Have you ever participated in organized sports, in or out of school? If so, have those experiences been positive? Or do you feel that youth sports have become too stressful and too focused on winning?
In “Luka Doncic Wants Young Players to Embrace ‘Mess and Joy’,” Tania Ganguli writes that Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks star, is worried that basketball is no longer fun for many young players. To address the issue, he has created a new foundation:
Luka Doncic was 13 when he moved from his native Slovenia to Spain to play for Real Madrid. He didn’t know English or Spanish, but he could speak basketball fluently, and the expectations of a storied professional organization hung over him.
But it was fun for him, even with that pressure, the same way it is now that he has become one of the N.B.A.’s brightest stars, playing for the Dallas Mavericks.
He has noticed that it’s not like that for many players in youth programs around the world, a number of whom have quit basketball while still in adolescence.
“The kids are, I think, a little bit stressed,” Doncic said in an interview.
So this year, his foundation, which debuts this week with a focus on making sports an enriching part of children’s lives, hired a research organization called Nonfiction to study youth basketball in the Balkans and the United States. Over five months, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of coaches, players, parents, trainers and other basketball experts. They also surveyed more than 1,200 parents of youth basketball players and immersed themselves in eight basketball camps and training centers. They collected letters from children who wrote about the sport’s importance to them.
The researchers found that youth programs in the Balkans focused on the team more than the individual. They also found that when Yugoslavia dissolved in the early 1990s, much of the government support for basketball in that region disappeared. The corporations that filled the void through sponsorships sometimes put pressure on teams to win, which led some coaches to pay less attention to player development and emphasize winning over everything else.
In the United States, researchers found a basketball culture that was intense and able to produce the biggest stars in the world, but that encouraged viral highlights on social media over true development. A quarter of the American parents surveyed said youth basketball was more about making money than about teaching children.
The article shares some of the principles Doncic’s foundation developed from its research:
With Doncic’s input, the researchers created a list of principles they felt youth basketball programs needed in order to help children develop in healthy ways, physically and emotionally. The principles include “team-first mentality” and “program continuity.” Seager said they added “embracing mess and joy” when Doncic, who is known for his creative playmaking ability, insisted.
Have you ever participated in organized sports, in or out of school? If so, were those experiences positive and healthy? What do you feel you gained from them? If you have never participated, tell us why.
The N.B.A. star Luka Doncic says that basketball is no longer fun for many young players. Does that resonate with your own experiences in sports? Are sports programs for young people too stressful today?
Doncic’s foundation wants to make sports a fun part of children’s lives. What are your thoughts on its ideas of how to help people develop physically and emotionally in healthy ways, like adopting a “team-first mentality” and “embracing mess and joy”?
Doncic says he has learned so much from basketball, like “courage, experience, passion.” What have you learned from playing sports, whether organized or not?
How important are sports to you and your friends and peers? Do you think all young people would benefit from participating in an organized sport?
Lara Beth Seager, the executive director of Doncic’s foundation, said, “I don’t know very many 25-year-olds who invest in research projects, but that’s how important it was to him.” What kind of research project would you invest in if you had the resources?
If Doncic asked you for advice on how to improve youth sports, what would you recommend? What do you think should be changed or could be improved?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
What’s coming up this year that you’re excited about? An important birthday, celebration or milestone? A trip you’re planning to take? A friend who is coming to visit? A class you’re taking? Something you plan to build, make or create? A TV show or movie that’s coming out soon?
Anything at all can go on your list!
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article about what New York Times culture critics are most looking forward to in 2025.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
The U.S.A.I.D. has invested $30 million in Cambodia’s avian influenza response since 2006, and the World Bank has added $19.5 million from its new Pandemic Fund.
Hospitals in Cambodia are now required to send the national lab five samples a month from patients with febrile illnesses, and samples from anyone with a severe respiratory illness. The agriculture ministry has similar requirements for livestock.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word febrile in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
If you want a better idea of how febrile can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Did you know that most of Genesis Themes come with additional built-in Genesis layout extras? They allow you to modify your design without touching its code. This tutorial will show you how to access the Genesis layout options and remove or add a sidebar to your post and pages.
Genesis Layout Extras
There are two ways of disabling (or turning on) sidebar on your site. You can set it up for all posts and pages on your site at once or you can remove/add a sidebar just for one specific post or page. No matter which option you choose, you can always return to those settings later and revert them. Because of that, you do not need to worry about messing something up.
Sidebar settings for all posts and pages
Firstly, to change the sidebar settings across your entire site, go to your WordPress Dashboard. From there, navigate to the left tabs, pick Genesis, and the Theme Options.
You should now see the WordPress Customization section in the new window. With a preview of your theme on the right and Genesis Layout Options on the left.
