CYPHER Learning Reviews

Spaces are created for our subjects and courses and each teacher manages things according to their needs. I try to make content and sources of activities and actions that can be carried out by linking with other applications and I configure the grading aspect as well.

It has helped to make the relationship between the teacher and the student transparent in different ways. First of all, it allows the student and the teacher to know what progress the student has made. Second, in addition to the grading system, there are charts that both teachers and students can see, indicating the student's performance and their grades.

Transparency is one of the valuable aspects of the platform. I can be very transparent with students, both in terms of advancement in the subject and the production of knowledge. That is especially true in the areas of evaluations, qualifications, the possibilities for feedback and for corrections. That seems very important to me. CYPHER Learning gives me that ability and, in some cases, it motivates me to do extra work. Take, for example, a relatively mechanical quiz. Because there is an opportunity to give feedback, it makes it less mechanical and lets the students know where they were wrong and what the teacher's impression is. That seems important to me.

It has also allowed the incorporation of new tools linked to the platform. It is a day-to-day tool for me. Each step I take in the subject, whether it is virtual or face-to-face, has a corresponding feature in CYPHER Learning.

We're going through the pandemic and, with the confinement and quarantines, and even when there is a local outbreak, CYPHER Learning allows us to quickly turn to virtual education. We're embracing a type of hybrid education, and that has been fundamental during the pandemic.

It also allows me to have a source of reference for what is happening during the semester. It gives us a single record of face-to-face and virtual interactions, making it a more solid reference.

Another benefit is that it has helped save time on intervention strategies for students, especially those who need guidance. It has made that quite easy for me in particular cases. The fact that I can retrieve material from a library and upload it adaptively has saved me a lot of time and allows me to adapt to the situation.

The fact that the students have a point of reference on the platform means that classes are not fragmented. The platform allows the teacher to unify activities by focusing their students on instructions or content or activities. It creates pretty solid points of reference about the students.

It's also great that you don't have to print things. CYPHER Learning is not the only solution with this ability, as other applications allow you to do so. But we can link them with CYPHER Learning and that’s also good. The university has also included access to the international libraries and this means that students are not looking just anywhere for information but, instead, use these libraries. As a result, there have indeed been many cost savings. I prefer that students do work virtually instead of printing it.

Compared to other platforms, it is very user-friendly and intuitive, and both teachers and students can easily find what they need and use the functions without extensive training. Obviously, you need a minimum introduction to the system. 

There are a lot of built-in functionalities and many more functions than we use, things that we would need to know in detail.

In terms of automation, I have dedicated myself to doing tests or qualifications in a more automated way, but I have not delved into other things.

CYPHER Learning provides a variety of activities to help with student engagement. There are some students who are very limited when it comes to what the teacher offers them from the platform, but there are other students who exploit the resources of the platform quite well. Due to the lack of skills of some students in my country, there is no possibility of exploiting everything.

It allows the integration of different pedagogical approaches. While it is true that we cannot speak of a completely virtual scenario yet, what has been done instead is an adaptation from face-to-face to virtual. Many teachers have tried to recreate their face-to-face format, mediated by virtuality, and CYPHER Learning has been a source of material and of recorded and published classes. 

Some teachers have used other approaches, such as using the collaborative aspects that CYPHER Learning makes possible. That way, learning is not only via a shared class with explanations, but also includes activities that enable building and learning via collaboration. This is a leap that virtual education allows us. From my point of view, CYPHER Learning has both participatory and collaborative tools and this seems like a very good combination to me. It does not have everything, and it is true that there could be more applications adapted and included.

I wanted to use it as a source of communication with students, but that didn't work out very well. It is easy for educators to communicate with students, but CYPHER Learning is constituted as a formal communication tool. It shows what students and teachers say to each other, but for non-formal, practical notices, dialogues, and questions about what people did not understand, they use WhatsApp or Telegram a lot more. 

At the level of daily communications, CYPHER Learning is not the tool they use. It is only used for things like requesting permission or communicating with the whole class. The type of communication we have is quite horizontal in general, so there is a lot of non-formal communication, and that personal communication between the students and teachers is normally via WhatsApp or Telegram.

I would like to see an improvement in peer-bonding and the possibility for students to share knowledge among themselves regarding the work that they do. That would greatly help in that it wouldn’t be a one-to-many communication format. 

Another possibility would be incorporating additional applications to expand the functionalities of the platform. I don't know if they exist or not because I don't have administrator privileges, but that could be interesting.

Also, teachers do not have privileges compared to other platforms. We cannot connect applications that allow us to tune LMS or enhance it much.

Another point is that there are some jobs or tasks that cannot be seen by everybody. If someone submits jobs, I can see them but students do not have that possibility, or at least I have not discovered it.

I have been using CYPHER Learning for a year and a half to two years.

I have never had any problem with its availability. I know that there are students who have experienced problems that were linked to their browsers or to the internet access they had. But no problem has ever arisen with the platform itself. It has always worked quite well.

As an institution, we haven't tested the scalability extensively. We are a university with headquarters in four cities and the distance between them is 400 kilometers. CYPHER Learning has given us the opportunity to have a single subject with a single teacher who works in a given location and that has been a form of scalability that did not exist before. We call it "inter-branching."

We have about 20,000 students and about 2,000 teachers as well as another 500 people who are linked to other services who are probably using it. I don't know exactly how many users we have.

The university offers us this platform and all teachers and students are linked to it. Each one takes advantage of it in a different way. In certain cases and specific situations, other platforms are still used and they are not always linked to CYPHER Learning. There are teachers who prefer using other platforms for certain things.

I have never used the technical support but it is done via the platform, either face-to-face, in a phone call, or through a WhatsApp chat. From what I understand, they usually respond very quickly.

Positive

I have worked with other platforms, so when I saw CYPHER Learning it was very intuitive for me and I had no problems. It is necessary to invest a little time to understand certain modalities, but it is simple and friendly, once you know the environment.

It took me a couple of weeks to configure the essential things, while the more complex things took months.

As part of our implementation strategy, our university did three things. First, it called a local expert who was not from the institution or from CYPHER Learning, and he did the initial training. There was another training round for the teachers that went a little deeper, helping them to investigate and use the tool, especially in the field of evaluation. Finally, there was a course organized by an Argentine university that uses CYPHER Learning for pedagogical strategies.

We used an integrator at the beginning and a consultant later. Some of the training was more technical, about use of the platform itself and how it works. Other sessions were more about how to exploit it pedagogically. They were two different aspects but both were very helpful.

The consultant was a representative of the Catholic University of Salta in Argentina who gave us the more pedagogical aspects related to CYPHER Learning.

If we compare CYPHER Learning with Modul, the latter is free but the problem is that the amount of time one must dedicate to the configuration of its tools is considerable. When you translate that time into money, it has economic weight. With CYPHER Learning, everything is ready, making it simple to use without having too many deep configurations or requirements for knowledge of languages or programming.

I don't know how much CYPHER Learning costs, but if you have the budget, it is worth it.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we used a platform called Modul, which is open source, but it was less user-friendly for everyone. We also had a platform called Classroom but everything was a bit fragmented. CYPHER Learning has allowed us to unify all the teachers' and students' tasks in a single platform.

I have also used a paid platform called Docent, but with CYPHER Learning I have access to local platforms built by universities.

There are some other free online platforms and one where you have a trial version and then you can upgrade to a paid version and receive more tools. But it was very dedicated to the educational side, meaning the broadcasting of content and activities, but had very little in the way of evaluation or administrative management. In that sense, it did not provide the support we needed.

In the end, our university made CYPHER Learning the only official platform. Even if it hadn’t been mandatory, I would have chosen it anyway.

When it comes to competency-based learning I do not know if it is fully enabled in our case. I can see that the students have badges or awards, and when they have been outstanding in one subject or another, but I have not been able to see a record of the student's performance. It is likely that it is not enabled.

In terms of the staff needed to manage the LMS, we have had to dispense with some functions and enable other functions. Some administrative management has been decreased, but the level of technical support for students and teachers has increased. Some people have had to assume the roles of technological and pedagogical advisors, while others have been able to reduce their involvement in qualifications because those processes are more automatic.

It is a fairly complete product that not only allows you to manage content and educational activities but also to manage things administratively. You can create learning communities, and it enables you to link many tools. There are also many options for accessing libraries in one place. It is suitable for a university. Other educational institutions may find it too big.

Overall, it is quite good and has the essentials.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

Se crean espacios para nuestras asignaturas y cursos y cada profesor gestiona las cosas según sus necesidades. Intento crear contenido y fuentes de actividades y acciones que se puedan realizar mediante la vinculación con otras aplicaciones y también configurar el aspecto de calificación.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Ha ayudado a que la relación entre el profesor y el alumno sea transparente de diferentes maneras. En primer lugar, permite al alumno y al profesor saber qué progreso ha realizado el alumno. En segundo lugar, además del sistema de calificación, hay gráficos que tanto los profesores como los estudiantes pueden ver, que indican el desempeño del estudiante y sus calificaciones.

La transparencia es uno de los aspectos valiosos de la plataforma. Puedo ser muy transparente con los estudiantes, tanto en términos de avance en el tema como en la producción de conocimiento. Eso es especialmente cierto en las áreas de evaluaciones, calificaciones, las posibilidades de retroalimentación y correcciones. Eso me parece muy importante. CYPHER Learning me da esa capacidad y, en algunos casos, me motiva a hacer un trabajo extra. Tomemos, por ejemplo, un cuestionario relativamente mecánico. Debido a que existe la oportunidad de dar retroalimentación, lo hace menos mecánico y les permite a los estudiantes saber dónde se equivocaron y cuál es la impresión del maestro. Eso me parece importante.

También ha permitido la incorporación de nuevas herramientas vinculadas a la plataforma. Es una herramienta para mi día a día. Cada paso que doy en la materia, ya sea virtual o presencial, tiene una característica correspondiente en CYPHER Learning.

Estamos pasando por la pandemia y con el confinamiento y las cuarentenas, e incluso cuando hay un brote local, CYPHER Learning nos permite pasar rápidamente a la educación virtual. Estamos adoptando un tipo de educación híbrida, y eso ha sido fundamental durante la pandemia.

También me permite tener una fuente de referencia de lo que está pasando durante el semestre. Nos brinda un registro único de las interacciones presenciales y virtuales, lo que lo convierte en una referencia más sólida.

Otro beneficio es que ha ayudado a ahorrar tiempo en las estrategias de intervención para los estudiantes, especialmente para aquellos que necesitan orientación. Me lo ha facilitado bastante en casos particulares. El hecho de que pueda recuperar material de una biblioteca y cargarlo de forma adaptativa me ha ahorrado mucho tiempo y me permite adaptarme a la situación.

El hecho de que los alumnos tengan un punto de referencia en la plataforma hace que las clases no se fragmenten. La plataforma permite al docente unificar actividades enfocando a sus alumnos en instrucciones o contenidos o actividades. Crea puntos de referencia bastante sólidos sobre los estudiantes.

