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Paulo Ian Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
HR Director at Potato Corner
Real User
We have seen cost savings because we no longer need to send training teams to international territories
Pros and Cons
  • "In terms of the user availability, there is access to the platform 24 hours. So, we don't need to determine a specific time for training. We just give them a link, password, and period for them to complete, e.g., four days, then it is up to them. What is important is they pass the minimum requirements needed to pass the exams and certification process."
  • "There is further work to be done on the translation accuracy of international languages. It is really a challenge to have a system for perfect translation, especially as there are unique dialects embedded in different languages. In the future, the platform can have an integrated application that can "precisely" translate languages."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for our technical training and onboarding.

How has it helped my organization?

Before the pandemic, almost all our training interventions occurred in physical spaces and simulation areas. Our trainees were mostly asked to report to the head office for a minimum of five days up to months (for some critical positions). Since we started to use the CYPHER Learning, we have been able to see a drastic improvement the length of our learning duration to about half of the previous number of days that we conducted these training interventions.

CYPHER Learning is instrumental in enabling Potato Corner to be at the forefront of remote learning engagement practices in the Philippines. In fact, Potato Corner is an active case study for some local companies, in terms of bringing value and cost savings - locally and abroad. 

The ability of the system to be used by our international support and store network is an advantage. For example, CYPHER Learning has the capacity to translate dialects or languages which helped us conduct a learning experience similar to how an actual hands on session is done. Just recently we had pilot runs using the translation capability of the system for new store openings in China and the Middle East China using Mandarin and Arabic as medium of discussions.

In terms of the platform availability, there is access to 24 hours, so we don't need to determine a specific time for training. We just give them a link, password, and period for them to complete, e.g., 5 days, then it is up to them. What's important is they pass the minimum requirements to pass the training like periodic exams and the certification process.

The solution has helped us not just survive, but get through the challenges of the pandemic with flying colors. Before, we were quite adamant on remote training practices, since for close to 28 years, our company did not venture into remote training practices. Only two years ago, that we took a major step to prove that remote training can actually be a part of the company's core programs to ensure an engaged and competent workforce. 

What is most valuable?

We use almost all the functionalities of the platform especially for product training videos, lectures, onboarding, assessment, and exams. We also use the gamification function to engage our employees and effectively reward them. In terms of portal usage. With these developments, we are able to automate almost all the onboarding and training requirements for both our new and existing workforce.  

The rules engine has helped us personalize content based on users’ goals and performance. For example, we are now working on further improving the training process for China, Middle East, and soon India markets. 

There is also a wide range of analytics in the platform that show level of engagement and interest - logged in hours, percentage of trainees / attendees taking exams and those actively using the platform. Since we have drastically lessened onsite training to almost none, we rely heavily on trainees' consistent use of the platform.

CYPHER Learning's competency-based learning feature is very important for helping ensure content is compliant with the goals of the course.

A case in point would be our crews that are assigned to stores. They go through the program and thereby complete and pass the required exams and related "certification processes". Getting them "certified" to man stations and shifts are enough proof of competence to be deployed. For those who do not pass the certification, we have them go through retraining until they eventually get certified. 

What needs improvement?

There is further work to be done on the translation accuracy of international languages. It is really a challenge to have a system for perfect translation, especially as there are unique dialects embedded in different languages. In the future, the platform can have an integrated application that can "precisely" translate languages. 

Buyer's Guide
CYPHER Learning
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about CYPHER Learning. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
863,641 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using CYPHER Learning for around two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

So far, we haven't had any major issues affecting business continuity. In the two years that we have been working with the solution, we have been able to maintain the continuity of the business, and this is the most important measure of success for us. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There have been no problems with scalability even if Potato Corner has close to 700 Franchisees in the network. Before, we started to have LMS in 40 stores, then we went to a 100 stores in a matter of weeks. To date, we are now at almost 500 stores using CYPHER Learning for training and onboarding purposes. The plan for this year is to start involving more of our new international territories as we are on track to opening in more locations like India and other counties in the middle east.

How are customer service and support?

Like Potato Corner, the World's Best Flavored French Fries Brand, Organizations and decision makers should seriously look at CYPHER Learning as a strategic partner in growing the business.

Overall, I would rate the solution including its customer service and support extension a 9 of 10. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The entire platform has helped us automate all our company's learning and development practices. When we didn't have CYPHER Learning, we did everything onsite, e.g., we had physical and classroom training. All of that has been removed since we started using the CYPHER Learning platform. 

How was the initial setup?

The deployment process was very straightforward. 

During the first six months of the implementation, we were deeply involved, as we worked on getting the system used by different stakeholders. The plan was to get everyone on the same page and be accustomed to using the solution and see it as a regular way to train and develop competencies. After that, the following months were more stable, as we continued to make notable improvements along the way.

To support this major change, we did a series of Town halls which we call a NetMeet! In these town halls, we communicated the need to invest in a platform that will be used for the long-term. 

After our Town halls, we conducted mini-virtual meetings where we met with key groups in operations, international, finance, human resources, and franchising and told them about the new Learning Management System. We had open dialogues on how the LMS will beneficial to the users of the system. 

For a period of 3 weeks thereafter, we chose certain pilot groups where we gave access to use and navigate the system. When there was immense buy in on the solution, we started to launch the LMS for all company-owned stores in the Philippines. Then we picked locations outside Metro Manila, such as Visayas and Mindanao. Eventually, we started implementing the LMS in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and just recently, the Asia Pacific region.

What about the implementation team?

Before, the company tried to do learning and development via in-house We found this a little difficult as we had to regularly change certain functions which took time to accomplish, eventually resulting to a great deal of time spent on communicating such changes. When we came across the CYPHER Learning, it was more of a plug and play solution where there was very little customization so we started to implement changes / improvements faster. In terms of level of expertise, the vendor side showed competence and excellence. 

What was our ROI?

Over the past couple of years, we have opened several stores in new territories. Aside from the local operations, we have used CYPHER Learning in China, the Middle East, and Canada. 

Conservatively, CYPHER Learning has brought our costs down by 50% overall, which includes headcount. In the department where the LMS is currently managed, the workforce is down by 50% as well. From 4 individuals, there are only 2 people managing the entire learning and development process for our company. Aside from these, the cost of logistics and travel have been greatly reduced (by 70%). We no longer need to be in the different regions in the Philippines and our international territories for our expansions, as we can now conduct training 24/7 virtually. In terms of cost savings, we have reduced our annual costs by roughly 5 million pesos or 100,000 USD, with projected savings to be higher in the years to come. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Because our cost went down by 50%, I would say that the pricing is competitive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before (and even during the pandemic), the company tried to create our own Learning Management System which we found to be quite difficult especially since there were a lot of changes affecting certain functions which had to be done quickly. It took the team a great deal of effort and time to communicate with all stakeholders and get the changes done. At the time we were looking for an outsourced solution, we came across CYPHER Learning, which we found to be more of a plug and play solution for us. There was a little customization and we could start to implement quickly. Eventually we ended up evaluating the platform's capabilities and ended up launching it for Potato Corner's domestic and international operations in barely 3-6 months of pilot testing.

What other advice do I have?

We have started using CYPHER Learning's competency-based learning feature starting with a pilot batch in the Philippines and will encourage our global partners to do the same.

Businesses, whether big or small, should take a good look at CYPHER Learning in terms as it can really help improve remote training for companies. Teams should be open to exploring the functions of the product and what the solution can offer in terms of long-term plans. In our company, we wanted to ensure a good balance of physical training and remote training. I encourage decision makers to carefully assess is if a virtual / remote training environment suit their businesses. In general, before investing in any solution, decision makers should carefully weigh strategic goals, impact to operating costs / bottom line, and performance management.   

For Potato Corner, the solution came at a very opportune time, as we were able to proactively manage the ill effects of the global pandemic. 

I would rate the solution as a 9 out of 10.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Co-Founder \ Operations Manager at Tisserand Institute
Real User
Streamlines the delivery of content and takes on a lot of the administrative burden from our organization
Pros and Cons
  • "The entire system is incredibly valuable, but one of the reasons we chose CYPHER Learning was the social interaction features, such as forums, student groups, and messaging."
  • "CYPHER Learning should definitely offer live video conferencing integration."

What is our primary use case?

We operate an online education platform that sells courses to audiences all over the world. We have a global audience, and we use CYPHER Learning as our primary learning management system. CYPHER Learning is our only LMS.

CYPHER Learning is a web-based application, so there is no need to deploy it. However, there is also an app that can be used to access the portal.

How has it helped my organization?

CYPHER Learning has allowed us to spend less time administering content. We no longer have to worry about whether our website is functioning or whether the content is being delivered as intended. That's what CYPHER Learning is for. They streamline the delivery of content, so we know how to set up classes, courses, assessments, and diplomas. CYPHER Learning also takes on a lot of the administrative burden from our organization, including customer support.

We use the gamification feature in relation to certification, but we are not yet taking full advantage of it. We are definitely looking into it.

CYPHER Learning has helped us reduce our training costs by approximately $2,000 per person trained.

CYPHER Learning has helped to reduce costs related to printing our materials.

