CYPHER Learning Reviews

This is our institutional education platform. We use it for our virtual programs, to support face-to-face programs, and for teacher training.

The platform gives us the opportunity to help students advance and personalize their goals.

Using CYPHER Learning, we have been successful in identifying students who are not at the level they should be at. They can see a transparent and explicit rubric system that indicates what they have to do to get a good grade and that empowers students to achieve the grades they want.

CYPHER Learning saves us time on intervention strategies for students who need guidance, in particular. I don't know exactly how much time we save, but at the moment that a teacher identifies that a student is not handling a subject well, the teacher begins to use other didactic tools so that the student can commit. It also saves time in being able to correct exams. We are able to accurately monitor students, as the platform shows us who is behind and who is ahead, and that enables us to create strategies. The platform itself helps to systematize the process.

Students are not at the same level, and each one has their own learning process. Being able to also personalize learning through the platform makes it a very good tool for our educational progress. It helps generate a report so that we can follow up on students and that makes life much easier. Previously, that took a week, but now, it only takes a day to create that report.

Also, being able to generate creativity in students when working virtually, through games and other features, helps us to empower them while encouraging creativity and collaboration with classmates. The gamified learning environment is very satisfying, helping to make learning dynamic rather than static. The fact that students are empowered by that collaborative work makes the students begin to generate critical and analytical thinking and generate their own knowledge.

We have been able to reduce the number of professors and staff. We no longer have the entire research committee, the curricular committee, the direction of training, or new academic projects. We only have professors who teach the courses themselves, and a coordinator who monitors the program. It has saved us not only on personnel but also on the budget of our physical facilities. We have seen an improvement in the institution's financial resources.

It has also helped a lot to save money on printing and the need to buy books.

It is a very intuitive platform. We have been able to train adults, older people, who are not familiar with digital environments. These are people for whom it is usually a challenge to use a platform like this. When they use CYPHER Learning they develop well. The platform gives them training to help them on their way to excellence.

It is very easy for educators to communicate with students using CYPHER Learning. The entire community is on the platform and we all know the process. There is fluid, fast, and effective communication that consists of sources that give us what we need to continue our educational processes.

An important addition would be training so that we can exploit the platform much more. The platform is advancing and being updated. It is important to know and understand everything in more detail, and how to work with it. Other institutions haven't been able to handle it.

We have been using CYPHER Learning since 2019.

The platform has made a good impression when it comes to stability. It very rarely happens that the platform crashes. It is very stable and the content doesn't get lost. Above all, having the platform outside of our institution has been an advantage.

The scalability is very good.

Within the platform we have 427 students, 29 teachers, 13 administrators who are program coordinators, the training coordinator, and the director.

We have plans to increase our use of CYPHER Learning. Little by little, we are growing. We are launching six new programs in virtual mode and we are offering continuous education in virtual mode. We have worked with international companies for training where we have had 300 participants, so we’re not only growing on a national level but also internationally.

En una escala del uno al cinco, su apoyo es un cinco. Cuando haces un pedido de ayuda la respuesta es inmediata. No soy un profesional de la ingeniería, pero la ayuda que te brindan, la forma en que te orientan sobre cómo mejorar un proceso, es muy buena.

Positive

We met CYPHER Learning through a virtual education event. We were looking for a new vision for our institution and that was where our director encountered the platform for the first time.

We previously used Modul, but it does not offer us everything that CYPHER Learning offers. CYPHER Learning is more user-friendly.

The initial setup was simple, due to the management of the platform, but complex due to the integrator who did the initial work on the platform.

We are still implementing it. No implementation strategy was given. The integrator we had at first did a very basic virtualization and the experience with him was terrible. He set up the program and presented it but the virtualization did not function well.

Eventualmente, tuvimos que contratar a un experto para virtualizarlo adecuadamente. El experto es extranjero y conoce muy bien la plataforma.

When it comes to continuing education, we have seen a return on our investment in our courses. It has been very helpful to be able to start working with CYPHER Learning and that is the biggest return on investment for us.

CYPHER Learning's pricing works perfectly for our institution. They have taken into account smaller institutions and that provides great value.

We evaluated Blackboard Learning Management and other platforms, but it was definitely CYPHER Learning that suited our budgets and needs.

When it comes to CYPHER Learning's automation for helping to set trigger rules to show or hide specific content, I would rate it at 8.5 out of 10. It's not that the platform is not providing us with all the tools to develop things. Rather, it's not a 10 because, as the platform develops, we have to adapt again to every new version. I feel that we have fallen behind, but that is more on us and our capacity than the platform’s fault. The platform has updates and improvements and although our process of adapting to these changes is slow, we are still seeing great progress regarding the capacity of the platform. 

I rate CYPHER Learning highly because of how well it is adapted for people who do not know how to handle digital environments. You can create content from scratch and potentiate it as much as you want. On other platforms, you feel limited and those platforms aren't so user-friendly. They cannot generate as many communication spaces as CYPHER Learning can. For example, if I am connected in CYPHER Learning and someone sees that I am connected, interactive chats are generated and a solution can be given to the students immediately.

It is a platform that will easily adapt to your school, whether it's basic, primary, or university education. It is a platform that provides many tools to help develop as an institution and generate educational and training progress for the community. It helps you to virtualize your institution.

Education is a subject we have to work on day by day. Everything is changing and evolving and we have to adapt to the processes of the new generation. Technology is part of the challenge of this new way of life, generating more relevance. That is what I have learned using CYPHER Learning.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

Esta es nuestra plataforma de educación institucional. Lo usamos para nuestros programas virtuales, para apoyar los programas presenciales y para la capacitación de maestros.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

La plataforma nos brinda la oportunidad de ayudar a los estudiantes a avanzar y personalizar sus objetivos.

Usando CYPHER Learning, hemos tenido éxito en identificar a los estudiantes que no están en el nivel en el que deberían estar. Pueden ver un sistema de rúbricas transparente y explícito que indica lo que tienen que hacer para obtener una buena calificación y que empodera a los estudiantes para lograr las calificaciones que desean.

CYPHER Learning nos ahorra tiempo en estrategias de intervención para estudiantes que necesitan orientación, en particular. No sé exactamente cuánto tiempo ahorramos, pero en el momento que un docente identifica que un alumno no está manejando bien un tema, el docente comienza a utilizar otras herramientas didácticas para que el alumno se comprometa. También ahorra tiempo al poder corregir exámenes. Podemos monitorear con precisión a los estudiantes, ya que la plataforma nos muestra quién está atrás y quién está adelante, y eso nos permite crear estrategias. La propia plataforma ayuda a sistematizar el proceso.

Los alumnos no están al mismo nivel, y cada uno tiene su propio proceso de aprendizaje. Poder personalizar también el aprendizaje a través de la plataforma la convierte en una muy buena herramienta para nuestro progreso educativo. Ayuda a generar un informe para que podamos dar seguimiento a los alumnos y eso hace la vida mucho más fácil. Anteriormente, eso tomaba una semana, pero ahora solo toma un día crear ese informe.

Además, poder generar creatividad en los estudiantes al trabajar virtualmente, a través de juegos y otras funcionalidades, nos ayuda a empoderarlos al mismo tiempo que fomentamos la creatividad y la colaboración con los compañeros. El entorno de aprendizaje gamificado es muy satisfactorio y ayuda a que el aprendizaje sea dinámico en lugar de estático. El hecho de que los estudiantes se empoderen de este trabajo colaborativo hace que los estudiantes comiencen a generar pensamiento crítico y analítico ya generar su propio conocimiento.

Hemos sido capaces de reducir el número de profesores y personal. Ya no tenemos todo el comité de investigación, el comité curricular, la dirección de formación y nuevos proyectos académicos. Solo tenemos profesores que imparten los cursos ellos mismos, y un coordinador que monitorea el programa. Nos ha ahorrado no sólo en personal sino también en el presupuesto de nuestras instalaciones físicas. Hemos visto una mejora en los recursos financieros de la institución.

También ha ayudado mucho a ahorrar dinero en la impresión y la necesidad de comprar libros.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Es una plataforma muy intuitiva. Hemos podido formar a personas adultas, mayores, que no están familiarizadas con los entornos digitales. Son personas para las que suele ser un reto utilizar una plataforma como esta. Cuando usan CYPHER Learning se desarrollan bien. La plataforma les brinda capacitación para ayudarlos en su camino hacia la excelencia.

Es muy fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes usando CYPHER Learning. Toda la comunidad está en la plataforma y todos conocemos el proceso. Existe una comunicación fluida, rápida y efectiva que consiste en fuentes que nos brindan lo que necesitamos para continuar con nuestros procesos educativos.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Un añadido importante sería la formación para que podamos explotar mucho más la plataforma. La plataforma avanza y se actualiza. Es importante conocer y comprender todo con más detalle y cómo trabajar con ello. Otras instituciones no han sido capaces de manejarlo.

Un añadido importante sería la formación para que podamos explotar mucho más la plataforma. La plataforma avanza y se actualiza. Es importante conocer y comprender todo con más detalle y cómo trabajar con ello. Otras instituciones no han sido capaces de manejarlo.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Usamos CYPHER Learning desde 2019.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

La plataforma ha causado una buena impresión en lo que respecta a la estabilidad. Muy rara vez sucede que la plataforma se bloquea. Es muy estable y el contenido no se pierde. Sobre todo, tener la plataforma fuera de nuestra institución ha sido una ventaja.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

La escalabilidad es muy buena.

Dentro de la plataforma tenemos 427 estudiantes, 29 docentes, 13 administradores que son los coordinadores de programa, el coordinador de capacitación y el director.

Tenemos planes para aumentar nuestro uso de CYPHER Learning. Poco a poco, vamos creciendo. Estamos lanzando seis nuevos programas en modalidad virtual y estamos ofreciendo educación continua en modalidad virtual. Hemos trabajado con empresas internacionales para capacitaciones donde hemos tenido 300 participantes, por lo que no solo estamos creciendo a nivel nacional sino también a nivel internacional.