También es genial que no tengas que imprimir cosas. CYPHER Learning no es la única solución con esta capacidad, ya que otras aplicaciones te permiten hacerlo. Pero podemos vincularlos con CYPHER Learning y eso también es bueno. La universidad también ha incluido el acceso a las bibliotecas internacionales y esto significa que los estudiantes no buscan información en cualquier lugar, sino que utilizan estas bibliotecas. Como resultado, ha habido muchos ahorros de costos. Prefiero que los alumnos hagan el trabajo virtualmente en lugar de imprimirlo.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

En comparación con otras plataformas, es muy fácil de usar e intuitiva, y tanto los profesores como los estudiantes pueden encontrar fácilmente lo que necesitan y utilizar las funciones sin tener una gran formación. Obviamente, necesitas una mínima introducción al sistema.

Hay un montón de funcionalidades integradas y muchas más funciones de las que usamos, cosas que necesitamos saber en detalle.

En cuanto a la automatización me he dedicado a hacer pruebas o calificaciones de forma más automatizada, pero no he profundizado en otras cosas.

CYPHER Learning ofrece una variedad de actividades para ayudar con la participación de los estudiantes. Hay algunos alumnos que se limitan en cuanto a lo que el profesor les ofrece desde la plataforma, pero hay otros alumnos que aprovechan bastante bien los recursos de la plataforma. Debido a la falta de habilidades de algunos estudiantes en mi país, no hay posibilidad de explotarlo todo.

Permite la integración de diferentes enfoques pedagógicos. Si bien es cierto que todavía no podemos hablar de un escenario completamente virtual, lo que se ha hecho en cambio es una adaptación de lo presencial a lo virtual. Muchos docentes han intentado recrear su formato presencial, mediado por la virtualidad, y CYPHER Learning ha sido fuente de material y de clases grabadas y publicadas.

Algunos profesores han utilizado otros enfoques, como el uso de los aspectos colaborativos que hace posible CYPHER Learning. De esa manera, el aprendizaje no es solo a través de una clase compartida con explicaciones, sino que también incluye actividades que permiten construir y aprender a través de la colaboración. Este es un salto que nos permite la educación virtual. Desde mi punto de vista, CYPHER Learning tiene herramientas tanto participativas como colaborativas y esta me parece una muy buena combinación. No lo tiene todo, y es cierto que podría haber más aplicaciones adaptadas e incluidas.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Quería usarlo como una fuente de comunicación con los estudiantes, pero eso no funcionó muy bien. Es fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes, pero CYPHER Learning se constituye como una herramienta de comunicación formal. Muestra lo que se dicen alumnos y profesores, pero para avisos no formales, prácticos, diálogos y preguntas sobre lo que la gente no entendió, usan mucho más WhatsApp o Telegram.

A nivel de comunicaciones diarias, CYPHER Learning no es la herramienta que utilizan. Solo se usa para cosas como solicitar permiso o comunicarse con toda la clase. El tipo de comunicación que tenemos es bastante horizontal en general, por lo que hay mucha comunicación no formal, y esa comunicación personal entre alumnos y profesores es normalmente vía WhatsApp o Telegram.

Me gustaría ver una mejora en la vinculación entre pares y la posibilidad de que los estudiantes compartan conocimientos entre ellos sobre el trabajo que realizan. Eso sería de gran ayuda ya que no sería un formato de comunicación de uno a muchos.

Otra posibilidad sería incorporar aplicaciones adicionales para ampliar las funcionalidades de la plataforma. No sé si existen o no porque no tengo privilegios de administrador, pero eso podría ser interesante.

Además, los profesores no tienen privilegios en comparación con otras plataformas. No podemos conectar aplicaciones que nos permitan afinar LMS o potenciarlo mucho.

Otro punto es que hay algunos trabajos o tareas que no todos pueden ver. Si alguien envía trabajos, puedo verlos pero los estudiantes no tienen esa posibilidad, o al menos yo no la he descubierto.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la plataforma?

He estado usando CYPHER Learning durante un año y medio o dos años.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Nunca he tenido ningún problema con su disponibilidad. Sé que hay estudiantes que han tenido problemas que estaban relacionados con sus navegadores o con el acceso a Internet que tenían. Pero nunca ha surgido ningún problema con la plataforma en sí. Siempre ha funcionado bastante bien.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

Como institución, no hemos probado la escalabilidad de forma exhaustiva. Somos una universidad con sede en cuatro ciudades y la distancia entre ellas es de 400 kilómetros. CYPHER Learning nos ha dado la oportunidad de tener una sola asignatura con un solo profesor que trabaja en un lugar determinado y eso ha sido una forma de escalabilidad que antes no existía. Lo llamamos "interramificación".

Tenemos unos 20.000 alumnos y unos 2.000 profesores además de otras 500 personas que están vinculadas a otros servicios que probablemente lo estén utilizando. No sé exactamente cuántos usuarios tenemos.

La universidad nos ofrece esta plataforma y todos los profesores y alumnos están vinculados a ella. Cada uno lo aprovecha de una manera diferente. En determinados casos y situaciones específicas, se siguen utilizando otras plataformas y no siempre están vinculadas a CYPHER Learning. Hay profesores que prefieren usar otras plataformas para ciertas cosas.

¿Cómo son el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

Nunca he utilizado el soporte técnico pero se hace a través de la plataforma, ya sea presencial, en una llamada telefónica o a través de un chat de WhatsApp. Por lo que entiendo, suelen responder muy rápido.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

He trabajado con otras plataformas, así que cuando vi CYPHER Learning me resultó muy intuitivo y no tuve problemas. Es necesario invertir un poco de tiempo para entender ciertas modalidades, pero es sencillo y amigable, una vez que conoces el entorno.

Me llevó un par de semanas configurar las cosas esenciales, mientras que las cosas más complejas me llevaron meses.

Como parte de nuestra estrategia de implementación, nuestra universidad hizo tres cosas. Primero llamó a un experto local que no era de la institución ni de CYPHER Learning, y él hizo la capacitación inicial. Hubo otra ronda de formación para los profesores que profundizó un poco más, ayudándoles a investigar y utilizar la herramienta, especialmente en el ámbito de la evaluación. Finalmente, hubo un curso organizado por una universidad argentina que utiliza CYPHER Learning para estrategias pedagógicas.

¿Y el equipo de implementación?

Utilizamos un integrador al principio y un consultor después. Parte de la capacitación fue más técnica, sobre el uso de la plataforma en sí y cómo funciona. Otras sesiones fueron más sobre cómo explotarlo pedagógicamente. Eran dos aspectos diferentes, pero ambos fueron muy útiles.

El consultor fue un representante de la Universidad Católica de Salta en Argentina quien nos brindó los aspectos más pedagógicos relacionados con CYPHER Learning.

¿Cuál es mi experiencia con los precios, el costo de configuración y las licencias?

Si comparamos CYPHER Learning con Modul, Modul es gratuito pero el problema es que la cantidad de tiempo que hay que dedicar a la configuración de sus herramientas es considerable. Cuando traduces ese tiempo en dinero, tiene un peso económico. Con CYPHER Learning, todo está listo, lo que facilita su uso sin tener demasiadas configuraciones profundas o requisitos de conocimiento de lenguajes o programación.

No sé cuánto cuesta CYPHER Learning, pero si tienes el presupuesto, vale la pena.

¿Qué otras soluciones evalué?

Al comienzo de la pandemia, usábamos una plataforma llamada Modul, que es de código abierto, pero era menos fácil de usar para todos. También teníamos una plataforma llamada Classroom pero todo estaba un poco fragmentado. CYPHER Learning nos ha permitido unificar todas las tareas de profesores y alumnos en una única plataforma.

También he usado una plataforma paga llamada Docent, pero con CYPHER Learning tengo acceso a plataformas locales construidas por universidades.

Hay algunas otras plataformas en línea gratuitas y una de ellas tenía una versión de prueba y luego puedes actualizar a una versión paga y recibir más herramientas. estaba muy dedicada a la vertiente educativa, es decir, a la difusión de contenidos y actividades, pero tenía muy poco en cuanto a evaluación o gestión administrativa. En ese sentido, no proporcionó el apoyo que necesitábamos.

Al final, nuestra universidad convirtió a CYPHER Learning en la única plataforma oficial. Incluso si no hubiera sido obligatorio, lo habría elegido de todos modos.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Cuando se trata de aprendizaje basado en competencias, no sé si está completamente habilitado en nuestro caso. Puedo ver que los alumnos tienen insignias o premios, y cuando se han destacado en una materia u otra, pero no he podido ver un registro del rendimiento del alumno. Es probable que no esté habilitado.

En cuanto al personal necesario para gestionar el LMS, hemos tenido que prescindir de algunas funciones y habilitar otras funciones. Se ha disminuido parte de la gestión administrativa, pero se ha incrementado el nivel de soporte técnico para estudiantes y profesores. Algunas personas han tenido que asumir roles de asesores tecnológicos y pedagógicos, mientras que otras han podido reducir su participación en las calificaciones porque esos procesos son más automáticos.

Es un producto bastante completo que no solo te permite gestionar contenidos y actividades educativas sino también gestionar cosas administrativamente. Puede crear comunidades de aprendizaje y te permite vincular muchas herramientas. También hay muchas opciones para acceder a las bibliotecas en un solo lugar. Es adecuado para una universidad. Otros tipos de instituciones educativas pueden encontrarlo demasiado grande.

En general, es bastante bueno y tiene lo esencial.

CYPHER Learning was especially helpful during the pandemic. All of the features were useful including creating and evaluating assignments, creating classes, creating child classes, badges, gamification, and more.

We are always doing training sessions, and whenever we think to use different features, such as the Portfolio, we include them in our training sessions. For instance, we do a training session for teachers before the school year starts. Then, if there are requests for retraining in the middle of the school year, we try to put those interested into the program.

We provide our users with content and basic tools through the CYPHER Learning Help Center. There is an icon in the system that leads to their help desk, and this is what we ask our teachers to use, especially during the training sessions. If they have issues or concerns about using any of the features that CYPHER Learning offers, we try to emphasize the use of the help icon to resolve them.

The most valuable feature is the ability for us to create personalized lessons. This is better suited to our students and learners than offering content or a subject that is already built into the system. This is one of the main things that I am looking for in an LMS.

When we create personalized classes, the concept of a child class is important. This is because we have our basic education but each course has several sections. In CYPHER Learning, a good feature is that we can create a child class based on a parent class. We don't need to create a new class and then upload new lessons or assignments.

When we create assignments and give them to the students, the system checks the answers based on the input made by the teachers.

The user interface makes the platform easy to use and manage.

We recently had a conversation with their team to discuss some of the changes that we wanted to see in the product.

There are some analytics issues that need to be resolved, including the item analysis.

We have had problems with synching some of the lessons.

The grading system itself is something that we discussed with them because it's not well-adapted in our use case. The list of students needs to be organized according to gender. The list of students in the product contains both male and female students, whereas, in our grading system, we list the male students followed by the female students.

The grade book needs to be improved because that is one of the most valuable features. It's how we assess our students.

The assessment tools should also be improved. It would be helpful if it could be set up in such a way that the students will be able to take an online exam. This will help to develop their higher-order thinking skills.

Perhaps they can integrate the course evaluations.

We have been using CYPHER Learning for more than two years.

CYPHER Learning is a stable platform. They provide their system maintenance notice ahead of time and for us, it means that we are able to announce it to the organization or to the institution ahead of time.