We wouldn't be able to do what we do without CYPHER Learning. It's hard to quantify how much CYPHER Learning has helped increase profits, but it's essential to our business. Without CYPHER Learning, we wouldn't have a school.

What is most valuable?

The entire system is incredibly valuable, but one of the reasons we chose CYPHER Learning was the social interaction features, such as forums, student groups, and messaging. We hadn't seen these features in other learning management systems. The assessment management is also amazing. Overall, the system is well-designed. However, the social features were the deciding factor.

What needs improvement?

CYPHER Learning should definitely offer live video conferencing integration. We currently need to outsource this service, which means we cannot run webinars from within CYPHER Learning. This is definitely on our wish list.

The initial setup process is a bit cumbersome, but it is not impossible to complete. The company's support is excellent, so we were able to get help with any questions we had. 

The platform had a bit of a learning curve for our team, but our users, who tend to be older, were able to use it seamlessly. The average age of our users is over 50, so they are not always tech-savvy. We have had very few issues with our users being able to use the platform. Overall, the platform is user-friendly for our users, but it could be more user-friendly for administrators.

We learned some of the rules for assessments and completion the hard way. For example, if we change a role, it is not applied automatically. We have to manually update the role. We needed to verify that people had completed all the requirements to be issued a certificate. We changed the role halfway through the process because we found out that there was a gap and people were falling through the cracks. However, we had to manually correct the already-issued certificates. Therefore, the change of rules does not apply retroactively. We need to test anything that is conditional, especially completion rules.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using CYPHER Learning for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is highly stable. In the six years we have been using CYPHER Learning, we have not experienced any downtime or crashing.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

CYPHER Learning is very scalable. We are somewhere in the middle of its scalability range. This was one of the reasons we chose CYPHER Learning, as we were at the bottom of its scalability range at the time, and there is still room for us to grow comfortably without having to switch platforms.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is incredibly responsive, helpful, and respectful. They have their own support forum, where many questions have already been answered. However, if we need help, the support team has always been quick to respond and provide assistance.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a five out of ten. I had a general idea of the course structure, and I built it up one lesson at a time, exploring as I went. I didn't do a lot of forward planning, other than planning the course itself and then trying to use the platform to achieve that goal. I didn't start by looking at what the platform could do and then model the course on that.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house with the help of technical support.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

We are not yet ready to use CYPHER Learning's ability to recommend courses or assignments to learners based on their job titles or a set of competencies. This is because we sell the courses from our website. Instead, we are currently creating pathways for learners manually. This is something we want to explore further in the future, but we have not had the capacity to do so yet.

We have eight tutors that use CYPHER Learning within our organization.

There is maintenance required for the content, such as our courses. However, the platform itself does not require any maintenance, which is a great benefit of using CYPHER Learning. All of the platform's functionalities are provided by CYPHER Learning itself.

Users should know what they want to achieve with the platform, and they should also take the time to explore all of the platform's capabilities. Once users are set up, which is our current challenge, it can be difficult to add features like gamification or competency-based learning if they were not part of the original plan. Therefore, users should have a clear idea of their goals, but they should also be flexible and willing to adapt their strategy as they learn more about the platform.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
CYPHER Learning
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about CYPHER Learning. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
863,641 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Andrew Gilmour - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at VQ Solutions
Real User
Our users are much more invested in this solution compared to other platforms we used in the past
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is competency tracking. All apprentices follow particular programs where they have to demonstrate competencies, skills, knowledge, and behavior standards. The ability to track and measure their progress against the norm is functional."
  • "I'd like a way to set deadlines for assignments to be submitted by learners' onboarding programs based on their enrollment dates. For example, if a learner starts in October, and we want the assignment submitted 30 days after that."

What is our primary use case?

We use CHYPHER Learning to deliver all our apprenticeship programs. All of the apprentice learners are added to the platform and follow several courses. We also provide access to employers so they can monitor the learners' progress.

How has it helped my organization?

We find that learners are much more invested in CHYPHER Learning compared to other LMS platforms we used in the past. The people who use the platform to learn and do their assignments are the ones who benefit the most from the system. It enabled us to engage with learners more than the previous systems we used.

We do a little gamification, but the problem is that our learners start at different times throughout the year. We have rolling programs, but some gamification features aren't relevant if one person starts in October and another in February. The person who started earlier will be ahead on any leaderboards, which isn't helpful. Gamification doesn't affect our learners' progress much because we haven't used it as much as we'd like. The interface isn't too important because of the nature of our rolling programs. 

We look at how we can extend what learners do based on their job roles. If they complete particular assignments well, we introduce other topics based on what they achieve. 

I don't think it has reduced our training costs. We still primarily do face-to-face instruction. Also, our goal for CYPHER Learning isn't necessarily to save money. We use it to enhance our programs. However, it saved us money on printing materials. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is competency tracking. All apprentices follow particular programs where they have to demonstrate competencies, skills, knowledge, and behavior standards. The ability to track and measure their progress against the norm is functional. By aligning the work that our learners submit and the learning resources, we get an excellent picture of where they are in their progression.

We're judged on those people's ability to achieve those competencies. We must ensure they meet the standards because they will be independently assessed after finishing the program. 

What needs improvement?

I've got one bespoke request with CYPHER Learning, but it's not an overall product improvement. I'd like a way to set deadlines for assignments to be submitted by learners' onboarding programs based on their enrollment dates. For example, if a learner starts in October, and we want the assignment submitted 30 days after that. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using CHYPHER Learning since October 2020.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

CYPHER Learning is a solid platform. I rarely have problems with it. We had a caching issue a few months back, but we've had no problems aside from that. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Adding more students to CYPHER Learning is simple. You just need to pay more money.

How are customer service and support?

I rate CYPHER Learning's support a ten out of ten. I've contacted them several times and always gotten satisfactory answers. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I built a custom solution a while ago. It was great, but keeping it updated was painful, and people constantly asked me questions about it. We also used Moodle and Lodash in the past.

I used CYPHER Learning in its previous form when it was called EDU 2.0. After that, I built my own system, but it was too much of a hassle. Finally, in 2020, I decided I would switch to another solution. I tested out Moodle, but it wasn't very good for competency-based learning, so I adopted CYPHER Learning. 

How was the initial setup?

CYPHER Learning is a SaaS platform. We subscribe to it and add learners as needed. The setup is straightforward, but there are a few advanced features that you need to get your head around if you want to extend the way the platform works. I've done lots of work with webhooks and APIs to extend the platform and integrate our data systems. It's quite simple to log in and use the platform. There is no maintenance on our end. 

What was our ROI?

We are funded by the government, so we're capped at what each program costs. Students who use CYPHER Learning give us positive feedback, and the improved experience helps increase the number of learners. Getting learners to engage with the platform is always a challenge. They go on there, do the work, and leave positive feedback. It's great. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We're considered a business, so we don't get education discounts. However, I am funded by the government the same way that a college or a school is funded. I don't have the kind of flexibility to pay these prices. It's a little bit more than I want to pay, but I'm okay with it.

What other advice do I have?

I rate CYPHER Learning a ten out of ten. Before implementing CYPHER Learning, make sure you need all of its features. A lot of it is modular, so you can pick what you want.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Monica Peñafiel - PeerSpot reviewer
Highschool English Teacher at San Antonio De Padua Catholic
Real User
Provides substantial help by enabling creation of exams and automatically returning results, saving us time
Pros and Cons
  • "I can use a template to replicate class content so that I can use the same content in the three sections where I teach. That way, I don't have to continuously edit my classes. It's very useful."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

I use CYPHER Learning to upload school information, publish the annual program, and upload the sections of classes, divided weekly. We also use this platform in a didactic and playful way so that students have a more striking way of learning. We also do exams through CYPHER Learning.

How has it helped my organization?

CYPHER Learning has helped our institution a lot, especially in terms of evaluations. It provides substantial help for the teacher. For example, I can create an exam and CYPHER Learning already corrects it. That level of automation has helped me a lot. I'd rather spend an extra hour in CYPHER Learning creating one more test for another section than spend three hours grading tests.

CYPHER Learning helps me by giving me the results of exams. With the percentages that I receive from the platform I save a lot of time in the administrative sense.

I have 150 students in my charge. Whereas before, I had to correct the exam of each one of the 150 students, now I can simply access CYPHER Learning and see the results. The time that I used to correct exams I now use to create classes with more fun content or more games. I feel calmer in that sense. It has given me peace of mind.

It also helps in getting students to become more engaged and develop thinking skills. There is an option within the system that enables me to insert games from third-party platforms via links. The flexibility of being able to insert audio or links helps to challenge students to demonstrate their entrepreneurship and their level of thinking.

Our school is in a process of transformation where more emphasis is being given to inverted education. In that model, new content is initially introduced through online videos and readings before the class takes place. We have already achieved four stars in the EFQM model. Part of the process of reaching five stars is to be up to date with the new methodologies of education worldwide, such as the flipped classroom, where the focus of attention is inverted from the teacher to the students. In that model, students take more responsibility in the learning process. CYPHER Learning allows us to introduce subjects and inform students about the topics and give them a "warm-up" for what is going to happen in class.