For the sidebar settings, go to the Site Layout tab.
Once clicked, it will give you access to a drop-down menu with all the layout options your theme has. Our WordPress premade themes come with a full-width layout and the one with the right sidebar. You can see it on the screens from Clara theme in this post.
Pick the layout you like and hit the Publish button at the top. Now all the posts and pages will be using the format of your choice.
Sidebar setting for one post or page
Sometimes, you need to turn off the sidebar for just one of your posts or pages. It is relatively easy to do with Genesis. With the new Gutenberg post and page editor, Genesis options can be found in the top right corner of your post or page edition screen.
After clicking, the right panel will change to Genesis layout options. To switch it back to the Document or Block view, click the cogwheel next to the Genesis icon.
Genesis panel on your post or page edition screen will have the same drop-down menu with the layout settings. The layout you will choose here will work only for this specific post or page so you can use it whenever you need a different view for your content.
I hope this tutorial was helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below.
Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life.
Today’s story is from Jimmy Sorto, a 30-year-old SOC Security Specialist at Expel, living in Washington DC-Baltimore. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.
Why I chose to learn to code
“Career-wise, I have about 7 to 8 years of marketing experience. That was my bread and butter for the longest time, mainly on the content creation side. I was also involved in social media and email marketing. Last year, my good friend Neiko said, ‘Cybersecurity is now more than ever a really demanding industry, and it’s only going to be more demanding down the line.’ I heard what he was saying, but my passion was content creation and being behind the camera. I was apprehensive at first, but he gave me the opportunity to dive into it and understand a little more.
He explained the gamification of cybersecurity, saying, ‘Think of it like Call of Duty. There’s an opposing side and an objective to achieve. Depending on which side you’re on, you have to stop the opposing team from achieving their objective. In cybersecurity, there’s a blue team and a red team. The adversaries try to gain credentials or access to an environment.’ That made sense to me, and it piqued my interest. He introduced me to Codecademy, which was my stepping stone into cybersecurity.
Codecademy played into the whole gamification aspect because of how user-friendly it is and the completion of courses and modules. Completing a module felt like an achievement, and it helped me have a pathway to dive into cybersecurity, coming from a completely different world.”
Learn something new for free
How I made time to learn
“I got laid off in October, and my last day was in December. It was a terrible time, and I was between jobs, so I gave myself some grace. I thought, Hey, the holidays are right here. Just enjoy the time with family and friends. Then, around January, I decided to pick up the pace and go full throttle. That’s when Codecademy came in as that stepping stone.”
How I saved up money to switch careers
“For the first 2-3 months, I was just cranking out these modules and honestly, using any resources I could come across. Codecademy was also budget-friendly, which was a big thing for me, trying to find as many resources as I could. I was definitely utilizing a lot of free trials for various resources. I think my background in freelancing also made it a bit easier for me; I could do a video gig for an event one week, and then I’d be good for the month, allowing me to dedicate more time to studying.”
How long it took me to land a job
“I started in January 2024 and got my first job in October.”
How I got in the door
“In June, a few months into learning everything, I got my CompTIA Security+ certification. That was a big achievement in itself. It gave me the confidence that I do know some stuff. For me, it was like, Hey, I passed on the first try. I realized, I can definitely do this.
In September, I was on the road working on a documentary when my friend Neiko was like, ‘Hey, there’s this opportunity at my company, and I already recommended you. They’re going to be hitting you up in a day or two.’”
Did you know we now offer skill paths to prepare for industry certifications? Check out our CompTIA Security+ path, and the rest of our cybersecurity, IT, and cloud certification prep courses.
How I nailed the interview
“The questions in my first interview weren’t as technical as I expected for the first round. It was more about who I am as a person and an individual. They weren’t testing me on whether I could decipher a malicious script. They were more interested in whether I can work in a team environment, take constructive criticism, and use it to get better. I think those qualities are something I’ve carried throughout my career. One of the things that also stood out was my love for storytelling.
In cybersecurity, and particularly where I am now, there is a level of storytelling where you have to paint the picture. Whether it’s for the next SOC [Security Operations Center] Analyst or the customer themselves, you need to explain the investigation. You have to paint a picture for them and write out the story of what happened. For example, it started off as an email, then the user clicked on that link. Being able to guide them through the process is crucial.
I only had one technical interview, which involved understanding technical vectors, specifically within emails. I had to read through email headers and understand email spoofing, how attackers can hide or change their IP to make it look like it’s coming from google.com or Microsoft. I needed to understand spoofing and read through it. I had a basic understanding of it, just enough to get by. They saw some good qualities and potential in me and decided to take a chance.”