CYPHER Learning is committed to the stability of the system.

We are deployed across multiple locations. This school year, we have basic education from kindergarten through grade 12. We also have two college campuses with different departments, and this is in two different cities.

We have a total of 719 faculty, which are composed of teachers and other employees. We have a total of 15,316 students that also use the solution.

In our organization, some of the faculty are also enrolled in postgraduate study. They are able to use an exemption in this case and use their teacher's account.

Another aspect of scalability is upgrading. Specifically, we are able to level up. We were originally just using the basic features but now we are upgrading our horizons. We are including features such as portfolio, assignment, and other assessment tools. We did not stop growing after the first year.

We were also able to integrate other applications, such as Google Meet. We would like to use Zoom but Google Meet is the most convenient for us.

We are working toward using the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) next. Essentially, we didn't stop with what we had learned during the first two years. We are leveling up. Whatever products or features are being proposed or posted in the product news, we are trying to use them.

Their support is available 24/5 and they are excellent. They're very responsive.

They also have a support tracking system that shows the progress with respect to resolving an issue.

Overall, I would rate the support a nine out of ten.

Positive

We did a simple evaluation but otherwise, we did not use another LMS solution.

I was involved in the initial setup, but the majority of it was handled by our IT department. For the first year after our implementation, things were good. We did not experience challenges during the initial setup or immediately afterward.

Our implementation was done in stages, and training began with the core group. As a part of the core group, my training session was conducted by the CYPHER Learning team in the Philippines. After that, training was done for teachers in select groups. Not all of them were completed during the first year.

We selected different groups such as basic education from grade five to senior high, as well as selected courses in the colleges or in the bachelor's degree. Then, we also had postgraduate study. All of the teachers for these groups were trained during the first year.

During the first year, we also leveled up our training. We went from basic training to level two training, or perhaps intermediate training. The following year, we added courses and grade levels.

The next groups to be added were grades three and four. For the college courses, we added all of them. In fact, all of the higher education was added during the second year of our implementation.

From that point, our teachers have a training session before the school year starts, and we regularly upgrade the faculty members on the use of the system.

For our students, we create tutorial videos. These are particularly helpful for new students and transfers. We want them to be able to easily use the system.

Finally, as part of this process, we conduct training sessions specifically for newly hired teacher personnel. This is done in coordination with the HR department and with the approval of our vice president of academic affairs.

We have our IT specialist, who is also part of the team.

We have a team of five people that are responsible for maintenance, each of whom has their own role. We create accounts for teachers and students. We are also involved in creating training sessions, reactivation of archived accounts, and technical support.

If it is not a serious issue, we handle the technical support. However, if it is required at a higher level, then teachers are referred to consult the help icon.

The members of the team have their own regions. There is one for each of the two cities and three for higher education. Our IT technician is in addition to these five that maintain it. As we expand the use of our system, we expect this to increase as well. Also, as we continue to build, we are expanding our horizons.

For example, we are tapping the teachers and faculty members that we know are well-versed in the use of CYPHER Learning. For each of the five of us in the team, we are tapping perhaps two or three more per organization. In my case, with basic education, I have two from the elementary department and two from senior high. Then, from other colleges, I think there are two or more included in our team.

As an LMS coordinator, I cannot guarantee that we have seen ROI. However, my feeling from using the system is that we are getting a return on our investment.

We currently have a two-year contract with the vendor.

We have compared pricing with different vendors and found that CYPHER Learning was the most reasonable. It is not the most expensive platform of its type but it has a lot of good features, which is the most valuable thing for me. It gives us what is most useful for online teaching.

There are no additional costs for CYPHER Learning itself. However, we had an extra product that was built into the platform, and there was an additional charge for this.

Some of us worked with Moodle to assess it, although it was not used for a large number of students. In my case, I used Moodle for three sections just to do a dry run. However, I was not able to get value from it because I didn't find it to be a user-friendly platform. That's why we had to move to another LMS.

Our administration regularly looks into other learning platforms, although we are currently locked into a two-year contract so I don't expect that we will change solutions.

The first year after we implemented this solution was good. Our faculty members and students were excited to use the system. However, as the years have gone by, there have been problems or challenges that have arisen.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that they have a good design layout, and they have features such as course export, wherein we are allowed to export into different formats. This is something that is needed by the teachers. The e-portfolio is also good. Generally speaking, I recommend CYPHER Learning because there are components that have proven to be useful in managing activities, especially nowadays that we are in an online teaching, flexible learning delivery model.

Compared to other platforms, it is easy to use, manage, and navigate the interface. You do not necessarily need a tutor or training to learn to use it. It is convenient for the purpose of conducting assessments and using other tools. It helps to convey lessons and give information for both students and teachers, whether the sessions are synchronous or asynchronous.

The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this solution is that you should never stop learning. Don't stop exploring CYPHER Learning because otherwise, you'll depend on what has been taught during the training. You won't explore their new products and you will be left behind. If there are new products or features released, you should try them for yourself. If you find that they are productive and useful, then include them in future training sessions.

Most of our staff are grateful to have CYPHER Learning as our learning management system. There are still some features that we haven't used, including the portfolio and the grade book. We may look into the portfolio, as they have already enlightened us on how to use it to empower our work.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

It is the LMS that we use at our university. Personally, I am in the language department and am an English teacher. For the courses that I give, I use CYPHER Learning for practically everything. Everything is in it: the material, the tasks. It is a platform that helps us a lot in organizing our classes.

If I tell students that they have to do an essay, I create an evaluation rubric. They can see the rubric and understand exactly what they have to do in the essay. That makes it much clearer for students to see precisely what needs to be done. With rubrics, they can see progress transparently.

The system also helps when it comes to intervention strategies for students because, in the first weeks, you realize who is interacting in CYPHER Learning and who is not. You can see who is doing the units and who isn’t working and that gives you a chance to ask a student why they aren't doing their homework. In this way, you can develop strategies to help them. For example, you can try to change the content or advise the student to manage their time differently. These could be factors that influence how the student is interacting on the platform.

Compared to traditional ways of teaching, I would estimate CYPHER Learning saves 40 percent of my time.

The solution’s ability to bridge the learning gap for students is not bad, although each student is different so not everyone will go at the same pace. CYPHER Learning helps me in identifying each student’s mastery of the subject. I can deepen my work with students who are excelling as well as with students who are struggling. For those who are struggling, I can give them a little more time to complete the assignment. I don't think everyone progresses in the same way and CYPHER Learning gives me the tools to help students individually.

Another benefit is the time saved due to the reduction in administrative work. You can download marks to an Excel document and everything is already organized. In addition, I manage the language department and I can ask the teachers to send me Excels of their students' progress. That enables me to observe what the teachers are doing and see who has not worked much through CYPHER Learning. I can quickly talk to the teacher and solve any problems. The decrease in administration saves about 30 percent of my time.

It also helps save significant time at the end of the month. If a student has a complaint, we can see everything in the system. The evidence is always there.

And saving on paper is important to me, both as an individual and as a teacher. We are trying as a university not to use paper. Because all the tasks are in CYPHER Learning, everything is digital and online and I do not need to deliver so many paper reports.

Last year I participated in a contest in which we had to submit a video about something that I like a lot in CYPHER Learning. I sent in a video about the discussion board. I like it because you can upload any topic, video, reading, or quote, and the students can give their opinions and interact. That helps to deepen the discussion.

I also like the discussion board a lot because students can give their opinions there and interact with each other. For me, as an English teacher, it is also important because they practice writing in a real context. It helps them to have a voice and to know what they think about a certain topic.

Another valuable feature is that it makes it easy to see the progress of the students, and students themselves can follow their own progress.

In terms of automation, you can create your own units and place the necessary information in each unit. Although we in the language department use another platform where all our content is uploaded, with CYPHER Learning we can see if students are learning according to the tasks they are given. We can ask for videos and recordings and, in that way, it's automated. The process is more agile than the traditional process. The automation is good.

I also like the variety of options. An assignment can be just a simple essay, a paragraph, or the videos or recordings I mentioned. These options give students the opportunity to be creative.

Sometimes we do exercises that do not have a grade associated with them and that helps students to receive positive feedback without feeling evaluated. Students understand that it is not only about receiving a good grade but that it's also about self-improvement and they develop motivation as a result.

Also, the fact that they can see their grades through CYPHER Learning lets them know what they have to work on, according to their score. It is very organized.

And communicating with students is easy because we can send individual and group messages. This past semester, we sent several such messages. It's a feature that works very well. As an English teacher, I write everything in English and this provides my students with an additional way to learn the language. Sometimes, I ask them to send me an email in English in a more formal way, as well. For those reasons, communicating through the platform has helped me a lot.

Communication is very important, especially because of the pandemic. Sometimes, students have doubts, questions, or problems, but with the system’s communication tools, I can reply to them more easily. It saves us time and we can focus on more important things when we are in class.

Perhaps there is room for improvement in the gamification part. I have used it but it has not been very clear to me. It may be my responsibility for not asking about it in the training sessions, but the way you use it is not so clear. I know that there are tutorials, but I would like something more user-friendly that would explain how to use this feature.

They should also send out more questionnaires to receive feedback.

I have been using CYPHER Learning since the second semester of 2020.

It seems to me that there were some problems with the internet in 2020, but they were our problems. This year, I have not seen any problems.

The fact that our university decided to buy this LMS is very instructive because not many universities in La Paz have something like this. With each semester, every student and teacher becomes more and more familiar with CYPHER Learning. Most other universities use Google Classroom.

In the language department, we have 10 teachers and each semester we manage approximately 600 students.

The solution is being used throughout the entire university.

The university acquired CYPHER Learning due to the pandemic.

We have a platform that has English content specifically for our department. It is 70 percent similar to CYPHER Learning but we use it more for uploaded content than anything else. So for us, the changes and getting familiar with CYPHER Learning were not as strange and complex as they were for other departments. We continue to use other platforms, but everything is concentrated in CYPHER Learning.

The first part was a bit complex. We received training from the university. The systems center also had a person in charge of everything, but the beginning was complex because there were many settings. Once the systems center took charge of that, it was much easier to use. Like any tool, at first, it will be complex until you practice using it. It's normal to face some difficulties.

We started the CYPHER Learning training in June and by August we were done. We already have a department that is in charge of providing orientation, follow-up, and courses and, if a teacher does not understand something, they receive the necessary support. If I have a question, I can write to them and they answer me quickly. For example, if I want to understand more about gamification, I can talk to the department to receive help.

Our deployment strategy was that the university put a person in charge of each department and CYPHER Learning trained those people. In our department, a colleague took on that position for everything related to CYPHER Learning tutorials. We had information regarding the schedule of the training sessions and which tutorials we had to watch, and we were also able to consult with that colleague. In each department, the leader provided that information. There was also a support team for students from the computer department. Now, we have a support department that focuses on CYPHER Learning.

Our systems center supports login or connection problems for both students and teachers. We also have a pedagogical monitoring team. There are probably 10 people involved on our side, but only one or two work directly with CYPHER Learning. In each department there is a coordinator who helps new teachers with questions and training.

CYPHER Learning is a good option for a large organization because it makes it easier to organize massive amounts of content, including data, files, and exams, as well as assign and review tasks. It makes things clearer for students. You can create In general, it is a good product.