Through the system, I also have an idea of how a student is doing since I can see the grades and scores they have received. That can help in part with intervention for students who need help. I can send them a link with content so they can practice the subject more, or I can talk to them through the chat to discuss what they need. In these ways, it helps me track students with difficulties and intervene.

Another benefit is that we no longer use so much paper or the school printing press, saving us a lot on costs. In addition, since there is not as much printing anymore, we no longer need as many staff in the printing part of the school.

What is most valuable?

I can use a template to replicate class content so that I can use the same content in the three sections where I teach. That way, I don't have to continuously edit my classes. It's very useful.

The platform helps me organize basic sections. I share videos, presentations,  and games like Kahoot, and this helps me facilitate learning management. There are students who are interested in this, and there are others who are not part of these activities. For me, it is very useful to send links to students with informative content before class so that they are more prepared. That has been very beneficial for me.

The platform also gives you an idea of the percentages when it comes to students' performance.

And when it comes to exams, if I want to assign one exam to specific students, the platform makes it easy for me to share the exam in that way. The platform makes it easy for me to communicate with students. I simply use the inbox, select the classroom and the student, and then send the exam that I want that student to send him. That's it. For me, this is a very important feature.

CYPHER Learning is also quite user-friendly. It is not complicated to use. Students know how to manage it, upload their homework, and take exams. The students can see their results as well. The exam files can be changed and it has many settings that allow for flexibility in giving exams.

What needs improvement?

If there is something that the platform could improve on, it would be in showing the number of words in a document that a student uploads. When I have to review essays I cannot see the number of words in them. The platform should count the words.

Another issue is in the area of exams. They could be more personalized and specific. For example, if I want to create a text with several gaps where the students have to fill in the correct words, it is very difficult to do through CYPHER Learning.

We have not necessarily saved money on textbooks since English learners have a printed book that is not in CYPHER Learning. If CYPHER Learning had an English reading platform it would be fantastic. If they could add a platform like Black Cat to their services it would be beneficial. CYPHER Learning doesn't include games either. I usually have to go to third-party sites, like Kahoot and Bamboo. I think you can add games through SCORM but I don't think it's that good. Because it does not include fun games like the ones I use, I have to buy them, and they are not cheap.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using CYPHER LEARNING for three to four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is quite stable and also provides services during hours when we do not have classes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

CYPHER Learning is the backbone of the school. It is used continuously. It gives us structure for the functioning of our learning sessions, and enough functionality to work in those sessions and on everything else. It gives us structure and unity.

For example, if I have an exam that I create in English for high school and a colleague of mine from another grade wants to use that exam, he can use it. I have the ability to share materials such as exams with other teachers.

We have 250 to 300 users, teachers and administrators, not counting the students.

How are customer service and support?

The solution’s technical support is good. I mostly turn to the systems administrator team at our school when I have problems with CYPHER Learning. I know that the vendor has support for the platform but I prefer to talk to a person by phone or in person. From what I understand about CYPHER LEARNING's support, it is a chat with a robot. In some cases it helps but in some cases it doesn't.

I don't have a phone number of a CYPHER Learning manager to turn to. If they had a helpline it might be better.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Canvas LMS, although I couldn't create exams in it. It is a very good platform, but CYPHER Learning is better for creating exams for school.

How was the initial setup?

In the beginning, it was complicated. We all did not understand what the system was. Some teachers were more skilled than others in finding the features. Some teachers, even to this day, don't know how to make an exam in CYPHER Learning. They haven't figured it out.

There was a training process but there was a lot of information so it took us time to decipher. Our deployment took two to three months. There was a lot of publicity and information about CYPHER Learning at our school, in meetings and through training. They gave us links to tutorials as well. It was a whole implementation process.

I would like us to receive more tutorials on the SCORM format. I found it very useful and that there are many things that can be done with it. We also learned that with the Lumen program you have a massive number of formats for games that can be inserted into CYPHER Learning via SCORM.

What about the implementation team?

Our school has three different levels: initial, elementary, and high school. Our department of system administrators, consisting of three or four, is in charge of CYPHER Learning.

We have an intermediary between CYPHER LEARNING and our school, a company that helped our school with the implementation. They just gave a talk about the use of SCORM a few days ago which I wish had been a little longer.

What was our ROI?

The cost of CYPHER Learning was necessary to handle the situation that occurred during the pandemic. Since then, CYPHER Learning has continued to justify its cost since it makes it possible for a teacher to take charge of more sections. Teachers can handle more exams and more students because more things are automated. If a teacher used to handle four sections, he now has five because he does not have to correct so many exams. This has led to reducing staff.

This automation is priceless. Now, teachers can focus on other aspects with the additional time saved on reviewing exams.

In addition, I can share content with other people. All of this is a benefit for the school.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is to make sure you have a lot of training. Your school should create many training sessions to help people know how to use it, with practical examples of how exams and sections are created. That way, teachers will become familiar with the platform. We had teachers who were very afraid to use the platform at first. With enjoyable training sessions, you can break the ice.

During the pandemic, we felt isolated since we did not have the ability to ask our colleagues for help.

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. In our case, each teacher has discovered many things on their own. There is a need for more of a company presence.

Learn to trust yourself. Technology is your friend, so do not be afraid of it. It can help you in your processes. There is a saying that "employability is a journey, not a destination." Many things can be learned on this journey. Your job as a teacher does not have to be a final destination. We need to accept that we are on a journey in which everything can change and that we need to adapt. CYPHER Learning has taught me to adapt.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Uso CYPHER Learning para subir información de la escuela, publicar el programa anual y subir las secciones de clases, divididas semanalmente. También utilizamos esta plataforma de forma didáctica y lúdica para que los alumnos tengan una forma más llamativa de aprender. También hacemos exámenes a través de CYPHER Learning.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

CYPHER Learning ha ayudado mucho a nuestra institución, especialmente en términos de evaluaciones. Proporciona una ayuda sustancial para el profesor. Por ejemplo, puedo crear un examen y CYPHER Learning ya lo corrige. Ese nivel de automatización me ha ayudado mucho. Prefiero pasar una hora extra en CYPHER Learning creando una prueba más para otra sección que pasar tres horas calificando pruebas.

CYPHER Learning me ayuda dándome los resultados de los exámenes. Con los porcentajes que recibo de la plataforma ahorro mucho tiempo en el sentido administrativo.

Tengo 150 estudiantes a mi cargo. Mientras que antes tenía que corregir el examen de cada uno de los 150 alumnos, ahora simplemente puedo acceder a CYPHER Learning y ver los resultados. El tiempo que solía corregir exámenes ahora lo uso para crear clases con contenido más divertido o más juegos. Me siento más tranquila en ese sentido. Me ha dado tranquilidad.

También ayuda a que los estudiantes se involucren más y desarrollen habilidades de pensamiento. Hay una opción dentro del sistema que me permite insertar juegos de plataformas de terceros a través de enlaces. La flexibilidad de poder insertar audio o enlaces ayuda a desafiar a los estudiantes a demostrar su emprendimiento y su nivel de pensamiento.

Nuestro colegio se encuentra en un proceso de transformación donde se le está dando más énfasis a la educación invertida. En ese modelo, el nuevo contenido se introduce inicialmente a través de videos y lecturas en línea antes de que se lleve a cabo la clase. Ya hemos conseguido cuatro estrellas en el modelo EFQM. Parte del proceso de llegar a cinco estrellas es estar al día con las nuevas metodologías de educación a nivel mundial, como el aula invertida, donde el foco de atención se invierte del docente a los alumnos. En ese modelo, los estudiantes asumen más responsabilidad en el proceso de aprendizaje. CYPHER Learning nos permite introducir temas e informar a los estudiantes sobre los temas y darles una pequeña "revelación" de lo que sucederá en clase.

A través del sistema, también tengo una idea de cómo le está yendo a un estudiante, ya que puedo ver las calificaciones y puntajes que ha recibido. Eso puede ayudar en parte con la intervención para los estudiantes que necesitan ayuda. Puedo enviarles un enlace con contenido para que practiquen más el tema, o puedo hablar con ellos a través del chat para discutir lo que necesitan. De esta manera, me ayuda a rastrear a los estudiantes con dificultades e intervenir.

Otro beneficio es que ya no usamos tanto papel ni la imprenta escolar, ahorrándonos mucho en costos. Además, dado que ya no hay tanta impresión, ya no necesitamos tanto personal en la parte de impresión de la escuela.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Puedo usar una plantilla para replicar el contenido de la clase para poder usar el mismo contenido en las tres secciones donde enseño. De esa manera, no tengo que editar continuamente mis clases. Es muy útil.

La plataforma me ayuda a organizar secciones básicas. Comparto videos, presentaciones y juegos como Kahoot, y esto me ayuda a facilitar la gestión del aprendizaje. Hay estudiantes que están interesados en esto, y hay otros que no son parte de estas actividades. Para mí es muy útil enviar enlaces a los alumnos con contenido informativo antes de la clase para que estén más preparados. Eso ha sido muy beneficioso para mí.

La plataforma también te da una idea de los porcentajes en lo que respecta al rendimiento de los estudiantes.

Y cuando se trata de exámenes, si quiero asignar un examen a estudiantes específicos, la plataforma me facilita compartir el examen de esa manera. La plataforma me facilita la comunicación con los estudiantes. Simplemente uso la bandeja de entrada, selecciono el aula y el alumno, y luego envío el examen que quiero que ese alumno haga. Para mí, esta es una característica muy importante.