How day one and beyond went
“My day-to-day basically revolves around phishing emails. I’m pretty much flying through the queue of alerts from our customers, whether it’s a scam, blackmail, or social engineering. The spectrum of attacks we see is very wide. Maybe it’s the gamer in me, but the fun ones are the actual malware where we see, Oh, this is a Trojan. If you click on this, it downloads, and someone is going to gain access to your computer. I say that laughing, but it is serious stuff where you have to be careful. I jokingly say to my friends, ‘Hey, I’m fighting evil behind my computer.’”
What I wish I knew before I started learning
“Don’t be scared to reach out to people. By that, I mean someone on LinkedIn or someone you think is a guru in the industry. A good chunk of people in the industry are willing to help. I’ve learned that the community in cybersecurity specifically is very down-to-earth and willing to extend a helping hand.
At first, I was very apprehensive. I was a shy person, already changing careers and entering a whole new world. But the more I learned and met people, the more comfortable I became. Everybody wants to help because they’ve been in your shoes at some point. So, I think not being scared to reach out, ask for help, or just communicate with someone is crucial. That would be the one piece of advice I would give myself: don’t hesitate to talk to someone.”
Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests.
Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community.
When a new year arrives, New York Times writers often make predictions about what it will be like. Imagine you were tasked with writing one of these stories. What predictions would you make about music, style, fashion, sports, video games, politics, global events or even your own personal life?
Go ahead and make a forecast for 2025 — and if you remember, check back at the end of the year to see if any of your predictions come true.
In “12 Predictions for Life in 2025,” the Styles section asked reporters and critics to share what they think 2025 might have in store for us. Here are two of their predictions:
Minds Drift to Medieval Times
Remember when all of those men were thinking about the Roman Empire? Next year, a different historical period seems poised to infiltrate minds: the Middle Ages. There have been indications that a fresh fascination with medieval times may be taking hold. Chappell Roan performed at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards in a suit of armor. Dior sent chain mail down the runway at a show inspired by Mary, Queen of Scots. A rakish, pickle-blessing priest at a Renaissance festival in New York became an unlikely TikTok star.
Instead of being “demure,” people in 2025 will start readying themselves for battle, or at least try casting away their phones to party like it’s 999. — Callie Holtermann, reporter, Styles
A Turning Point in the War for Attention
If our thoughts this year have felt like pinballs in a machine — clattering, bopping and bouncing in all directions at the mercy of incessant smartphone notifications — 2025 will be when we reset the game. Workshops now promise to teach the art of reclaiming attention, states are passing laws that restrict phone use in schools and some people are swearing off their devices in February instead of alcohol in January. And TikTok, known for an algorithm that can make it particularly difficult to pry eyes off screens, has come one step closer to being banned in the United States.
All of this points in one direction: Next year may be a turning point in the war for attention, a moment when many “Marie Kondo” their minds and see what joy might be sparked by clearing out the meme clutter. — Emma Goldberg, reporter, Business
Ranch will continue its reign, with new flavor extensions like pickle or chimichurri. But watch for more nuanced and culturally specific sauces as diners continue “on their global flavor journey,” said Emily Murphy, director of specialty merchandising at the specialty food company Baldor. — Kim Severson, reporter, Food
Students, read one or both of the articles and then tell us:
How do you think 2025 will be different from last year?
Think about any aspect of life — music, culture, fashion, sports, video games, food, politics, global events or even your own personal life — and then make a prediction about something that will change in 2025. Why do you think this change will come? What significance will it have?
In general, are you looking forward to a new year? Are you feeling optimistic that the world, your country or your life will change for the better? Or are you feeling pessimistic about what the new year might bring? Why?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
The word centenary has appeared in 45 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 12 in “It Was Once Britain’s ‘Best’ New Building. Soon, It May Be Rubble” by Lynsey Chutel. She writes about the Centenary Building, completed in 1995. It was once the glass-and-concrete triumph of the University of Salford, outside the northern city of Manchester, but now the university deems the building obsolete.
As the glass, steel and concrete went up, the university’s leadership at the time decided the building’s unveiling would also mark the centenary of the school’s founding.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word centenary in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
If you want a better idea of how centenary can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
What a year. I won’t get into the let’s review 2024 because that is a post in 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, plus a historical three-way tie for #5 and multiple ties at the 7,9 and 10 rankings, add to how far the industry has come with the elite level of systems.
Each one is special in their way.
Systems that were the best of Enterprise and Large Enterprise are here.
Systems that were in the top two for customer training? Here.
Best learning system for skills? Here.
Best learning system the coolest mascot? 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.
When possible, I added screenshots.
Some of the vendor’s analyses will be shorter than the others.
