TopHat vs NEO LMS

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

TopHat Software Tool
NEO LMS Software Tool

Product Basics

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


It integrates with other education programs and works for students and instructors. Overall, the tools let users design workspaces, create interactive materials, make quick assignments and proctor exams. In many classes, it’s used to replace clickers which allowed teachers to show materials on-screen and students to choose answers via a handheld device at their desk. The resulting answers are shown via a bar graph on the screen for a visual representation of the group’s understanding. Its specialty is helping educators find and publish quality open education resources.
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NEO LMS is a cloud-based solution that helps educational institutions deliver learning content, assess students, track results and promote collaboration among students and faculty. Its comprehensive range of functionalities helps educators streamline online course delivery.

It lets educators offer a range of course types — instructor-led, self-paced or blended programs. Course content can be embedded with a variety of content formats like video and audio files, Google Docs, OneDrive files and more. Organizations can align course content with competencies and gauge how learners respond to them. It displays various programs in a graphical catalog and integrates courses with payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe.

It offers competency-based learning, where teachers can track learners’ progress throughout the class. Educators can assess students using 12 different types of assignments, including debates, quizzes, discussions and essays. It lets teachers create quizzes using its built-in question bank and provides feedback and results to students. It also supports student attendance tracking with the ability to include notes. Its portal can be customized with the institution's color schemes, logo, pictures and color schemes. It promotes student collaboration through forums, blogs, chats and wikis, which can be used within a class or multiple classes.
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$33 Monthly
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$0.05/User, Monthly
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Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
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Live Online
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Videos
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Email
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FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Better Content: The solution can help create and deliver high-quality content. Learners keep access to their materials even after the lesson is over. It also changes up boring PDFs and replaces them with interactive content with embedded videos, questions and graphics.
    • Digital Textbooks: Instructors can create, adapt, share and customize textbooks and other interactive materials for their course. They are always up-to-date. Users can embed assessments right into the material to see how students are absorbing material as they read. The text can also integrate videos and animations for more engaging material. It’s free or low-cost for the students and constantly added to by a community of educators.
    • Marketplace: It provides different integrated applications for coursework and content. Learners and teachers have access to thousands of textbooks, educational materials, question packs and over 20,000 open classroom resources. The subjects include anthropology, arts, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, cultural studies, earth science, education, engineering, ethics, health, humanities, law, math, medicine, physics, religious studies, science and more.
    • Customizing and OER: Users can change up the digital textbooks for intro courses to add and remove relevant information. Content is up to date and easy to modernize in the places where it may be lacking. It can take feedback and give changes in real-time. Through the marketplace, it’s easy to get open education resources from places like OpenStax and Saylor. This makes it easy for the school library to find the OER they need.
  • Greater Student Engagement: Students can receive more encouragement to participate, learn and have a voice. Some tools include a discussion prompt added between slides, awarding participation points and anonymous participation for shy students. Students can vote for responses in a queue, giving teachers an idea of where the group isn’t understanding the material. For creative questions, students can even submit drawings. The solution allows instructors to sync slides with students’ devices while students can’t move ahead of the class. This forces them to pay attention. Educators can share the responses of students in fun, interactive ways with visual graphs, heat maps and word clouds. Upon the end of the lecture, instructors can let their students see slides in review mode so they can study.
  • Better Interoperability: While the solution does some of the same things as the learning solutions, it also integrates with other more complex platforms such as Blackboard, Canvas, D2L and Moodle. For those who already have an LMS and SIS set up, this connects seamlessly to bump up the experience without getting rid of present tools.
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  • Effective Class Management: NEO LMS simplifies the creation of engaging classes with its authoring tool. It is configured with a grade book for educators to assess student performance. Teachers with minimal skills can design effective programs and disseminate them. Its centralized database stores crucial student information for easy access and supports 40 different languages. 
  • Responsive Interface: It offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface to foster an enjoyable learning experience. It is also responsive and fits different screen types. With various configuration options, it can be tailored according to users’ requirements and preferences. 
  • Mobile-Friendly: NEO LMS supports a mobile-friendly interface for educators and learners to access from any device. It offers mobile applications for iOS, Windows and Android devices and is useful for K-12 schools and universities. 
  • Cloud-Hosted: As a cloud-based application, it doesn’t require any additional software to be purchased or installed and saves users’ time and money. 
  • Motivation Tools: NEO LMS is designed to engage students and encourage them to perform and achieve better results. It offers motivation tools like an award system and a system to compare and measure completion rates. 
  • Cost-Effective: It is an affordable solution that comes with flexible pricing structures for different types of customers. It doesn’t levy any cancellation fee, upgrade charges and hidden costs for technical support or storage. 
  • Integrations: NEO LMS seamlessly integrates with several third-party modules, including GoToMeeting, PayPal, Google Apps, One Drive, Google Drive, iCal, Stripe, Authorize, Turnitin and more. 
