The DigitalChalk LMS, from Sciolytix gives users the tools and control to launch engaging, interactive, online courses. Users can create courses featuring animated PowerPoint, SCORM content, HD videos, audio, quizzes, exams and more.
$35
per month
Litmos
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Litmos is a cloud-based Corporate LMS. Core features include a course builder, assessments and quizzes, surveys and feedback, eCommerce, virtual classrooms, certifications, course library, SCORM and TIN CAN support, reporting, and gamification tools.
Digital Chalk is perfect for organizations who are looking for an easy to use Learning Management System and don't need all the bells, whistles, and bulk of the LMS giants, like Cornerstone or SuccessFactors. Digital Chalk doesn't require an administrative specialist to learn a whole new language and environment with endless options and settings. It's very easy to use for both learners and administrators, and yet at the same time provides the exact functions you need.
I am currently using Litmos for customer training, but have also used Litmos with a previous organization to manage internal training. It's so diverse and multi-functional, it is well-suited for both purposes. And it's by far the most user-friendly LMS platform I have ever worked with in my 15 years in corporate Learning & Development. Simple to stand up, fairly easy to administer, with a number of options available to organize data, users, and coursework to best fit your business needs. If you are managing the challenges that come with a lean and mean L&D team, this is absolutely the best platform in the market. The ease of administration combined with the Content Author Tool allows someone with very little LMS or online content development background to successfully create, house and deliver online training to practically any number of learners. The Content Author Tool is, in my mind, likely what truly sets Litmos apart from its competitors. To be able to create engaging and interactive online content without the need for a third-party authoring tool license or training is a game changer.
While I used the platform, it improved its integrations with PowerPoint, making it easy to convert slides to the DigitalChalk format.
The editing layers for audio underneath the slides is very user-friendly and easy to use.
While we didn't use the quiz randomization, I liked how there was a structure built to it so that those who had more robust usage situations than ours would be able to improve engagement and assess learning at a higher level.
The administration of Digital Chalk is very easy. The function I think may be missing is an easy way to add revisions and assign them to the students who need them. For example, when you update a piece of a course it would have an indication that it is version xxx and would ask who would like to assign it to - everyone who has taken it before or just new students.
It would nice to have the system recognize when a student has already completed an element of a course that may be used in another course. For example, if video A is part of courses 1 and 2, and the student already watched it in course 1, it would ask the administrator if they should get automated credit for it in course 2, as well.
For what we need in the very near future, Litmos does not offer us the required capability. Ideally, we are looking for an integrated LMS, coaching, mobile support and content creation platform. Litmos may have the LMS part covered but there are other platforms that do this better along with providing an integrated all-in-one service or at the very least support API integration with other vendors to meet our requirements.
Litmos has been quite direct, easy to use, simple to interact, has offered a ton of courses and has implemented video/web conferencing features that have been vital in our organization. Team creation and gamification has birthed positive competion that was much needed. Course creation has also been made easy for our instructors.
As I mentioned previously, Digital Chalk's customer support is excellent. I also got a reply back within an hour, and it was usually the same person. So, they were familiar with our needs and how we were using the system. Honestly, most of the time we had to contact their support, it was an issue on the user's side, not in the software. Yet, they still helped identify the issue and consulted on how to fix it.
If I could give it a negative rating I would. Worst support from any program I have had. Everything is back and forth in the support ticket. The one time I tried to chat they could not support the question. Their support page is so full of sections and products I can never find anything I need, even with a customized home page. I was hopeful that once they left SAP support might improve but it has not. I don't even know who my account executive is. Nobody has ever reached out to me. I need someone to guide me through best practices for our company and there is nobody to do that.
We have done two implementations. The first wasn't completed by me, but the second was. I had to do a lot of data migration across from the first system into the new instance. This was really time-consuming, and it would have been great to have had an option for someone else to have completed this for us. Learning about the tool has also been up to us, and whilst the content was good, it was also high level and broad, and then getting into the specifics of our setup was really just left to us to complete on our own and have a go. We got there, but probably could have been faster with some additional support from a consultant.
DigitalChalk gave the organization the hands-on ownership of content creation and delivery while meeting our usage case of hands-off course management on a daily basis and extending the reach of the course content and certificate to as many people as possible. It's easy to use, very cost-effective to implement, and the overall experience means that the course participants get what they need out of the course without a lot of effort on their part.
Litmos overwhelms Khan Academy for two main reasons. First, the platform allows more much more customization and integration. This includes the ability to track employee progress and offer employees rewards for completion of tasks. Second, it has more functionality than Khan Academy. Part of this is likely due to the cost of implementation and the excellent development team of Litmos.
DigtialChalk's ROI is positive - the cost model of low up-front costs to get started, then paying a small amount per course participant means that organizations implementing DigitalChalk as their platform get more than their money's worth from it. It returns profit quickly and on a consistent basis.
The asynchronous nature of the platform, combined with the targeted usage situation of hands-off course delivery and management, means that resources to create, deliver, and maintain courses can be held with either one person (like an instructional designer) or even an outside contractor. This means that there's little impact to the fixed operating costs involved with hiring someone else to manage it.