It has taught me about the importance of adaptation. At first, I was a little worried that the students might not be able to adapt, but in the end, all the teachers and the students handled it well. It has taught me to adapt and set an example as a role model by using the platform.

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

Es el LMS que usamos en nuestra universidad. Personalmente, estoy en el departamento de idiomas y soy profesora de inglés. Para los cursos que doy uso CYPHER Learning para prácticamente todo. Todo está en él: el material, las tareas. Es una plataforma que nos ayuda mucho a la hora de organizar nuestras clases.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Si les digo a los alumnos que tienen que hacer un ensayo, creo una rúbrica de evaluación. Pueden ver la rúbrica y entender exactamente lo que tienen que hacer en el ensayo. Eso hace que sea mucho más claro para los estudiantes ver con precisión lo que se debe hacer. Con las rúbricas, pueden ver el progreso de forma transparente.

El sistema también ayuda cuando se trata de estrategias de intervención para los estudiantes porque, en las primeras semanas, te das cuenta de quién está interactuando en CYPHER Learning y quién no. Puedes ver quién está haciendo las unidades y quién no está trabajando y eso te da la oportunidad de preguntarle a un estudiante por qué no está haciendo su tarea. De esta manera, puedes desarrollar estrategias para ayudarlos. Por ejemplo, puedes intentar cambiar el contenido o aconsejar al estudiante que administre su tiempo de manera diferente. Estos podrían ser factores que influyen en la forma en que el estudiante interactúa en la plataforma.

En comparación con las formas tradicionales de enseñanza, estimaría que CYPHER Learning LMS ahorra el 40 por ciento de mi tiempo.

La capacidad de la solución para cerrar las diferencias de conocimiento entre los estudiantes no es mala, aunque cada estudiante es diferente, por lo que no todos irán al mismo ritmo. CYPHER Learning me ayuda a identificar el dominio de la materia por parte de cada alumno. Puedo profundizar mi trabajo con estudiantes que sobresalen, así como con estudiantes que tienen dificultades. Para aquellos que tienen dificultades, puedo darles un poco más de tiempo para completar la tarea. No creo que todos progresen de la misma manera y CYPHER Learning me da las herramientas para ayudar a los alumnos individualmente.

Otro beneficio es el ahorro de tiempo debido a la reducción del trabajo administrativo. Puedes descargar todas las notas a un documento de Excel y todo ya está organizado. Además, gestiono el departamento de idiomas y puedo pedir a los profesores que me envíen Excels del progreso de sus alumnos. Eso me permite observar lo que están haciendo los profesores y ver quién no ha trabajado mucho a través de CYPHER Learning. Puedo hablar rápidamente con el maestro y resolver cualquier problema. La disminución en la administración ahorra alrededor del 30 por ciento de mi tiempo.

También ayuda a ahorrar mucho tiempo al final del mes. Si un estudiante tiene una queja, podemos ver todo en el sistema. La evidencia siempre está ahí.

Y ahorrar en papel es importante para mí, tanto como persona y como docente. Estamos tratando como universidad de no usar papel. Porque todas las tareas están en CYPHER Learning, todo es digital y online y no necesito entregar tantos informes en papel.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

El año pasado participé en un concurso en el que teníamos que enviar un video sobre algo que me gusta mucho en CYPHER Learning. Envié un video sobre el foro de discusión. Me gusta porque puedes subir cualquier tema, video, lectura o cita, y los alumnos pueden opinar e interactuar. Eso ayuda a profundizar la discusión.

También me gusta mucho el foro de discusión porque los estudiantes pueden dar sus opiniones allí e interactuar entre ellos. Para mí, como profesora de inglés, también es importante porque practican la escritura en un contexto real. Les ayuda a tener voz y saber lo que piensan sobre un tema determinado.

Otra característica valiosa es que facilita ver el progreso de los estudiantes, y los propios estudiantes pueden seguir su propio progreso.

En términos de automatización, puede crear sus propias unidades y colocar la información necesaria en cada unidad. Aunque en el departamento de idiomas usamos otra plataforma donde se sube todo nuestro contenido, con CYPHER Learning podemos ver si los estudiantes están aprendiendo de acuerdo con las tareas que se les asignan. Podemos pedir videos y grabaciones y, de esa forma, está automatizado. El proceso es más ágil que el proceso tradicional. La automatización es buena.

También me gusta la variedad de opciones. Una tarea puede ser simplemente un ensayo simple, un párrafo o los videos o grabaciones que mencioné. Estas opciones dan a los estudiantes la oportunidad de ser creativos.

A veces hacemos ejercicios que no tienen asociada una nota y eso ayuda a que los alumnos reciban feedback positivo sin sentirse evaluados. Los estudiantes entienden que no se trata solo de obtener una buena calificación, sino que también se trata de superación personal y, como resultado, desarrollan motivación.

Además, el hecho de que puedan ver sus calificaciones a través de CYPHER Learning les permite saber en qué tienen que trabajar, según su puntaje. Es muy organizado.

Y comunicarse con los alumnos es fácil porque podemos enviar mensajes individuales y grupales. El semestre pasado, enviamos varios mensajes de este tipo. Es una característica que funciona muy bien. Como profesora de inglés, escribo todo en inglés y esto brinda a mis alumnos una forma adicional de aprender el idioma. A veces, también les pido que me envíen un correo electrónico en inglés de una manera más formal. Por eso me ha ayudado mucho comunicarme a través de la plataforma.

La comunicación es muy importante, sobre todo por la pandemia. A veces los alumnos tienen dudas, preguntas o problemas, pero con las herramientas de comunicación del sistema puedo responderles más fácilmente. Nos ahorra tiempo y podemos centrarnos en cosas más importantes cuando estamos en clase.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Quizás en la parte de la gamificación. Lo he usado pero no me ha quedado muy claro. Puede ser mi responsabilidad por no preguntarlo en las capacitaciones, pero la forma en que se usa no es tan clara. Sé que hay tutoriales, pero me gustaría algo más fácil que explicara cómo usar esta función.

También deberían enviar más cuestionarios para recibir comentarios.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la plataforma?

He estado usando CYPHER Learning desde el segundo semestre de 2020.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Me parece que hubo algunos problemas con la conexión al internet en el 2020, pero fueron nuestros problemas. Este año no he visto ningún problema.

¿Qué opino sobre la escalabilidad de la plataforma?

El hecho de que nuestra universidad decidiera comprar este LMS es muy instructivo porque no muchas universidades en La Paz tienen algo así. Con cada semestre, cada estudiante y maestro se familiariza cada vez más con CYPHER Learning. La mayoría de las otras universidades usan Google Classroom.

En el departamento de idiomas contamos con 10 profesores y cada semestre manejamos aproximadamente 600 alumnos.

La solución se está utilizando en toda la universidad.

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

La universidad adquirió a CYPHER Learning debido a la pandemia.

Contamos con una plataforma que tiene contenido en inglés específicamente para nuestro departamento. Es un 70 por ciento similar a CYPHER Learning, pero lo usamos más para cargar contenido que para cualquier otra cosa. Entonces, para nosotros, los cambios y familiarizarnos con CYPHER Learning no fueron tan extraños y complejos como lo fueron para otros departamentos. Seguimos usando otras plataformas, pero todo se concentra en CYPHER Learning.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

La primera parte fue un poco compleja, recibimos capacitación de la universidad y el centro de sistemas también tenía una persona a cargo de todo, pero el comienzo fue complejo porque habían muchos ajustes. Una vez que el centro de sistemas se hizo cargo de eso, fue mucho más fácil de usar. Como cualquier herramienta, al principio será compleja hasta que practiques su uso. Es normal enfrentar algunas dificultades.

Comenzamos el entrenamiento CYPHER Learning en junio y en agosto habíamos terminado. Ya contamos con un departamento que se encarga de brindar orientación, seguimiento y cursos y, si un docente no entiende algo, recibe el apoyo necesario y si tengo alguna duda les puedo escribir y me contestan rápido. Por ejemplo, si quiero entender más sobre la gamificación, puedo hablar con el departamento para recibir ayuda.

Nuestra estrategia de despliegue fue que la universidad pusiera a una persona a cargo de cada departamento y CYPHER Learning capacitó a esas personas. En nuestro departamento un compañero asumió ese cargo para todo lo relacionado con los tutoriales de CYPHER Learning. Teníamos información sobre el horario de los entrenamientos y qué tutoriales teníamos que ver y también pudimos consultar con ese colega. En cada departamento, el encargado proporcionaba ese tipo de información. También se contó con un equipo de apoyo a los alumnos del departamento de informática. Hoy en día, tenemos un departamento de soporte que se enfoca en CYPHER Learning.

Nuestro centro de sistemas se encarga de solucionar problemas de inicio de sesión o conexión tanto para estudiantes como para profesores. También contamos con un equipo de seguimiento pedagógico. Probablemente hay 10 personas involucradas de nuestro lado, pero solo una o dos trabajan directamente con CYPHER Learning. En cada departamento hay un coordinador que ayuda a los nuevos maestros con preguntas y capacitación.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

CYPHER Learning es una buena opción para una organización grande porque facilita la organización de grandes cantidades de contenido, incluidos datos, archivos y exámenes, así como tareas de asignación y revisión. Hace las cosas más claras para los estudiantes. En general, es un buen producto.

Me ha enseñado sobre la importancia de la adaptación. Al principio, estaba un poco preocupada de que los estudiantes no pudieran adaptarse, pero al final, todos los maestros y los estudiantes lo manejaron bien. Me ha enseñado a adaptarme y dar ejemplo como modelo a seguir usando la plataforma.

I work with two levels of regular, basic education for children between the ages of three and five years. I also work in regular, basic education for primary students who are six to eight years old.

The system enables a playful, interesting, and attractive way for students to access information. Before the pandemic, the information they were presented with was seen as something rigid or routine. With CYPHER Learning, they have the possibility of being managers of their own learning. Thanks to CYPHER Learning, they have a new tool for adapting and getting ahead.

Before CYPHER Learning, the classes were a bit routine and common; even repetitive. Now, they are much more attractive. The system dusts off many things for you and reminds you that you have the capacity to do much more, to innovate from the base you already have, and this is very enriching for everyone. We all win.

Looking at the sections across the different rubrics that CYPHER Learning has allows students to have an overview. I find the way that CYPHER Learning presents all the information interesting, attractive, and easy to access. We have heterogeneous classrooms, and children have different attitudes, talents, intelligence, and emotions. Through CYPHER Learning, a teacher gets a much clearer vision.

The system helps create a sense of accompaniment, since students no longer feel alone. I listen to them as a teacher and, through CYPHER Learning, I can provide them with recommendations and make them feel safer as a student. These recommendations humanize us in their eyes.

With the five-year-old students in particular, we work a lot on the subjects of autonomy and self-help. CYPHER Learning has tools that allow them to work on that autonomy little by little. That way, when they reach primary school, they make great progress in terms of their autonomy and their development in individual and team-oriented work.

As a teacher, you have past experience, but CYPHER Learning provides you with more resources for educational work. If I want to refine the resources, it saves me a lot of time because I don't need to look for different tools to be able to share a video or upload other content. It's all together. If before working with CYPHER Learning, that kind of work took me a couple of days, now I'm talking about hours.

