MindTap vs Seismic Learning

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

Product Basics

MindTap is an online learning software owned by Cengage that provides educational content and some class management. Among its assets are coursework, textbooks and print with over 1,300 options. The subjects it covers span across business, economics, humanities, math, professional disciplines, science, social science and technology. Some of its educational modules include grading, testing, homework submissions and a mobile app. Instructors can inform students of due dates and encourage underperforming class members.
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Seismic Learning (formerly called Lessonly) is a software platform designed to help businesses manage their learning and development programs. It caters to companies seeking to enhance employee training and development, offering features like course creation, content management, and reporting. Seismic Learning is particularly well-suited for medium and large businesses aiming to improve employee training, engagement, and retention while reducing training costs.

The platform boasts popular features such as course creation, content management, reporting, analytics, and social learning. Users appreciate its ease of use and customer support. Seismic Learning's pricing structure is not publicly available, so interested businesses should contact Seismic directly for pricing details.

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$160 Annually
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$300 Monthly
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Product Insights

  • More Confident Students: Give learners more tools to succeed by increasing core competencies. Personalize materials and deliver feedback to reach people by highlighting text and annotations. Increase completion rates and security through smartphone accessibility and the ability to identify at-risk pupils.
  • Saves Time: Access information in one unified location. Automate grading processes to save the time of tediously entering grades. Integrate with other tools to ensure all needs are met without needing to hunt down individual applications.
  • High-Quality Content: Find and share interactive textbooks or create a resource library for employees so workers and students can peruse information at their leisure. Create a shareable, professional-looking collection of assets.
  • Greater Engagement: Increase students’ motivation to learn and boost engagement through improved coursework. Establish clear communication lines between trainer and trainee. Use StudyHub to follow notes, bookmarks and selected text. Students can also create study guides.
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  • Simulate Real-World Scenarios: Seismic Learning helps learners master skills by providing tools that help them practice situations similar to their daily activities. For example, users can pitch on video, give a presentation, practice chat conversations and ticket support, and more. For each lesson, you can provide feedback via a star-rating system and comments. 
  • Uncover Insights: The system lets you view a range of metrics related to training. Visual charts and graphs make information easy to digest. You can track things like satisfaction and engagement rates, course assignment and completion totals, quiz results, popular searches, event attendance, active users, overdue modules, and more. 
  • Add More Capabilities: Seismic Learning integrates with several popular applications to extend the system’s functionality to tools for HR, collaboration, sales, customer service and more. Supported integrations include Slack, Chrome, Zendesk, BambooHR, Zenefits, Namely and Salesforce. 
  • Manage Roles and Groups: Permission settings allow you to define the role each user falls under: learner, manager, creator or admin. This determines their access within the platform. When creating new users, you can also assign them to custom groups. By grouping users according to teams, you can ensure they all receive the right training. 
  • Support In-Person Training: The events feature is a means for conducting live, offline or instructor-led training. You can invite learners by giving them the link directly, sending an email, or publishing the event on the event dashboard. 
  • Create Unlimited Lessons: There’s no limit to the number of courses, learning paths and lessons you can build. Such flexibility lets you customize your training to the extent your organization needs. 
  • Organize Content: A tagging feature lets you organize each lesson and makes searching for specific information easy. It also allows you to group content together based on which team it’s for or the purpose it serves. 
  • Access Seismic Learning on Mobile: The Seismic Learning platform is mobile-friendly so users can access it from phones and other devices besides a desktop or laptop. This gives them freedom to log in to the site anywhere with an internet connection. 
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  • Course Management: Instructors can grade and curate content, facilitate online discussions and walk students through sample assignments. Provide quizzes, assessments and interactive homework. Let learners see current and upcoming homework as well as individual progress. Clone courses easily to repeat units for different classes, adding information, copying and changing dates.
  • Learning Path: Create a path by selecting material to customize a course. Add or delete material when needed and move activities around for personalized experiences. Encourage pupils to track progress and reach out to trainers.
  • Mobile App and eReader: Give employees and students access to an ebook that works on or off the internet through the smartphone app. Use interactive elements to keep people engaged. Take attendance with geolocation and polls to ensure learners are present. Provide other tools like online flashcards, practice quizzes and alerts for homework and due dates. Make annotations and notes in the online textbook. Embed videos into the reader, share highlighted notes and emphasize key text to demonstrate what’s important in testing. Give students access to a text speaker that reads aloud.
  • Suggested Content: Customize information for specific students to increase engagement with education guides. Suggest videos and assignments that reinforce learning, offered by class or by chapter.
  • Integrations: Connect with more full-service LMSs like Blackboard, Brightspace, Canvas, Moodle or other solutions. Integrate with other Cengage platforms such as SAM, WebAssign and Cengage Unlimited. Use the same login to access material. Some major products auto-sync grades, so instructors don’t have to duplicate work. Communicate with various programs with IMS Basic LTI standards and additional functionality for more common products.
  • Reporting: Dig deep and understand where students are failing or succeeding with real-time analytics that measure 12 different metrics and deliver actionable insights.
  • Subjects: Let learners consume content, software and textbooks that cover a variety of topics like agriculture, anthropology, art, astronomy, biology, college skills, communications, counseling, early childhood education, film, history, humanities, human services, mass communication, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, social sciences, theatre, world languages and more.
  • Aplia: Connect concepts to real-world situations. Elevate critical thinking with feedback, algorithmic questions, review problems and other elements.
  • Pathbrite Portfolio: Showcases learner work through videos, images, documents and other assets. Give a visual representation of accomplishments and skills.
  • Cengage Unlimited: Work with several Cengage learning solutions aimed at specific subjects, including:
    • CengageNOWv2: Study for accounting, business statistics and taxation. Complete assignments, study for exams and succeed academically. Give workers and students practice opportunities to help them master content.
    • OWLv2: Save time with coursework in chemistry classes. Help finish assignments, study for exams and give learners other tools to help with success.
    • SAM: Cover Microsoft Office and computer concepts. Practice and apply skills to prepare for the Microsoft Office environment. Auto-grade assignments and use flexible reporting to report the outcomes.
    • WebAssign: Study STEM technology. Acquired in 2016, it has former educators on its development support teams to ensure the pedagogy of the experience.
    • Discontinued Programs: The iLrn, eSAM and iLrn Advance products aren’t for sale for students and can’t be accessed as of December 31st, 2020.
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  • Lesson Builder: A visual drag-and-drop interface enables you to build lessons. You can add elements like images, videos, text, test questions and more. The system also supports SCORM files, including xAPI, AICC and cmi5. 
  • Learning Paths: This feature lets you build different learning paths to fit the needs of your company and ensures every learner receives relevant lessons. For example, you could create a learning path for sales reps with courses that pertain to their role. 
  • Content Hub: Seismic Learning University contains templates and best practices you can use. It also acts as a repository for pre-built courses, which your organization has full access to. Let Seismic Learning know which content you’d like to use and the support team will copy it to your platform. 
  • Single Sign-On (SSO): This capability allows users to log in to Seismic Learning with their credentials from another application. The platform integrates with Google Suite, SAML 2.0 and Azure Active Directory to provide this option. 
  • Admin Tools: Seismic Learning has several admin tools that make it easier to perform common tasks. Bulk uploads let you add a large number of employees at once, and PDF exporting lets you download files for offline use. The program also has webhooks for automatically sending information like reports to another database. 
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Product Ranking