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

En una escala del uno al cinco, su apoyo es un cinco. Cuando haces un pedido de ayuda la respuesta es inmediata. No soy un profesional de la ingeniería, pero la ayuda que te brindan, la forma en que te orientan sobre cómo mejorar un proceso, es muy buena.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positiva.

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Conocimos a CYPHER Learning a través de un evento de educación virtual. Estábamos buscando una nueva visión para nuestra institución y ahí fue donde nuestro director conoció la plataforma por primera vez.

Anteriormente usábamos Modul, pero no nos ofrece todo lo que ofrece CYPHER Learning. CYPHER Learning es más fácil de usar.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

La configuración inicial fue simple, debido a la gestión de la plataforma, pero compleja debido al integrador que realizó el trabajo inicial en la plataforma.

​​¿Y el equipo de implementación?

Todavía lo estamos implementando. No se proporcionó ninguna estrategia de implementación. El integrador que teníamos al principio hizo una virtualización muy básica y la experiencia con él fue pésima. Configuró el programa y lo presentó, pero la virtualización no funcionó bien.

Eventualmente, tuvimos que contratar a un experto para virtualizarlo adecuadamente. El experto es extranjero y conoce muy bien la plataforma.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de inversión?

Cuando se trata de educación continua, hemos visto un retorno de nuestra inversión en nuestros cursos. Ha sido muy útil poder empezar a trabajar con CYPHER Learning y ese es el mayor retorno de la inversión para nosotros.

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

El precio de CYPHER Learning funciona perfectamente para nuestra institución. Han tenido en cuenta instituciones más pequeñas y eso aporta un gran valor.

¿Qué otras soluciones evalué?

Evaluamos Blackboard Learning Management y otras plataformas, pero definitivamente NEOCYPHER Learningse adaptó a nuestros presupuestos y necesidades.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Cuando se trata de la automatización de CYPHER Learning para ayudar a establecer reglas de activación para mostrar u ocultar contenido específico, lo calificaría con 8.5 de 10. No es que la plataforma no nos proporcione todas las herramientas para desarrollar cosas. Más bien no es un 10 porque, a medida que se desarrolla la plataforma, tenemos que volver a adaptarnos a cada nueva versión. Siento que nos hemos quedado atrás, pero eso depende más de nosotros y de nuestra capacidad que de la plataforma. La plataforma tiene actualizaciones y mejoras y aunque nuestro proceso de adaptación a estos cambios es lento, todavía estamos viendo un gran progreso en cuanto a la capacidad de la plataforma.

Valoro mucho a CYPHER Learning por lo bien que se adapta a las personas que no saben manejar entornos digitales. Puedes crear contenido desde cero y potenciarlo todo lo que quieras. En otras plataformas, te sientes limitado y esas plataformas no son tan fáciles de usar. No pueden generar tantos espacios de comunicación como CYPHER Learning. Por ejemplo, si estoy conectado en CYPHER Learning y alguien ve que estoy conectado, se generan chats interactivos y se puede dar una solución a los alumnos de forma inmediata.

Es una plataforma que se adaptará fácilmente a tu escuela, ya sea de educación básica, primaria o universitaria. Es una plataforma que brinda muchas herramientas para ayudar a desarrollarse como institución y generar progreso educativo y formativo para la comunidad. Te ayuda a virtualizar tu institución.

La educación es un tema que tenemos que trabajar día a día. Todo está cambiando y evolucionando y tenemos que adaptarnos a los procesos de la nueva generación. La tecnología es parte del desafío de esta nueva forma de vida, generando más relevancia. Eso es lo que he aprendido usando CYPHER Learning.

We use it to provide online courses for distance learning students.

We have both teachers and admin staff who work with the platform. Teachers can see student submissions and our admin staff can manage our course content and eCommerce.

We can customize our ordering system so we can have the data that we need to communicate with our students, their families, and our staff. 

We can collect surveys, using the LMS platform, from our students on how their courses are going. 

The ordering process is automated. When students register for a course, their course is set up automatically. We can manually register them when needed, as needed.

CYPHER Learning has helped by providing a variety of activities to help students get engaged, developing their independence and higher-order thinking skills. The quizzes and tests help keep our students engaged in developing their skills. I would rate the importance of this as 10 out of 10 for our organization.

CYPHER Learning has helped us save time on intervention strategies for students, especially those who need guidance. 

We provide a great program and having a top LMS system is essential. Our students love the platform, from what we hear. One of the things that they love about our courses is the LMS system's ease and use.

The navigation is easy to use. 

It is very easy for educators to communicate with students using the CYPHER Learning messaging system, which is imperative for our organization.

There are many applications available as add-ons. There are so many that we have not used all of them, but are happy to know we have more than we currently need.

It can maintain an infinite database of our students.

The solution is top-notch for tagging classes and assignments. The tagging is great for ensuring that the content is compliant with standards.

Work more closely with Cypher customers when launching new versions of the platform before going live.

I have been using it for 12 years. Our company started delivering programs in 2010, and we started using CYPHER Learning in 2013.

CYPHER Learning is definitely a stable solution. We have experienced less than 1% downtime.

The platform is set up so there are no capacity limits. Our program can grow as much as we want it to grow. We don't have any constraints around how many more courses we can offer or how many students we can add. There are no constraints around that.

The scalability is infinite. There aren't any limitations on what we can or can't do.

Their tech support is top-notch. When there is an issue, we are always able to find a workaround that meets our specific needs. The tech support team help us with that. An example is using the reporting feature. If there is something that we need in a report and we can't get all the data in the default template of the report, then we can work with the tech support team who will show us how to customize it.

I would rate the technical support as 9.9 out of 10. It is almost perfect.

Positive

Before we moved to the CYPHER Learning platform, we tried another vendor and it didn't work.

We used another vendor in the beginning, which was low cost. We were a brand new company then, so we used what we could afford at the time. We switched because CYPHER Learning has everything. We were going to have to keep adding to what we had with the previous solution, so it was going to become cost-prohibitive.

I had an IT specialist, who was looking at our current system, recommend CYPHER Learning. He did a little research, and said, "This is the one you need." When we started using them, he was more than right.

The initial setup is easy. 

It took just one day to get it up and running. We were up the day that we started using it.

It is so user-friendly. You can create a course, and have that course up the same day. Though, it does depend on how much content is in your course.

One admin was initially needed for the deployment, which does depend on the size of the deployment. Now, we have four admins working on it. There are also teachers who upload content.

When I first started, I wanted the enterprise package. We had to build up our student base to get up to the number of students that we needed to be in that enterprise package. Then, we had a 100% return on investment within the first year of using the program.

Our time saving increased by 70%, going from manual to automated.

The solution has definitely helped us reduce our administrative work. It gives us the ability to provide distance learning for students who are not all in the same area, which is valuable. 

The amount of time that we need to use the LMS system to quantify things is minimal.

CYPHER Learning has 100% helped us save on costs related to printing materials, textbook acquisitions, and license fees. It is instant for our students when we update or come up with a new version of our programs because we use this platform. If we need to modify a quiz, update a course, or add new material, all our students receive that instantly. There is no reprinting. There are no out-of-pocket costs for us. Also, there isn't a time delay for students.

CYPHER Learning has helped reduce the number of staff needed to manage our learning management system (LMS). It would likely triple our staff and admin if we weren't using it.

We do a monthly subscription.

It is priced competitively. Their pricing is one of the best in the industry. They are not the cheapest solution, but they are not the most expensive. The value that they provide, for what we pay, is invaluable. There are no add-on costs.

We have been using it for so long, and we wouldn't use a different platform. It is the best platform out there. It has become part of our daily environment, where we use it all day long.

The solution's ability to bridge our student's learning gap is at the top of the industry.

I talk with other schools who discuss their platforms. They always want our platform.

Don't waste a lot of time evaluating other programs. This is the best one out there.

We have plans to increase our usage of CYPHER Learning.

I would rate this solution as 10 out of 10.

It is the virtual platform of the school and my virtual classroom. I post the tasks and the lessons for the class through Zoom.

CYPHER Learning has helped us a lot with the situation where, because of health issues, students cannot attend school. Because we have this platform, students have the day-to-day lesson program available to them everywhere. If they are sick they can connect to the class from home via Zoom. They can access everything the teacher works on via the platform. It is no longer like it used to be that when a student missed school they had to copy all the content they had missed in class.

In terms of administrative work, it has reduced the time spent on that by quite a lot. For example, it used to take us time to call names and see who was present at the beginning of a class. Now, we can do it more directly through CYPHER Learning. It has a more agile way of checking attendance. As a platform in general, it has helped us to simplify our procedures.

It has definitely also helped in reducing the costs of physical materials because we don't print as many copies anymore. We exploit the platform quite a lot in this sense. If a textbook costs 150 soles, multiplied by four books for different subjects, that cost parents 600 soles. You can imagine the amount that parents save when CYPHER Learning is used instead of books.

Some of the most valuable features are the

• real-time online assignments that don't limit you to working from one place only
• comment forums
• assignments.

Teachers upload jobs to the platform and students upload all their answers to the platform and CYPHER Learning makes it easy for us to view them immediately.

We also use the platform for automation and adaptive learning purposes. The ability to set trigger rules that show or hide specific class sections or assignments is as optimal as possible. Because it is intuitive, it is easy to create content for students in a personalized way. And it is very intuitive for the students. They only need to enter the platform and they see their particular courses on the home screen.

And the competency-based learning is very visual and easy to use. The labeling is quite simple. It is very important because, beyond the content, we focus on the teaching of skills and these are embedded in the competencies. It is important that we have this tool to do evaluations as it helps us better know what the real status of a student is. The ability to track student progress on a competency basis through a mastery grid is very important for the school because we can see what the student's progress is, the time it takes, and the time he spends on the platform.

Also, with the direct message tray, students can notify you of things, and it's very simple. That feature is excellent because it helps a lot with communication among teachers, parents, and students. As a teacher, I can also leave a comment on an assignment to give feedback.

The types of activities the system has, help engage students and develop their independence and higher-order thinking skills. For example, the forums are used a lot because they help students with the ability to form arguments and express their own opinions. Thanks to CYPHER Learning, we can provide diverse activities. It has made the students perform better because they are no longer always doing the same routine tasks.