CYPHER Learning también es bastante fácil de usar. Los estudiantes saben cómo administrarlo, subir sus tareas y realizar exámenes. Los estudiantes también pueden ver sus resultados. Los archivos de examen se pueden cambiar y tiene muchas configuraciones que permiten flexibilidad al realizar exámenes.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Si hay algo en lo que podría mejorar la plataforma sería en mostrar la cantidad de palabras en un documento que sube un estudiante. Cuando tengo que revisar ensayos no puedo ver el número de palabras en ellos. La plataforma debe contar las palabras.

Otro tema es en el área de los exámenes. Podrían ser más personalizados y específicos. Por ejemplo, si quiero crear un texto con varios espacios en blanco donde los alumnos deben completar las palabras correctas, es muy difícil hacerlo a través de CYPHER Learning.

No necesariamente hemos ahorrado dinero en libros de texto ya que los estudiantes de inglés tienen un libro impreso que no está en CYPHER Learning. Si CYPHER Learning tuviera una plataforma de lectura en inglés sería fantástico. Si pudieran agregar una plataforma como Black Cat a sus servicios, sería beneficioso. CYPHER Learningtampoco incluye juegos. Por lo general, tengo que ir a sitios de terceros, como Kahoot y Bamboo. Creo que puedes agregar juegos a través de SCORM, pero no creo que sea tan bueno. Como no incluye juegos divertidos como los que yo uso, los tengo que comprar, y no son baratos.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

He estado usando CYPHER LEARNING durante tres o cuatro años.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución

Es bastante estable y también brinda servicios en horas en las que no tenemos clases.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

CYPHER Learning es la columna vertebral de la escuela. Se usa continuamente. Nos da estructura para el funcionamiento de nuestras sesiones de aprendizaje y suficiente funcionalidad para trabajar en esas sesiones y en todo lo demás. Nos da estructura y unidad.

Por ejemplo, si tengo un examen que creo en inglés para la escuela secundaria y un colega mío de otro grado quiere usar ese examen, puede usarlo. Tengo la capacidad de compartir materiales como exámenes con otros profesores.

Tenemos de 250 a 300 usuarios, profesores y administradores, sin contar los alumnos.

¿Y el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

El soporte técnico de la solución es bueno. Principalmente recurro al equipo de administración de sistemas de nuestra escuela cuando tengo problemas con CYPHER Learning. Sé que el proveedor tiene soporte para la plataforma pero prefiero hablar con una persona por teléfono o en persona. Por lo que entiendo sobre el soporte de CYPHER LEARNING, es un chat con un robot. En algunos casos ayuda, pero en otros no.

No tengo un número de teléfono de un administrador de CYPHER Learning al que acudir. Si tuvieran una línea de ayuda sería mejor.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Neutral

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Usé Canvas LMS, aunque no pude crear exámenes en él. Es una plataforma muy buena, pero CYPHER Learning es mejor para crear exámenes para la escuela.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Al principio fue complicado. Todos no entendíamos lo que era el sistema. Algunos maestros eran más hábiles que otros para encontrar las características. Algunos profesores, hasta el día de hoy, no saben cómo hacer un examen en CYPHER Learning.

Hubo un proceso de entrenamiento pero había mucha información por lo que nos tomó tiempo descifrar. Nuestro despliegue tomó de dos a tres meses. Hubo mucha publicidad e información sobre CYPHER Learning en nuestra escuela, en reuniones y en capacitaciones. También nos dieron enlaces a tutoriales. Fue todo un proceso de implementación.

Me gustaría que recibiéramos más tutoriales sobre el formato SCORM. Me pareció muy útil y que hay muchas cosas que se pueden hacer con él. También aprendimos que con el programa Lumen tienes una gran cantidad de formatos para juegos que se pueden insertar en CYPHER Learning a través de SCORM.

¿Y el equipo de implementación?

Nuestra escuela tiene tres niveles diferentes: inicial, primaria y secundaria. Nuestro departamento de administradores de sistemas, formado por tres o cuatro miembros, está a cargo de CYPHER Learning.

Tenemos un intermediario entre CYPHER LEARNING y nuestra escuela, una empresa que ayudó a nuestra escuela con la implementación. Hace unos días dieron una charla sobre el uso de SCORM que me hubiera gustado que fuera un poco más larga.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

El costo de CYPHER Learning fue necesario para manejar la situación que se presentó durante la pandemia. Desde entonces, CYPHER Learning ha seguido justificando su coste ya que permite que un profesor se haga cargo de más secciones. Los maestros pueden manejar más exámenes y más estudiantes porque más cosas están automatizadas. Si antes un profesor manejaba cuatro secciones, ahora tiene cinco porque no tiene que corregir tantos exámenes. Esto ha llevado a la reducción de personal necesario.

Esta automatización no tiene precio. Ahora, los profesores pueden concentrarse en otros aspectos con el tiempo adicional ahorrado en la revisión de exámenes.
Además, puedo compartir contenido con otras personas. Todo esto es un beneficio para la escuela.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Mi consejo es que te asegures de tener mucho entrenamiento. Tu escuela debería crear muchas sesiones de capacitación para ayudar a las personas a saber cómo usarlo, con ejemplos prácticos de cómo se crean los exámenes y las secciones. De esa manera, los profesores se familiarizarán con la plataforma. Tuvimos profesores que al principio tenían mucho miedo de usar la plataforma. Con sesiones de entrenamiento agradables, puedes romper el hielo.

Durante la pandemia nos sentimos aislados ya que no teníamos la capacidad de pedir ayuda a nuestros compañeros.

En cuanto a la educación presencial, una sugerencia para CYPHER LEARNING es que le dé más presencia a CYPHER Learning como entidad en la escuela enseñando más sobre cómo explotar las herramientas: cómo crear juegos y más sobre el uso de SCORM. En nuestro caso, cada profesor ha descubierto muchas cosas por su cuenta. Hay una necesidad de una mayor presencia de la empresa.

Aprende a confiar en ti mismo. La tecnología es tu amiga, así que no le tengas miedo. Te puede ayudar en tus procesos. Hay un dicho que dice que "la empleabilidad es un viaje, no un destino". Muchas cosas se pueden aprender en este viaje. Tu trabajo como docente no tiene por qué ser un destino final. Necesitamos aceptar que estamos en un viaje en el que todo puede cambiar y que debemos adaptarnos. CYPHER Learning me ha enseñado a adaptarme.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Docente at San Antonio De Padua Catholic
Real User
Allows me to see how much a student is interacting with activities and help with any problems they have
Pros and Cons
  • "I mainly use the storage folders that allow students to upload their work in an organized way. By providing a large storage capacity, the system allows students to upload videos and images. I can also rate students and give them feedback with comments or stickers."
  • "The vendor could improve on the chat system. Right now, the student only has access to messaging. Maybe it would be good to have a mini chat or the ability to do video calls with teachers if they have any questions about an assignment."

What is our primary use case?

CYPHER Learning is where we upload the class sections and create links so that students can connect to Zoom. These things were mostly done during the pandemic and part-time face-to-face education.

Now that we have returned to full face-to-face education, I still upload the material to the platform but our use of the platform is lower.

How has it helped my organization?

CYPHER Learning was implemented in our institution at the time of the pandemic. Before that, things were quite messy because we had another platform that was used more as a scheduling calendar for the parents. Teachers did not know exactly how to use it and teachers could only send links individually. NEO LMS helped us to organize ourselves, both in terms of class schedules and organizing information about the academic year. It also helped us with direct communication with the students and parents.

Another benefit is that it enables students to have a means of access to school information no matter where they are. For example, if a student is sick or is traveling, the system enables him to have the information he needs, to observe the material, and to see the comments of his classmates live.

Using the platform is interesting and fast. I work with 11 and 12-year-old students who already handle the systems area a bit. It allows me to see how much a student is interacting with the activities. In that way, as a teacher, I can help them with any problems they have.

The main way it helps in this regard is through the direct-message feature. This is the best tool in CYPHER Learning for intervening and correcting. Because my students are 11 and 12 years old, not all interventions can be done through the platform. Most of the time, we do personal meetings by Zoom to provide more active intervention.

Also, during the pandemic, I saved a lot of time on administrative work by using CYPHER Learning, especially since I am a teacher of the same subject in different classes. Thanks to the platform, I was able to share the folders only once instead of having to duplicate or recreate them. I saved about four to five hours a week on administrative work.

What is most valuable?

I mainly use the storage folders that allow students to upload their work in an organized way. By providing a large storage capacity, the system allows students to upload videos and images. I can also rate students and give them feedback with comments or stickers.

For me, the system is quite agile because I have it sorted by grade and sections within the grade. That way, if I want to send a message to the grade, I simply enter and send the message. It also allows me to send messages individually.

I believe that communication is one of the main elements needed for education, whether it is virtual, semi-attendance, or face-to-face. There is not always a way to solve students' doubts immediately, but CYPHER Learning facilitates communication between students and teachers.

