TopHat vs LinkedIn Learning

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Our analysts compared TopHat vs LinkedIn Learning based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

TopHat Software Tool

Product Basics

Top Hat is an online teaching platform that offers digital classrooms, discussions, customizable questions, textbooks, lectures, videos, attendance, assignments and more. Learners can get real-time feedback, proctor tests and quizzes and stream lectures. Administrators can track progress and look at overall trends.


It integrates with other education programs and works for students and instructors. Overall, the tools let users design workspaces, create interactive materials, make quick assignments and proctor exams. In many classes, it’s used to replace clickers which allowed teachers to show materials on-screen and students to choose answers via a handheld device at their desk. The resulting answers are shown via a bar graph on the screen for a visual representation of the group’s understanding. Its specialty is helping educators find and publish quality open education resources.
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LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com, creates and hosts online courses for business, technology, creative services and certifications. Used by SMBs and in enterprise settings, it’s not a distinct learning platform; however, it does offer classes and video tutorials. Workers can build competencies in an individual subject or follow predefined paths for a comprehensive overview. Courses include graphic design, audio/visual editing, database management, leadership training, soft skills and a range of industry-specific information.
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$33 Monthly
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$379.88/Seat, Annually
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Better Content: The solution can help create and deliver high-quality content. Learners keep access to their materials even after the lesson is over. It also changes up boring PDFs and replaces them with interactive content with embedded videos, questions and graphics.
    • Digital Textbooks: Instructors can create, adapt, share and customize textbooks and other interactive materials for their course. They are always up-to-date. Users can embed assessments right into the material to see how students are absorbing material as they read. The text can also integrate videos and animations for more engaging material. It’s free or low-cost for the students and constantly added to by a community of educators.
    • Marketplace: It provides different integrated applications for coursework and content. Learners and teachers have access to thousands of textbooks, educational materials, question packs and over 20,000 open classroom resources. The subjects include anthropology, arts, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, cultural studies, earth science, education, engineering, ethics, health, humanities, law, math, medicine, physics, religious studies, science and more.
    • Customizing and OER: Users can change up the digital textbooks for intro courses to add and remove relevant information. Content is up to date and easy to modernize in the places where it may be lacking. It can take feedback and give changes in real-time. Through the marketplace, it’s easy to get open education resources from places like OpenStax and Saylor. This makes it easy for the school library to find the OER they need.
  • Greater Student Engagement: Students can receive more encouragement to participate, learn and have a voice. Some tools include a discussion prompt added between slides, awarding participation points and anonymous participation for shy students. Students can vote for responses in a queue, giving teachers an idea of where the group isn’t understanding the material. For creative questions, students can even submit drawings. The solution allows instructors to sync slides with students’ devices while students can’t move ahead of the class. This forces them to pay attention. Educators can share the responses of students in fun, interactive ways with visual graphs, heat maps and word clouds. Upon the end of the lecture, instructors can let their students see slides in review mode so they can study.
  • Better Interoperability: While the solution does some of the same things as the learning solutions, it also integrates with other more complex platforms such as Blackboard, Canvas, D2L and Moodle. For those who already have an LMS and SIS set up, this connects seamlessly to bump up the experience without getting rid of present tools.
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  • Learning Paths: Take a bundle of specific classes to teach subjects comprehensively. Some of the paths include Digital Marketer, Graphic Designer, Manager, Project Coordinator and more. Give employees necessary training in a structured way.
  • Scalability: Plan for rapid growth. Accommodate more learners as the organization grows with scalable pricing and feature sets. Ensure that the system lasts more than a few years, cutting down on costly upgrades.
  • Close Skills Gap: Sort through information from LinkedIn to help students and administrators identify where they fall short of their peers. Ensure that all learners are caught up on core competencies. Then, get recommendations for courses or learning paths based on the insights.
  • Employee Engagement: Use micro-learning to keep employees interested. Provide videos and tutorials in bite-sized bits to ensure they have the information and can consume it quickly. Make workers feel more confident with comprehensive training.
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  • Testing: With built-in security, users can host tests, quizzes and exams in a virtual environment where students can bring their own devices. Tests are easy to build and customize with multiple formats for questions. The fourteen unique question types include fill-in-the-blank, word answers, multiple-choice, numeric answers, click-on-target and many others. Students can also do video assignments, drawings or chemistry questions. Several behavioral algorithms help teachers monitor students and prevent cheating. If they do, they’re immediately locked out. Instructors can also see a real-time report and can offer secure codes so students can get into the proper test. Once the exam is complete, educators can automatically grade and have results show up immediately in the gradebook. This system is compatible with smartphones, laptops and tablets and doesn’t require a separate app. Grades can transfer to an LMS or other solution. Once grading is complete, it’s easy to review results and identify at-risk learners.