And the solution’s gamified learning environment is quite interesting because it is a much more personalized way to communicate with the student. There are teachers who have obtained more knowledge through the use of CYPHER Learning than the rest of us and they can help us with this. Many times, these teachers find different aspects and activities and, as they use them, they share the process with their colleagues.

Because it's the space where we upload materials, colleagues can share their knowledge with you. For example, I really like the library that the system has. It allows me to pull activities that are archived or a card that I can adapt as I want and then send it to a student who is having problems and needs guidance. This can help that student get to the same level as the rest of the class.

The system should help us more in the area of evaluation. I don't think CYPHER Learning has exploited this topic enough. I can upload rubrics for evaluation, but there are no additional information sources or other instruments for student evaluation.

We have been using CYPHER LEARNING since the pandemic began, so approximately three and a half years.

In all the time we have used the platform, we have only had one network outage message. They told us that the system was going to be updated and that we wouldn't be able to use it during that period of time. It was only half a day and after that, we had no more problems.

It is a platform that is constantly updated and constantly growing.

We have almost 140 teachers, and we also have users who are students, directors, families, and our technical team.

We are counting on continuing to use the platform, and part of our plans for the future is to increase the usage of it.

The one time I had a problem with syncing CYPHER Learning with a Zoom meeting, I contacted their support team and they dealt with it as if it were an urgent matter. They responded and solved my issue quite quickly.

Positive

I used Google Classroom but it's not close to CYPHER Learning. The latter definitely offers many more possibilities. Google Classroom has improved a lot but, by then, we had acquired CYPHER Learning, so we haven't used Google Classroom anymore.

Our systems team gave us training and tutorials. It was a period of about four weeks from the time CYPHER Learning arrived at the school until we started using it.

The peace of mind and satisfaction that I have from having a space where students and their families can find everything are invaluable.

We have young students who sometimes don't entirely copy what they see in class. Now, parents can enter the system to find out what topics their children have seen and be more aware of what is happening with their children.

I would recommend CYPHER Learning. It's so intuitive that anyone can handle it. You don't need much training. In our school, we use it from the initial grades with young children. For parents and students, the platform is very intuitive.

I give it a nine out of 10. There are some additional features that I would like it to have, but it is a platform that meets the standards. We are very satisfied with our work in CYPHER Learning. It has streamlined our work with students.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Es la plataforma virtual del colegio y mi aula virtual. Publico las tareas y las lecciones para la clase a través de Zoom.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

CYPHER Learning nos ha ayudado mucho con la situación en la que, por problemas de salud, los estudiantes no pueden asistir a la escuela. Debido a que tenemos esta plataforma, los estudiantes tienen el programa de lecciones del día a día disponible en todas partes. Si están enfermos, pueden conectarse a la clase desde casa a través de Zoom. Pueden acceder a todo lo que el profesor trabaja a través de la plataforma. Ya no es como antes, cuando un estudiante faltaba a la escuela tenía que copiar todo el contenido que había perdido en clase.

En términos de trabajo administrativo, ha reducido bastante el tiempo dedicado a eso. Por ejemplo, solía llevarnos tiempo decir nombres y ver quién estaba presente al comienzo de una clase. Ahora, podemos hacerlo de forma más directa a través de CYPHER Learning. Tiene una forma más ágil de controlar la asistencia. Como plataforma en general, nos ha ayudado a simplificar nuestros trámites.

Definitivamente también ha ayudado a reducir los costos de los materiales físicos porque ya no imprimimos tantas copias. Explotamos bastante la plataforma en este sentido. Si un libro de texto cuesta 150 soles, multiplicado por cuatro libros de diferentes materias, eso le cuesta a los padres 600 soles. Puede imaginar la cantidad que los padres ahorran cuando se usa CYPHER Learning en lugar de libros.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Algunas de las características más valiosas son

• tareas en línea en tiempo real que no lo limitan a trabajar desde un solo lugar
• foros de comentarios
• Los maestros suben trabajos a la plataforma y los estudiantes suben todas sus respuestas a la plataforma y CYPHER Learning nos facilita verlos de inmediato.

También utilizamos la plataforma con fines de automatización y aprendizaje adaptativo. La capacidad de establecer reglas de activación que muestran u ocultan secciones o tareas de clase específicas es lo más óptima posible. Debido a que es intuitivo, es fácil crear contenido para los estudiantes de forma personalizada. Y es muy intuitivo para los estudiantes. Con solo ingresar a la plataforma ya ven sus cursos particulares en la pantalla de inicio.

El aprendizaje basado en competencias es muy visual y fácil de usar. El etiquetado es bastante simple. Es muy importante porque, más allá de los contenidos, nos enfocamos en la enseñanza de habilidades y estas están integradas en las competencias. Es importante que tengamos esta herramienta para hacer evaluaciones ya que nos ayuda a conocer mejor cuál es el estado real de un alumno. La capacidad de realizar un seguimiento del progreso de los estudiantes en función de las competencias a través de una cuadrícula de dominio es muy importante para la escuela porque podemos ver cuál es el progreso del estudiante, el tiempo que tarda y el tiempo que pasa en la plataforma.

Además, con la bandeja de mensajes directos, los alumnos pueden avisarte de cosas, y es muy sencillo. Esa característica es excelente porque ayuda mucho con la comunicación entre maestros, padres y estudiantes. Como profesor, también puedo dejar un comentario en una tarea para dar retroalimentación.

Los tipos de actividades que tiene el sistema ayudan a involucrar a los estudiantes y a desarrollar su independencia y habilidades de pensamiento de orden superior. Por ejemplo, los foros se usan mucho porque ayudan a los estudiantes con la capacidad de formar argumentos y expresar sus propias opiniones. Gracias a CYPHER Learning, podemos ofrecer diversas actividades. Ha hecho que los estudiantes se desempeñen mejor porque ya no están siempre haciendo las mismas tareas rutinarias.

Y el entorno de aprendizaje gamificado de la solución es bastante interesante porque es una forma mucho más personalizada de comunicarse con el alumno. Hay profesores que han obtenido más conocimientos mediante el uso de CYPHER Learning que el resto de nosotros y nos pueden ayudar con esto. Muchas veces, estos docentes encuentran diferentes aspectos y actividades y, a medida que las utilizan, comparten el proceso con sus compañeros.

Debido a que es el espacio donde subimos materiales, los compañeros pueden compartir sus conocimientos contigo. Por ejemplo, me gusta mucho la biblioteca que tiene el sistema. Me permite sacar actividades que están archivadas o una ficha que puedo adaptar a mi gusto y luego enviársela a un alumno que está teniendo problemas y necesita orientación. Esto puede ayudar a que el estudiante alcance el mismo nivel que el resto de la clase.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

El sistema debería ayudarnos más en el área de evaluación. No creo que CYPHER Learning haya explotado lo suficiente este tema. Puedo subir rúbricas para la evaluación, pero no hay fuentes de información adicionales u otros instrumentos para la evaluación de los estudiantes.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Hemos estado usando CYPHER LEARNING desde que comenzó la pandemia, aproximadamente hace tres años y medio.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

En todo el tiempo que hemos usado la plataforma, solo hemos tenido un mensaje de corte de red. Nos dijeron que iban a actualizar el sistema y que no lo podríamos usar durante ese tiempo. Fue solo medio día y después de eso, no tuvimos más problemas.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Es una plataforma en constante actualización y en constante crecimiento.

Tenemos casi 140 docentes, y también tenemos usuarios que son estudiantes, directores, familias y nuestro equipo técnico.

Contamos con seguir usando la plataforma, y parte de nuestros planes para el futuro es aumentar el uso de la misma.

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

La única vez que tuve un problema fue con la sincronización de CYPHER Learning con una reunión de Zoom, contacté a su equipo de soporte y lo trataron como si fuera un asunto urgente. Respondieron y resolvieron mi problema bastante rápido.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Usé Google Classroom pero no está cerca de CYPHER Learning ya que este definitivamente ofrece muchas más posibilidades. Google Classroom ha mejorado mucho pero, para entonces, habíamos adquirido CYPHER Learning, por lo que ya no usamos Google Classroom.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Nuestro equipo de sistemas nos brindó capacitación y tutoriales. Fue un período de aproximadamente cuatro semanas desde que CYPHER Learning llegó a la escuela hasta que comenzamos a usarlo.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

La tranquilidad y satisfacción que tengo de tener un espacio donde los estudiantes y sus familias pueden encontrar de todo son invaluables.

Tenemos jóvenes estudiantes que a veces no copian del todo lo que ven en clase. Ahora, los padres pueden ingresar al sistema para saber qué temas han visto sus hijos y estar más al tanto de lo que sucede con sus hijos.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Recomendaría CYPHER Learning. Es tan intuitivo que cualquiera puede manejarlo. No necesitas mucho entrenamiento. En nuestra escuela lo usamos desde los grados iniciales con niños pequeños. Para padres y alumnos, la plataforma es muy intuitiva.

Le doy un nueve sobre 10. Hay algunas características adicionales que me gustaría que tuviera, pero es una plataforma que cumple con los estándares. Estamos muy satisfechos con nuestro trabajo en CYPHER Learning. Ha agilizado nuestro trabajo con los estudiantes.

I use CYPHER Learning to post classes and daily sections, organize my work sessions, and post work and weekly programs. We use it to help better organize our work.

Before CYPHER Learning, we used another platform that was not as complete. We understood that CYPHER Learning is one of the best options and it has helped us so much. We can better organize sessions and use the tools to upload videos, songs, links, and interactive games. It has made it easier for us to upload the information in a coordinated, organized way, and work with students' families, which I find to be a very good aspect. 

It strengthens our institution's relationship with students and parents. It seems to me that children learn through play and didactic activities. Linking to games, which is a facility that the platform gives me, is great. By uploading links I can quickly provide students with interesting content, which helps reinforce what they are learning. When we were in the middle of the pandemic, many students got sick and this forced us to close classrooms and work in quarantine. CYPHER Learning made it easier for us to do classes through Zoom at home. I can also send personalized information to a student. If, for example, I want to give something directly to a student who needs more reinforcement, I can send notes or images that are personalized for them. 