I have also used tools such as the discussion forums where students can give their opinions. The forums allow students to compare their answers and to reply to the questions or opinions of their classmates. If they come across an opinion they like better, they can avoid waiting to ask the teacher questions. It has definitely helped on this topic.

These activities are part of our educational goals: that students gain the ability to self-regulate, overcome, and seek better strategies, although during the pandemic it was used more than now in face-to-face education.

But CYPHER Learning still allows them to do these activities. For example, sometimes I upload reinforcement activities and, although the students know that they are not going to be given any score for doing them, they prefer to do them anyway because they can receive an immediate response. They do these reinforcement activities autonomously to have a better idea of the kinds of topics they might see in an in-person exam.

It is a fairly agile and intuitive environment. As the vendor updates things such as allowing sessions to be done only through Zoom, and the ease of manipulating the class sections, I feel more and more confident using the platform.

What needs improvement?

The vendor could improve on the chat system. Right now, the student only has access to messaging. Maybe it would be good to have a mini chat or the ability to do video calls with teachers if they have any questions about an assignment.

Another improvement would be the ability to create groups. Currently, a teacher has to manually drag the names of the students. It would be better if the students themselves could create groups independently.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using CYPHER LEARNING two and a half years ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. In the time we have had it, it has only gone down a few times.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

While we were in virtual education mode, it allowed us as many resources as we needed. Now that we have returned to face-to-face education, our use has decreased a bit, but we will continue using it.

We have about 2,000 users, including teachers, parents, and students.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is quite good. No matter what time of day it was, when I went to the forums, I always received quick answers.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is our first LMS.

How was the initial setup?

For me, the setup was quite simple. It was very automatic and the class sections are quite flexible. It took approximately two weeks.

CYPHER LEARNING offered us an expert who assisted us in making full use of the platform. We had training meetings and practical exercises. The person who trained us showed us how to use it step by step. The training was divided into sections and classes, and if you had any questions, you shared your screen so that the administrators could help you. 

Once the face-to-face training was completed, the system administrators were left in charge to advise us when there are questions.

What was our ROI?

Thanks to this LMS we had a more flexible way of managing the period of virtual education. We had the option to save time by uploading folders and grading the students' work. We were able to find everything we needed in a single place.

What other advice do I have?

We are in the process of learning about the whole subject of automation and adaptive learning. We recently had training where they taught us everything about auto-responses, qualifications, and automated messages to facilitate administrative work.

Because my students, aged 11 and 12, are at a very initial level, they are still entering CYPHER Learning only to review the classes that the teacher uploads, so their use of its tools is very basic. During the pandemic, they were slowly directed on how to upload things. They have not yet mastered the platform.

I would tell others who are looking into this product that it is a fairly agile platform, especially in educational management. It also eases the virtual and semi-face-to-face learning process, because it allows you to create independent users, such as parents or students in one area, where they can do a general scan of their academic progress. And the uploading and storage area of data is quite capable.

CYPHER Learning taught me to get closer to my students and allowed me to do so. Now, there is a space where I can comment on any topic at any time. It has allowed me to speed up the process of communicating with them.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

CYPHER Learning es donde cargamos las secciones de clase y creamos enlaces para que los estudiantes puedan conectarse a Zoom. Estas cosas se hicieron principalmente durante la pandemia y durante la educación semi-presencial.

Ahora que hemos vuelto a la educación presencial completa, sigo subiendo el material a la plataforma pero nuestro uso de la plataforma es menor.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

CYPHER Learning se implementó en nuestra institución en el momento de la pandemia. Antes de eso, las cosas estaban bastante desordenadas porque teníamos otra plataforma que se usaba más como un calendario de programación para los padres. Los profesores no sabían exactamente cómo usarlo y solo podían enviar enlaces individualmente. CYPHER Learning nos ayudó a organizarnos, tanto en los horarios de clases como en la organización de la información del curso académico. También nos ayudó con la comunicación directa con los estudiantes y los padres.

Otro beneficio es que permite a los estudiantes tener un medio de acceso a la información escolar sin importar dónde se encuentren. Por ejemplo, si un estudiante está enfermo o está de viaje, el sistema le permite tener la información que necesita, observar el material y ver en vivo los comentarios de sus compañeros.

Usar la plataforma es interesante y ágil. Trabajo con alumnos de 11 y 12 años que ya manejan un poco el área de sistemas. Me permite ver cuánto está interactuando un estudiante con las actividades. De esa manera, como docente, puedo ayudarlos con cualquier problema que tengan.

La forma principal en que ayuda en este sentido es a través de la función de mensaje directo. Esta es la mejor herramienta de CYPHER Learning para intervenir y corregir. Debido a que mis alumnos tienen 11 y 12 años, no todas las intervenciones se pueden realizar a través de la plataforma. La mayoría de las veces, hacemos reuniones personales por Zoom para brindar una intervención más activa.

Además, durante la pandemia, ahorré mucho tiempo en trabajo administrativo usando CYPHER Learning, especialmente porque soy profesor de la misma materia en diferentes clases. Gracias a la plataforma, pude compartir las carpetas solo una vez en lugar de tener que duplicarlas o recrearlas. Ahorré entre cuatro y cinco horas a la semana en trabajo administrativo.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Uso principalmente las carpetas de almacenamiento que permiten a los estudiantes subir su trabajo de manera organizada. Al proporcionar una gran capacidad de almacenamiento, el sistema permite a los estudiantes cargar vídeos e imágenes. También puedo calificar a los estudiantes y darles retroalimentación con comentarios o calcomanías.

Para mí el sistema es bastante ágil porque lo tengo ordenado por grado y secciones dentro del grado. De esa forma, si quiero enviar un mensaje al grado, simplemente entro y envío el mensaje. También me permite enviar mensajes individualmente.

Considero que la comunicación es uno de los principales elementos necesarios para la educación, ya sea virtual, semipresencial o presencial. No siempre hay una forma de resolver las dudas de los alumnos de forma inmediata, pero CYPHER Learning facilita la comunicación entre alumnos y profesores.

También he utilizado herramientas como los foros de discusión donde los alumnos pueden dar su opinión. Los foros permiten a los alumnos comparar sus respuestas y responder a las preguntas u opiniones de sus compañeros. Si se encuentran con una opinión que les gusta más, pueden evitar esperar para hacerle preguntas al maestro. Definitivamente ha ayudado en este tema.

Estas actividades forman parte de nuestros objetivos educativos: que los alumnos adquieran la capacidad de autorregularse, superarse y buscar mejores estrategias, aunque durante la pandemia se utilizó más que ahora en la educación presencial.

Pero CYPHER Learning aún les permite realizar estas actividades. Por ejemplo, a veces subo actividades de refuerzo y, aunque los alumnos saben que no les van a dar ningún puntaje por hacerlas, prefieren hacerlas de todos modos porque pueden recibir una respuesta inmediata. Realizan estas actividades de refuerzo de forma autónoma para tener una mejor idea de los tipos de temas que podrían ver en un examen presencial.

Es un entorno bastante ágil e intuitivo. A medida que el proveedor actualiza cosas como permitir que las sesiones se realicen solo a través de Zoom y la facilidad de manipular las secciones de la clase, me siento cada vez más segura al usar la plataforma.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

El proveedor podría mejorar el sistema de chat. En este momento, el estudiante solo tiene acceso a la mensajería. Tal vez sería bueno tener un mini chat o la posibilidad de hacer videollamadas con los maestros si tienen alguna pregunta sobre una tarea.

Otra mejora sería la posibilidad de crear grupos. Actualmente, un profesor tiene que arrastrar manualmente los nombres de los alumnos. Sería mejor si los propios estudiantes pudieran crear grupos de forma independiente.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Empecé a usar CYPHER LEARNING hace dos años y medio.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Es muy estable. En el tiempo que lo hemos tenido, solo ha fallado un par de veces.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Mientras estábamos en modo de educación virtual, nos permitió los recursos que necesitábamos. Ahora que hemos vuelto a la educación presencial, nuestro uso ha disminuido un poco, pero lo seguiremos usando.

Tenemos alrededor de 2,000 usuarios, incluidos maestros, padres y estudiantes.

¿Y el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

El soporte técnico es bastante bueno. Sin importar la hora del día que fuera, cuando iba a los foros, siempre recibía respuestas rápidas.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Este es nuestro primer LMS.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Para mí, la configuración fue bastante simple. Era muy automático y las secciones de clase son bastante flexibles. Tomó aproximadamente dos semanas.

CYPHER LEARNING nos ofreció un experto que nos ayudó a aprovechar al máximo la plataforma. Tuvimos reuniones de capacitación y ejercicios prácticos. La persona que nos capacitó nos mostró cómo usarlo paso a paso. La capacitación se dividió en secciones y clases, y si teníamos alguna pregunta, compartimos nuestras pantallas para que los administradores pudieran ayudarnos.

Una vez finalizada la formación presencial, se quedaron los administradores del sistema como encargados de asesorarnos cuando hubieran dudas.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

Gracias a este LMS teníamos una forma más flexible de gestionar el periodo de educación virtual. Teníamos la opción de ahorrar tiempo cargando carpetas y calificando el trabajo de los estudiantes. Pudimos encontrar todo lo que necesitábamos en un solo lugar.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Estamos en el proceso de aprender sobre todo el tema de la automatización y el aprendizaje adaptativo. Recientemente tuvimos una capacitación donde nos enseñaron todo sobre respuestas automáticas, calificaciones y mensajes automatizados para facilitar el trabajo administrativo.

