Posted by For those Gen Xers who remember the days of MTV, it sure had a lot of Hype. How many saw the debut song by the Buggles – on the first day of MTV launch (8-1-81)? Where were you on that fantastic day? I was babysitting – and saw it on that first day. I was mesmerized. Every day, I would tune into MTV and watch video after video. And so, it went on to be. VH1 showed up; I am trying to remember when. It was all videos all the time, but some of the VJs were annoying (and still are you can find a few on SiriusXM). Nevertheless, it was hot.
Plenty of bands started their growth on MTV. Duran Duran? Thank you, MTV.. YES? They have been around, but MTV took them to a new level. Adam Ant? Cyndi Lauper? Hair Bands? And the list goes on.
Sadly, though it started to change, they added shows that were not video-related. What was unique started to become stale. A different audience target. A different approach was used, and those videos started to go bye-bye. Soon, MTV was like so many other channels. And despite a show or two, watching it as a Gen Xer began to fade. The Hype of it all. The WOW factor turned out to be OK; there is no need to view the factor.
I bring all of this up because if you look at the early days of the LXP, what was once unique, different – in many ways to other systems, explicitly learning platforms, and yes, LMSs (albeit some had those capabilities early on, but never leveraged them in their marketing or sales pitch), turned into a not even mature yet, MTV. Once the LXP market hit the mature stage, the WOW factor became just another system, with another pitch, another twist – and a new audience unaware of what was before – only to see what is now.
I won’t rehash the original standards—what made an LXP different—you can read them here, but I will note key areas, which nowadays aren’t a difference factor.
LXP Then – LXP Now
Think of the early MTV days. Or for those who tapped into MTV when it became more shows – the 90s. After that, all you knew were shows, most of them garbage – all though Jack-s was okay – and the first two movies were great (if you liked the show), the others? Caddyshack 2 and Superman IV level.
Before diving in – I will note that there are still a few vendors who maintain the original capabilities and have move forward with it – they are in ways MTV Classic – which you can find if you have cable (in the states). Degreed (who constantly changes their messaging – back to upskilling platform), Cornerstone + EdCast, Bealink are just three of the bat. Juno Journey has a lot of LXP – actually all of the capabilities mixed in with a full blown LMS and employee development platform.
Let’s return the yesteryear – Click your remote, or standup and turn the dial.
LXP Then (key items) – Ask yourself do you see that in systems today that push they have an LXP or have those features as part of their system?
Then
- Heavy focus around skills with a specific way tapping into playlists or channels (we are talking a lot of skills capabilities – tied to job roles or not – either way, content played a huge role)
Now
- A lot of systems, LMSs included have this same functionality, heck – there are plenty who have surpassed. On the flip side, I see a lot of “LXP” pushed OR the learning platform has an LXP in it, where the skills options are not as strong compared to their competitors – including LMSs and learning platforms – oh and those that say they are LXP focused.
Then
- Playlists were required – Recommended, Most Popular, Skills/Interests were the basic ones. Tied around content that the learner was taking or had completed (somewhat of a misnomer with a couple of vendors, because a learner just had to click completed, even if they didn’t). But those playlists were a MUST.
Now
- Mixed bag. Yeah, there are vendors who have playlists/channels or however they spin it, but where is “Recommended?” OR Skills/Interests? Job roles tied to skills or interests. And those vendors who push it as AI is doing this – well, it’s not generative AI, its machine learning based on an algorithm the vendor devised. Which is why your output can be skewed. If you require content to be completed, what do you think will appear as Most Popular or Recommend content? I’ve seen vendors who do not have playlists/channels nor any of those items noted – it is grid or some other design.
Then
- Minimum of 10 3rd party publishers. The goal for an LXP was to offer a wide range of 3rd party content – regardless of if it was free (TED was and still is popular) or fee-based. 3rd party content was an integral part to an LXP.
Now
- It’s brutal out there. I’ve heard “We do not have any 3rd party content,” or “We have a few 3rd party providers,” or “We have a content aggregator – they name the vendor.’ – Ummm. Having a few, less than 10 doesn’t make you an LXP. And the idea that you can spin it, as such, is a disservice to anyone looking. It is as though you are pushing the retro Atari game set but forgot Missile Command and all the other cool cartridges. Personally, I had Intelllivision – which IMO crushed Atari. Anyway…
Then
- Unique design due to the whole experience approach – Every LXP back in the day – would always say the difference between them and an LMS was that they were all about informal learning, learner-centric. Compliance wasn’t the focus either. Implying an LMS was all about compliance (never true).
However, there was one small issue, which told me, that wouldn’t last long because of their focused audience. They all focused only on the L&D group, who all have a background in OD – Organizational development, and one common item was the whole leadership development piece. I knew right away, that assigned learning was just around the corner.
Tada! It didn’t even make it a year, when formal learning – the bit they all noted was only in LMSs, went out the door, then snuck back in via the window. Assigned learning playlists showed up. Every LXP had it. What? It was MTV sneaking a show or two, thinking nobody would notice the formal spin going away.
Now
- Assigned learning as a playlist isn’t an appearance overall, rather it is just Assigned Learning in whatever format those show it as. More of the now have the assigned learning channel /playlist per se, and it usually at the very top of the playlists – if the vendor has it. Can you move it down? In a lot of systems, the answer is no. Once you go assigned learning, it is no longer learner-centric, which means the learner drives and picks the content, not the person overseeing L&D or HR.