It allows me to work on personalized content. If I want to work with a child on the correct use of words, for example, I can send them extra content to explain things to them. It makes it easy to focus on what I want to work on with each child. I have saved time when I have had to send personalized messages to children who have not done a project or who are in the process of doing a project that they have to present. 

The messaging functionality helps me send reinforcement messages to parents. The messages are very useful. If we had not had the platform during the pandemic, it would have been very difficult to communicate with parents regarding what we wanted to emphasize for the students. It would not have been as easy to organize our classes and we would have had to invest three times as much time to carry out our work. 

CYPHER Learning provides an evaluation indicator through which we can see what a student's progress is like. Those who enter the platform are able to reinforce what they do in the classroom. My students are four-year-olds, so they depend a lot on their families' involvement. Through the system, we can see the progress of the family and how the family is supporting the progress of their child. If the child achieves all their skills, it is because the family is involved and working positively with the child. 

The platform makes it easy for me to visualize this process. It also gives parents organized information where they can see what their children are learning. They are no longer oblivious to what their children are doing and are more aware of how they can support their children. CYPHER Learning has helped integrate us with the families and facilitate the work of the teacher. 

Our entire institution uses CYPHER Learning for the same purpose, so that we can present classes in an organized way, as a team, and so that parents know what is being worked on. The ease of communication makes our work easier and helps us to create more ties with the parents. 

During the pandemic, it also helped me by making grading easier. If I needed evidence of something that happened in class, I could go to CYPHER Learning to see what happened. 

The platform has also reduced administrative work because I can quickly upload all the lesson plans to the system. Before CYPHER Learning, we had to use a physical portfolio that was full of material. Now everything is in the cloud. It's a seven on a scale of one to 10, where one means "didn't save on administrative work" and 10 means "saved a lot on administrative work." I also no longer need notebooks or sheets. Now, everything is in the system.

There are a number of valuable features, such as the fact that you can organize a class session well and upload videos or songs, enabling parents to have access to the platform. 

It's great that parents can see the work we are doing in the classroom and how the students are performing, from home. Also, if a student misses class due to illness, parents can enter the platform and see what the rest of the class is studying. This way, it is almost as if the student did not miss that day of school. 

Because I am a teacher of young children, being able to educate them safely requires teamwork between teachers and parents. I have sent recommendations to parents through the platform regarding reinforcement on topics seen in class. I also like that students and their parents can see a student's progress, what is being worked on and how it is being worked on. 

In addition, it allows me to see which students are actually in class and the ones that are not entering. During the pandemic, it was also great the way the platform gave my students the ability to upload videos and images of their work in response to the activities that I gave them. 

I was also able to give feedback thanks to this tool. These features were very important for us at that time.

I had families that told me they could not enter the platform. We looked for a solution to that with the technical support team at school. And while we have used CYPHER Learning to keep everyone informed about a child's progress, I have not seen a tool that enables united communication yet: communication between all students, directive communications, and general communications. The platform could be improved in these ways. 

I would also like to see them improve accessibility for younger kids. Perhaps they could enable us to customize folders in a more playful way.

I have been using CYPHER Learning for three and a half to four years.

On some occasions during the pandemic, CYPHER Learning was undergoing maintenance and it was not possible to access it, but that happened very few times; once or twice. 

In general, I have had no problems with it.

It is a platform that is constantly growing and updating and one that will be used in the future for sure because it provides communication opportunities. Our entire school—pre-school, primary, and secondary levels—is using it. 

There are about 1,200 users including students, teachers, the system administration team, directors, and coordinators who enter CYPHER Learning to supervise classes. Over time, it will be exploited more at the university level as well.  

It seems to me that we will continue using the platform. It is a tool that helps us daily in the organization of classes and in communication with parents. Everything about it is positive. It enables us to use unique tools and gives us access to student progress. I think it's here to stay.

We used SieWeb. CYPHER Learning is better organized and more comprehensive. There is more variety to work with and these are the things that made our institution switch to it.

We received training and workshops because, at first, we did not understand CYPHER Learning very well. We had to adapt due to necessity. With practice, we improved.  

The teachers who learned faster helped and advised others. There was a lot of mutual help. But at first, it was difficult. It was a process of a few weeks in length. 

Our school's system administrators, a team of four or five people, were the ones who received training first and they were the ones who trained us. They also sent out tutorial videos to help us.

It has helped me to manage my time better and to organize myself better. Now, all the necessary procedures are done in a more effective way.

Focusing on communication with students' families, sending them messages, suggestions, and recommendations so that they can understand how to organize themselves better, is very important. Through this tool, we have been able to communicate with parents better. 

What CYPHER Learning has taught me is that parents are also part of the process of student progress. Thanks to the platform, they can participate. They are not outsiders and have become participants. They are aware of what their children are doing. 

Overall, it is worthwhile. It allows you to use various resources to organize your classes and to organize yourself as a teacher as well.

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Uso CYPHER Learning para publicar clases y secciones diarias, para organizar mis sesiones de trabajo y publicar programas de trabajo semanales. Lo usamos para ayudar a organizar mejor nuestro trabajo.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Antes de CYPHER Learning, usábamos otra plataforma que no era tan completa. Entendimos que CYPHER Learning es una de las mejores opciones y nos ha ayudado mucho.

Podemos organizar mejor las sesiones y usar las herramientas para subir videos, canciones, enlaces y juegos interactivos. Nos ha facilitado subir la información de forma coordinada, organizada y trabajar con las familias de los alumnos, lo que me parece muy bueno. Fortalece la relación de nuestra institución con los estudiantes y padres de familia.

Me parece que los niños aprenden a través del juego y de actividades didácticas. La vinculación a juegos, que es una facilidad que me da la plataforma, es genial. Al cargar enlaces, puedo proporcionar rápidamente a los estudiantes contenido interesante, lo que ayuda a reforzar lo que están aprendiendo.

Cuando estábamos en medio de la pandemia, muchos estudiantes se enfermaron y esto nos obligó a cerrar las aulas y trabajar en cuarentena. CYPHER Learning nos facilitó hacer clases a través de Zoom en casa.

También puedo enviar información personalizada a un alumno. Si, por ejemplo, quiero regalar algo directamente a un alumno que necesita más refuerzo, puedo enviar notas o imágenes personalizadas para él. Me permite trabajar en contenido personalizado. Si quiero trabajar con un niño en el uso correcto de las palabras, por ejemplo, puedo enviarle contenido extra para explicarle cosas. Me facilita concentrarme en lo que quiero trabajar con cada niño.

Ahorró tiempo cuando tuvo que enviar mensajes personalizados a niños que no han hecho un proyecto o que están en proceso de hacer un proyecto que tienen que presentar. La funcionalidad de mensajería me ayuda a enviar mensajes de refuerzo a los padres. Los mensajes son muy utiles.

Si no hubiéramos tenido la plataforma durante la pandemia, hubiera sido muy difícil comunicarnos con los padres sobre lo que queríamos enfatizar para los estudiantes. No hubiera sido tan fácil organizar nuestras clases y hubiéramos tenido que invertir el triple de tiempo para realizar nuestro trabajo.

CYPHER Learning proporciona un indicador de evaluación a través del cual podemos ver cómo es el progreso de un estudiante. Quienes ingresan a la plataforma son capaces de reforzar lo que hacen en el salón de clases. Mis alumnos son niños de cuatro años, por lo que depende mucho de la participación de sus familias. A través del sistema, podemos ver el progreso de la familia y cómo la familia apoya el progreso de su hijo. Si el niño logra todas sus habilidades es porque la familia se involucra y trabaja positivamente con el niño. La plataforma me facilita visualizar este proceso.

También brinda a los padres información organizada donde pueden ver lo que están aprendiendo sus hijos. Ya no son ajenos a lo que hacen sus hijos y son más conscientes de cómo pueden apoyar a sus hijos. CYPHER Learning nos ha ayudado a integrarnos con las familias y facilitar el trabajo del profesor.

Toda nuestra institución utiliza CYPHER Learning con el mismo propósito, para que podamos presentar las clases de manera organizada, en equipo, y para que los padres sepan en qué se está trabajando. La facilidad de comunicación facilita nuestro trabajo y nos ayuda a crear más lazos con los padres.

Durante la pandemia, también me ayudó al facilitar la calificación. Si necesitaba evidencia de algo que sucedió en clase, podría ir a CYPHER Learning para ver qué sucedió.

La plataforma también ha reducido el trabajo administrativo porque puedo cargar rápidamente todos los planos de lecciones al sistema. Antes de CYPHER Learning, utilizó que usar un portafolio físico que estaba lleno de material. Ahora todo está en la nube. Es un siete en una escala del uno al 10, donde uno significa "no ahorré en trabajo administrativo" y 10 significa "ahorré mucho en trabajo administrativo".

Además ya no necesito cuadernos ni hojas. Ahora, todo está en el sistema.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Hay una serie de caracteristicas valiosas, como el hecho de que puede

• organiza bien una sesion de clase
• subir videos o canciones
• permitir que los padres tengan acceso a la plataforma.

Es genial que los padres puedan ver el trabajo que estamos haciendo en el salón de clases y cómo se están desempeñando los estudiantes, desde casa. Además, si un estudiante falta una clase por enfermedad, los padres pueden ingresar a la plataforma y ver qué está estudiando el resto de la clase. De esta manera, es casi como si el alumno no se hubiera perdido ese día de clases. Debido a que soy maestra de niños pequeños, poder educarlos de manera segura requiere un trabajo en equipo entre maestros y padres. He enviado recomendaciones a los padres a través de la plataforma en cuanto a reforzar los temas vistos en clase.

También me gusta que los estudiantes y sus padres puedan ver el progreso de un estudiante, en qué se está trabajando y cómo se está trabajando. Además, me permite ver qué alumnos están realmente en clase y no son adecuados.