Debido a que mis alumnos, de 11 y 12 años, están en un nivel muy inicial, todavía ingresan a CYPHER Learning solo para revisar las clases que sube el maestro, por lo que su uso de sus herramientas es muy básico. Durante la pandemia, se les instruyó lentamente sobre cómo subir cosas. Todavía no han dominado la plataforma.

Les diría a otros que están investigando este producto que es una plataforma bastante ágil, especialmente en la gestión educativa. También facilita el proceso de aprendizaje virtual y semipresencial, ya que permite crear usuarios independientes, como padres o estudiantes en un área, donde pueden hacer un escaneo general de su progreso académico. Y el área de subir documentos y almacenamiento de datos es bastante capaz.

CYPHER Learning me enseñó a acercarme a mis alumnos y me permitió hacerlo. Ahora, hay un espacio donde puedo comentar sobre cualquier tema en cualquier momento. Me ha permitido acelerar el proceso de comunicación con ellos.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Academic Head at MS Education Academy
Real User
Enabled us to move from in-person to digital training, saving significant costs and increasing employee efficiency
Pros and Cons
  • "The competency-based learning systems that we have created are very important. Before, we were using Talent Elements and the reason we shifted to CYPHER Learning was because of this feature. They are the reason for buying this product."
  • "The mobile app has quite a lot of bugs and it has many fewer integration options."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for employee training.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us in moving to digital training sessions from in-person training sessions and that has reduced our costs. We used to spend around $15,000 to $20,000 annually on training.

And indirectly, it has helped increase profits by improving the efficiency of our employees. That benefits our business.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the gamification of the training courses. Learners can compete with their colleagues and access the leaderboard, and this enhances our efficiency and our learners' creativity. The employees can also compete with their colleagues and they get awards and badges, which motivates them.

We also like the automation features because it makes the training interesting and interactive.

And the competency-based learning helps teams acquire the desired skills. It displays the available skills and puts an emphasis on progressing on what the employee lacks. The competency-based learning systems that we have created are very important. Before, we were using Talent Elements and the reason we shifted to CYPHER Learning was because of this feature. They are the reason for buying this product. Competency-based learning helps us certify the skills of learners and make decisions about promotions and redundancy.

CYPHER Learning's ability to recommend courses to learners based on their job title or set of competencies is great and helps the employees a lot. It's like a non-financial reward for them to keep them motivated.

What needs improvement?

The mobile app has quite a lot of bugs and it has many fewer integration options.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using CYPHER Learning for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The platform is very reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable as well.

How are customer service and support?

The support team is great but it takes them some time to answer queries. Also, because the support chat box is integrated into the website, we actually can't open two different tabs, one for customer support and another for the product. We have to open the customer chat box inside the solution and it can be quite confusing. It would be better if we could get email or phone support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we used Talent Elements. In addition to the lack of competency-based learning, in which there were only a few ways to track learner progress, there were relatively few gamification features.

What was our ROI?

Our return on investment is in the improvement of our efficiency and productivity.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's affordable, but they have doubled the pricing at random times. That's a problem. They have to change that for forecasting purposes.

What other advice do I have?

I strongly suggest changing your training solution to CYPHER Learning. If you are doing it on your campus right now, this will help you save costs.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Ana Aliaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Teacher and Curriculum Development Specialist at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Provides automatic feedback as well as the ability to attach documents and videos
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that you can choose your home screen widget. We have a centralized calendar that sends a reminder to students about tasks that are due."
  • "The gamification option is a section that we have not learned because we have not been able to specify a training space for the use of this gamification tab. However, it would be good to have training and learn about how to use it."

What is our primary use case?

At the university where I work, we use the platform for everything related to undergraduate training. This is for the 30 career paths that we have at the university for approximately 5,000 students.

Right now, CYPHER Learning is being applied at the undergraduate level, but we are planning to increase and migrate it to the university level.

How has it helped my organization?

At the pedagogical level, we have applied a cascade strategy. They gave all teachers three weeks to learn how to use CYPHER Learning in the midst of the pandemic. So, we selected one to two teachers to be trained with CYPHER Learning and represent each of the careers, then they replicated that training to approximately 15 teachers each. This way, teachers in the same area trained their colleagues.

Our previous platform had forums, but CYPHER Learning has been able to help a lot with this. For example, I use the discussion and debate manual with students who usually are not very participatory but very critical and analytic in the platform. That is how I discovered that these are very good students. These activities are quite meaningful because students have greatly appreciated the use of the platform, which provides them with a certain order. Also, teachers can give them direct feedback, comments, and even voice notes on the platform.

What is most valuable?

CYPHER Learning has allowed all our teachers to conduct more actions, and each action can be handled at the teacher's convenience.

I like that you can choose your home screen widget. We have a centralized calendar that sends a reminder to students about tasks that are due.

The truth is that the organization of the platform helps me a lot. I have been able to identify students in the classroom who may need a little more time to present work. CYPHER Learning allows me to extend the dates of a task’s presentation, while I can leave the same date for other students. The flexibility of having a task hidden, or where I can provide a new space so they wont lose points, is quite useful. This way, the university is more considerate of students who take more time to learn.

What needs improvement?

I find the automation and adaptive learning purposes of CYPHER Learning quite interesting. However, we haven't been shown much about the automation menu. This year, there was an update with the widgets. It seems to me that it can be used quite well as soon as they inform us. Our students used it autonomously, but not everyone has seen the benefits. As a teacher, I have had to personalize the functions on the panel and its synchronization. Without having explored it, I would not have seen the importance.

There is improvement needed in regards to notifications for updates. I don't know if it is the responsibility of the university and its administration or making adjustments to CYPHER Learning's communication, such as having a message about updates on the platform. 

We don't receive any notifications about updates to the solution's adaptive learning. We find out when it is already there in the solution.

The gamification option is a section that we have not learned because we have not been able to specify a training space for the use of this gamification tab. However, it would be good to have training and learn about how to use it.

It is super easy to be able to locate my students and send them a message. I just can't send a message to all my students, as it doesn't allow me to send messages through an email list. The search engine for people is a bit more complicated than gmail.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it since August 2020.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been two moments where CYPHER Learning failed us a bit. One was due to an update that took two hours and another that took ten minutes. After that, we haven't had any major problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are the only university in the country using CYPHER Learning as a platform. It is a fairly complete platform that allows teachers to have a new experience within a new space. Thanks to this solution, teachers are prepared to use different types of platforms.

We have 510 teachers and 5,000 students at our headquarters. We have a monitor role, which allows us to enter teacher subjects or enter the student profiles to see their progress. There is also an administrator role which allows us to do modifications to different platforms. At the headquarters level, there are about 30 people who do monitoring and only one administrator.

How are customer service and support?

Whenever I have had a doubt, I accessed the forums and FAQ. In most cases, it gave me the answers. I have realized that a lot depends on the administrator and his actions. In general, the forum has helped me a lot.

I would rate the customer service/technical support for this solution as 10 out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to have Moodle, which is a better-known platform, but we had an out-of-date version. With CYPHER Learning, we massively updated right in the middle of the pandemic and were able to organize all our subjects.

When we previously had Moodle, a teacher had to request that their space would be created on the platform, as it was not mandatory, and between 15% to 20% of the subjects were used as a repository for information. Whereas, since the pandemic and deploying CYPHER Learning, it has become an obligation. The university has established that the use of CYPHER Learning is mandatory. Therefor, every time academic programming is done for each semester, all teachers (by default) already have their subject created and students admitted to CYPHER Learning, Administratively, this has helped us a lot because they already link the university's programming with CYPHER Learning, so students who have signed up for a subject appear in the system.

How was the initial setup?

Since July 2020, we have been training all teachers and conducting follow-ups for each subject. As every semester passes, we continue to show the platform to new teachers. So far, we have had between a 65% to 70% implementation of CYPHER Learning.

We have rubrics for all the teachers. Their learning units and sections are all created in them. With these rubrics, we check the level of teachers, then we send feedback to each of the teachers via email.

What about the implementation team?

When we started the training, they taught us the initial configurations. It did not seem complicated to me. Now that we have the qualification tables, which we requested not to be modified, it seems much easier.

We already had some university staff who were in charge of all the teachers. However, due to the implementation of CYPHER Learning, we had to ask for help from a consultant. The consultant has helped us a lot. He has divided the work between the staff, making tasks easier.

At the national level, the technology coordinator has two people at his headquarters, then he has one person at each branch. There should be six people total at the national level.

What was our ROI?

CYPHER Learning has helped save me about 40% of my time on intervention strategies for students, especially those who need guidance. There are a lot of teachers who always teach the same subject, so they can modify aspects based on a student’s need. It provides automatic feedback as well as the ability to attach documents and videos, which can be very helpful.