  • Attendance: Teachers can verify attendance in several ways. First, they can prompt students to sign in using a unique code and assign grades to reward students who are present. Second, the solution can verify the students’ physical location so only those in class get counted. It sends points for roll call and participation straight into the gradebook. Alternatively, instructors can build options for excused absences.
  • Grading and Reporting: Users can track learner progress, implement weighted grading and track attendance and performance. All of this transfers to the gradebook automatically. Instructors can weigh factors such as questions, participation and attendance. From there, administrators can analyze information and adjust for future lessons. To make sure teachers miss nothing it automatically captures student replies and participation grades in the gradebook.
  • Course Creation: Users can integrate quizzes, tests and other course materials. They can also track through analytics and port results over to other software. The system is FERPA compliant and has extensive support. Some other functions are the discussion tool where students can collaborate, offline mode, multiple file type capabilities, access to the marketplace, design consulting and more. Administrators can include gamification, flip classrooms and use devices to bump up engagement. Teachers can also stream lectures and students can participate in a live chat.
  • Assignments: It provides the functionality to create, personalize and auto-grade homework. Teachers can assign unique questions based on the group or individual and use interactive questions to engage students and reinforce the material. Homework assignments are easy and quick to assemble. Users can time responses, limit wrong answers or show the correct answers. They can also add images, videos and website links and build existing homework right into the platform. When the homework is complete, instructors can provide feedback immediately with comments. For hard subjects, users can create ungraded homework.
  • Institutions: Broader districts or institutions using the solution can acquire support specifically for their needs. The solution provides help with implementation, scaling, onboarding and other resources. Afterward, the company can help administrators review the program’s success. For organizations looking for more comprehensive help, the company manages support and training for the institution. They also offer workshops that follow the pedagogy and challenges of the faculty. A team of 40 instructional designers works to make this happen while a dedicated account manager communicates one-on-one. It integrates with all major LMSs and works with Shibboleth for easy configuration and single sign-on capability. It comes with institution-paid and student-paid options and has a clicker buyback program for the early transition.
  • Cloud-Based: The solution is a Software-as-a-Service and available without additional hardware or installing. It’s designed to scale smoothly and collects student data to ensure the organization is keeping track of student aptitude and progress.
  • Assessments: These deeper level analytics go after not just individual grades or students, but can track performance, completion, persistence and learning outcomes across the organization. It offers both summative and formative analysis so instructions can both correct the overall course and find individuals who need help. This makes it easier to track, identify, diagnose and fix problems when they arise.
  • Content Creation and Course Authoring: For specialized content, the solution provides authoring tools to create the materials. Users can get help with textbook projects. Instructors who want to share their work on the marketplace still own the copyright and earn royalties. It also provides collaborative projects where multiple educators and experts can come together to make a textbook. Creators can import OER or other content and split the revenue among collaborators.
  • Accessibility: It has various options to accommodate different students and learning styles. This includes allowing students to dial-in to a lecture via phone, transcripts of lecture records and videos of class meetings. It also optimizes assignments and textbooks so students can work from their desired device.
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  • Content Library: Choose from a vast number of courses, videos and tutorials from a platform that generally adds more than 60 pieces of content per week. Analyze learning patterns and use the insights to find classes for the industry’s most relevant hard and soft skills.
  • Certification Prep: Quiz, train and prepare workers who want to advance in the industry via certifications. Choose from popular, valuable certifications such as Google, Linux, Microsoft, Oracle, PMI, Six Sigma, CompTIA and more.
  • Instructor-Led Courses: Give workers a face-to-face experience with experts that have real, practical field experience. Let them ask questions and request further help from someone who knows what they’re doing. Encourage conversations with industry experts to reinforce and explain content.
  • Reporting Dashboard: Measure the effectiveness of training through different data and analytics, allowing the staff to see how their education initiatives work. Pull reports and share relevant findings with leaders.
  • Integrations: Integrates with various online education and talent management products, including Absorb, Adobe Captivate, Blackboard, Bridge, Canvas, Cornerstone, D2L, Docebo, SAP SuccessFactors, and more.
  • Continuing Education: Provide employees with the opportunity to maintain certification or compliance through appropriate credit. Choose from a range of courses designed to satisfy specific requirements.
  • Translations: Provide access to students who speak different languages such as German, French, English, Japanese, Spanish and more. Help standardize training across an international organization.
  • Personalized Recommendations: Give workers course options that apply perfectly to their fields based on previously entered LinkedIn information. Suggest skills, courses, certifications, videos and learning paths that enrich employees.
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Product Ranking

#31

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LMS Software

#44

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LMS Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 63 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 12 reviews
78%
of users recommend this product

TopHat has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 78% when considering 63 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