Durante la pandemia, también fue excelente la forma en que la plataforma les dio a mis alumnos la posibilidad de cargar videos e imágenes de su trabajo en respuesta a las actividades que les di. También pude dar mi opinión gracias a esta herramienta. Estas características eran muy importantes para nosotros en ese momento.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Tuve familias que me dijeron que no pudieron entrar a la plataforma. Buscamos una solución a eso con el equipo de soporte técnico de la escuela.

Aunque hemos utilizado CYPHER Learning para mantener a todos informados sobre el progreso de un niño, todavía no se ha visto una herramienta que permita una comunicación unida: comunicación entre todos los estudiantes, comunicaciones directivas y comunicaciones generales. La plataforma podría mejorarse de esta manera.

También me gustaría verlos mejorar la accesibilidad para los niños más pequeños. Quizás podrían permitirnos personalizar las carpetas de una manera más divertida.

¿Por cuánto tiempo usó la solución?

Estuvo usando CYPHER Learning de CYPHER LEARNING durante tres años y medio o cuatro.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

En algunas ocasiones durante la pandemia, CYPHER Learning estuvo en mantenimiento y no fue posible acceder a él, pero eso sucedió muy pocas veces; una o dos veces.

En general, no ha tenido problemas con él.

¿Qué opina de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Es una plataforma que está en constante crecimiento y actualización y que seguramente se mantendrá en el futuro porque brinda oportunidades de comunicación.

Toda nuestra escuela, los niveles de preescolar, primaria y secundaria, lo están utilizando. Son alrededor de 1.200 usuarios entre estudiantes, docentes, equipo de administración del sistema, directores y coordinadores que ingresan a CYPHER Learning para supervisar clases.

Con el tiempo, también se explotará más a nivel universitario.

Me parece que vamos a seguir usando la plataforma. Es una herramienta que nos ayuda a diario en la organización de las clases y en la comunicación con los padres. Todo al respecto es positivo. Nos permite utilizar herramientas únicas y nos da acceso al progreso de los estudiantes. Pienso que llego para quedarse.

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Utilizamos SieWeb. CYPHER Learning está mejor organizado y es más completo. Hay más variedad con la que trabajar y estas son las cosas que hicieron que nuestra institución cambiara a ella.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Recibimos capacitaciones y talleres porque, al principio, no entendíamos muy bien el uso de CYPHER Learning. Tuvimos que adaptarnos por necesidad. Con la práctica, mejoramos.

Los maestros que aprendieron más rápido ayudaron y aconsejaron a otros. Hubo mucha ayuda mutua. Pero al principio, fue difícil.

Fue un proceso de unas pocas semanas de duración. Los administradores de sistemas de nuestra escuela, un equipo de cuatro o cinco personas, fueron los que primero se capacitaron y ellos fueron los que nos capacitaron. También enviaron videos tutoriales para ayudarnos.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

Me ha ayudado a gestionar mejor mi tiempo y a organizarme mejor. Ahora, todos los trámites necesarios se realizan de una manera más efectiva.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Es muy importante enfocarse en la comunicación con las familias de los estudiantes, enviándoles mensajes, sugerencias y recomendaciones para que puedan entender cómo organizarse mejor. A través de esta herramienta, hemos podido comunicarnos mejor con los padres.

Lo que CYPHER Learning me ha enseñado es que los padres también son parte del proceso de progreso de los estudiantes. Gracias a la plataforma, pueden participar. No son extraños y se han convertido en participantes. Son conscientes de lo que hacen sus hijos.

En general, vale la pena. Te permite utilizar varios recursos para organizar tus clases y también para organizarte como profesor.

I am a professor of social sciences and I use it to organize the course. In this way, the students can enter the platform and see the content we are going to work with. They can also find their evaluations and classifications. All class dynamics are carried out via CYPHER Learning.

By using CYPHER Learning, our institute, as a team, is better organized. Supervisors and area advisers can follow up on each of their teachers and we, as teachers, can follow up on the students as well.

During the pandemic, CYPHER Learning was a very important tool. Thanks to the platform we were able to share content with students. In one way we were "forced" to learn a new system, but otherwise, we acquired a very good tool.

It has saved time on intervention strategies for students. Because I do give feedback, sitting down with each one of them is difficult. On the other hand, with CYPHER Learning, I can do it in a more agile way. It has saved me approximately one hour on the entire intervention topic. And when it comes to administrative work, it has saved me time, especially in terms of the use of paper and documents. Now, they are virtual. We upload everything to the platform and the procedures that were done before are not necessary. It hasn't saved that much time regarding administrative work, maybe half an hour.

We have also integrated Zoom with CYPHER Learning and thanks to that we scheduled Zoom sessions through the system. This was exactly what we needed: a single channel of communication with the students.

The feature I use the most is the rubrics tool. I have built all my rubrics in the platform and, using them, I can mark the scores that the students have and it provides transparency between the students and the teachers.

Another tool that I use is the ability to load multimedia files within the CYPHER Learning environment. I can send videos and images to students for them to download, if I want.

The solution's automation involving trigger rules that show or hide specific class sections or assignments is also quite agile. It allows me to show students certain sections that I want them to have access to. And there is even the ability to automatically see how long they spent reading a document, the percentage of tasks they have completed, or the sum of their scores they have received, which I can access through the rubrics.

Another feature that helps a lot is the adaptive learning for providing students with personalized content. It allows me to give them each personalized information without being in physical proximity to them. For example, if they want, they can submit their assignments online and I can put details in the comments. This helps their personal development. Everything is arranged chronologically so that they can review the content at home if they miss a class.

It's also very easy for educators to communicate with students. For example, if you send a direct message to them through the platform, or comment on a task they’re doing, when the student answers it often becomes a dialogue and, after that, it practically becomes a forum. Communication is very important and we always try to make clear and transparent communication a priority.

We have teachers of all ages and those who are a little older hardly interact with the platform. It needs greater accessibility and more detailed updates and information regarding all its tools.

We have been using CYPHER Learning since 2020.

There was a network outage but that was in 2020. Since then, the system has not been down. The platform is very stable.

CYPHER Learning has high capacity and our school wants to exploit it more. More training has been proposed so that we better understand the platform. The goal is that we continue to increase its use and the variety of strategies that we can use, as teachers, continue to grow.

We have about 500 users who are teachers, system administrators, and the team of supervisors who certify the teachers. In addition, we have about 1,000 students who use it. It is used at all levels, primary and secondary. We have plans for it to be used a lot more in our institution.

I have not had the opportunity to contact their technical support, but I know that when a query has been made they have always responded.

Positive

We use SieWeb as well but it is more for communicating with parents and sharing students' scores.

We understood that we needed CYPHER Learning because we needed a place where the entire weekly class content is organized. We wanted students to have a unique place for that information and a single channel of communication with the teacher.

Our initial implementation was a bit slow because there was no training. Our technical systems area was responsible for helping with any problem that arose in general, but we did not receive specific training. It took us about two months to deploy.

There are three people, the general managers, who are in charge of managing the platform, but now each teacher manages their own class. The general managers only contact CYPHER LEARNING if there is an anomaly or systemic problem.

Investigate CYPHER Learning to the maximum to become informed about it before the implementation, and to look into the potential of the platform, because it can be used for many things.

We recently received training on the use of automation in CYPHER Learning and I'm only just starting to understand how it works: How to send automated messages as feedback, how to schedule courses, and how to see students' achievements as they explore a course’s content. I'm discovering more and more features within CYPHER Learning. In the beginning, it was just for uploading material, but with the last training, we received we understood that there are many more possibilities within the system. I did not know that interactive things, videos or 360 views, could be uploaded.

In terms of getting students engaged with the platform, that has happened partially, but there are still many students who are used to face-to-face education, so not all of them make good use of CYPHER Learning. There are many functionalities in the platform that they still do not take advantage of. There are a few students who take the lead on being autonomous and use everything in CYPHER Learning to advance on their own. All these activities are very important for our institute. Because our school opts for a diploma program, it is one of our objectives, and requirements, that students develop autonomy and self-manage their time, as well as search for information and sources. NEO LMS, in part, gives them a route to follow.

CYPHER Learning is not so influential in terms of getting students to the same level or closing the learning gap. That's not necessarily because of the platform but because there are other problems, whether personal or social, that limit students in various ways. The platform helps me understand which students are falling behind, but I wouldn't say that it motivates them in any way.

I believe that CYPHER Learning provides important tools to develop student engagement in class. In physical classes, it is very difficult for everyone to participate, but through this system they have the option of responding in a more personalized way when it comes to their opinions and thoughts. And it has taught me to adapt to change.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Soy profesor de ciencias sociales y lo uso para organizar el curso. De esta forma, los alumnos pueden ingresar a la plataforma y ver el contenido que vamos a trabajar. También pueden encontrar sus valoraciones y clasificaciones. Todas las dinámicas de clase se realizan a través de CYPHER Learning.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Al usar CYPHER Learning, nuestro instituto, como equipo, está mejor organizado. Los supervisores y asesores de área pueden dar seguimiento a cada uno de sus docentes y nosotros como docentes podemos dar seguimiento a los alumnos también.

Durante la pandemia, CYPHER Learning fue una herramienta muy importante. Gracias a la plataforma pudimos compartir contenido con los estudiantes. Por un lado, nos vimos "obligados" a aprender un nuevo sistema, pero por otro lado, adquirimos una muy buena herramienta.

Ha ahorrado tiempo en estrategias de intervención para los estudiantes. Debido a que doy retroalimentación, sentarse con cada uno de ellos es difícil. En cambio, con CYPHER Learning puedo hacerlo de una forma más ágil. Me he ahorrado aproximadamente una hora en todo el tema de la intervención. Y en lo que respecta al trabajo administrativo, me ha ahorrado tiempo, especialmente en términos de uso de papel y documentos. Ahora, son virtuales. Subimos todo a la plataforma y no son necesarios los trámites que se hacían antes. No ha ahorrado tanto tiempo en cuanto a trabajo administrativo, tal vez media hora.

También hemos integrado Zoom con CYPHER Learning y gracias a eso programamos sesiones de Zoom a través del sistema. Esto era exactamente lo que necesitábamos: un único canal de comunicación con los estudiantes.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

La característica que más uso es la herramienta de rúbricas. He construido todas mis rúbricas en la plataforma y, al usarlas, puedo marcar los puntajes que tienen los estudiantes. De esta manera las rúbricas brindan transparencia entre los estudiantes y los maestros.