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  • Testing: With built-in security, users can host tests, quizzes and exams in a virtual environment where students can bring their own devices. Tests are easy to build and customize with multiple formats for questions. The fourteen unique question types include fill-in-the-blank, word answers, multiple-choice, numeric answers, click-on-target and many others. Students can also do video assignments, drawings or chemistry questions. Several behavioral algorithms help teachers monitor students and prevent cheating. If they do, they’re immediately locked out. Instructors can also see a real-time report and can offer secure codes so students can get into the proper test. Once the exam is complete, educators can automatically grade and have results show up immediately in the gradebook. This system is compatible with smartphones, laptops and tablets and doesn’t require a separate app. Grades can transfer to an LMS or other solution. Once grading is complete, it’s easy to review results and identify at-risk learners.
  • Attendance: Teachers can verify attendance in several ways. First, they can prompt students to sign in using a unique code and assign grades to reward students who are present. Second, the solution can verify the students’ physical location so only those in class get counted. It sends points for roll call and participation straight into the gradebook. Alternatively, instructors can build options for excused absences.
  • Grading and Reporting: Users can track learner progress, implement weighted grading and track attendance and performance. All of this transfers to the gradebook automatically. Instructors can weigh factors such as questions, participation and attendance. From there, administrators can analyze information and adjust for future lessons. To make sure teachers miss nothing it automatically captures student replies and participation grades in the gradebook.
  • Course Creation: Users can integrate quizzes, tests and other course materials. They can also track through analytics and port results over to other software. The system is FERPA compliant and has extensive support. Some other functions are the discussion tool where students can collaborate, offline mode, multiple file type capabilities, access to the marketplace, design consulting and more. Administrators can include gamification, flip classrooms and use devices to bump up engagement. Teachers can also stream lectures and students can participate in a live chat.
  • Assignments: It provides the functionality to create, personalize and auto-grade homework. Teachers can assign unique questions based on the group or individual and use interactive questions to engage students and reinforce the material. Homework assignments are easy and quick to assemble. Users can time responses, limit wrong answers or show the correct answers. They can also add images, videos and website links and build existing homework right into the platform. When the homework is complete, instructors can provide feedback immediately with comments. For hard subjects, users can create ungraded homework.
  • Institutions: Broader districts or institutions using the solution can acquire support specifically for their needs. The solution provides help with implementation, scaling, onboarding and other resources. Afterward, the company can help administrators review the program’s success. For organizations looking for more comprehensive help, the company manages support and training for the institution. They also offer workshops that follow the pedagogy and challenges of the faculty. A team of 40 instructional designers works to make this happen while a dedicated account manager communicates one-on-one. It integrates with all major LMSs and works with Shibboleth for easy configuration and single sign-on capability. It comes with institution-paid and student-paid options and has a clicker buyback program for the early transition.
  • Cloud-Based: The solution is a Software-as-a-Service and available without additional hardware or installing. It’s designed to scale smoothly and collects student data to ensure the organization is keeping track of student aptitude and progress.
  • Assessments: These deeper level analytics go after not just individual grades or students, but can track performance, completion, persistence and learning outcomes across the organization. It offers both summative and formative analysis so instructions can both correct the overall course and find individuals who need help. This makes it easier to track, identify, diagnose and fix problems when they arise.
  • Content Creation and Course Authoring: For specialized content, the solution provides authoring tools to create the materials. Users can get help with textbook projects. Instructors who want to share their work on the marketplace still own the copyright and earn royalties. It also provides collaborative projects where multiple educators and experts can come together to make a textbook. Creators can import OER or other content and split the revenue among collaborators.
  • Accessibility: It has various options to accommodate different students and learning styles. This includes allowing students to dial-in to a lecture via phone, transcripts of lecture records and videos of class meetings. It also optimizes assignments and textbooks so students can work from their desired device.
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  • Multiple Course Types: NEO LMS lets users share knowledge in multiple formats. Organizations have the flexibility to offer self-paced programs where students can learn according to their pace and instructor-led courses. Users can also offer blended programs that combine both the learning methods for an enriching learning experience. 
  • Customizable Portals:  It offers customizable portals that match an organization’s branding with pictures, logos and color schemes. Institutions can construct custom portals to offer a unique learning ecosystem. It publishes calendars and catalogs with a single click. 
  • Customized Curriculum:  It allows users to customize curricula as per their organization’s goals. It tracks student progress automatically to help educators find students that require additional help. Educational institutes can also sell their programs online with built-in e-commerce tools and integrate them with payment gateways. 
  • Pop-Up Analytics: NEO’s grade book tool lets teachers assess students and keep track of their progress. Its pop-up analytics offer additional insights into student performance. Educational institutions can also tailor the grading process using configuration options according to their unique requirements. 
  • Tracks Attendance: Its attendance monitor helps educators see which students are present, absent or late for the class. Teachers can also add notes while recording attendance. Users can assign points for punctuality and can also print student names for their in-person signatures. 
  • Gamification: Its gamification tool helps keep students engaged by presenting content in an appealing manner. NEO’s gamification feature includes a leaderboard, point system and badges to make learning fun for students. 
  • Built-In Rules Engine: NEO comes preloaded with a rules engine that helps manage classes effectively. Users can create their own set of customized rules to lock or unlock programs, award badges and enroll learners in study paths. Educators can alter the rules when required to allow fresh course options. 
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Product Ranking

