In David Patterson’s review of the Learn Amp People Development Platform, he found a thoroughly modern workplace training solution that incorporates the best of many LMS, LXP and social learning systems you’ll find on the market.
I’m always intrigued to learn the history behind a new piece of learning technology, and the story behind the People Development Platform we now know as Learn Amp is one of the more interesting ones I’ve heard.
The vision for the platform came from the founder, Duncan Cheatle, who was researching into if learning was meeting the expectations of digital learners and if their career goals were being met in the modern workplace.
After discovering that learners – who were largely being instructed to direct their own learning – were feeling unsatisfied, Duncan realised something. Self-directed learning is extremely valuable, but it’s only one side of the coin. The other side is understanding that learners need the context of a career pathway to stimulate and give value to the self-directed learning.
Learn Amp does this extremely well, successfully balancing the needs of the individual and the organisation, and giving value to both.
The way Learn Amp does this is by being a hybrid of both an LMS and an LXP. We can debate the functionalities that go into making both of these systems different, but it’s important to acknowledge that the fusion of these two learning technologies is what makes Learn Amp a market leading platform.
So, let’s dive in and see what it is that makes Learn Amp so popular.
First and foremost, Learn Amp is an exceptionally affordable platform and is very easy to use, which makes it the ideal choice for smaller, mid-sized, and rapidly growing organisations. Learn Amp is ideally suited for organisations with 500 – 5000 employees, which I think is great.
A philosophy of learning for the modern workplace
We often talk about pathways, and Learn Amp brings this to life in a manner not seen before. The mapping function allows learners to feel like they’re in control of their own development.
It’s also simple to create the organisational structure and multiple hierarchies during the set-up of the platform. Teams and task groups are particularly effective, with batching and bulk upload features to make life easy for administrators.
In the spirit of making the workload lighter for administrators, Learn Amp allows admins to do their job without the fuss of having to go through the ‘back end’ – everything can be done from wherever you are within the platform. There’s also an extremely impressive audit log that admins can access.
When it comes to the learners themselves, individuals can create their own profiles – complete with job descriptions, images, introductory videos, and more – which gives organisations the foundation they need to build out their expertise networks.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the learner perspective and discover how Learn Amp delivers on its mission to enhance performance.
Resonating with learners
The UI and UX, as expected, is very modern and incorporates many of the features we’ve come to associate with LXPs. A Netflix or Spotify interface style has been developed. The platform can be woven into the day-to-day thanks to its impressive integrations – Slack, Zoom and Teams to name a few. It also boasts an AI assistant that recommends documents, videos, elearning courses, and other materials to learners at the point of need.
Learn Amp really thrives in the digital workplace, not as a disparate adjunct to the day-to-day, but by truly working to complement the systems and processes already put in place. Learn Amp supports 1-to-1 meetings, surveys and other assessments, digital coaching, action planning, and even has an Eventbrite style ILT feature – particularly handy in an increasingly remote and flexible workplace.
Naturally, an organisation only gets out of a solution what they’re prepared to put in, but Learn Amp makes achieving quality results possible thanks to its ease of use and interconnectivity with the day-to-day running of the organisation.
However, that isn’t all Learn Amp does. It boasts many LMS features as well, seamlessly integrated into the LXP features we’ve discussed above.
Feature-rich where it makes a difference
Curation on Learn Amp is very powerful indeed – particularly when it comes to video, with over 9000 videos curated and tagged in a system with multiple libraries and categories making it easy to search.
Content management is good, and the assessment tools are flexible and powerful.
We’ve already made note of the AI recommendations, but the search function within the platform is impressive too. There are plenty of options around how to search.
Reporting is open and very flexible, with lots of drill downs and video feedback options allowed. The platform also caters to the Net Promoter Score, which is a nice addition.
Social learning
This is one of the areas where Learn Amp truly shines. It’s well provisioned for and follows through on the core principles of Learn Amp.
I particularly like the focus on collaboration, the ability to leverage the subject matter experts in the organisation, the Q&A function that can be initiated amongst learners, and the peer-to-peer assessment options.
Learn Amp have really thought about how their platform can assist in changing how an organisation learns and performs.
Content curation
Learn Amp’s Google Chrome Plugin alongside its open API allow for quick and easy importing of content from around the web.
The curated content can then be managed extremely effectively by the admins or subject matter experts – those with the right permissions can go through a quality assurance process before releasing the content, and also review or withdraw the content as and when needed.
Content creation
The open API to Google Images and Docs serves as a useful starting point to allow for the building of learning content in the platform. Any content created can be quickly added to the library and, like with content curation, can be reviewed by those with the appropriate permissions. This approach is particularly well suited for microlearning.
There’s also an option to create and share video and audio from within the platform.
Search
In my opinion, the ability to search for content is more important than ever. Learn Amp searches the whole module – not just the tag – and also comes with a Wiki as standard.
Assessment and feedback
Learn Amp have taken a good look at other education LMS vendors in the market and have incorporated common LMS marking rubrics on the platform. This is a smart move, as I’m seeing many more corporations wanting increasingly detailed assessments and feedback as part of their management development programmes that go well beyond traditional MCQs.
The sheer granularity of the assessment function in Learn Amp is one of the most impressive features of the platform. It really delivers on the promise of aligning learning to organisational goals.
I’m also very taken with the powerful observational surveys Learn Amp delivers.
Face-to-face
Face-to-face learning is well catered for with a powerful event management to allow for the facilitation of face-to-face sessions. The tools allow for event creation, invitation management, reminders, notifications and post-event surveys.
Summary
To be quite honest, Learn Amp boasts such a rich set of features, I’m struggling to sum the platform up.
I’m a fan of simplicity and ease of use, and Learn Amp does not sacrifice this for its many features. It’s not just a platform with a lot of clunky extras built on, but a hugely compelling construct of learning technology.
When it comes to the learner and the organisation, Learn Amp delivers on its mission to deliver self-directed learning within the context of the organisation’s goals and values. Truly a super learning platform!
Visit the Learn Amp website to learn more about the all-in-one people development platform that will grow with your organisation.