Otra herramienta que utilizo es la capacidad de cargar archivos multimedia dentro del entorno CYPHER Learning. Puedo enviar vídeos e imágenes a los estudiantes para que los descarguen, si quiero.

La automatización de la solución que involucra reglas de activación que muestran u ocultan secciones o tareas de clases específicas también es bastante ágil. Me permite mostrar a los estudiantes ciertas secciones a las que quiero que tengan acceso. E incluso existe la posibilidad de ver automáticamente cuánto tiempo pasaron leyendo un documento, el porcentaje de tareas que completaron o la suma de las puntuaciones que recibieron, a las que puedo acceder a través de las rúbricas.

Otra característica que ayuda mucho es el aprendizaje adaptativo para proporcionar a los estudiantes contenido personalizado. Me permite darles a cada uno información personalizada sin estar cerca físicamente de ellos. Por ejemplo, si quieren, pueden enviar sus tareas en línea y puedo poner detalles en los comentarios. Esto ayuda a su desarrollo personal. Todo está ordenado cronológicamente para que puedan revisar el contenido en casa si faltan a una clase.

También es muy fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes. Por ejemplo, si le envías un mensaje directo a través de la plataforma, o comentas en una tarea que está haciendo, el alumno responde y muchas veces se convierte en un diálogo y, después, prácticamente se convierte en un foro. La comunicación es muy importante y siempre intentamos que la comunicación clara y transparente sea una prioridad.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Tenemos profesores de todas las edades y los que son un poco mayores apenas interactúan con la plataforma. Necesita mayor accesibilidad y actualizaciones e información más detallada de todas sus herramientas.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Usamos CYPHER Learning desde 2020.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Hubo una interrupción de la red, pero eso fue en 2020. Desde entonces, el sistema no se ha caído. La plataforma es muy estable.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

EO LMS tiene una gran capacidad y nuestra escuela quiere explotarla más. Se ha propuesto más formación para que entendamos mejor la plataforma. El objetivo es que sigamos aumentando su uso y que la variedad de estrategias que podemos utilizar, como docentes, siga creciendo.

Tenemos alrededor de 500 usuarios que son docentes, administradores de sistemas y el equipo de supervisores que certifican a los docentes. Además, tenemos alrededor de 1.000 alumnos que lo utilizan. Se utiliza en todos los niveles, primaria y secundaria. Tenemos planes para que se use mucho más en nuestra institución.

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

No he tenido la oportunidad de contactar con el soporte técnico, pero sé que cuando se ha hecho una consulta siempre han respondido.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

También usamos SieWeb, pero es más para comunicarse con los padres y compartir las calificaciones de los estudiantes.

Entendimos que necesitábamos CYPHER Learning porque necesitábamos un lugar donde se organizara todo el contenido de la clase semanal. Queríamos que los alumnos tuvieran un lugar único para esa información y un único canal de comunicación con el profesor.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Nuestra implementación inicial fue un poco lenta porque no hubo capacitación. Nuestra área técnica de sistemas se encargaba de ayudar con cualquier problema que surgiera en general, pero no recibimos capacitación específica. Nos tomó cerca de dos meses implementarlo.

Hay tres personas, los directores generales, que se encargan de gestionar la plataforma, pero ahora cada profesor gestiona su propia clase. Los gerentes generales solo contactan a CYPHER LEARNING si hay alguna anomalía o problema sistémico.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Investigar al máximo CYPHER Learning para informarse antes de la implementación y ver el potencial de la plataforma, ya que se puede utilizar para muchas cosas.

Recientemente recibimos capacitación sobre el uso de la automatización en CYPHER Learning y recién estoy comenzando a entender cómo funciona: cómo enviar mensajes automatizados como comentarios, cómo programar cursos y cómo ver los logros de los estudiantes mientras exploran el contenido de un curso. Estoy descubriendo más y más características dentro de CYPHER Learning. Al principio era solo para subir material, pero con la última capacitación que recibimos entendimos que hay muchas más posibilidades dentro del sistema. No sabía que se podían subir cosas interactivas, videos o vistas 360.

En términos de involucrar a los estudiantes con la plataforma, eso ha sucedido parcialmente, pero todavía hay muchos estudiantes que están acostumbrados a la educación presencial, por lo que no todos hacen un buen uso de CYPHER Learning. Hay muchas funcionalidades en la plataforma que aún no se aprovechan. Hay algunos estudiantes que toman la iniciativa de ser autónomos y usan todo en CYPHER Learning para avanzar por su cuenta. Todas estas actividades son muy importantes para nuestro instituto. Debido a que nuestra escuela opta por un programa de diplomado, es uno de nuestros objetivos y requisitos que los estudiantes desarrollen autonomía y autogestión de su tiempo, así como la búsqueda de información y fuentes. NEO LMS, en parte, les da una ruta a seguir.

CYPHER Learning no es tan influyente en términos de llevar a los estudiantes al mismo nivel o cerrar la brecha de aprendizaje. Eso no se debe necesariamente a la plataforma, sino a que existen otros problemas, ya sean personales o sociales, que limitan a los estudiantes de varias maneras. La plataforma me ayuda a entender qué estudiantes se están quedando atrás, pero no diría que los motiva de ninguna manera.

Creo que CYPHER Learning proporciona herramientas importantes para desarrollar la participación de los estudiantes en clase. En las clases físicas es muy difícil que todos participen, pero a través de este sistema tienen la opción de expresar sus opiniones y pensamientos de manera más personalizada. CYPHER Learning me ha enseñado a adaptarme al cambio.

Before CYPHER Learning, our school was very traditional and did not use any type of online documentation. The pandemic made us look for new ways of doing things and that's when CYPHER Learning arrived. At first, it seemed very difficult to understand because we were not used to a student being able to archive their work and manage their learning in such an independent way. But this new modality of having the information online and using the CYPHER Learning application on a cell phone to see your work progress is something that has helped our institution.

It seems to me that CYPHER Learning is very didactic. You can count on forums and teamwork. It greatly favors individual work as well as teamwork. It is very important that students know how to write, but also that they know how to communicate. CYPHER Learning also facilitates socializing through the platform.

The solution has also helped save time, about 40 percent, on intervention strategies for students. For example, I have students who may take time to deliver assignments because they find them more complex. CYPHER Learning enables me to ask a student to do everything in a more creative way, such as by uploading a video or a canvas. In that way, life is made easier for them. Progress is faster thanks to NEO. Students can access a folder designed especially for them, according to their specific needs. NEO allows me to focus on exactly what they need and helps me close the learning gap.

And in terms of administrative work, it helps me do everything faster. Before, I had to see the grades separately. Now I can see them through CYPHER Learning and it helps a lot to consolidate the grades faster.

We also save money on modules and books, and students have the information wherever they are.

CYPHER Learning has taught me how to be organized. It used to be complicated for me to review and correct papers, but CYPHER Learning streamlines the process and provides the option of giving quick feedback, from both students and teachers.

In CYPHER Learning, all learning sessions are uploaded so that students can preview them before class, and students can upload their activities in class. We also use the synchronization with Zoom. 

The fact that you can organize all the information so that you have an order regarding the topics that the students review, and the way in which CYPHER Learning archives all the work done by the students, seems very useful to me.

I have many students in my charge and thanks to the automation provided by CYPHER Learning, it is possible to apply any class to any classroom and, in that way, replicate the same content for all classrooms.

Each student has different needs. In the comments section, they can express their needs and I, as a teacher, can provide them with some additional detail about what to do in the activity. It is a mini-chat where teachers communicate with students. I can talk privately with the student about those sections of the class where they need reinforcement.

It is very easy for educators to communicate with students using CYPHER Learning. The comments section in the projects makes our lives a lot easier. I can make observations on how to improve their work and if the student has any questions they reply immediately. In this way, there is constant feedback. The student feels fully cared for. Before CYPHER Learning, they had to wait until the next class to see the teacher and communicate with him. It is very important to be able to communicate. That gap that existed before between teachers and students is reduced when the student feels they will get a quick and effective response from the teacher. They feel looked after.

Also, the student has a bar that shows his progress. CYPHER Learning organizes all the evaluations and summarizes things. In addition to that, because we are between virtual and face-to-face classes nowadays, the content uploaded in CYPHER Learning is an advanced type of "information spoiler" about what they are going to do each semester. And the exercises they do give us feedback regarding the level of each student.

There is room for improvement in the way competencies for each area are designated. I would like the exact activities to be specified somewhere to clarify for the students what they need to complete each activity.

We started using CYPHER Learning in 2020, when the pandemic started.

I have never had connection problems. The platform is very stable and has always worked well.

I feel that CYPHER Learning has everything I need, in terms of infrastructure and communication with students. CYPHER LEARNING is always innovating. Recently, they showed us new tools. They care about meeting needs as time goes by.

We have about 1,500 users, including students, teachers, and supervisors. We are using it to its maximum, so there is no way to increase our usage of it.

I haven't had any issues so I haven't had any experience with their technical support.

Positive

The other solution we have is SieWeb but it is just for uploading notes so it's not comparable to CYPHER Learning.

It was complex at the beginning. It was the first time we interacted with a platform of this type. However, it is intuitive and, by exploring, you understand its functionalities. 

We had three training sessions, each lasting approximately two weeks, and then teachers began to use it independently. But it really depends on how much the teacher tries to manage and experiment with it. Our older teachers had difficulties.

At first, a small number of teachers were trained, and then general training was given. In each area there was an advisor. And one teacher, who predominated in the platform, advised the rest of the team and shared what they knew about it.

In the general training, there was a CYPHER Learning implementer, but we didn't really need a lot of help because we were able to help each other and answer questions. 

My experience with the implementer was quite good. He was very didactic, he tried to answer questions very calmly and make himself understood, and he was very patient.

Our ROI is that the students and teachers feel comfortable with the solution. The fact that we are all satisfied with the work means that the investment was worth it.

Look into whether it is useful for your school. CYPHER Learning has fast statistical data and many resources.