This is just based on what I want to highlight as wins.
Will there be any cons? I prefer ‘needs improvement.’
If the system is on my platform, FindAnLMS, it will be noted as FAL.
I want to make it very clear that being on FAL or not was a zero-factor in the decision-making process.
While the goal is to have the best learning systems in the world, we are aware that not everyone is on there. Nevertheless, we continue to work towards that objective I set forth when launching the platform years ago.
Other acronyms you will see
IO – This means the system focuses only on employees – think internal audience. You can have retail locations, but the audience is still your employees. The industry sees L&D and HR as internal.
CS—The system is focused only on customer training, aka customer education, client/partner training, B2B, and associations. The term in the industry is ‘external’.
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 there 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 did not place in verticals (because vendors always say we either do all these verticals or they pick and choose, but if a MONSTERXTW company with 500,000 users that isn’t in their vertical comes knocking at the door, my money is on them taking MonsterX).
If the system is heavy on compliance, then that is horizontal, and it goes across industries. If a system focuses solely on FS and has functionality designed specifically 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.
And I will mention it when I see big wins with it – tied to those vendors.
There is a great system in the top 10 that doesn’t have it yet but will in 2025.
I still think the system is 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 info before diving into the rankings, which as to do with AI. Regardless of the rankings here, more of an FYI, because so many people read this post.
I want to make this very clear – even if the AI LLM is trained with your own data or the vendor’s own data, and it 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 regardless of commercial or not, built from scratch by the vendor themselves, 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 says they are LLM agnostic – it is a load of baloney. I could go on, with the issues they are finding, and what I hear vendors say, which seriously, it makes me wonder who is feeding them this garbage (when it comes to some claims they make).
I didn’t know what to expect with Skillable. What is it, I thought to myself? Is it the same ol same, that I’ve seen with other technical skills focused systems?
It is to me, a system that scream “We are here, get ready to push the go button.” The capabilities I believe have to be seen. Words, which yeah, I’ll present shortly, doesn’t give the system true justice. In our industry, it’s all about “show me, tell me, and let me rock to it.”
Big Wins
I believe that not everyone can just jump into a lab, and figure it out, nor do I believe on the admin or whomever is creating the lab/content can figure it out too.
We are talking about training people or L&D, despite the presumption that IT is going to do it (G-D forbid).
Skillable Studio—This is, for all purposes, an authoring tool for creating labs. However,was that it went multiple steps forward. For example, it taps into AI for automatic scoring—an approach that can help.
When using Studio, you can view analytics tied to it
Interactive instructions editor
Lab config and cost controls – Winner!!
Extensive pre-made lab templates – Winner!!
Templates include a variety of SaaS offerings and VM.
In the templates are tools to support training, plus customizable instructional offerings to develop guided lab experiences.
Let’s return to my initial statement – Show me – Studio does that. Tell me – Ditto. Let me do it – ditto.
Other pluses
The analytics are quite robust – lots of data for those who want it
Gamification option – for labs
Skills you have – and equally what skills you will need – obvious you would think – and yes they exist in learning systems with skills, but labs?
Tailored labs – this doesn’t have to be one-size fits all – people learn differently and therefore why would anyone think a sim should be different?
Cons
The UI/UX while nice – I think needs some tweaking
If you want to take and beat Pluralsight, the king in this space you need to do more. Yes, Skillable has hired some execs from Pluralsight, but that doesn’t just automatically mean, well anything. Plenty of companies in our industry and outside of it, have experienced the hire from competitors, top execs, and it isn’t a home run.
Bringing in content from a 3rd party – and therefore it’s entire whatever content and design approach – with providers such as Degreed
I understand that a company doesn’t want to be a content library – totally get it. But if your key differential – i.e. your unique value proposition is pre-designed labs – IMO, that is content – with an interactive angle.
Secondly, there is nothing to say, that Degreed or whomever won’t look at this, and go, “Hey, we can do some of this ourselves, and angle it in this way.” It’s a risk – and there have been cases – especially one that is so HOLY COW – where it has happened.
I am a huge fan of BizSkills. From the moment it launched I saw a big-time winner.
The pre-skill mapping to content was to me, genius. Why other vendors didn’t do this, which they could even with 3rd party content that is from another provider; baffles me.
It is a huge pain point with a lot of folks who have to do it themselves.
Plus, BizSkills will work with you, if you want to add a skill or multiple skills, to content – whatever it might be, or change. Biz also has the capability to tap it into job roles too.
The UI/UX works. It’s fresh, visual and gets a learner’s attention to use it.
I’m never a fan of UI that is as though I am in a museum or the morgue. Bleech.