96%
of users recommend this product

LinkedIn Learning has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 96% when considering 12 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

4.0 (22)
n/a
3.8 (38)
4.8 (12)
4.0 (3)
n/a

Awards

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LinkedIn Learning stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Interactive Features: TopHat offers interactive features such as live polling, quizzes, and discussion tools.
Easy Integration: TopHat can be integrated with other educational tools to streamline workflows.
Improved Engagement: TopHat helps increase student participation and engagement during lectures.
Valuable Analytics: Educators gain insights into student performance through TopHat's analytics features.
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Extensive Content Library: Users appreciate the vast and diverse collection of courses available, covering a wide range of topics from business and technology to creative skills. The platform offers over 18,000 expert-led courses.
High-Quality Courses: LinkedIn Learning is known for its high-quality courses, featuring industry experts and thought leaders as instructors. The production value of the courses is consistently high, with clear audio and video, engaging visuals, and well-structured content.
Personalized Recommendations: The platform provides personalized course recommendations based on users' profiles, interests, and learning history. This helps users discover relevant content and build a customized learning path.
Integration with LinkedIn: LinkedIn Learning seamlessly integrates with the LinkedIn platform, allowing users to showcase their completed courses and earned certificates on their profiles. This can enhance professional visibility and credibility.
Offline Viewing: The platform offers the ability to download courses for offline viewing, enabling users to learn on the go or in areas with limited internet connectivity.
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Cost: TopHat is often more expensive than other LMS options, which can be a barrier for budget-conscious users.
Technical Issues: Some users have reported experiencing occasional technical glitches or difficulties with the platform.
Learning Curve: New users may require some time to familiarize themselves with all of TopHat's features and functionalities, leading to a learning curve.
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Limited Course Selection: The platform's course offerings primarily focus on business, technology, and creative skills, potentially leaving gaps in specialized or niche areas.
Subscription-Based Model: Access to LinkedIn Learning's content requires a recurring subscription fee, which may not be ideal for individuals or organizations with limited budgets or those seeking specific, one-time learning experiences.
Variable Content Quality: While LinkedIn Learning hosts a vast library of courses, the quality and depth of content can vary significantly between individual courses and instructors.
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Is TopHat a top-tier learning management system, or does it fall flat? User reviews from the last year reveal a mixed bag. TopHat is praised for its interactive features that boost student participation, such as polls, quizzes, and seamless integration with existing LMS platforms. Educators particularly appreciate its ability to transform lectures into engaging experiences, as highlighted by a professor who lauded TopHat for breathing life into their classroom and facilitating dynamic student interaction. However, some users find the platform's initial navigation somewhat cumbersome and occasionally encounter technical hiccups. A case in point is the "time-constrained attendance marker," which reportedly suffers from lag, impacting user experience. While TopHat's customer support receives mixed reviews, its strengths lie in its user-friendly interface, diverse question formats, and smooth integration capabilities. Its standout feature, the ability to create an interactive and engaging learning environment, makes it a hit among educators. Conversely, the pricing model, which requires students to pay individually, draws criticism for potentially hindering access for some. A user aptly pointed out, "Not all of my students have the means to pay for access (which can really impact their grade if they don't use the platform)." TopHat's differentiating factor lies in its dedication to fostering student engagement and active learning. This is achieved through features like real-time polls, quizzes, and interactive presentations, setting it apart from traditional, static learning platforms. A testament to this is a user's comment, "Top Hat is a great student engagement tool, useful in polling students on the fly or setting up assessments prior to class." In conclusion, TopHat is best suited for educators seeking to infuse their classrooms with interactivity and boost student participation. Its array of engagement-focused tools makes it ideal for educators who prioritize active learning. However, the pricing structure might pose a challenge for students with limited financial resources, making it crucial for institutions to consider alternative funding models or explore site licenses to ensure equitable access for all.

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Get "linked in" to the world of online learning with LinkedIn Learning!  This platform has been making waves in the e-learning scene, but is it the right fit for your needs?  Let's dive into what users have been saying about LinkedIn Learning over the past year.  Users appreciate the vast and diverse course library covering technical skills, creative pursuits, and business acumen.  The platform's integration with LinkedIn is a major plus, allowing users to showcase their newly acquired skills on their profiles and potentially catch the eye of recruiters.  The bite-sized course format is perfect for busy professionals who want to learn on the go.  However, some users find the content to be more surface-level than in-depth, and the lack of interactive elements can make the learning experience feel passive.  While LinkedIn Learning may not be ideal for those seeking comprehensive, hands-on training, it's a valuable resource for professionals looking to upskill or reskill conveniently and efficiently.  The platform's seamless integration with LinkedIn and its focus on career development make it particularly well-suited for individuals seeking to advance their careers or explore new job opportunities.

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