The tools for tagging classes and assignments with competencies don't really help me in the subject that I teach. Where it does help is in all the options that the student has to write, such as forums and exercises. Perhaps during the pandemic it was more necessary but now it is used less frequently.

The innovation and deployment of CYPHER Learning was very useful. In our school there are always surveys, and CYPHER Learning is something that everyone sees as necessary.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Antes de CYPHER Learning, nuestra escuela era muy tradicional y no utilizaba ningún tipo de documentación en línea. La pandemia nos hizo buscar nuevas formas de hacer las cosas y ahí llegó CYPHER Learning. Al principio parecía muy difícil de entender porque no estábamos acostumbrados a que un alumno pudiera archivar su trabajo y gestionar su aprendizaje de forma tan independiente. Pero esta nueva modalidad de tener la información en línea y usar la aplicación CYPHER Learning en un celular para ver el avance de tu trabajo es algo que ha ayudado a nuestra institución.

Me parece que CYPHER Learning es muy didáctico. Puedes contar con foros y trabajo en equipo. Favorece mucho el trabajo individual así como el trabajo en equipo. Es muy importante que los alumnos sepan escribir, pero también que sepan comunicarse. CYPHER Learning también facilita la socialización a través de la plataforma.

La solución también ayudó a ahorrar tiempo, alrededor del 40 por ciento, en estrategias de intervención para los estudiantes. Por ejemplo, tengo alumnos que pueden tardar en entregar las tareas porque las encuentran más complejas. CYPHER Learning me permite pedirle a un estudiante que haga todo de una manera más creativa, como subir un video o un lienzo. De esa manera, la vida se les hace más fácil. El progreso es más rápido gracias a CYPHER Learning. Los alumnos pueden acceder a una carpeta diseñada especialmente para ellos, según sus necesidades específicas. CYPHER Learning me permite concentrarme exactamente en lo que necesitan y me ayuda a cerrar la brecha de aprendizaje.

Y en cuanto al trabajo administrativo, me ayuda a hacer todo más rápido. Antes tenía que ver las calificaciones por separado. Ahora puedo verlos a través de CYPHER Learning y ayuda mucho a consolidar las calificaciones más rápido.

También ahorramos dinero en módulos y libros, y los estudiantes tienen la información donde sea que estén.

CYPHER Learning me ha enseñado a organizarme. Antes me resultaba complicado revisar y corregir trabajos, pero CYPHER Learning agiliza el proceso y ofrece la opción de dar feedback rápido, tanto de alumnos como de profesores.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

En CYPHER Learning, todas las sesiones de aprendizaje se cargan para que los estudiantes puedan obtener una vista previa antes de la clase y los estudiantes puedan cargar sus actividades en clase. También usamos la sincronización con Zoom.

Me parece muy útil el hecho de que puedas organizar toda la información para que tengas un orden respecto a los temas que revisan los alumnos, y la forma en que CYPHER Learning archiva todo el trabajo realizado por los alumnos.

Tengo muchos alumnos a mi cargo y gracias a la automatización que brinda CYPHER Learning, es posible aplicar cualquier clase a cualquier aula y, de esa manera, replicar el mismo contenido para todas las aulas.

Cada estudiante tiene necesidades diferentes. En la sección de comentarios, pueden expresar sus necesidades y yo, como docente, puedo brindarles algún detalle adicional sobre qué hacer en la actividad. Es un mini-chat donde los profesores se comunican con los alumnos. Puedo hablar en privado con el alumno sobre aquellas secciones de la clase en las que necesita refuerzo.

Es muy fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes usando CYPHER Learning. La sección de comentarios en los proyectos nos hace la vida mucho más fácil. Puedo hacer observaciones sobre cómo mejorar su trabajo y si el estudiante tiene alguna pregunta, responde de inmediato. De esta manera, hay una retroalimentación constante. El estudiante se siente totalmente atendido. Antes de CYPHER Learning, tenían que esperar hasta la próxima clase para ver al maestro y comunicarse con él. Es muy importante poder comunicarse. Esa brecha que existía antes entre profesores y alumnos se reduce cuando el alumno siente que obtendrá una respuesta rápida y eficaz por parte del profesor. Se sienten atendidos.

Además, el estudiante tiene una barra que muestra su progreso. CYPHER Learning organiza todas las evaluaciones y resume las cosas. Además de eso, debido a que hoy en día estamos entre clases virtuales y presenciales, el contenido subido en CYPHER Learning es una especie de "spoiler informativo" avanzado sobre lo que van a hacer cada semestre. Y los ejercicios que hacen nos retroalimentan respecto al nivel de cada alumno.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Hay margen de mejora en la forma en que se designan las competencias para cada área. Me gustaría que las actividades exactas se especifiquen en alguna parte para aclarar a los estudiantes lo que necesitan para completar cada actividad.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Empezamos a usar CYPHER Learning en 2020, cuando empezó la pandemia.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Nunca he tenido problemas de conexión. La plataforma es muy estable y siempre ha funcionado bien.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Siento que CYPHER Learning tiene todo lo que necesito, en cuanto a infraestructura y comunicación con los estudiantes. CYPHER LEARNING siempre está innovando. Recientemente, nos mostraron nuevas herramientas. Se preocupan por satisfacer las necesidades a medida que pasa el tiempo.

Tenemos alrededor de 1500 usuarios, entre estudiantes, profesores y supervisores. Lo estamos utilizando al máximo, por lo que no hay forma de aumentar nuestro uso.

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

No he tenido ningún problema, así que no he tenido ninguna experiencia con su soporte técnico.

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

La otra solución que tenemos es SieWeb, pero es solo para cargar notas, por lo que no es comparable con CYPHER Learning.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Fue complejo al principio. Era la primera vez que interactuábamos con una plataforma de este tipo. Sin embargo, es intuitivo y, al explorarlo, comprendes sus funcionalidades.

Tuvimos tres sesiones de capacitación, cada una de las cuales duró aproximadamente dos semanas, y luego los maestros comenzaron a usarla de forma independiente. Pero realmente depende de cuánto el maestro intente manejarlo y experimentar con él. Nuestros maestros mayores tenían dificultades.

Al principio, se capacitó a un pequeño número de maestros y luego se impartió capacitación general. En cada área había un asesor. Y un docente, que predominó en la plataforma, aconsejó al resto del equipo y compartió lo que sabían al respecto.

¿Y el equipo de implementación?

En la capacitación general, hubo un implementador de CYPHER Learning, pero realmente no necesitábamos mucha ayuda porque pudimos ayudarnos entre todos y responder preguntas.

Mi experiencia con el implementador fue bastante buena. Era muy didáctico, trataba de responder a las preguntas con mucha calma y hacerse entender, y tenía mucha paciencia.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

Nuestro retorno de inversión es que los estudiantes y profesores se sienten cómodos con la solución. El hecho de que todos estemos satisfechos con el trabajo significa que la inversión valió la pena.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Mira si es útil para tu escuela. CYPHER Learning tiene datos estadísticos rápidos y muchos recursos.

Las herramientas para etiquetar clases y tareas con competencias realmente no me ayudan en la materia que enseño. Donde sí ayuda es en todas las opciones que tiene el alumno para escribir, como foros y ejercicios. Quizás durante la pandemia era más necesario pero ahora se usa con menos frecuencia.\

La innovación y el despliegue de CYPHER Learning fue muy útil. En nuestra escuela siempre hay encuestas, y CYPHER Learning es algo que todos ven necesario.

We are a training provider and CYPHER Learning is a place for us to put all of the resources for our instructors as well as our participants, past and present.

It has freed up admin time for my team members to do other things that are important. About 50 percent of our training is now asynchronous, whereas when we first purchased CYPHER Learning, we were 100 percent synchronous. It has allowed us to repurpose and reuse content. In that way, from a business provider point of view, we actually make income off of stuff we're repurposing. It's passive income, and that has been very helpful. And through surveys as well as through other organizations, we've tracked that there is actually no difference in the retention rate and in the outcomes of those who learn via asynchronous or synchronous, so that's been really helpful.

When it comes to costs, we have several textbooks that we've created and other resources that we used to have to print and send by mail. Now, we can house everything as an ebook or a PDF on CYPHER Learning. We've cut out printing and shipping costs. And the big thing is that as soon as the participant enrolls, they have access to everything. That's a nice feature. It's set up so that when they make a purchase, they're automatically put in. There's no delay for someone to get started or have access to the information. When we started our business 12 years ago, there was a delay because of shipping and the admin. We also used to mail certificates when people were done with the training, but they can be generated automatically, so we don't have to mail or print those either.

Before we put all of our resources into the system, just mailing and printing cost over $50,000 a year. That's not in our budget anymore; there's no need for it.

And when COVID hit, we were ahead of the game because most of our competitors didn't have something like CYPHER Learning. We didn't miss a beat. We just took everything that was going to be in-person or onsite and moved it to our LMS using Zoom and some other platforms. Everything was already there for everybody.

In addition, we used to have our own shopping cart but then we learned that the platform actually has a shopping cart, so we were able to eliminate ours and that just streamlined the whole process for us. That has been a really nice feature.

The solution is in the cloud and that's one of the reasons we wanted it. We are a coach training organization, so anyone that is involved with our organization, the participants or faculty, can have access 24/7 as long as they have internet. The resources are housed there and it's password protected, which is nice. We also put attendance there, as well as videos because we have synchronous and asynchronous materials, so it provides us and our participants with access to everything, 24/7, wherever anyone is.

It's also pretty user-friendly. While they have all kinds of documents you can read, I've never read them. My admin team has read them, but I just logged in and was able to figure it out.

It also cuts down on admin time because past participants, instead of having to contact one of our team members, can go directly in and get their information.

In addition, the rules engine helps personalize content for users based on their goals and performance. That's very important because we want things to be very specific to our program and what we're offering.

It tells us when participants most recently accessed it and that's a nice feature. It does allow us, when people say, "I can't find anything," to see if they have logged in and say, "Well, you have to log in to find anything." And with our self-paced, asynchronous learning, the way CYPHER Learning is set up, participants have to watch the first video in its entirety before they can move forward to the next one. And we've had people that say, "Hey, I can't figure this out. It's not working well," but they haven't actually watched the videos entirely. I've never said this to anybody, but we've "caught" them trying to skim through.