CYPHER Learning has helped us save on costs related to printing materials and textbook acquisitions. For example, we have a library department that has been able to include eBooks in CYPHER Learning. We, as teachers, have had the opportunity to have the latest editions of books, and you can only access those eBooks from our platform. The presentation of work through the platform also helps us a lot in saving on paper.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

CYPHER Learning is a bit more expensive than our previous solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Blackboard and checked out the latest versions of Moodle.

What other advice do I have?

Before using the training that the platform offers you, have a meeting with the mentors about the main needs of your institution. Each university is different and managed differently. It was difficult for us to understand how the basic training translates to what we specifically needed because CYPHER Learning is very big. For the first time, I would advise the formation and implementation processes of the platform to be in consensus with the main entities of the institution.

In general, a gamified learning environment depends a lot on the teacher's usage. I have been able to share material and include external activities, which can be carried out with a SCORM as well as do other activities.

Before, the platform was optional and not mandatory. Therefore, the task of monitoring has increased with this solution.

I believe that asynchrony has allowed me to create spaces that are not only in obligatory synchronous spaces, such as physical classes. I have had contact with my students outside class hours, being able to provide direct feedback and organize their ideas. I can know when they have completed tasks without seeing them personally. This has been one of the best lessons and treasures of this platform.

It is very useful when learning to exploit all CYPHER Learning's tools.

I would rate this solution as 8.5 out of 10.

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

En la universidad donde trabajo usamos la plataforma para todo lo relacionado con la formación de pregrado. Esto es para las 30 carreras que tenemos en la universidad para aproximadamente 5,000 estudiantes.

En este momento, CYPHER Learning se está aplicando a nivel de pregrado, pero estamos planeando aumentarlo y migrarlo a nivel universitario.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

A nivel pedagógico hemos aplicado una estrategia en cascada. Les dieron a todos los maestros tres semanas para aprender a usar CYPHER Learning en medio de la pandemia. Entonces, seleccionamos uno o dos maestros para capacitarse con CYPHER Learning y representar cada una de las carreras, luego replicaron esa capacitación a aproximadamente 15 maestros cada uno. De esta forma, los docentes de la misma área capacitaban a sus colegas.

Nuestra plataforma anterior tenía foros, pero CYPHER Learning ha podido ayudar mucho con esto. Por ejemplo, utilizo el manual de discusión y debate con alumnos que suelen ser poco participativos pero sí muy críticos y analíticos en la plataforma. Así descubrí que estos son muy buenos estudiantes. Estas actividades son bastante significativas porque los alumnos han valorado mucho el uso de la plataforma, que les proporciona cierto orden. Además, los profesores pueden darles retroalimentación directa, comentarios e incluso notas de voz en la plataforma.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

CYPHER Learning ha permitido que todos nuestros maestros realicen más acciones, y cada acción se puede manejar a la conveniencia del maestro.

Me gusta que puedas elegir tu widget de pantalla de inicio. Tenemos un calendario centralizado que envía un recordatorio a los estudiantes sobre las tareas que vencen.

La verdad es que la organización de la plataforma me ayuda mucho. He podido identificar estudiantes en el salón de clases que pueden necesitar un poco más de tiempo para presentar el trabajo. CYPHER Learning me permite extender las fechas de presentación de una tarea, mientras que puedo dejar la misma fecha para otros estudiantes. La flexibilidad de tener una tarea oculta, o donde puedo proporcionar un nuevo espacio para que no pierdan puntos, es bastante útil. De esta manera, la universidad es más considerada con los estudiantes que les toma más tiempo aprender.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Encuentro bastante interesantes los propósitos de automatización y aprendizaje adaptativo de CYPHER Learning. Sin embargo, no se nos ha mostrado mucho sobre el menú de automatización. Este año hubo una actualización con los widgets. Me parece que se puede utilizar bastante bien en cuanto nos informen. Nuestros alumnos lo usaron de forma autónoma, pero no todos han visto los beneficios. Como profesora he tenido que personalizar las funciones del panel y su sincronización. Sin haberlo explorado, no habría visto la importancia.

Se necesita una mejora en lo que respecta a las notificaciones de actualizaciones. No sé si es responsabilidad de la universidad y su administración o hacer ajustes en la comunicación de CYPHER Learning, como tener un mensaje sobre actualizaciones en la plataforma.

No recibimos ninguna notificación sobre actualizaciones del aprendizaje adaptativo de la solución. Descubrimos cuando ya está allí en la solución.

La opción de gamificación es un apartado que no hemos aprendido porque no hemos podido concretar un espacio de formación para el uso de esta pestaña de gamificación. Sin embargo, sería bueno tener capacitación y aprender sobre cómo usarlo.

Es súper fácil poder localizar a mis alumnos y enviarles un mensaje. Aunque no puedo enviar un mensaje a todos mis alumnos, ya que no me permite enviar mensajes a través de una lista de correo electrónico. El buscador de personas es un poco más complicado que gmail.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Lo uso desde agosto de 2020.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Han habido dos momentos en los que CYPHER Learning nos ha fallado un poco. Uno se debió a una actualización que tardó dos horas y otro que tardó diez minutos. Después de eso, no hemos tenido ningún problema importante.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Somos la única universidad del país que utiliza CYPHER Learning como plataforma. Es una plataforma bastante completa que permite a los docentes tener una nueva experiencia dentro de un nuevo espacio. Gracias a esta solución, los docentes están preparados para utilizar diferentes tipos de plataformas.

Contamos con 510 docentes y 5.000 alumnos en nuestra sede. Tenemos un rol de monitor, que nos permite ingresar a las asignaturas del profesor o ingresar a los perfiles de los alumnos para ver su progreso. También hay un rol de administrador que nos permite hacer modificaciones a diferentes plataformas. A nivel de sede hay unas 30 personas que hacen el seguimiento y un solo administrador.

¿Cómo es el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

Siempre que he tenido una duda he accedido a los foros y la sección de preguntas frecuentes. En la mayoría de los casos, me da las respuestas. Me he dado cuenta de que mucho depende del administrador y sus acciones. En general, el foro me ha ayudado mucho.

Calificaría el servicio de atención al cliente/soporte técnico para esta solución con un 10 de 10.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo.

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Solíamos tener Moodle, que es una plataforma más conocida, pero teníamos una versión desactualizada. Con CYPHER Learning, actualizamos masivamente justo en medio de la pandemia y pudimos organizar todos nuestros temas.

Cuando antes teníamos Moodle, un docente tenía que solicitar que se creara su espacio en la plataforma, ya que no era obligatorio, y entre el 15% y el 20% de las asignaturas lo utilizaban como repositorio de información. Desde la pandemia y el despliegue de CYPHER Learning, se ha convertido en una obligación. La universidad ha establecido que el uso de CYPHER Learning es obligatorio. Por lo tanto, cada vez que se hace la programación académica de cada semestre, todos los docentes (por defecto) ya tienen su materia creada y los estudiantes admitidos en CYPHER Learning, Administrativamente esto nos ha ayudado mucho porque ya vinculan la programación de la universidad con CYPHER Learning, entonces los estudiantes que se han apuntado a una asignatura aparecen automáticamente en el sistema.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Desde julio de 2020, estamos capacitando a todos los docentes y realizando seguimientos para cada materia. Como cada semestre pasa, seguimos mostrando la plataforma a los nuevos docentes. Hasta ahora, hemos tenido entre un 65% y un 70% de implementación de CYPHER Learning.

Tenemos rúbricas para todos los profesores. En ellos se crean todas sus unidades de aprendizaje y secciones. Con estas rúbricas, verificamos el nivel de los maestros y luego enviamos comentarios a cada uno de los maestros por correo electrónico.

¿Y el equipo de implementación?

Cuando comenzamos el entrenamiento, nos enseñaron las configuraciones iniciales. No me pareció complicado. Ahora que tenemos las tablas de clasificación, que solicitamos que no se modifiquen, parece mucho más fácil.

Ya teníamos algunos funcionarios de la universidad que estaban a cargo de todos los maestros. Sin embargo, debido a la implementación de CYPHER Learning, tuvimos que pedir ayuda a un consultor. El consultor nos ha ayudado mucho. Ha repartido el trabajo entre la plantilla, facilitando las tareas.

A nivel nacional el coordinador de tecnología tiene dos personas en su sede, luego tiene una persona en cada sucursal. Deben haber seis personas en total a nivel nacional.

¿Cuál fue nuestro retorno de inversión?

CYPHER Learning me ha ayudado a ahorrar alrededor del 40 % de mi tiempo en estrategias de intervención para estudiantes, especialmente para aquellos que necesitan orientación. Hay muchos profesores que siempre enseñan la misma materia, por lo que pueden modificar aspectos en función de la necesidad del alumno. Proporciona retroalimentación automática, así como la capacidad de adjuntar documentos y videos, lo que puede ser muy útil.

CYPHER Learning nos ha ayudado a ahorrar en costos relacionados con materiales de impresión y adquisición de libros de texto. Por ejemplo, tenemos un departamento de biblioteca que ha podido incluir libros electrónicos en CYPHER Learning. Nosotros, como docentes, hemos tenido la oportunidad de contar con las últimas ediciones de libros, y solo puedes acceder a esos eBooks desde nuestra plataforma. La presentación de trabajos a través de la plataforma también nos ayuda mucho en el ahorro de papel.