#39

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#2

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Analyst Rating Summary

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AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 0 71 50 50 88 50 76 39 71 94 81 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 13 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 923 reviews
92%
of users recommend this product

MindTap has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 13 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

94%
of users recommend this product

Seismic Learning has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 923 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

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5.0 (14)
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4.7 (576)
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5.0 (145)
4.6 (13)
4.4 (188)

Awards

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

User Favorite Award

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

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Improved Student Engagement: MindTap offers a variety of interactive activities and assessments that can help to keep students engaged with the material. This is in contrast to traditional textbooks, which can be passive and unengaging.
Personalized Learning: MindTap can be customized to meet the individual needs of each student. This means that students can focus on the areas where they need the most help, and they can learn at their own pace.
Accessibility: MindTap is accessible from any device with an internet connection. This makes it easy for students to access their course materials from anywhere, at any time.
Data and Analytics: MindTap provides instructors with data and analytics that can help them to track student progress and identify areas where students are struggling. This information can be used to improve instruction and better support student learning.
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Intuitive UI: Over 95% of all reviewers who mentioned the ease of use found it simple to learn and adopt the system.
Friendly Customer Service: Reviewers who mentioned the customer service loved the staff and felt well-supported more than 90% of the time.
Pricing: A total of 90% of users who mentioned price were happy with it and felt they got a good value for their money.
Excellent for Company Training: The reviews felt this solution was excellent for training and onboarding over 80% of the time.
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Cost: Students have expressed concerns about the additional cost associated with purchasing access to MindTap, especially when required course materials are already expensive. This can create a financial burden for students, particularly those on a tight budget.
Technical Issues: Users have reported encountering technical problems with MindTap, such as glitches, errors, and compatibility issues with certain devices or browsers. These issues can disrupt the learning process and cause frustration for students who rely on the platform to access course materials and complete assignments.
Learning Curve: Some students have found MindTap's interface to be complex and not intuitive, requiring a significant investment of time and effort to learn how to navigate the platform effectively. This can be a barrier for students who prefer a more straightforward and user-friendly learning experience.
Integration Challenges: Integrating MindTap with existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) can sometimes present challenges, leading to synchronization issues, broken links, and difficulties in accessing grades or assignments. This can create confusion and inconvenience for both students and instructors.
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Poor Customization Options: Just under 60% of all reviewers who mentioned customization said there weren’t enough options – and they couldn’t even access the CSS.
Formatting Issues: Around 60% of reviewers couldn’t get the font or color options they wanted and didn’t feel the design was adaptable enough.
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Let's tap into the minds of MindTap users and see what they have to say. User reviews from the past year suggest MindTap offers a robust platform for learning and course management, but it's not without its quirks. Reviewers frequently praise MindTap's ability to integrate seamlessly with learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and Canvas, making it a convenient hub for accessing course materials, assignments, and grades. The platform's interactive features, such as quizzes, flashcards, and simulations, receive positive feedback for enhancing engagement and comprehension. However, some users find the interface a bit clunky and overwhelming, especially for those new to online learning platforms. Technical glitches and occasional syncing issues can also disrupt the learning flow. Despite these drawbacks, MindTap stands out for its comprehensive content library and alignment with Cengage textbooks, making it a valuable tool for students seeking additional support and practice. Ultimately, MindTap is best suited for students who prefer a structured learning environment with readily available resources and are comfortable navigating a feature-rich online platform. Those who value simplicity and a more intuitive interface might explore alternative options.

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Seismic Learning is an LMS that works particularly well for corporate training. Reviewers liked how easy it was to use and adopt. Many used it to spread information to their employees and partners. They felt it was especially great at spreading new product information and helped train sales staff and customer service teams. Course and lesson creation were said to be extremely easy with this solution and users like the testing facilities in over half of the comments that mentioned it. On the other side, users weren’t happy with the customization and formatting options. They said that they weren’t able to find the options in text, colors and other design elements they wanted. It was also hard to adapt to all devices and change the more general look and feel of the platform. This solution is suited for small and medium businesses looking to train employees, especially in the sales and customer service departments.

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