The work I do is not so administrative, it is more pedagogical because I am a teacher. But the platform has saved me time. In my pedagogical work, I have saved 90 percent because I have everything within reach. 

Of course, the system is all virtual; there is nothing printed out and not even any USBs are needed. Everything is within the platform.

For me, it is a great advantage to work with CYPHER Learning. It allows me to have access to students in a playful and practical way. 

The content that I upload is sent in advance so students are already familiar with my class and what I am going to work on. I indicate to students what the next topic will be, and this makes it much more effective in class. In CYPHER Learning, they can see exactly what the content will be in the following week. Of course, I do not tell them about all the content in order to create anticipation for the next class.

I am able to monitor the classes: who has entered, who has not entered yet, and who has viewed the classes.

If we are working on an assignment it allows me to upload an assessment rubric where they can see and learn about their progress.

There is also a section where they can communicate with me. They can send me messages and I can schedule consultations with them.

The platform's calendar allows me to synchronize the sessions. Apart from the sessions, I can include extra-curricular work. For example, I have an "open classroom" with students and I am able to carry out this project through the system. In that context, we could also see, using CYPHER Learning, which sections of the project we were in and learn more about it. The best thing is that not only the students who participated in the "open classroom" could access it, but also the rest of the students.

In terms of adaptive learning, through the different headings of CYPHER Learning, such as tasks and the sessions that are going to be developed, we work on the issue of inclusion, since it is open. The rhythm, style, and learning levels of the students are respected and they can access and process the information at their own pace, their own level, and according to their own interests.

Another advantage is that you have the tools to include a canvas, videos, words, and other striking and gamified elements.

As teachers, we have the option and the freedom to add content, and to work in a personalized way with the kids who need more attention. I can also make curricular adaptations to the needs of the group I'm teaching. I also really appreciate that this information is saved in CYPHER Learning. It's almost like a historical record that you can count on and access again.

All of these features are very valuable to me.

Something that bothers me is that CYPHER Learning does not allow me to upload high-resolution videos.

I would also like CYPHER Learning to constantly give training days for all the institutions that work with them. We recently had face-to-face training, but this could be done more frequently.

I have been using CYPHER Learning since 2020. 

There have been problems during the year, but they have been sporadic and they did not take long to resolve.

In our school, everyone uses it. Between administrative staff and teachers, we have about 300 people using it.

Last year, they met with us virtually. This year, they met with us face-to-face. I think there could be more continuous guidance on their part.

Positive

We used SieWeb and we continue to use it, but for other purposes. CYPHER Learning is much more practical and educational. SieWeb is much simpler.

I did not participate in the installation but I was one of the first to use it. When the pandemic started, only a few teachers began to work with CYPHER Learning. We investigated what it was about and, thanks to a CYPHER Learning consultant, it was implemented faster. The process took about a month.

In the beginning, we had training provided by the vendor. My experience with the person from Mexico who was part of the CYPHER Learning support team was good. I understood him pretty well. Then, those of us who had knowledge of the platform gave "mini-helping sessions" to the rest of our colleagues. Our school's system administrators also created tutorials in CYPHER Learning.

It seems to me that investing in CYPHER Learning means you will save a lot of time. It modernizes education, develops everyone's skills, helps us tune in with students, and humanizes us as teachers in our educational work.

Working with the children and being aware of their development, and working according to their skills, is a constant challenge. It commits us much more to our role as teachers and professionals. It also makes us better people. The work is done with full communication, as a team.

It makes things very comfortable because in CYPHER Learning you have the ability to communicate through a game, a post, a message, a poster, and other attractive ways. This helps communication to be fluid. In addition, parents have access to what we send. Depending on the area you work in, our institution has various requirements in terms of communication. If you are a tutor, communication must be continuous. If you are administrative, it varies. In my case, as a computer teacher, it is important. I think communication is essential.

The basis of helping students with their learning is focusing on their interests and approaching them in a pedagogical way to include everyone's interests. The CYP HER Learningplatform allows you to upload what you want to offer. It gives you the freedom to do the best you can and in the most creative way. It gives you all the tools. It also gives you the option to continue exploring and discovering much more.

Sometimes we exclude younger students from the use of CYPHER Learning because we think the tools are not suitable for them, but these tools have a lot to offer.

I have had a very interesting experience with a student who, for health reasons, cannot come to class. Through CYPHER Learning, she receives all the class material that her classmates receive. It is a complete package. And the system allows me to access the family and the student and benefits the child and our institution.

I would like to continue using CYPHER Learning and I would like to see many more options and updates with new features. I would recommend CYPHER Learning at any time. My advice to others is to continuously explore the tool. Familiarize yourself with the platform so that you get used to it and it enriches your educational work.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Trabajo con dos niveles de educación básica regular para niños de tres a cinco años. También trabajo en educación básica regular para niños de primaria de seis a ocho años.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

El sistema permite una forma lúdica, interesante y atractiva para que los estudiantes accedan a la información. Antes de la pandemia, la información que les presentaban era vista como algo rígido o rutinario. Con CYPHER Learning tienen la posibilidad de ser gestores de su propio aprendizaje. Gracias a CYPHER Learning, tienen una nueva herramienta para adaptarse y salir adelante.

Antes de CYPHER Learning, las clases eran un poco rutinarias y comunes; incluso repetitivas. Ahora, son mucho más atractivas. El sistema te desempolva muchas cosas y te recuerda que tienes capacidad para hacer mucho más, para innovar desde la base que ya tienes, y eso es muy enriquecedor para todos. todos ganamos

Mirar las secciones a través de las diferentes rúbricas que tiene CYPHER Learning permite a los estudiantes tener una visión general. La forma en que CYPHER Learning presenta toda la información me parece interesante, atractiva y de fácil acceso. Tenemos aulas heterogéneas y los niños tienen diferentes actitudes, talentos, inteligencia y emociones. A través de CYPHER Learning, un maestro obtiene una visión mucho más clara.

El sistema ayuda a crear un sentido de acompañamiento, ya que los estudiantes ya no se sienten solos. Los escucho como docente y, a través de CYPHER Learning, puedo brindarles recomendaciones y hacerlos sentir más seguros como estudiantes. Estas recomendaciones nos humanizan a sus ojos.

Con los alumnos de cinco años en particular, trabajamos mucho los temas de autonomía y autoayuda. CYPHER Learning dispone de herramientas que les permiten trabajar esa autonomía poco a poco. Así, cuando llegan a la escuela primaria, progresan mucho en cuanto a su autonomía y su desarrollo en el trabajo individual y en equipo.

Como docente, tienes experiencia previa, pero CYPHER Learning te brinda más recursos para el trabajo educativo. Si quiero afinar los recursos, me ahorra mucho tiempo porque no necesito buscar diferentes herramientas para poder compartir un video o subir otro contenido. Está todo junto. Si antes de trabajar con CYPHER Learning ese tipo de trabajo me tomaba un par de días, ahora hablo de horas.

El trabajo que hago no es tan administrativo, es más pedagógico porque soy docente. Pero la plataforma me ha ahorrado tiempo. En mi trabajo pedagógico he ahorrado el 90 por ciento porque tengo todo al alcance.

Y como el entorno del sistema es todo virtual; no hay nada impreso y ni siquiera se necesitan USB. Todo está dentro de la plataforma.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Para mí es una gran ventaja trabajar con CYPHER Learning. Me permite tener acceso a los estudiantes de una manera lúdica y práctica.

El contenido que subo se envía con anticipación para que los estudiantes ya estén familiarizados con mi clase y en lo que voy a trabajar. Indico a los alumnos cuál será el próximo tema, y esto lo hace mucho más efectivo en clase. En CYPHER Learning, pueden ver exactamente cuál será el contenido la semana siguiente. Por supuesto, no les cuento todo el contenido para crear anticipación para la próxima clase.

Puedo monitorear las clases: quién ha entrado, quién no ha entrado todavía y quién ha visto las clases.

Si estamos trabajando en una tarea, me permite subir una rúbrica de evaluación donde pueden ver y conocer su progreso.

También hay una sección donde se pueden comunicar conmigo. Pueden enviarme mensajes y puedo programar consultas con ellos.

El calendario de la plataforma me permite sincronizar las sesiones. Aparte de las sesiones, puedo incluir trabajo extraescolar. Por ejemplo, tengo un "aula abierta" con estudiantes y puedo llevar a cabo este proyecto a través del sistema. En ese contexto, también pudimos ver, usando CYPHER Learning, en qué secciones del proyecto estábamos y aprender más sobre él. Lo mejor es que no solo podían acceder a ella los alumnos que participaban en el “aula abierta”, sino también el resto de alumnos.

En cuanto al aprendizaje adaptativo, a través de las distintas rúbricas de CYPHER Learning, como las tareas y las sesiones que se van a desarrollar, trabajamos el tema de la inclusión, ya que es abierto. Se respeta el ritmo, el estilo y el nivel de aprendizaje de los alumnos, que pueden acceder y procesar la información a su propio ritmo, a su propio nivel y de acuerdo con sus propios intereses.

Otra ventaja es que tienes las herramientas para incluir un canvas, videos, palabras y otros elementos llamativos y gamificados.

Como maestros, tenemos la opción y la libertad de agregar contenido y trabajar de manera personalizada con los niños que necesitan más atención. También puedo hacer adaptaciones curriculares a las necesidades del grupo al que estoy enseñando. También aprecio mucho que esta información se guarde en CYPHER Learning. Es casi como un registro histórico con el que puedes contar y acceder nuevamente.

Todas estas características son muy valiosas para mí.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Algo que me molesta es que CYPHER Learning no me permite subir videos en alta resolución.

También me gustaría que CYPHER LEARNING brinde constantemente jornadas de capacitación para todas las instituciones que trabajan con su sistema. Recientemente tuvimos capacitación presencial, pero esto podría hacerse con más frecuencia.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Uso CYPHER Learning desde 2020.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Ha habido problemas durante el año, pero han sido esporádicos y no han tardado en solucionarse.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

En nuestra escuela, todo el mundo lo usa. Entre personal administrativo y docentes, tenemos unas 300 personas usándolo.

¿Y el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

El año pasado, se reunieron con nosotros virtualmente. Este año, se reunieron con nosotros cara a cara. Creo que podría haber una orientación más continua de su parte.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Usamos SieWeb y continuamos usándolo, pero para otros fines. CYPHER Learning es mucho más práctico y educativo. SieWeb es mucho más simple.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

No participé en la instalación pero fui uno de los primeros en usarlo. Cuando comenzó la pandemia, solo unos pocos maestros comenzaron a trabajar con CYPHER Learning. Investigamos de qué se trataba y, gracias a un consultor de CYPHER Learning, se implementó más rápido. El proceso tomó alrededor de un mes.

Al principio, tuvimos capacitaciones proporcionadas por el proveedor. Mi experiencia con la persona de México que formó parte del equipo de soporte de CYPHER Learning fue buena. Lo entendí bastante bien. Luego, los que teníamos conocimiento de la plataforma dábamos “mini sesiones de ayuda” al resto de nuestros compañeros. Los administradores del sistema de nuestra escuela también crearon tutoriales en CYPHER Learning.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno de Inversión?