¿Cuál es mi experiencia con los precios, el costo de configuración y las licencias?

CYPHER Learning es un poco más caro que nuestra solución anterior.

¿Qué otras soluciones evaluaron?

Evaluamos Blackboard y comprobamos las últimas versiones de Moodle.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Antes de utilizar la capacitación que te ofrece la plataforma, ten una reunión con los mentores sobre las principales necesidades de tu institución. Cada universidad es diferente y se administra de manera diferente. Fue difícil para nosotros entender cómo se traduce el entrenamiento básico en lo que necesitábamos específicamente porque CYPHER Learning es muy grande. Para la primera vez, recomendaría que los procesos de formación e implementación de la plataforma sean consensuados con las principales entidades de la institución.

En general, un entorno de aprendizaje gamificado depende mucho del uso que haga el profesor. He podido compartir material e incluir actividades externas, que se pueden realizar con un SCORM así como hacer otras actividades.

Antes, la plataforma era opcional y no obligatoria. Por lo tanto, la tarea de monitoreo se ha incrementado con esta solución.

Creo que la asincronía me ha permitido crear espacios que no son solo espacios de sincronía obligatoria, como las clases físicas. He tenido contacto con mis alumnos fuera del horario de clases, pudiendo retroalimentarnos directamente y organizar sus ideas. Puedo saber cuándo han completado las tareas sin verlos personalmente. Esta ha sido una de las mejores lecciones y tesoros de esta plataforma.

Es muy útil a la hora de aprender a explotar todas las herramientas de CYPHER Learning.

Calificaría esta solución como 8.5 de 10.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

PeerSpot user
Dani Bates - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive Director STEM Initiatives at 21stCentEd.
Real User
You can edit all your courses at once by editing the master course
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "I have one team member who is in charge of monitoring and checking students' progress. She is very tech savvy and has really dove into the reporting feature in CYPHER Learning. If I had one complaint, it would be the reporting. It is so robust and detailed that it is hard to obtain some of the specific things that we want. That has been her response to me, and I have found the same thing. If I just want to know how many students have completed a course in a specific organization, then it is a little bit too daunting and difficult to obtain exactly what we use as our key indicators."

What is our primary use case?

When we are engaged in an agreement with a school district, we will create their organization on the platform and customize it. There is a portal that we can customize with their logo, images, and colors. These are our own clients, so I am using the platform as if I own the platform. There are a lot of different features and things that I can customize for our clients. So, we create their organization, then we copy our master courses into their organization. We then meet with their principals and devise an action plan for how the district will use the courses that we offer.

Some of the schools within the district will use the courses as online self-paced learning. Some of them will use it as an online textbook. Thus, the teachers use the courses and facilitate the learning from our courses on the platform with their students. Some students will create accounts where they will have accounts in the platform and access our courses as they go through the CYPHER Learning platform.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

Our metrics will be students being exposed to STEM. I love that I can see how many students have completed courses as well as what that means on our end in terms of their exposure and experiences in STEM. It ties different metrics to our understanding of students' progress. We can understand, from the percentage of students in an entire school district, how many have been exposed or completed courses. This is really attractive to our clients. Therefore, this helps us develop our client base.

What is most valuable?

I love their help center. 

I just love the accessibility of being able to edit all the courses at once by editing the master course. 

I love the catalog feature. 

I love the support. 

They have gamification elements, and I love the gamification. We can add points to student assessments. We can also add badges, so students can earn badges. This makes them more motivated to continue learning. 

We can create certificates. There are student portfolios that schools love. Students can have a portfolio of all these credentials and badges that they have earned over their educational journey. 

We can see who has accessed the portal, if they are using it, and the student's progress. We schedule check-ins, where we can say, "Hey, we see you haven't been able to look at the courses yet or log in. Is there anything that is holding you back?" 

What needs improvement?

I have one team member who is in charge of monitoring and checking students' progress. She is very tech savvy and has really dove into the reporting feature in CYPHER Learning. If I had one complaint, it would be the reporting. It is so robust and detailed that it is hard to obtain some of the specific things that we want. That has been her response to me, and I have found the same thing. If I just want to know how many students have completed a course in a specific organization, then it is a little bit too daunting and difficult to obtain exactly what we use as our key indicators.

For how long have I used the solution?

We transitioned over to CYPHER Learning in 2020. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is deployed in the cloud. We have five to seven employees who actually go into the software, but we all access it remotely and it is all online in the cloud.

It can grow with us. We have gone from 150 users a month to 1,000 users every month in the matter of six months, and we are getting even bigger. We will probably have 10,000 users every month by the end of the year.  We currently have 6,500 instructors, administrators, and students using the solution. We are getting about 1,000 to 1,100 more students every month.

I am very confident that the solution can be scaled. It does scale very well.

There is someone from IT, implementation, and curriculum always engaged in the platform. So, we have an IT Manager and Implementation Manager as well as a Director of Curriculum who assists with walk-throughs.

It is used all day, every day, by various members of our team. It is used all day during the school hours across the country. We are also looking to expand into Jamaica and Puerto Rico, so we will be international soon. We are adding new districts every other month. So, we have plans to extend our usage.

How are customer service and support?

The support system on CYPHER Learning is one of its best features. I love the program because they get back to you quickly, and they are knowledgeable.

They have taken my suggestions and changed elements of the LMS to make things easier. In a matter of a week, I make a suggestion and their engineers create the change. There are a lot of little things like that which attracted us to do a trial, remain their client, and use the solution. This really helps my workflow.

I speak very highly of their support system, i.e., the help center. Their documentation is great. The help center is easy to follow for finding answers to my questions. The support team answers 24/7, though only on critical items during the weekends. 

I love the idea of the suggestions. They are very transparent about their roadmap. All of that falls under the support system. I am very pleased with the support system and would rate it as 10 out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I had several complaints about the Moodle Workplace. With our previous LMS, I had to update every course individually with new changes. We serve hundreds of school districts across the country. Every school has multiple schools, every school has multiple teachers, and teachers have multiple copies of the course for their different sections of classes. Therefore, Moodle was not working out.

We serve schools and school districts, and we provide STEM-related STEM online courses to school districts and other community student serving organizations, i.e., anybody who serves students. We needed a way to translate the courses somewhat quickly, then update the courses across all our tenants or different clients.

Because of COVID, we really needed a new solution for our multi-tenant LMS. We were using Moodle Workplace previously, which just wasn't working out. The CEO found CYPHER Learning somehow, and it has been amazing ever since.

We looked at the different features that CYPHER Learning offered. It had gamification, which is also something that we wanted to do and Moodle couldn't do. It had the syncing feature, where I could update one course and sync it across every course that I have ever made. Also, it works with language. It could translate into 40-plus languages. So, it seemed like this solution was a much better use case for us.

How was the initial setup?

The onboarding was quite complex since there is so much you can do. There are so many features that can be used. We were guided to do things that were essential, e.g., creating organizations, creating accounts, managing accounts, creating courses, and editing courses. That was all very straightforward. I could actually figure it out before we even got to the onboarding, so we were able to focus on more complex, different things than onboarding.

We spaced the deployment out over three weeks, working on it once a week, so we were able to have time in between the practice to learn different things. We may have even expanded that because we needed to have a client come in pretty quickly. 

What was our ROI?

CYPHER Learning has helped reduce our administrative work and costs when delivering training material.

If we were still in Moodle, it would be a lot harder for companies to join us. I don't think that they would feel as confident. That has definitely been a return on investment from using CYPHER Learning. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are on a plan where we pay for 1,000 users every month. The pricing structure is pretty straightforward. It just depends on what you need. We are currently going with a monthly model because sometimes there are still months during the year where we will have a lot less students on the system, and we took that into consideration. 

I would advise to ask about reseller options since they have reseller options for other organizations to use their LMS.

The more users you get a month, the more you will pay. If you go over your plan, there is an additional $6 per user. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to jump to the next plan because you wouldn't be using that number of users or overage. Other than more users than our plan costs, there are no other additional charges that I have found yet.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at a couple other options, but we didn't feel confident that they would be able to support our usage needs and potential growth. When we were looking at the list of the different features, comparing them, one CYPHER Learning just blew TalentLMS out of the water. Therefore, we went for the potential to grow with CYPHER Learning over the lack of features that other companies had.

What other advice do I have?

CYPHER LEARNING is very forward-looking in the fact that they don't want to be a typical LMS. They have taken into consideration AI, automation, rules, and gamification. These types of features are really transforming the way people learn. They are really using emerging technologies to be a learning management system that is intelligent and can adapt with the learner. This would be some of my best advice to consider as people are creating courses and training.

Keep an open mind in how students can best learn online. For example, I am learning about the different automation and gamification features and how they equate or relate to our company's goal. Besides learning how to become an expert in their platform and knowing how to use different features, I have observed how students can best learn on the platform.

The solution’s rules engine is on our radar. Now that our team is a bit bigger, we have some capacity to go into that. I am really looking forward to using its automation features and rules.

With facilitators, who know little to nothing about our content, we train them. So, it can be taught by anybody.

I would rate the solution as nine out of 10 due to the reporting.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

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Buyer's Guide
Download our free CYPHER Learning Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: July 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CYPHER Learning Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.