BizLMS
Super refresh with the LMS, and I love it. The custom dashboard on the admin side, is sweet and easy to use.
I’ve seen custom dashboards before on many systems, and wait for it, I’ve seen custom dashboards that are so difficult to use, you are thinking, uh, how do I do this? Worse, the UI/UX is just downright awful.
With the I’ve seen custom dashboards before, they are not easy to use. With BizLMS (and yes, screenshot below) – take a look at how easy this is to use. Anyone whether they have a L&D or 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.
Great.
Very informative.
I just clicked “Bob’s Way to Make Vegan Hamburgers.”
I spent two seconds in there. It’s a view.
BizLMS’s data gives me an idea of my learning story.
From there, I, as head of L&D or Training in this case, can extrapolate and, uh, I don’t know, as an expert figure out what it means and how to tap into it.
BizLMS now has AI.
While they use machine learning—and yes, it is a form of AI—they utilize it in a way that makes total sense
Big Wins
Revamped UI/UX – It scream let me use this, it is very visual and colorful (if the client wants it that way, and honestly, you should)
AI taps into a holistic approach to learning. A lot of systems claim it, but many fail at it.
A video player with translated closed captioning in 11 languages and the ability to change the text into your language in handouts and materials. Again, many systems do this – but it is often cumbersome. BizLMS’s isn’t.
Learner Onboard workflow is another slick look. Easy and 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.
There is plenty of data out there showing that the #1 reason people leave a company is the lack of personal and professional development.
You want someone to go into the system over and over again, to learn something useful or beneficial to them (which should be your objective) —interests will do it.
Clever.
I won’t bounce into BizSkills, because you just have to go into the system to experience it, and see why it really is of use 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.
Perform goes beyond the common and oh-so-boring SEPs that are out there in the market.
The others I have seen, including some big names with lots of capital raised, are ideal for sales enablement; however, they are not when it comes to learning because it isn’t their forte.
With, Hive it is.
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.
Tracks skill gaps and recommends tailored practice modules.
Extensive analytics around sales performance in combination with sales training.
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 is that it offers the ability using the thumbs up, down pieces to enable someone to say, 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 is rare even today, that vendors with AI mention this.
If you are seeking a system that is driven and heavily leveraging AI, here you go. I named them the #1 Learning System for AI in 2024.
They believe that AI when used properly should be around learner engagement and organizational reach.
Not just productivity.
Big Wins
You want AI – here you go. Yes, we are still in baby stage with AI – nevertheless they lead the industry
Learning Companion – The compaion is all about informal learning, whereas a learner using AI can choose text, quizzes, learning casts and other formats that suit they 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. You want an agent to have a british accent? You can.
Remixes – The coolest capability I have seen -period. A learner using their space, can select variety of pieces of content including say podcasts (coming in 2025) – but I mention it here, only due to how this works – and remix them in a different journey. Thus maybe organizational content, 3rd party courses, PDFs, audio files and remix. Love it.
When using AI – you choose your companion mode – Scholar, Coach, Expert – Again, 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 – Common look I see nowadays with the content in a format like NetFlix. Today, the industry overwhemingly is following this approach. Let’s move on. Give me something fresh and noveau.
Better metrics – the internal is solid, customer training? Not so much. Plus, on the metrics side as a whole, insure it tells me my learning story. I want to make clear – that 90% of the systems in the industry fail and the metrics should tell me my learning story.
Pleae note – that every vendor in the top 10 had the option to provide screenshots. 360Learning offered me the opportunity to take some screenshots from a demo I saw, just in the past few weeks. However, they asked me to show them the screenshots I snapped ahead of time.
After pondering this, I declined to do so. Therefore there are no screenshots here. I am just not a fan of a venodr verifying whether the image is acceptable or not. I surmise that after 360 reads this, they will provide the screens I want, without delay.
When this occurs, this post will be updated.
Now back to the analysis.
360Learning does have AI, and they as so many – the majority I want to remind you – lack the text of fake or false information and review before accepting it.
I honestly can count on two hands the number of times, I have seen a vendor actually post it – not just on the admin side, content creator piece, anything that uses AI, but also the learner side.
Anyway, that is that is a minus of AI with 360Learning. Since they push the narrative around AI.
There are though plenty of pluses.
Big Wins
I like that they follow the structure of the TOC, using the term chapters which is appropiate for WBT. One the cool aspects is that under each chatper or page you are viewing, they give you the option to select either a thumbs up – I liked it, Smiley face – I learned something, another icon – this is outdated, or another icon – I have a question.
From content creator standpoint, they have the best one in the industry -= in their system. It’s AI is solid here.
On the content side, it is all about collaborators – and actually in the system itself, they have a lot of power in terms of what they can do. You as the admin decide who is a collaborator, but once you do, you better have selected the right folks.