Me parece que invertir en CYPHER Learning significa que ahorrará mucho tiempo. Moderniza la educación, desarrolla las capacidades de todos, nos ayuda a sintonizarnos con los alumnos y nos humaniza como docentes en nuestra labor educativa.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Trabajar con los niños y ser conscientes de su desarrollo, y trabajar de acuerdo a sus habilidades, es un desafío constante. Nos compromete mucho más con nuestro papel como docentes y profesionales. También nos hace mejores personas. El trabajo se realiza con plena comunicación, en equipo.

Hace las cosas muy cómodas porque en CYPHER Learning tienes la capacidad de comunicarte a través de un juego, una publicación, un mensaje, un cartel y otras formas atractivas. Esto ayuda a que la comunicación sea fluida. Además, los padres tienen acceso a lo que enviamos. Dependiendo del área en la que trabaje, nuestra institución tiene varios requisitos en términos de comunicación. Si eres tutor, la comunicación debe ser continua. Si eres administrativo, varía. En mi caso, como profesor de informática, es importante. Creo que la comunicación es fundamental.

La base para ayudar a los estudiantes con su aprendizaje es centrarse en sus intereses y abordarlos de forma pedagógica para incluir los intereses de todos. La plataforma CYPHER Learning te permite subir lo que quieras ofrecer. Te da la libertad de hacer lo mejor que puedas y de la manera más creativa. Te da todas las herramientas. También te da la opción de seguir explorando y descubriendo mucho más.

A veces excluimos a los estudiantes más jóvenes del uso de CYPHER Learning porque pensamos que las herramientas no son adecuadas para ellos, pero estas herramientas tienen mucho que ofrecer.

He tenido una experiencia muy interesante con una alumna que, por motivos de salud, no puede venir a clase. A través de CYPHER Learning recibe todo el material de clase que reciben sus compañeros. Es un paquete completo. Y el sistema me permite acceder a la familia y al estudiante y beneficia al niño y a nuestra institución.

Me gustaría seguir usando CYPHER Learning y me gustaría ver muchas más opciones y actualizaciones con nuevas funciones. Recomendaría CYPHER Learning en cualquier momento. Mi consejo para los demás es explorar continuamente la herramienta. Familiarízate con la plataforma para que te acostumbres y enriquezca tu labor educativa.

We were searching for a learning management system that had unusual features to meet our requirements, including the ability to sell our course.

A significant improvement is the performance we get. Our other system has performance issues. Sometimes, it takes that system ages to upload the content, to set up users and enroll a course, et cetera. With CYPHER Learning, it's just a matter of clicks and the system reacts immediately. And there is definitely very solid IT performance in the back end. It's a huge time saver. 

The system is also responsive, which is highly appreciated among our clients and customers, as well as our staff, as they can do everything on their mobile devices.

In terms of administrative work and costs, with CYPHER Learning, they are about a quarter of what they were. In the dental business, it's necessary to have hands-on training, but we also have a lot of remote training activities, so we still have a certain collection of tools to provide everything, but we are on our way to integrating everything under one roof with CYPHER Learning.

When looking for a solution, we defined a certain set of must-have features as well as some advanced features that would be good to have. And CYPHER Learning has both. 

The core functionality includes

• an intuitive, multilingual user interface
• responsive design
• proper content and user management
• support for blended learning
• flexible testing and assessment options
• integration with customer-relations management
• payment gateways
• reporting and e-commerce functionality

E-commerce is still one of the exotic features, meaning that not all LMS providers offer it. It is critical for us. We have had no trouble implementing payment gateways with this system and it works out-of-the-box without any special tricks. This is probably the most critical feature for us.

It also was important that we have a multi-portal architecture so that we could run several systems under one roof. And stability and performance were important to us. We have another solution to compare it with and we were searching for improvements over that solution's performance.

The system offers a lot of features and they are very well structured. I have been involved in software development for over 30 years and, from that perspective, it's a great system. It would be really challenging to make it simpler. I get along with the system very well, and colleagues of mine, without any IT or software development background, also get along quite well with it. It's very user-friendly.

The advanced features include

• artificial intelligence-driven features
• social learning support
• mobile delivery methods 
• real-time learning analytics.
  

So far we have only made one suggestion. There is a great feature that enables self-registration for a user and it comes with an access code. Unfortunately, there is only one access code and it works for all portals. We would appreciate a dedicated access code for different portals. So far, this is the only feature we would appreciate having, but we can live without it.

We have been using CYPHER Learning for over 15 months.

We are still in the setup phase, not full deployment. The system is in place and we already have some portals, but we are still not completely alive.

It has the highest possible stability. We have had no downtime, connections lost, or any data loss. The system is absolutely stable and reliable.

It's probably the most scalable LMS I have ever seen.

We already have a number of small, dedicated portals for our subsidiary. We also set up a dummy LMS portal for our top customers, to show them how it can work. And we have a little pilot group of 25 people who are testing what we are uploading.

We get great support. We have one person from the sales team who is extremely skilled, and we also have a dedicated technical assistant. He is extremely skilled in all technical questions, but he also provides us with great best practices. We can also get questions answered from the community, which is quite huge, and from help material.

Positive

We had several systems in the house because some providers bound the sharing of content with their own LMSs, so we could only get the content if we took their systems. We still have some old LMSs from a "previous life", so to speak. And we have a learning management system as part of a document management system. But the key needs haven't been covered by these systems and that is why we picked up another one, and we are working on content migration to shut down one of our learning management systems.

One of the reasons we bought this solution was because the system is in place as soon as you enter the credit card number. It's a SaaS and, compared to other systems that are deployed over a certain period of time, we received everything out of the box from the very beginning. It was absolutely straightforward. 

The only part that was challenging was a lack of knowledge of best practices, given that there are so many ways to set it up. But from a technical perspective, there were absolutely no issues. We messed up a couple of things, but those were our fault. The system provides extremely good information videos as well as some printed material and documentation. That was more than enough for us.

The deployment itself took about two days. The only thing we had to do was customize the colors and put up some images and that was it.

As I already had some experience with learning management systems, and we have four systems in-house, based on this experience, we knew what to do fairly well. It was a real pleasure to realize that the system provides a better solution, compared to others. We didn't need to cap existing workflows.

For the deployment and maintenance, one person is needed. I was responsible for the overall process: evaluation, negotiation, deployment, and completion.

We have already generated so many savings with this platform that it's paid out, and it's not a huge investment. I hardly believe it could be less expensive. The value for money is unbeatable.

For us, it's great savings in terms of money. The system is not cheap but it's affordable. The pricing is fair. And CYPHER LEARNING has flexible plans, depending on the number of active users there are, and not on the number of licenses. This allows us to cover all our needs with a lower number of users. If we don't have a lot of active users we pay less, and if we have a lot of action in the system, we pay more, which is absolutely fine.

There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fee. The cherry on top was that we received all the functionality with the simplest plan, the one with the minimal number of users. It couldn't be any better.

I evaluated 52 systems. After the first round, I selected 16, and in the last round, there were seven. I had extensive hands-on experience with all seven and CYPHER Learning beat them all.

My advice is that you should definitely know what you're searching for because there are so many learning management systems. A good source to start with is first-hand reports. It's also a question of experience. Some people know some learning management systems from previous lives or previous jobs.

The solution enables us to see who has not accessed the portal but that feature is less important for us because the information we provide is for people who are searching for it, so there is no pressure from our side. There is a need on the user's side to access it. 

Also, its competency-based learning feature is far beyond our needs. We would like to implement this in the near future because the feature itself is awesome, and the way it's implemented is great, but our needs are more simple at the moment.

I have already had several calls from potential CYPHER Learning customers. it's such a great product and they have such lovely people, so it's a pleasure to help them acquire more customers.

Our company provides aligners to align your teeth, instead of braces. We have a network of doctors and we use CYPHER Learning for our academy where we have courses on how to do specific things with aligners and to explain the treatment. We use it to explain orthodontic procedures and we have a list of courses that we share with our doctors.

There are a few benefits we have seen. First, it helps us create a more seamless onboarding journey for any doctor. We've integrated the LMS with our CRM system and whenever we have a new doctor in the CRM system, they automatically get login instructions for our academy. They then have to go through certification for our treatment. After that, they can move on to the other courses and start submitting their aligner cases for their patients. CYPHER Learning enables this cycle and it has made the journey more seamless for new doctors. 

And for doctors who are already in our CRM, of course, it helps us in giving them the knowledge they need, because some of them lack some skills. Instead of doing one-to-one calls and support with our clinical team, now they can watch specific courses and get the knowledge they need.

The solution has saved us costs because we used to have many one-to-one calls with the clinical team and commercial teams. Some of the courses now substitute for that. They can go ahead and watch them instead of speaking to one of our team members.

And there are some new features that are important for us. The branded mobile app is one because, now, everyone is surfing on their mobiles instead of their computers. That's going to be a value-add. And while we haven't utilized the point system a lot yet, when we give specific points to specific courses and then link that to our loyalty program, it's going to make a difference.

Some of the features we like are the 

• usability of the interface
• group feature 
• points system.

The usability makes it easy for our doctors to find whatever they're looking for. The groups help them interact with each other, creating a kind of network and a place of engagement. It's not just a platform to go and learn and get out. It's a place where they can actually interact with other doctors and share experiences.

It also enables us to see who has not accessed the portal and we send them reminders to log in. And for those who, for example, have already enrolled in one course, we try to upsell them to enroll in more courses and complete them.

That follow-up ability is very important internally because we need to see more interaction with the academy. We want our doctors to have the knowledge they need to use the treatment. We believe that the academy has the right skills and knowledge that they need, so we try to push as much as we can for them to go into the academy and learn as much as they can from the courses we offer.

Improvement is needed to the reporting options and system because sometimes it's not very accurate. We feel that there are not enough aspects to report on. We need some more advanced reporting.

There should also be some more customization for admin roles and what specific things an admin should have permissions on, instead of having just one kind of admin role.

I have been using CYPHER Learning for six months.

It's pretty stable. In the six months there has not been any downtime for the platform.

I think it's pretty scalable, even if you have different organizations or if you want to white label it.

We have 350 active doctors in our academy. We have done some interviews and surveys and their feedback about it is pretty good.

We onboard new doctors every month and we're trying to increase utilization from our current doctors. We've invited around 1,000 doctors. We're putting together plans on how to increase usage from the doctors who haven't logged in, and from those who have logged in to enroll in more courses.

CYPHER LEARNING's support replies very fast. Most of them are very knowledgeable and get back to you on-point. It's excellent.

Positive

We used to work with Mindflash LMS. We switched because we were not fully utilizing their features and we wanted to find a platform that suits our new requirements. CYPHER Learning fit those better and at a really convenient price.

The initial setup of CYPHER Learning was very straightforward. The process of onboarding it was very easy. Whenever I had a question, I posted it on the support forum and they were very responsive and fast in replying to what I needed. They always solved whatever problem I had. And generally, the platform itself is very intuitive. You don't need major IT skills or other skills to upload your content to it. It was very simple.

It took about a week to deploy it.

We had all our content ready, so we just created the branding for the platform. We uploaded that and our content and we built the logic behind the courses. For example, some courses should be completed before others. And then we imported the contacts from our CRM to the academy, which automatically sent them their login instructions.