#31

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#72

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LMS Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 63 reviews
Great User Sentiment 168 reviews
78%
of users recommend this product

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

89%
of users recommend this product

NEO LMS has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 168 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.6 (7)
4.0 (22)
4.4 (98)
3.8 (38)
4.6 (56)
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4.1 (7)
4.0 (3)
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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Interactive Features: TopHat offers interactive features such as live polling, quizzes, and discussion tools.
Easy Integration: TopHat can be integrated with other educational tools to streamline workflows.
Improved Engagement: TopHat helps increase student participation and engagement during lectures.
Valuable Analytics: Educators gain insights into student performance through TopHat's analytics features.
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Simple Interface: Users praise the platform for its intuitive design, making it easy to navigate and find necessary information without extensive training.
Effective Communication Tools: NEO is lauded for its built-in features that facilitate seamless communication between instructors and students, such as announcements, messaging, and discussion forums.
Reliable Gradebook: The platform's gradebook is a highlight for many users, who appreciate its accuracy, organization, and ability to easily track student progress.
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Cost: TopHat is often more expensive than other LMS options, which can be a barrier for budget-conscious users.
Technical Issues: Some users have reported experiencing occasional technical glitches or difficulties with the platform.
Learning Curve: New users may require some time to familiarize themselves with all of TopHat's features and functionalities, leading to a learning curve.
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Confusing Interface: Users have reported that NEO's interface is not intuitive and can be difficult to navigate. For example, some users have struggled to find basic features, such as how to submit assignments or view grades.
Limited Functionality: NEO lacks some features that are considered standard in other learning management systems. For instance, it may not have robust communication tools or advanced grading options.
Technical Issues: Some users have experienced technical issues with NEO, such as slow loading times or system crashes. These problems can be disruptive to the learning process.
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Is TopHat a top-tier learning management system, or does it fall flat? User reviews from the last year reveal a mixed bag. TopHat is praised for its interactive features that boost student participation, such as polls, quizzes, and seamless integration with existing LMS platforms. Educators particularly appreciate its ability to transform lectures into engaging experiences, as highlighted by a professor who lauded TopHat for breathing life into their classroom and facilitating dynamic student interaction. However, some users find the platform's initial navigation somewhat cumbersome and occasionally encounter technical hiccups. A case in point is the "time-constrained attendance marker," which reportedly suffers from lag, impacting user experience. While TopHat's customer support receives mixed reviews, its strengths lie in its user-friendly interface, diverse question formats, and smooth integration capabilities. Its standout feature, the ability to create an interactive and engaging learning environment, makes it a hit among educators. Conversely, the pricing model, which requires students to pay individually, draws criticism for potentially hindering access for some. A user aptly pointed out, "Not all of my students have the means to pay for access (which can really impact their grade if they don't use the platform)." TopHat's differentiating factor lies in its dedication to fostering student engagement and active learning. This is achieved through features like real-time polls, quizzes, and interactive presentations, setting it apart from traditional, static learning platforms. A testament to this is a user's comment, "Top Hat is a great student engagement tool, useful in polling students on the fly or setting up assessments prior to class." In conclusion, TopHat is best suited for educators seeking to infuse their classrooms with interactivity and boost student participation. Its array of engagement-focused tools makes it ideal for educators who prioritize active learning. However, the pricing structure might pose a challenge for students with limited financial resources, making it crucial for institutions to consider alternative funding models or explore site licenses to ensure equitable access for all.

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User reviews from the last year suggest that NEO LMS is a strong contender in the LMS market, particularly for institutions seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly platform. Users praise NEO LMS for its intuitive interface, robust feature set, and commitment to innovation. For example, NEO LMS's drag-and-drop course builder and customizable dashboard widgets are lauded for their ease of use and flexibility. Users also appreciate the platform's comprehensive reporting and analytics tools, which provide valuable insights into student progress and engagement. However, some users have pointed out areas where NEO LMS could improve. For instance, some users have expressed a desire for more advanced customization options for course design and branding. Others have noted that the platform's mobile app, while functional, could benefit from a more streamlined user experience. Despite these minor drawbacks, NEO LMS is generally well-regarded by users, who appreciate its comprehensive features, user-friendly design, and commitment to innovation. NEO LMS is best suited for educational institutions and organizations that prioritize a seamless and engaging online learning experience. Its intuitive interface, robust feature set, and focus on student success make it an ideal choice for institutions looking to elevate their digital learning initiatives.

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