The overall UI/UX is solid. But this system, while it offers a lot of wham, and yeah across the platform, does have a few warts.
Need tweaks:
The metrics for activities include “views” – you already know my feeling there
The system notes SCORM which you can click to upload a SCORM course. Ok. What if fails to note though is that the system also takes SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 3rd edition, and until you click SCORM- xAPI. Ask yourself this – how would I know that ahead of time? Exactly.
The whole collaborators aspect – even after explaining how it worked and showing me, I had missgivings. I didn’;t list everything they can do or drive in the system – but it doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy, Plus with that level of what they can do in the visible side – learnre side, there is zero metrics to identify their level of success or failure. To me, that would be relevant
No e-commerce, even though they play on the customer training side. It’s on their map for next year. It should have been in the system, already.
Hello my dear friend. You have some wonderful approaches to learning, and strong AI – number two in the industry, plus you have the fake or false information, always review before accepting – everywhere in the system – learner side, admin side, creating content.
Yet, the content creator changed in just less than a year.
Initially it was designed in such a way that a person with Intermidate skills around ID could tap it. I mean this was close to Storyline.
Next, you added the push out quick content creator – the most popular – okay everyone is going this way.
Finally, you offered some of the capabilites of the advanced – but we are talking about synthetics audio, and so forth with the quick push out.
Yes, you can edit it, and add some items, but this is designed for someone with zero skills sets – again the industry goes this way with AI (even the angle for the most part of saying you do not have to use it, as though nobody will – a fallacy I believe).
That said, the term “teaching” has to go. Who in the corporate space or association market says that? I’m sure nobody has every said anything to you, about the term. My guess? They don’t know.
You are the expert – not them. EdTech isn’t corporate. Not now, not ever.
I like the AI learning agent initial style. However, it is a bit conusing and efinitley not user friendly.
The metrics in the system need an improvement and for someone who places warnings throughout the system around AI, you have ignored it with AI cross-check.
The administration side while having a very modern look. I like that you can add esignature, and it is very visible in the elements – options right on the main screen.
AI right now exists in the question/assessment tool. You can take content or bits of content, text from a course description, even from the code script.
You (not the AI) chooses the number of questions, you want, the type and then the AI generates
I am curious on whether it is doable with items from your external training, because a interesting option/section on the learner page is “External Training” right next to the learning journeys, and learning paths options.
I really can’t recall seeing that as a visible option, in the home screen, with the others front and center.
Sure, I’ve seen calendars, and listing of live events, but this isn’t internal live events, this is 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 – and that is worriesome.
Anywhere achieves this as an integratl part – which is to say you can put a course, content anywhere – from another platform to your web site, to wherever. It is a partial Content Delivery System (CDS).
Which opens up possibilities of saying “Okay, I want to embed some content, into my Instagram feed or in Salesforce or HubSpot.”
The system – LearnUpon tracks everything from learner clicks, progress, completions and even exam results – because yep, you can place assessments or PDFs, or this or that into anywhere.
I believe it is underrated, perceived as only an EdTech (K-12, Higher Ed), and lacks what others have in the industry, a result of the factors listed above, and a few other items.
Let’s go to reality
It has an extensive set of metrics and data that can be extracted from it. It 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 cant figure out beyond tit is tied to an assocation management platform – which FWIW D2L can tap integrate with too – plus any other association mangement 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 yers running
They play strongly in the customer training market, with wait for it – unlimited multi-tenant (parent-child, i.e. unlimited children). 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 wright word.
Content Creator+ – Lots of options to deliver content – one factor on its power is the acquisition of H5P – which does offer yes, flexibility to those who want – well, 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 – and ease of use are two terms that should not be put together as one.
Ease of use – on learner and admin side – huge for admin side – learner is good too, but admin is big.
AI
For an additional fee, you can get Luma. What is Luma you ask?
A series of AI learning tools.
Generate questions, answer questions, create content and reduce workflow.
I liked it. I think it opens up a lot of possibilities, and look foward to what it can do in 2025.
That said, I wish it was included at no additional cost.
Two-time system of the year. Drops to #4 this year. Why?
First, I really dig this system.
The UI/UX on the learner side is #1 for 2024, and their onboarding of clients is #1 for 2024.
However, they lack some data/metrics that I expect for a top-tier system when your core is customer training (they note it as customer education).
Plus, I’m not fully sold on the entrance into L&D – simply because while they have skills, additional functionality to leverage strongly into that audience is well – an expansion.
This is the #1 system for customer training for 2024. It was #1 in 2023, and #1 in 2022.
That tells me, or should tell you, where the power is here.
