A learning experience platform is not an LMS! So, what is an LXP?

Author:
Gary
PUBLISHED ON:
September 2, 2020
June 26, 2023
PUBLISHED IN:
Learning And Development

The way you consume video and audio is personalised, social and online, so you should be able to learn in the same way, right? This concept is at the heart of the learning experience platform (LXP). By bringing scattered learning resources together in one place, an LXP provides an on-demand approach to self-learning, acquiring new skills and sharing knowledge with others.

Netflix is the typical comparison when people explain what an LXP is, but that’s not entirely true because you won’t have to mindlessly scroll through your LXP in hope of something grabbing your attention. LXPs are smart, they suggest content based on your skills or preferences, enable you to follow relevant channels and give trainers a way of creating personalised learning pathways that close skill gaps in their teams.

Although, where that comparison holds up, is that LXPs seamlessly bring together all your best original content with the most insightful resources from third parties.

How does an LXP differ from an LMS?

First of all, this is not a character assassination of the traditional Learning Management System (LMS)⁠—many companies use them alongside LXPs and intelligent learning platforms like HowNow. We just want to point out those key differences.

One way to think about it is to consider who’s driving the learning. An LMS typically creates a top-down structure, where managers assign courses and compliance training to staff, whereas an LXP makes every student the master of their learning. It empowers employees to choose the resources they learn from and contribute their own knowledge to help others—making everybody a content curator. Remember, knowledge is power, but flexible and shared knowledge empowers.

Now, this might sound a little harsh, but learning management systems are like that miserable neighbour who shies away from being sociable, but an LXP is your street’s ultimate party host, and everybody is welcome. What we mean is that almost anything can be added as a resource in your LXP; podcasts, social media posts, links to any website—you name it. While the LMS would only be able to serve the drinks they studied on their limited mixology course, an LXP has the recipe for everything just a search away and can learn in the moment. That’s why it’s the learning host with the most.

Sadly, happy hour is over, and we’ll move away from that analogy to sum this all up. While a learning management system is more focussed on compliance and ticking boxes, an LXP is about making an impact. Find the resources that make you better at your job when you need them, develop the skills that make you more effective where you already work and get ready to make a difference.

The features and benefits of an LXP

Of course, how you’ll benefit from an LXP depends on your goals, but in general, these are some of the key benefits:

  • Integrate with the platforms you already use.
  • Efficient new employee onboarding.
  • Assess and address skill gaps to develop your team.
  • Better collaboration and knowledge sharing.
  • Enhance employee engagement and retention.
  • Tap into your subject matter experts.
  • Limitless and continuous learning.
  • Mobile application for on-the-go learning.

Bullet points look nice, but what does this all mean? Well, by giving people more ownership of better learning experiences, you’re able to onboard, engage and retain them better. You’re also giving them the platform to learn from each other and subject matter experts in your business. Lastly, it’s a platform for understanding which skills need to be developed and creating courses designed specifically to achieve that.

How LXPs recommend and deliver content

An effective learning platform should feel like a good friend, they’re intuitive, know when you need something and they almost always have the right thing to say. Unfortunately, you can’t bond with your LXP over coffee, so it uses data to deliver resources based on things like your role, learning interests or what similar people have used in the past.

When it comes to addressing skill gaps, understanding what someone in a particular role should be able to do can be a challenge. One of the most effective ways is to check out live job postings and analyse the description—not manually, that would take too long. Let us do that for you! At HowNow, we collect and analyse more than 500,000 job posts to identify in-demand skills for any job role.

If you integrate your platform with your people management tools, such as your HR management system, it can use that data to identify trends and patterns among your people too.

Who can benefit from an LXP?

If there’s a way to answer this with ‘anyone’ and not sound a little smug, we’re yet to find it. But it’s true, small businesses and large enterprises both benefit from using LXPs. The principle of creating personalised and continuous learnings is something most people would strive for, regardless of their size of business.

So, what’s next? An LXP built to engage your people…

Meet HowNow 👋 The platform built to engage your people because without engagement, your learning efforts aren’t going anywhere. Sadly for the LMS, it typically just doesn’t offer the features that help engage people by offering knowledge on-demand and in the moments of need or places where we encounter problems. Here are a few ways we’ll help you connect people to information they need, in ways a learning management system can’t.

Learning in the flow of work

We integrate with the platforms your people use every day, meaning that they’ll find relevant content where they already work and in the moments that they truly need it. Our browser extension also means that when you search in Google and visit websites, we’ll search your HowNow content for relevant internal and external resources.

Social learning in the truest sense of the word

Whether it’s in the platform or through the extension, we empower your people to share insights and resources that they think will benefit their colleagues. We call them nuggets, not because they’re learning gold but they’re definitely worth their weight in knowledge. Nuggets also allow you to tap into the power of user-generated content and populate your learning space with insights from internal subject matter experts.

Continuous learning

It’s a combination of the two points above that help drive this learning culture, enabling your people to search for and receive recommendations of relevant content. This empowers them to control their learning journey and become better at their roles.

Measures skill development and impact

It’s all well and good having these resources, but you need to assess their impact and whether people are developing the necessary skills. Incorporate tests and practice exercises into learning pathways in HowNow and measure proficiency levels in certain skills through the platform.

Intrigued by HowNow? Find out how we can help by speaking with our team.

Check out our other learning experience platform (LXP) resources