Setting up a learning platform at your company can be a daunting task. In addition to determining what sort of content is most relevant to the teams, you must find ways to provide engaging and personalized experiences. A significant percentage of companies use learning management systems to create learning content for their teams. Unfortunately, the LMS alone isn’t always up to educating employees or helping them learn better. That’s where a learning experience platform, or LXP, can be beneficial for helping teams. Both LXP and LMS systems have their benefits, but they also have a few differences that will help you decide which one is right for your business. Read on to learn more about LXP vs LMS platforms, including what they are and how they differ.
What is an LXP?
There are several different types of software created and dedicated to helping employees of an organization learn various things. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive overall approach to putting everything employees need in a single place. That’s why learning management systems and learning experience platforms have grown more popular recently. A learning experience platform, or LXP, is a type of platform that enhances and personalizes the users more experience. An LXP is more centralized to the learner themselves and it’ll ask them to set goals, allow them to create/share their own materials, work at their own pace and, and more.
Think of it as less of a product and more of a service. An LXP employs machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to create personalized learning experiences, tailored to that user’s unique preferences. An LXP offers increased learner engagement, tracking, and a focus on particular learning outcomes.
What is an LMS?
A learning management system isn’t entirely unique from a learning experience platform, but it is definitely different. In simple terms, LMS systems are just software platforms that allow you to manage the learning process. They’re used by organizations of all sizes, including large corporations, small businesses, colleges, and universities. Through an LMS, a company can create courses and host them online. Whether it’s text-based lessons, discussion boards, videos, gamification, or social learning, an LMS offers a way to educate large groups through a centralized software system. This is essential to training employees at enterprises and ensuring everybody is able to access the same types of learning material at all times.
Some LMS systems offer search features, a central library and hub, and the ability to bookmark lessons. Others give learners the opportunity to earn certificates and awards.
The Difference Between LXP and LMS
Although they seem similar on surface, an LXP and an LMS are two completely different things. An LMS is an enterprise-level software solution that helps manage training programs. It can also track and analyze progress, identify pain points, and create custom content relevant to a company. An LXP is a series of services that integrate with an LMS. In contrast, an LXP goes beyond being a simple learning system.
Users can access learning content through a variety of different avenues with an LXP. That means they can access it through a blog, social media post, YouTube video, or wherever. They don’t have to log into the learning management system to access their content. That means they can use it on mobile devices, which is useful for doing things on the go, and aren’t restricted to being in the office to learn.
An LXP is going to be a bit more user friendly as well because it’ll resemble something that’s simple and relatively intuitive instead of the often clunky interface of some LMS systems. Customization is the biggest selling point of an LXP, making it an easy way to create content and gamify some aspects of the learning process.
How do They Compare?
LXP and LMS are both powerful learning tools that can help you create a better learning experience for your employees. But there are some key differences between them. An LMS is better suited to internal training and tracking. It’s used to ensure compliance standards as well as training standards for employees. It isn’t as flexible as an LXP. An LXP allows you to build custom modules, personalized training, and overhaul the entire front and experience for users. They’re a bit easier to use because they don’t require much programming knowledge or technical skill.
Creating courses and modules is pretty easy with native authoring tools, and you can also create/deliver interactive content for your teams. An LXP can be extremely flexible, but sometimes a headless LMS is just as good and can get the job done just as well. Ultimately the choice of whether to go with an LXP, and lms, or both will be up to your company’s needs, priorities, and cost considerations.
In the big battle between LXP vs LMS, things aren’t quite as simple as asking “Which one is better?” An LMS is a good choice if you have a large company and specific compliance regulations/goals in mind for your teams. It’s also a bit more cost-effective and can integrate with many existing enterprise-level software packages. LXP might be a better choice if you want to keep your options open and spend more time personalizing experiences.
If an employee needs to constantly change, LXP can change right along with them due to its extreme scalability. You can get the best of both worlds with an LXP, but sometimes an LMS or a headless LMS might be a better bet. At the end of the day, the best way to decide is to understand your needs, what will be best for your team, and whether or not comprehensive LXP is a good fit for your company.