Anyway, a couple of concerns – whereas some folks would be “big deal,” and others, well that is your aspect.
I should mention that #3 skews towards L&D, on the flip compared to their higher segment of customer training. Thus, it isn’t a one-off.
The system continues to charge a fee for Panoramas, which look, is outstanding, but it is my feeling, it should be included as part of the system. Again, the additional cost of multi-tenants (aka extended enterprise) is common, but why be common.
Let’s jump to wins
#1 for customer training, #1 for onboarding (clients) and their onboarding aspect with identifying and training two additional folks who are not in 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.
They have the data on the back-end for customer training – a lot of data and reports. AWESOME.
Executive Summary which shows you a quick snapshot of your site, learner, and financial performance – Right to the point data that you will need.
Their learner side’s functionality is strong and ease of use, exists
Very robust system that still understands who is overseeing the system, including who is running training or whatever their title is. Customer training overwhelmingly is about making money and having the metrics that identify what is working. That 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” whereas 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
I recommend the purchase of the following add-ons to totally tap into the system. Essential IMO.
Advanced Enhacement
Panorama
E-Commerece – I wish this was included as part of the system, without you having to pay extra for it – very robust with everything 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; there are some items in there that should be included. IMO
Dashboard that the Learner can see (first screen) – I like this, 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.
Let’s just jump into wins and need enhancements or tweaks
Win – #1 Large Enterprise System 2024
Win – First system to dump the “content catalog where the publisher who created it is visible” – nobody cares – so Docebo went by category minus the names – smart – they did this in 2023, and have improved it in 2024
Win – Skills contineus to improve, new options, new capabilities
Win – Another vendor who added AI
Win – Insights – that goes beyond the out of the box nothingness I see way too many times. Insights tells the learning metrics of your system – however does it go full learning story? Not yet, unless you purchase the analytics advanced add-on. That said, you are going to go “oh yeah” and thank the Gods for it.
Win -Admin side increased ease of use, learner side ditto
AI capabilities that went beyond
Automation of the tasks so many folks run into and find it takes so long
Enrollments
Translations (seen in other systems, but still their version stands out)
Content tagging
Automation of Skills tagging
Insights
They offer for an additional fee, AI authoring, which is a content creator, that includes the use of AI for revisions and rewrite 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 take a look at.
I love the new communities that is in the system. However, to get it (as an optional), you need to purchase Elevate (Docebo has multiple pricing tiers – one of them being Elevate. Another is Enterprise, and the lower priced tier than Elevate, I can’t recall – but it is on their web site).
Each tier has additional capabilities within it. Elevate has a few more capabilities than the one below – again, you can read on their pricing to see what the tiers are, and thus the name of the one below Elevate.
Elevate Pricing Tier (And the one I note, as the pricing tier that I would buy, of course you can do Enterprise too, but Elevate 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 a’la carte (add-ons) for the Elevate tier.
This gets back to the whole do you want to lead or be like others aspect?
The items I dislike being add-ons in the Elevate package are:
E-commerce – you need it for customer training or any training you want to charge a fee for, even offer it for 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.
Communities – This is a huge winner – why do I or want to pay extra for it?
Extended Enterprise – a legacy term, since the key monsters in the space, use the terms of either customer training or customer education. Anyway, it is yearly fee, and they charge I believe 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 free. Ditto on if I have 25 children. There is a reason why – but this isn’t the time for it.
Salesforce – nowadays this 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 am still not a believer that AR/VR is going to take off in the amazing word of immersive learning simply because if I can view it on a mobile device without a headset, that isn’t really 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 ony vendor plunging full steam ahead with AR or VR as an option to have with their leraning system. Cornerstone our #2 offers the same thing.
C-O-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 that is incapable of new functionality, 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 unusure what that means, unless the ‘edge’ is a cliff, then yes, I have heard of such a term.
For sakes of me writing their full name out each time, I will just reference the system as Cornerstone LMS and make it a lot easier.
While I am not sold on the whole VR/AR experience angle (as noted in the previous vendor) because you can do ‘VR’ on a mobile device, sans headset (ditto as previous vendor), and as noted above, that is not truly VR, nor the idea that with budget cuts, and layoffs – I meant reduction – unless you have lots of cash flow to give to your L&D or Training department, then sure by all those headsets.
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 is intuitive on the learner side. It is in the top five for AI. It is still the leader for skill management (as they were in 2023).
They have a very strong mobile app – with solid functionality. They continue to add – okay -ongoing resources into development of the system – not just once a quarter – but on-going.
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
UI/UX on the learner side – the best it has ever been – and I know, because I have seen this system, every year it has been around
Vast improvement for data visualization – You see nice dashboards
Assigments design – yeah when you are focused heavily around L&D – onboarding employees too, this is relevant
Mobile app – it is good, capable for 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 not only for technical training, but also for business, customer service and well, any type.
That is a DAP.
You can be standalone’s that say they can do way more, but at the end of the day, its core is what I mentioned, and it is all you need, or I’d say your learners need.
Plus, I’m not just zeroing in on the learner, equal 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 – okay, learn how to do it, with doing the steps again, or going back to learn a specific step.
Trust me, it will save you a lot of time. And you do not have to go to some HELP section (which nobody does) or look at 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. Follows the same approach as above.
Where it leverages the system though – is it saves the ADMIN a lot of headaches, because 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 all those problems.
An admin who has been trained to do their own Q/A; well first see if they can replicate the issue, and then and only then if they can’t find the problem (not the nav thing, that screams learner and not the system has a bug in it, or is actually junk), they – the admin- contacts 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, not an Admin needing to contact vendor support.
The vendor wants to avoid the calls, because it costs 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.
Selection of the mentor(s) they want, because I may need a mentor for this and 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, needs to try both and then ascertain if that is a correct statement.
For those folks who are selected by the company to acquire skills on being a good listener, hires a coach or nowadays has you either going to a ‘coaching session’ or workshop or you are 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 vendor’s who will launch their own – on top of what exists today?
MENTORING
Anyway it comes with the system, and Cornerstone recognizes the importance of it.
Course Content player with AI in it – yes, others have it too, I get that, still a plus
Admin side has vastly improved UI/UX wise – including the reporting piece and the metrics that appear.
Can you tell what your learning story is? Yes. It offers those metrics, right out the gate.
Cornerstone has a data connection to hundreds of systems, including the ability to connect with another learning system, not just HR.
Yes, there are other vendors who can do this, but not all of them, can go ‘if then, go do this.” Think Zapier, but without the disconnects you can experience with offerings such as Zapier.
Improvements needed
The visualization of data has the same issue as the majority of systems in the market – out of the box – overall – looks like Excel 2000. I can get the same pie charts too. It should appear like modern you know. Yes, good data is presented, but you can’t get by or shouldn’t get by seeing of such, when in other places, you see a different appearance of data – even on the same screen. Again, Cornerstone are not the only ones in this approach. But if you want to lead…..
The reporting can be streamlined. The two biggest complaints, I hear about Cornerstone is that the admin side is hard to figure out (that has been fixed), and the reporting is challenging to get understand and get the info. As in cumbersome.
It has improved. I think it can go a step further. That’s all.
Learn Amp identifies themselves as an employee development platform. Which slides under the learning system moniker – first because it is a learning platform, and second, it goes back to it being a learning platform whereas employees are the only focus.
I know there will be vendors who say, “mine does too,” okay then, why do you also accept customer training? You can be both, accept employees, customers and then yur skystem towards 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 who promise but fail), and engagement to what is needed and requested for you, is delivered on time (except your postal – HA).
#1 for Enterprise
#1 for Onboarding Employees
Top 10 for AI
Wonderful UI/UX – Learner, Admin and Manager
The important essentals 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 important 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, expert
AI skills taonomy – I love that you cn create a taxnomoy quikcly. 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 that is create for BI data, but trying to mush that into learning is a headache – and reading that info it is a migraine.
However, since there are many companies that 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, are aware 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 am a believer that for folks who want performance management – unless they are buying a performance management system or talent development or management system – should have it available as an add-on and not just stuck into as part of 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 – here it is available as an add-on, if you don’t – and are fine with what we offer out of the box – here you go – it is included.
And later on, you can go push it up next tier PM or you can say, you lknow what comes with the system is perfect.
They list quite more features of items, I like, but you can read all of that on their web site, 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 – Ok, maybe – Definite if is it 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 on what some of that means.
I admit, when they first explained it to me, “I’m thinking WHAT?”
Then I thought okay, the advanced analystics+ is there (which is also avaialbe as a standalone add-on) and there are other items in there – that I would see as advanced tools.
However, for multi-branding – white-labeling for example, that should be free and not part of the Advanced add-on, ditto for a custom domain. I will be clear, thatt when a vendor says custom domain, it usually means yourname.vendorname.com – which is garbage.
This is yourname.com or lets say RubbleConsultationUni.com (you get the point). I think this should be included. It is not as though custom domains are expensive.
But I am very aware that the number f vendors who give a free custom domain (i.e. they never charge you) is few and far between.
And the whole multi-tenant (number of children you get, which should be free, as you are aware, only a smithering of vendors) include it for free (heck only a couple in the top 10 do). I wish LA here 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.
Executive Summary