- Compliance content is readily available for pretty much any vendor who has 3rd party content, or a client can upload their own content – which could be compliance. I’ve seen some “LXP” intertwined with an LMS (many do not note this) or with a Learning Platform, where the output metrics – first up? Compliance!
Then
- Feature sets pushed as not common – compared to LMSs (always the focus for LXP vendors as though the LXP was a traditional (worst word ever – but effective in marketing), archaic, outdated dinosaur.
Now
- Feature sets are ubiquitous to an LMS. So much for the archaic, dated vibe. I blame VH1 for this. Actually, no, I blame vendors who had no idea what an LXP really was – which I found a lot of vendors who have an “LXP” as part of their system – are in the no idea club.
Walk a show – and check out how many vendors note they have an LXP in their system – as part of the marketing scene. It’s quite common. Just as many who push the whole AI thing, it’s now the new hype, but that’s for another day on what is real and uh, what isn’t accurate. Spin works, my dear friend. I blame cable for that.
Why do so many people believe the LXP hype?
Because nowadays people have zeroed in to the LXP as it is more of interest than say 2018. Yes, the new monster is AI, but this post is about LXPs. Anyway, type in LXP on a search engine and see how many vendors appear with it? I tested it out with copilot from Microsoft – let’s see their short list (I won’t list them all).
I entered – Who are the Top five LXPs in 2024
- Udemy for Business (content provider), LinkedIn Learning (content focused, and uh, no they are not 100% truly an LXP), OpenEDX (are you kidding me?), Degreed (yes, accurate), Juno Journey (yes accurate, but they also are an LMS IMO)
- The sources of this information are disco.co, techacademy.com, g2.com (owned by Gartner, who also owns Software Advice and Capterra. I can state that there are vendors in each of those solutions, who are not LXPs, let alone an LMS. Plus, there are some links that go nowhere. Anyway), hrlineup.com – Wait you also see that related to LXP vendors is a link to Software Advice that says LMS vendors.
- Let’s take a gander on what disco.co, techacademy, and hrlineup.com really says – Disco.co – is a learning platform who pitches themselves as a Modern Learning Platform (whatever that means); the list above – it shows up on their site along with NovoEd – which is a cohort platform first and foremost. When you click the modern learning platform of Disco – no mention of an LXP, it’s AI and hey, LMS is there too. Tech Academy’s post is from May 2023; but hey look – TechAcademy is the #1 LXP. They also list Cornerstone an LMS with LXP capabilities – even without EdCast BTW; Docebo LXP? Huh. Docebo lacks some LXP options, but they never refer to themselves as Docebo LXP. Udemy is there again! Continu LMS. A few other vendors are there including 360Learning – who I can tell you, lacks some of the items noted above and isn’t what I would call an LXP.
Oh, I can tell you that they aren’t despite TA calling themselves an LXP. And why is LMS constantly noted? Whoever wrote the list of LXPs with HRLineup seriously needs to get an understanding here. Pathgather is noted—they haven’t been around for years. There is no such thing as Cornerstone LXP, and why is Cloudshare a virtual labs system #1? The list is brutal. There is no need to go further.
If you type it in Google, you get sponsored first, followed by a list of folks, including aggregator sites. I did a quick look at the latest AI models out there. I will only note how many of the Top Five LXPs, those LLMs—latest Gen AI offerings—are correct.
- GPT-4o (newest GPT model out there) – Zero out of five
- Claude-3 Opus (newest model) – They showed 4 out of the five same vendors as the GPT model. Zero out of five. The sources though? Paradiso (which what a surprise, is on the list), our friends at hrlineup and disco.co (AWESOME) – Definitely not Hungry as a Wolf level
- Gemini 1.5 Flash (latest model) – Same list as the others, zero out of five
- Llama 3 (from Meta) – Same List
One of the challenges with AI models is that their retorts can change – one minute this, one minute that. I re-tested with GPT-4o, and this time, the list was slightly different with two vendors – one a legit LXP – Degreed, and the other that has many LXP features – Absorb. The sources? 360 learning, Paradiso Solutions (learning platform), and our good friends over at HRlineup.
Even though 360 wrote a list, they were not listed in the top five according to the latest model from OpenAI.
This brings to light the reliance of many on copilot or Gemini (formerly Bard) for information, often neglecting other LLM models and their unique perspectives.
When using a search engine, the results can be a jumble, with numerous entities that are not LXPs, let alone equipped with enough features to be considered as such.
As you can see, vendors’ names of their system have changed – in some of these lists. They just do not exist.
Bottom Line
I miss the original MTV. It was a time when as a Gen X-r, the music was rad (remember that term?), the videos were either awful – design and music wise; or something you have never seen before. Sure, you can find those types of videos on YouTube, but it’s not the same thing.
That’s how I see the LXPs. Initially something cool. A learning system that thought and went a different way. Promoted and marketed as such. But they missed their mark by getting into the assigned learning side, dropping learner-centric and informal along the way.
Vendors who hype up the words LXP – but are lacking enough to make it be, are ignoring a basic principle that all of us often forget.
It’s okay
To no longer believe the hype.
Because that’s all it is.
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