It's very easy to monitor and check student progress. I can go in and, with a couple of clicks, see any participant and where they are in the process.

What we've been asking them for recently is that, while we really appreciate the shopping cart, it doesn't have a recurring payment charge. A lot of our participants, instead of paying the full fee, spread it out over several months and that feature is not there yet. CYPHER LEARNING said they would look into it. Typically, when we have made requests, it takes a while, but they'll research them and then make the improvements. 

I have been using CYPHER Learning for 10 years or more.

In all the years we've been with CYPHER Learning it has been there, and I don't get any hints that it won't be there. It has always been consistent and they've always been helpful. I wouldn't expect any changes that way.

From our experience, the scalability appears to be excellent. They have been scaling things up and adding things. It's more on us to take the time to look at what's there. For example, they have gamification, but we just haven't had the time to touch that. But it's there. It's ready to go if we want to use and incorporate it. 

We have about 250 users, including both students and trainers, but most of them would be students, past and present.

It is being extensively used by our instructors and administrative team, as well as by people when they first enroll. Once they enroll, they download everything they need, which is a nice feature too. And then we find that they access it once they've graduated, just to refresh themselves. We do notice a type of a drop-off once they've started the program. It seems like they have gotten everything and they're not in there a whole lot afterward, which is okay. That means they got what they needed.

We didn't have a previous solution.

Ten years ago the initial setup was pretty straightforward. Now, there are a lot more options, so you have to read the directions for the setup or contact their help desk. 

But once it was set up, when it came to the shopping cart and some of the asynchronous aspects, we just had to ask and then we understood, "Oh, that's how you do it." It's kind of like today's cars. You can't really do much more yourself than change the oil and kick the tires, but we like all those extra options.

We did it in-house. Even with all the bells and whistles today, you can do it in-house, as long as when you get stuck, you ask for help.

We have absolutely seen ROI. What we pay each year for CYPHER Learning is a drop in the bucket. Just the ability to set up self-paced classes has generated a nice income right there alone. I'm not ready to retire, but I could almost retire just on that income.

The main reason we went for it was cost, which was very reasonable. 

And what I like about the pricing is that you are only charged for what they label "active participants." They charge you monthly and, on average, we have 250 people that access the platform every month. We have many more than that, as far as students and participants go, but the others just didn't access it that month. If someone goes in once a month, you get charged for that person.

I believe there are pricing tiers as well.

Before we started with CYPHER Learning, we looked all around, but it offered a lot more, by far, and the price was the best. I regularly get flyers, information, and emails about other products just like this. I check them out and the price is a lot more and, in many cases, they're not offering as much in terms of those bells and whistles.

Based on other LMSs I've experienced, as I do continuing education, ours is right up there if not ahead, in terms of usability and what's offered.

Do your due diligence, look around, and explore. If you do a comparison, you'll very quickly see. There are a lot of features we don't use, but we don't feel like we're paying for them because it's a competitive price. We've been very happy with it.

We use it for internal staff training. We're a large retail hospitality company. We have over 1,000 locations in Australia and we are also a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). That means we deliver nationally recognized qualifications. We use CYPHER Learning to deliver our qualifications to employees who sign up to complete one of those qualifications. 

We also use it for our management training. Anyone who becomes a manager within our system goes through a training program that is administered through CYPHER Learning.

We have locations across Australia, with offices in every major city where our trainers are based. One of the best benefits we've seen with CYPHER Learning is that it has allowed us to act more consistently on a national basis in how we approach the delivery of our training. Our trainers and assessors can now train and assess anyone in the country, as opposed to just where they're physically located.

When we were paper-based, the trainees would send in their coursework to their local training facility. Having a cloud-based solution has allowed us to better use our trainer resources across the country.

The transition from paper to digital has also been beneficial. As an organization, we were spending over significant money each year on printing and positing our training materials. We've seen huge cost savings in completely converting to an online digital learning system. 

And when it comes to administration, another really great feature in CYPHER Learning is the flexibility in marking. We can choose which activities are auto marked and which have to be marked by a trainer, and that really allows us to save a lot of time. We know when something is a very simple yes/no answer, we can set that to be auto-marked. That way we can spend our trainer resources on marking the more complex responses, such as those that are essay-based.

The ability to build and customize our own courses is one of the most valuable features. When we launched with CYPHER LEARNING, their team helped us build our courses. They took our paper-based coursework and developed a really engaging digital solution on the platform. The best part, for us, is being able to continue to customize and edit it. We have been able to add and explore new features as we've grown with it.

We use the system's rules engine to help automate our training. For example, as a student completes one piece of training, the rules engine unlocks the next part automatically. We also send pre-written notifications at the end of courses or at certain touch points within courses. All of that is really useful as well.

Another good functionality is that we have full visibility into when students last accessed courses, because CYPHER Learning shows us when they last accessed the portal. That helps our trainers to follow up with people who might be falling behind or who need help. And another great, related feature is that we can see how long trainees have spent on certain activities. With digital learning, it can be easy to just click-click-click and skip through things. Seeing how long students have spent on the material helps trainers have good conversations with their trainees and test their knowledge, just to make sure that they really are grasping the concepts.

There is good reporting functionality and there are good insights into trainee progress. That certainly helps our trainers to know where to target their efforts and who to follow up on. If we are looking at individual trainees, we get very good insights as to how they're tracking, what section they're up to, and how long they're taking on particular activities.

If there is one area that I would like to see more improvement in, it would be around detailed reporting. There are some little things that they could add that would give us more insights and we'd like to access those things through the reporting.

There's a lot of reporting functionality, but we've found it a bit challenging integrating it with our different organizations and getting some of the information that we need out of it. We'd like to see the kind of information that we get about individual trainees, but as a whole, across the organization. That's where we'd like to see improvement.

We've been using the solution as an organization for almost three years. I've been using it for about 12 months.

We have had no issues whatsoever. It seems to be very stable.

With CYPHER Learning, there is a lot of untapped potential for us as an organization. I look at all the available features and the add-ons and the apps that are available, and I've got lots of different ideas about how we could start to incorporate different ways of delivering our learning. I am also thinking about other learning that we're not currently doing in CYPHER Learning, and moving it to this platform. There certainly is scalability there.

We definitely have plans to increase our usage by migrating other learning courses to CYPHER Learning and that will increase our active users quite significantly. We're three years in and, now that we're comfortable and happy with the platform, we've got plans to put more courses on it.

And from a coursework perspective, there's definitely scalability. We feel comfortable that, as we start to put more learners in the system, it will scale.

We already have a large cohort of learners in the system. We have over 100,000 employees with access to the platform and there are about 10,000 people actively learning each month, but we have no concerns about scaling it. We've been in discussion with CYPHER LEARNING and we have plans that we can put in place to get more people onto CYPHER Learning.

The users are predominantly restaurant crew and managers. There are also restaurant supervisors who are responsible for coaching people through the platform, and there are the trainers and assessors within our corporate office who administer the learning.

The technical support is very good. There's a support forum, which we utilize quite regularly and the responses come in quite fast. We usually get a same-day response or even within a couple of hours to any support tickets, which is quite good. You can choose whether your query is public or private. Unless it's company-specific, you can mark it as a public ticket and then other users of the platform get to learn from the answers as well.

Positive

I've used other learning management systems before, and in my current company our previous system was a proprietary, home-grown solution. The benefit of going with CYPHER Learning was that we got their expertise in digital learning, which is probably something that we were lacking. Our platform did its job for a period of time, but as technology advanced, and the ways trainees can learn online advanced, we needed to keep up with our competitors, and CYPHER Learning has really helped us to do that.

The initial setup was complex because it was quite a complex integration. We have 100,000 employees, so setting up data feeds to give users access, and revoking access when people are terminated, and those kinds of administrative tasks, can't be done manually. Setting up the API requests to handle those things took a little bit of time, until we got things right. 

CYPHER LEARNING were very good to deal with and they assigned people to us. I wasn't part of the initial setup, but from what I understand they worked very well with our organization.

From my perspective, having come in and managed the platform for the last 12 months, with CYPHER Learning we get notably less contact through our support desk around the system, compared to our other digital platforms. That's a really good thing; people aren't complaining about it. That's obviously a good sign that it's working as intended.

As for our implementation strategy, we did a pilot group first. We picked one region of learners and one particular course and that allowed us to make sure that we were capturing feedback, customizing the platform to our needs, and ironing out any problems before we launched it on a larger scale. 

Once we were happy with that particular region and that particular course, we rolled it out for all courses in that state. We continued to capture more feedback and worked with CYPHER Learning to make any adjustments. We then rolled it out state by state.

There has been a clear return on investment for us. Even taking into consideration the additional implementation costs and the costs for building custom courses, we're still seeing that it's cheaper to run CYPHER Learning compared to the paper-based learning that we used to do.

Our pricing is based on active participants. We have a large employee base, but we made sure that we went with a pricing model that only charged us for active users, as opposed to all employees. We only enroll an employee into a course if they need to complete that course. That just helps us keep our costs down. While we have over 100,000 employees, because we have fewer than 10,000 people actively participating in a course per month, we have a plan where we pay for 10,000 users per month.

Understanding how many active users you will have, compared to total users who may access the platform, is something to consider.

In addition to the standard licensing fees, we had some setup costs to build our custom courses. With CYPHER Learning you can either build your courses from scratch yourself or you can utilize their team to assist you in doing that. We've done half and half. We paid for CYPHER LEARNING to build some initial courses and, since then, we've actually built some of our own as well.

The biggest lesson we've learned from using CYPHER Learning has been to be open to new ideas. The CYPHER LEARNING team has experts in marketing and the creation of digital learning. We had courses that worked for us and that we wanted to do in a certain way, but they suggested new ideas and different ways of approaching them. Being open to those has allowed us to innovate the way that we deliver our training, which has been good for us. Being open to innovation and new ways of delivering our training has been a worthwhile lesson for us.