For now, we're offering our courses for free, so we're not monetizing them. But if we look into the return from a different aspect, we're arming our doctors with the knowledge they need to increase their patient case submissions to us. They're going to be feeling more confident to submit cases and start treating them with aligners, which is going to be beneficial for us.

We've looked into many solutions. Generally, CYPHER Learning fit our needs and the pricing was a very important factor in our decision.

It is my work platform for every single use case at the school.

The task system in CYPHER Learning provides a tool that helps us improve as an institute. We can see the progress report of each student in a general way. By watching the progress of all students, we can receive transparent feedback.

It helped us facilitate critical thinking. This is important because it facilitates the individual commitment and autonomy of the student in their learning. For example, I upload different materials, both audiovisual or visual, then the student can order their own material according to their own learning rhythm. It is also able to create it in a way that is not boring.

CYPHER Learning has a high capacity to work with a range of learning styles and rhythms. It was friendly and didactic enough to be able to adapt to the COVID situation. I keep my jobs and projects uploaded through CYPHER Learning. I also do this for my face-to-face classes.

The solution has given the rest of the technical team more time for other functions within the educational center. There are only two people dedicated to CYPHER Learning. Administratively, this reduces the cost of expenses and personnel. It has been good for distributing personnel into other technical information management functions.

I can share the learning experience with a variety of people. I have had the opportunity to do it through a video call and a phone call as well as through audio, images or files that I can send. The diversity of educational styles is something fascinating.

We use CYPHER Learning for automation and adaptive learning purposes. It seems to me that the service it provides is a nine out of ten.

The solution’s competency-based learning is very good. Its planning and presentation are good. I would give it an eight or nine out of ten because it facilitates the personal organization of students.

In general, it is easy for educators to communicate with students using CYPHER Learning.

It adapts to the various study and learning abilities of my students.

CYPHER Learning's adaptive learning for helping provide students personalized content based on their goals and performance varies since they could provide the student with a pre-entry message or a type of login board menu so the student could access the specific information that they want. In this area, I would give it a seven out of ten.

The training of teachers should be simpler. There are some teachers who are not using these platforms to communicate. Instead, they are using it for uploading material since they are not very technological and the training wasn't easy for them.

While the solution’s gamified learning environment facilitates critical thinking and encourages self-learning, it could be improved by creating an online evaluation strategy for students when they work on a specific topic.

It has room for improvement in the areas of presentation and ease of use. I would like them to make the options clearer and more approachable for a student. They could create a training platform to give direction. I would also like a friendlier alert message regarding the activities that you have to develop.

The parents' training was not adequate. Parents say that it wasn't user-friendly for them. It is important to take this into account. Also, CYPHER Learning could do more advertising on its YouTube channel for free videos so parents feel more involved.

I have been using it for two and a half years.

We have only had one difficulty, and that was in August of last year. The platform simply froze. They did not inform me what the problem was, but told me it was from CYPHER Learning's side, I do not know exactly what happened.

In our school, we have a divided impression on the platform. A part of the staff prefers something simpler. They do not handle technology as the main means of teaching, while other staff see it as more feasible because it provides us a more personalized means of education. It favors administrative work, but some staff say that it increases their administrative work.

We have 1,500 students, 250 teachers, and five people on the technical team.

CYPHER Learning's team has been a bit distant this year. Sometimes, the representatives of the institute in charge of CYPHER Learning give us faster answers. Whereas, consultations with CYPHER Learning usually take eight to 10 days.

I would give it a seven out of 10. I have not personally dealt with customer service, but I have heard of a lack of communication that happens at the institution level.

Neutral

We previously used Seeweb, which is a communications platform. It was very simple, but we saw slower learning and skill development with students.

CYPHER Learning is much better in terms of profitability by up to 90%. CYPHER Learning facilitates a group to have easy accessibility. It is also much friendlier. 

The implementation, presentation, management, and introduction to the tools were all simple. I have experience in the use of platforms, so it seemed simple.

Our deployment took a week.

Our implementation strategy was mostly creating feedback amongst the whole team. We manifested different topics, such as uploading tasks. Thus, we discovered faster group strategies to use the platform.

There was a consultant from CYPHER Learning who trained three people in our institution to have continuous service in case any difficulties arose. My experience with him was very good. He was very nice and practical with his answers. Although, I would have liked him to send me more video tutorials or material to read.

We needed three people: a technician and two administrative people.

It has helped me save a lot of time when working with students with special abilities. I have saved 75% of time with its easy presentation of material.

It has 100% helped me organize my time. It provides more time for interaction and feedback with my students, both in the classroom or personally. This is why I consider the solution as an achievement. It feels more collaborative in the sense that planning not only depends on me, but also on my students.

It has helped us save from 90% to 100% of our costs. The most valuable thing that we have earned in the last three years is time, e.g., my personal time versus my work time. There is more harmony.

Go into schools who are using it. Ask both adult and student users to get an idea of how feasible the product has been for them.

Understand that any investment made in CYPHER Learning will be successful.

This year, our usage of CYPHER Learning has been reduced by 60% since we returned to face-to-face education. Our usage projection going forward will depend on this year's evaluations and final exams.

Biggest lesson learnt: How organized time can be.

I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestra razón de uso principal?

Es mi plataforma de trabajo para cada uso en la escuela.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

El sistema de tareas en CYPHER Learning proporciona una herramienta que nos ayuda a mejorar como instituto. Podemos recibir un informe de progreso de cada alumno. Al observar el progreso de todos los estudiantes, podemos recibir retroalimentación transparente.

Nos ha ayudado a facilitar el pensamiento crítico. Esto es importante porque facilita el compromiso individual y la autonomía del alumno en su aprendizaje. Por ejemplo, subo diferentes materiales, tanto audiovisuales como visuales, luego el alumno puede ordenar su propio material de acuerdo a su propio ritmo de aprendizaje y también da la opción de crearlo de una manera que no sea aburrida.

CYPHER Learning tiene una alta capacidad para trabajar con una variedad de estilos y ritmos de aprendizaje. Fue lo suficientemente amigable y didáctico para poder adaptarse a la situación del COVID. Mantengo mis trabajos y proyectos subidos a través de CYPHER Learning, también usó estos recursos para mis clases presenciales.

La solución ha dado al resto del equipo técnico más tiempo para otras funciones dentro del centro educativo. Solo hay dos personas dedicadas a CYPHER Learning. Administrativamente, esto reduce el costo de los gastos y el personal. Ha sido bueno para distribuir personal en otras funciones de gestión de informática.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

Puedo compartir la experiencia de aprendizaje con una variedad de estudiantes simultáneamente. Tengo diferentes formas de hacerlo, por ejemplo, a través de una videollamada, de una llamada telefónica así como a través de audios, imágenes o archivos que puedo enviar. La diversidad de estilos educativos a través de esta plataforma es algo fascinante.

Usamos CYPHER Learning con fines de automatización y aprendizaje adaptativo. Me parece que el servicio que da es un 9 sobre 10.

El aprendizaje basado en competencias de la solución es muy bueno. Su planificación y presentación son buenas. Le daría un 8 o 9 sobre 10 porque facilita la organización personal de los alumnos.

En general, es fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes usando CYPHER Learning.

Se adapta a las diversas capacidades de estudio y aprendizaje de mis alumnos.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

El aprendizaje adaptativo de CYPHER Learning para ayudar a proporcionar a los estudiantes contenido personalizado en función de sus objetivos y rendimiento varía, ya que podrían proporcionar al estudiante un mensaje previo al inicio de sesión o un tipo de menú de tablero de bienvenida para que el estudiante pueda acceder a la información específica que desea. En este apartado le daría un 7 sobre 10.

La formación de los profesores debería ser más sencilla. Hay algunos profesores que no están usando estas plataformas para comunicarse. En cambio, lo están usando para subir material ya que no son muy tecnológicos y la capacitación no les resultó fácil.

Si bien el entorno de aprendizaje gamificado de la solución facilita el pensamiento crítico y fomenta el autoaprendizaje, podría mejorarse creando una estrategia de evaluación en línea para los estudiantes cuando trabajan en un tema específico.

Podría mejorar en las áreas de presentación y facilidad de uso. Me gustaría que hicieran las opciones más claras y accesibles para el estudiante. Podrían crear una plataforma de tutoriales para dar dirección. También me gustaría un mensaje de alerta más amigable con respecto a las actividades que los estudiantes deben desarrollar.

La formación de los padres no fue tampoco adecuada. Los padres dicen que no fue fácil de usar para ellos. Es importante tener esto en cuenta. Además, CYPHER Learning podría hacer más publicidad en su canal de YouTube subiendo videos gratuitos para que los padres se sientan más involucrados.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Lo he estado usando durante dos años y medio.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Solo hemos tenido una dificultad, y eso fue en agosto del año pasado. La plataforma simplemente quedó congelada. No me informaron cuál era el problema de manera específica, pero me dijeron que era de parte de CYPHER Learning, no sé exactamente qué pasó.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

En nuestra escuela, tenemos una impresión dividida sobre la plataforma. Una parte del personal preferiría algo más simple. No manejan la tecnología como principal medio de enseñanza, mientras que otros miembros del personal lo ven más factible porque les brinda un medio de educación más personalizado y favorece el trabajo administrativo, algunos funcionarios dicen lo contrario, que aumenta su trabajo administrativo.

Contamos con 1.500 alumnos, 250 docentes y 5 personas en el equipo técnico.

¿Cómo son el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

El equipo de CYPHER Learning ha estado un poco distante este año. A veces, los representantes en el instituto que están a cargo de CYPHER Learning nos dan respuestas más rápidas. Mientras que las consultas con CYPHER Learning suelen tardar entre 8 y 10 días.

Le daría un 7 de 10. No he tratado personalmente con el servicio al cliente, pero he oído hablar de una falta de comunicación que sucede a nivel de la institución.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Neutral

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

Anteriormente usábamos Seeweb, que es una plataforma de comunicaciones. Era muy simple, pero vimos un aprendizaje y desarrollo de habilidades más lento con los estudiantes.

CYPHER Learning es mucho mejor en términos de rentabilidad hasta en un 90%. CYPHER Learning facilita que un grupo tenga fácil accesibilidad y también es mucho más amigable.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

La implementación, presentación, gestión e introducción a las herramientas fue sencilla. Tengo experiencia en el uso de plataformas, así que me pareció sencillo.

Nuestro despliegue tomó una semana.

Nuestra estrategia de implementación consistía principalmente en crear comentarios entre todo el equipo sobre el uso de la plataforma. Manifestamos diferentes temas, como la carga de tareas. Por lo tanto, descubrimos estrategias grupales más rápidas para usar la plataforma.

¿Y el equipo de implementación?

Hubo un consultor de CYPHER Learning que capacitó a tres personas de nuestra institución para tener un servicio continuo en caso de que surgieran dificultades. Mi experiencia con él fue muy buena. Fue muy amable y práctico con sus respuestas. Aunque, me hubiera gustado que me enviara más videotutoriales o material para leer.

En general requerimos de tres personas: un técnico y dos administrativos.

¿Cuál fue nuestro Retorno De Inversión?

