We performed a comparison between Blackboard Learning Management and CYPHER Learning based on our users' reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Blackboard Learning Management is a highly efficient platform for consolidating grading information and monitoring student involvement. CYPHER Learning distinguishes itself with its training videos, gamification, personalized content, and user-friendly interface. Blackboard Learning Management could better manage large files, monitor student activity, incorporate video feedback, and improve the assignment viewing pane. CYPHER Learning should focus on enhancing its grading system, integration, reporting options, and mobile app integration.
Service and Support: Blackboard Learning Management has a well-staffed customer service team. CYPHER Learning is praised for its accessible support team, prompt responses, knowledgeable staff, and commitment to implementing customer suggestions.
Ease of Deployment: Blackboard Learning Management has a straightforward initial setup, but some faculty members have encountered issues. CYPHER Learning has received positive feedback for its easy initial setup and excellent onboarding training.
Pricing: Blackboard Learning Management is considered an expensive option, whereas many users describe CYPHER Learning's price as competitive and reasonable.
ROI: Users did not see any return on investment with Blackboard Learning Management. CYPHER Learning resulted in cost savings, reduced workforce, and increased efficiency and productivity.
Comparison Results: CYPHER Learning is generally preferred over Blackboard Learning Management. Users value CYPHER Learning's product training videos, personalized content, and gamification. CYPHER Learning has an intuitive interface, and the cloud-based platform requires minimal maintenance. Users also praise CYPHER Learning's customer service and support. The pricing is competitive, offering good value for the features provided. Users consider CYPHER Learning a more efficient and cost-effective solution for managing and tracking learners than Blackboard Learning Management.
"It is scalable."
"One of the most important features is the possibility of creating unlimited subdomains."
"It encompasses various components, including course delivery modules, content management, community engagement features, digital classrooms, and mobile integration."
"The modules and courses are flexible."
"Blackboard enables instructors to collectively gather all the grading data into one place. If students upload content or post it to a Google Doc, I can do my grading and calculate the grades. It is an excellent holding place for all of that data"
"The usability makes it easy for our doctors to find whatever they're looking for. The groups help them interact with each other, creating a kind of network and a place of engagement. It's not just a platform to go and learn and get out. It's a place where they can actually interact with other doctors and share experiences."
"It's just fully managed online and manages the whole process from the start of the student engagement all the way through their training, communicating with them via the platform, and completion of their training. It's one of the few platforms that just works."
"One of the things that we are really excited about is being able to tie the state or national standards as competencies. Then, when students complete a course, they are awarded certain competencies or standards that we have aligned with the course. This shows schools evidence that students are meeting standards. Right now, we are not tying any of our courses with how schools are testing and assessing students. However, our company goals are to provide access to STEM for all students and help schools engage with communities to develop the STEM talent and workforce, which then impacts a community's economic development."
"It has 100% helped me organize my time. It provides more time for interaction and feedback with my students, both in the classroom or personally. This is why I consider the solution as an achievement. It feels more collaborative in the sense that planning not only depends on me, but also on my students."
"Another feature that is great for me... is the learning outcomes feature... In CYPHER Learning, it's called the Mastery feature. The learning outcomes feature allows us to measure whether students have achieved competency, based on the encoded learning outcomes."
"It's very easy to monitor and check student progress. I can go in and, with a couple of clicks, see any participant and where they are in the process."
"We love the group feature allowing students to have peer-to-peer learning experiences. In our case, it is for students, but this feature could also be useful for a business to provide peer-to-peer learning experiences for employees. The group tool provides an opportunity for students to connect with their peers inside of their own digital space. One of the aspects that we love about the group tool is that it allows students to leave the course but engage in a digital space where they access materials that are personalized to their group."
"Gamification is another feature that I've recently really gotten into and I have found that my students really enjoy getting points and badges. That reinforcement is critical... my students get that instant gratification. They get specific scores when they do specific tasks within CYPHER Learning and it lets them know. It's a really big motivator for my students."
"The system falls short in terms of managing assessments and exams effectively."
"The solution must provide better integration with third-party software."
"Blackboard has limitations in terms of delivering content and assessing student assignments because it can't handle large file sizes. It's also limited in its ability to track student activity. Instructors can see the student's most recent login, but they can't follow the activity."
"It would be ideal to create a more responsive or more intuitive template for access from telephones or tablets."
"The solution is not flexible."
"In terms of face-to-face education, a suggestion for CYPHER LEARNING is that it give more presence to CYPHER Learning as an entity in the school by teaching more about how to exploit the tools: how to create games, and more about the use of SCORM."
"One thing I find annoying is that the system is quite limited when it comes to roles. I was used to our old system where I could create custom roles to cater to specific users and that's not available in CYPHER Learning."
"There are some tools that facilitate dialogue but not many that help produce continuous interaction. There is room for improvement in the area of interaction. I'd like to see more ways for the student to communicate with their classmates."
"They are not the cheapest solution, but they are not the most expensive."
"There needs to be greater granularity of user packages. We don't always have 100 users per month. However, we pay for 100."
"When they bring on new partners, like Udemy, we do find that there are quite a few bugs in the system. They brought them on more than a year ago and there are still a few bugs, just pulling things through to CYPHER Learning. Integration bugs are a bit of an issue."
"There is a section where you can create games and tools. I don't know if it is because I didn't have the training, but I couldn't use the gamification tools. I would like them to create a link with a tutorial explaining how to do this from the platform."
"If there is one area that I would like to see more improvement in, it would be around detailed reporting. There are some little things that they could add that would give us more insights and we'd like to access those things through the reporting."
More Blackboard Learning Management Pricing and Cost Advice →
Blackboard Learning Management is ranked 8th in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 6 reviews while CYPHER Learning is ranked 1st in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 50 reviews. Blackboard Learning Management is rated 7.8, while CYPHER Learning is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Blackboard Learning Management writes "Expandable with good real-time live interactions but is very expensive". On the other hand, the top reviewer of CYPHER Learning writes " Rules engine allows us to automate aspects of our training, and we get full visibility into individual students' progress". Blackboard Learning Management is most compared with Google Classroom and ELITE LMS, whereas CYPHER Learning is most compared with Moodle, TalentLMS, Canvas LMS, Google Classroom and Absorb LMS. See our Blackboard Learning Management vs. CYPHER Learning report.
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