TopHat vs Wisetail

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared TopHat vs Wisetail 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
Wisetail 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.
read more...
Wisetail is a SaaS eLearning platform owned by Alchemy Systems. It assists with employee training, employee development, course creation and other informational needs. Designed to look and operate like a social media site through the UI, its capabilities include customized branding, mobile accessibility, knowledge management, social learning and reporting.

With biometric and digital security measures, it takes steps to ensure the integrity of its data. Administrators can set permissions, assign classes, provide feedback, fill out an enhanced profile and customize reports to best analyze data. The company also offers a people assurance technology, leading it to join the organization Intertek in 2019.
read more...
$33 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$1,000 Monthly
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
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.
read more...
  • Better Communication: It can help cement company culture with a custom-branded interface that allows collaboration and communication across all levels of an organization. Users can upload photos, video and other media. It can help create an online educational company culture.
  • More Cohesive Brand: The custom branding elements allow administrators to create a branded experience in relation to color, logos and more. Customize it to reach specific goals and help learners feel more comfortable during their lessons.
  • Organized Company Knowledge: The content library centralizes important procedures, forms, branding materials and company assets so everyone who needs them can access easily. Trainees can use a single sign-on function, authenticated through SAML to get in easily and cut down on vulnerabilities. Last, administrators can control who has permission, revoke or give digital rights and whitelist certain IP addresses.
  • Greater Employee Engagement: In addition to the multitude of media to engage employees, it has built-in gamification elements such as a leaderboard, point systems, badges and custom goals to help spur on the competition. As a software-as-a-service option, it makes scalability easier making it less likely an organization must switch to another product later.
read more...
  • 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.
read more...
  • Course Management: The course authoring tools allow users to create content and classes, forge learning paths and host live events. With a simple interface, instructors can edit and create what they need. They can embed PDFs, photos, microlearning materials, SCORM-compliant information, slideshows and videos.
  • User Profiles: It allows learners to upload files, participate in active discussions and mentor less experienced coworkers. On the instructor side, managers can give individuals an unlimited amount of attributes. This allows for selectivity when it comes to filtering out data for reports.
  • Blended Learning: It can combine more standard teaching methods with digital learning through SCORM compliant content, videos and other forms of multimedia. This is suitable for a mix of instructor-led or in-person environments.
  • Mobile Accessibility: The platform is accessible from most smartphones, tablets, PCs and other devices. It comes with an app that operates on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows. Lessons are automatically formatted to fit the various different screens. Learners can access lessons, trainers can provide feedback and employees can call up reference material on-the-go.
  • Social Learning: Users can navigate the software like they would a social media site. They can create profiles, make comments, ask for feedback, share videos and rate courses.
  • Reporting: It can automate reporting and adjust metrics to get the most accurate view of overall productivity and the impact of training. Administrators can monitor class completions, formal transcripts, system activity, profile changes and other data. It could have a wide scope or focus on individuals. It also tracks a real-time metric called, “vitality,” to see employee engagement.
  • Integrations: The solution can integrate with other HR, payroll and other necessary programs through SSO, identity management and access management tools. Integrations include 7shifts, ADP, Alliance Payroll Services, Ascentis, Kaltura, Okta, OneLogin, Paycom, Paylocity, PeopleSoft, Ping Identity, SAP, ServSave, talentReef, Ultimate Software, Vimeo, Wistia, Workpop, YouTube and many others.
  • Security: It has several methods of protecting data such as storing data at secure centers that are protected by two-factor authentication, biometric measures and video surveillance. Access to certain sub-sections is only granted on a case-by-case basis. Other security includes a private VPN, dedicated firewall, patched and hardened OSs, logs for auditing purposes, yearly penetration tests and change management that’s been assiduously documented. All users have to buy an SSL to ensure data is transferred safely. Data is backed up nightly and there’s a disaster plan in place.
read more...

Product Ranking

#31

among all
LMS Software

#62

among all
LMS Software

Find out who the leaders are

User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 63 reviews
Great User Sentiment 39 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.

87%
of users recommend this product

Wisetail has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 39 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.0 (22)
2.7 (6)
n/a
4.8 (26)
3.8 (38)
n/a
4.0 (3)
4.0 (7)

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.
Show more
Easy to Use: Both administrators tasked with uploading and managing content and employees completing training find the interface intuitive and easy to navigate.
Mobile-first Design: Employees can complete training from their smartphone or tablet, even downloading videos to watch offline, making it ideal for those who aren't always at a desk.
Built for Engagement: Features like interactive forums, discussion threads, and social learning tools help transform training from a passive activity into an engaging experience.
Customization Options: Companies can tailor the platform to their brand, incorporating company colors, logos, and messaging for a consistent look and feel.
Actionable Reporting: Built-in reporting tools allow administrators to track metrics like course completion rates, identify knowledge gaps, and measure the effectiveness of training programs.
Stellar Support: Users consistently praise the responsiveness and helpfulness of Wisetail's customer support team, which is available to assist with technical issues and answer questions.
Show more
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.
Show more
Advanced Features Can Be Overwhelming: Some users have reported that the platform's advanced features can be overwhelming, particularly for those unfamiliar with learning management systems or seeking a more streamlined experience.
Limited Feature Specificity: Wisetail may lack certain niche features that cater to the specific demands of some customers. This could potentially require workarounds or integrations with other tools to fully address unique business requirements.
Show more

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.

Show more

Is Wisetail the whiz kid of learning management systems? User reviews from the past year suggest Wisetail is a robust platform celebrated for its user-friendly interface and mobile accessibility, making it a hit with those constantly on the go. Its social learning features, reminiscent of popular social media platforms, are praised for boosting engagement and making learning feel less like a chore and more like a collaborative experience. Users rave about the smooth implementation process and the stellar customer support, always ready to lend a helping hand. The platform's customizability is a major plus, allowing businesses to tailor the learning journey to their specific needs, which is particularly handy for industries like restaurants with unique training demands.However, some users find the advanced features a tad overwhelming, leaving them yearning for a simpler layout. A few have also pointed out a lack of certain features that cater to their specific needs. Despite these minor hiccups, Wisetail consistently receives high marks for user satisfaction. Many users applaud its cost-effectiveness and ability to efficiently deliver training to a large workforce. Think of it like this: Wisetail is like that reliable, multi-functional kitchen gadget that might have a few extra buttons, but at the end of the day, it gets the job done without breaking the bank.In a nutshell, Wisetail is best suited for businesses, particularly those with a large and dispersed workforce, looking for an engaging and user-friendly platform to streamline their training programs. Its mobile-first design, coupled with offline accessibility, makes it ideal for industries where employees are always on the move. While the advanced features might seem daunting to some, the platform's intuitive interface and top-notch customer support ensure a smooth user experience.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in LMS Software


Absorb LMS

Adobe Learning Manager

Blackboard Learn

Brainier

Brightspace

Canvas

Cornerstone LMS

Docebo

LearnUpon

Litmos

Moodle

Schoology

Seismic Learning

SkyPrep

Spoke LMS

TalentLMS

Thinkific

Tovuti

Trainual

WorkRamp

Related Categories

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings