthetic voice – could it be mine (replaced by AI)?? – I say with a Jekyll like laugh!
The second version will be available by download – so you can share with colleagues.
I am aware of typos in this post – and rest assured that everything will be cleaned up by mid-next week (i.e. the 10th or so of Jan).
My goal was to publish this before the end of 2024, however, I wanted to provide as much depth an insight without this being an extensive report, that folks have to purchase to read or view.
For those keeping track – what you just read = 8,129 words, with an estimated read time of 49 minutes. Although for folks who skim, that means 10 minutes.
I’m fine with either. Take your time, take a few. The read time is based on a fancy reader thing I got, which I ignore, but since people always add “duration” to their course, and others mean it has to be, well, here is my fancy reader thing, and I added the duration, even though I promise to ignore it.
Just not the insight.
E-Learning 24/7
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