Me ha ayudado a ahorrar mucho tiempo cuando trabajo con estudiantes con habilidades especiales. He ahorrado el 75% del tiempo con su fácil presentación del material.

Me ha ayudado al 100% a organizar mi tiempo. Brinda más tiempo para la interacción y la retroalimentación con mis alumnos, tanto en el aula como personalmente. Por eso considero la solución como un logro. Se siente más colaborativo en el sentido de que la planificación no solo depende de mí, sino también de mis alumnos.

Nos ha ayudado a ahorrar del 90% al 100% de nuestros costos. Lo más valioso que hemos podido ahorrar exitosamente en los últimos tres años es el tiempo, por ejemplo, mi tiempo personal versus mi tiempo de trabajo. Ahora hay más armonía.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Antes de usar el producto diríjase a los centros educativos que lo estén usando. Pida tanto a los docentes como a los estudiantes que le den una idea de lo factible que ha sido el producto para ellos.

Cualquier inversión que hagas en CYPHER Learning será exitosa.

Este año, nuestro uso de CYPHER Learning se ha reducido en un 60 % desde que volvimos a la educación presencial. Nuestra proyección de uso en el futuro dependerá de las evaluaciones y exámenes finales de este año.

Mi mayor lección aprendida usando CYPHER Learning fue aprender a organizar mi tiempo de la mejor manera.

Calificaría esta plataforma con un 8 de 10.

I am a professor of social sciences and I use it to organize the course. In this way, the students can enter the platform and see the content we are going to work with. They can also find their evaluations and classifications. All class dynamics are carried out via CYPHER Learning.

By using CYPHER Learning, our institute, as a team, is better organized. Supervisors and area advisers can follow up on each of their teachers and we, as teachers, can follow up on the students as well.

During the pandemic, CYPHER Learning was a very important tool. Thanks to the platform we were able to share content with students. In one way we were "forced" to learn a new system, but otherwise, we acquired a very good tool.

It has saved time on intervention strategies for students. Because I do give feedback, sitting down with each one of them is difficult. On the other hand, with CYPHER Learning, I can do it in a more agile way. It has saved me approximately one hour on the entire intervention topic. And when it comes to administrative work, it has saved me time, especially in terms of the use of paper and documents. Now, they are virtual. We upload everything to the platform and the procedures that were done before are not necessary. It hasn't saved that much time regarding administrative work, maybe half an hour.

We have also integrated Zoom with CYPHER Learning and thanks to that we scheduled Zoom sessions through the system. This was exactly what we needed: a single channel of communication with the students.

The feature I use the most is the rubrics tool. I have built all my rubrics in the platform and, using them, I can mark the scores that the students have and it provides transparency between the students and the teachers.

Another tool that I use is the ability to load multimedia files within the CYPHER Learning environment. I can send videos and images to students for them to download, if I want.

The solution's automation involving trigger rules that show or hide specific class sections or assignments is also quite agile. It allows me to show students certain sections that I want them to have access to. And there is even the ability to automatically see how long they spent reading a document, the percentage of tasks they have completed, or the sum of their scores they have received, which I can access through the rubrics.

Another feature that helps a lot is the adaptive learning for providing students with personalized content. It allows me to give them each personalized information without being in physical proximity to them. For example, if they want, they can submit their assignments online and I can put details in the comments. This helps their personal development. Everything is arranged chronologically so that they can review the content at home if they miss a class.

It's also very easy for educators to communicate with students. For example, if you send a direct message to them through the platform, or comment on a task they’re doing, when the student answers it often becomes a dialogue and, after that, it practically becomes a forum. Communication is very important and we always try to make clear and transparent communication a priority.

We have teachers of all ages and those who are a little older hardly interact with the platform. It needs greater accessibility and more detailed updates and information regarding all its tools.

We have been using CYPHER Learning since 2020.

There was a network outage but that was in 2020. Since then, the system has not been down. The platform is very stable.

CYPHER Learning has high capacity and our school wants to exploit it more. More training has been proposed so that we better understand the platform. The goal is that we continue to increase its use and the variety of strategies that we can use, as teachers, continue to grow.

We have about 500 users who are teachers, system administrators, and the team of supervisors who certify the teachers. In addition, we have about 1,000 students who use it. It is used at all levels, primary and secondary. We have plans for it to be used a lot more in our institution.

I have not had the opportunity to contact their technical support, but I know that when a query has been made they have always responded.

Positive

We use SieWeb as well but it is more for communicating with parents and sharing students' scores.

We understood that we needed CYPHER Learning because we needed a place where the entire weekly class content is organized. We wanted students to have a unique place for that information and a single channel of communication with the teacher.

Our initial implementation was a bit slow because there was no training. Our technical systems area was responsible for helping with any problem that arose in general, but we did not receive specific training. It took us about two months to deploy.

There are three people, the general managers, who are in charge of managing the platform, but now each teacher manages their own class. The general managers only contact CYPHER LEARNING if there is an anomaly or systemic problem.

Investigate CYPHER Learning to the maximum to become informed about it before the implementation, and to look into the potential of the platform, because it can be used for many things.

We recently received training on the use of automation in CYPHER Learning and I'm only just starting to understand how it works: How to send automated messages as feedback, how to schedule courses, and how to see students' achievements as they explore a course’s content. I'm discovering more and more features within CYPHER Learning. In the beginning, it was just for uploading material, but with the last training, we received we understood that there are many more possibilities within the system. I did not know that interactive things, videos or 360 views, could be uploaded.

In terms of getting students engaged with the platform, that has happened partially, but there are still many students who are used to face-to-face education, so not all of them make good use of CYPHER Learning. There are many functionalities in the platform that they still do not take advantage of. There are a few students who take the lead on being autonomous and use everything in CYPHER Learning to advance on their own. All these activities are very important for our institute. Because our school opts for a diploma program, it is one of our objectives, and requirements, that students develop autonomy and self-manage their time, as well as search for information and sources. NEO LMS, in part, gives them a route to follow.

CYPHER Learning is not so influential in terms of getting students to the same level or closing the learning gap. That's not necessarily because of the platform but because there are other problems, whether personal or social, that limit students in various ways. The platform helps me understand which students are falling behind, but I wouldn't say that it motivates them in any way.

I believe that CYPHER Learning provides important tools to develop student engagement in class. In physical classes, it is very difficult for everyone to participate, but through this system they have the option of responding in a more personalized way when it comes to their opinions and thoughts. And it has taught me to adapt to change.

Foreign Language:(Spanish)

¿Cuál es nuestro caso de uso principal?

Soy profesor de ciencias sociales y lo uso para organizar el curso. De esta forma, los alumnos pueden ingresar a la plataforma y ver el contenido que vamos a trabajar. También pueden encontrar sus valoraciones y clasificaciones. Todas las dinámicas de clase se realizan a través de CYPHER Learning.

¿Cómo ha ayudado a mi organización?

Al usar CYPHER Learning, nuestro instituto, como equipo, está mejor organizado. Los supervisores y asesores de área pueden dar seguimiento a cada uno de sus docentes y nosotros como docentes podemos dar seguimiento a los alumnos también.

Durante la pandemia, CYPHER Learning fue una herramienta muy importante. Gracias a la plataforma pudimos compartir contenido con los estudiantes. Por un lado, nos vimos "obligados" a aprender un nuevo sistema, pero por otro lado, adquirimos una muy buena herramienta.

Ha ahorrado tiempo en estrategias de intervención para los estudiantes. Debido a que doy retroalimentación, sentarse con cada uno de ellos es difícil. En cambio, con CYPHER Learning puedo hacerlo de una forma más ágil. Me he ahorrado aproximadamente una hora en todo el tema de la intervención. Y en lo que respecta al trabajo administrativo, me ha ahorrado tiempo, especialmente en términos de uso de papel y documentos. Ahora, son virtuales. Subimos todo a la plataforma y no son necesarios los trámites que se hacían antes. No ha ahorrado tanto tiempo en cuanto a trabajo administrativo, tal vez media hora.

También hemos integrado Zoom con CYPHER Learning y gracias a eso programamos sesiones de Zoom a través del sistema. Esto era exactamente lo que necesitábamos: un único canal de comunicación con los estudiantes.

¿Qué es lo más valioso?

La característica que más uso es la herramienta de rúbricas. He construido todas mis rúbricas en la plataforma y, al usarlas, puedo marcar los puntajes que tienen los estudiantes. De esta manera las rúbricas brindan transparencia entre los estudiantes y los maestros.

Otra herramienta que utilizo es la capacidad de cargar archivos multimedia dentro del entorno CYPHER Learning. Puedo enviar vídeos e imágenes a los estudiantes para que los descarguen, si quiero.

La automatización de la solución que involucra reglas de activación que muestran u ocultan secciones o tareas de clases específicas también es bastante ágil. Me permite mostrar a los estudiantes ciertas secciones a las que quiero que tengan acceso. E incluso existe la posibilidad de ver automáticamente cuánto tiempo pasaron leyendo un documento, el porcentaje de tareas que completaron o la suma de las puntuaciones que recibieron, a las que puedo acceder a través de las rúbricas.

Otra característica que ayuda mucho es el aprendizaje adaptativo para proporcionar a los estudiantes contenido personalizado. Me permite darles a cada uno información personalizada sin estar cerca físicamente de ellos. Por ejemplo, si quieren, pueden enviar sus tareas en línea y puedo poner detalles en los comentarios. Esto ayuda a su desarrollo personal. Todo está ordenado cronológicamente para que puedan revisar el contenido en casa si faltan a una clase.

También es muy fácil para los educadores comunicarse con los estudiantes. Por ejemplo, si le envías un mensaje directo a través de la plataforma, o comentas en una tarea que está haciendo, el alumno responde y muchas veces se convierte en un diálogo y, después, prácticamente se convierte en un foro. La comunicación es muy importante y siempre intentamos que la comunicación clara y transparente sea una prioridad.

¿Qué necesita mejorar?

Tenemos profesores de todas las edades y los que son un poco mayores apenas interactúan con la plataforma. Necesita mayor accesibilidad y actualizaciones e información más detallada de todas sus herramientas.

¿Por cuánto tiempo he usado la solución?

Usamos CYPHER Learning desde 2020.

¿Qué pienso sobre la estabilidad de la solución?

Hubo una interrupción de la red, pero eso fue en 2020. Desde entonces, el sistema no se ha caído. La plataforma es muy estable.

¿Qué opino de la escalabilidad de la solución?

EO LMS tiene una gran capacidad y nuestra escuela quiere explotarla más. Se ha propuesto más formación para que entendamos mejor la plataforma. El objetivo es que sigamos aumentando su uso y que la variedad de estrategias que podemos utilizar, como docentes, siga creciendo.

Tenemos alrededor de 500 usuarios que son docentes, administradores de sistemas y el equipo de supervisores que certifican a los docentes. Además, tenemos alrededor de 1.000 alumnos que lo utilizan. Se utiliza en todos los niveles, primaria y secundaria. Tenemos planes para que se use mucho más en nuestra institución.

¿Cómo son el servicio de atención al cliente y el soporte?

No he tenido la oportunidad de contactar con el soporte técnico, pero sé que cuando se ha hecho una consulta siempre han respondido.

¿Cómo calificaría el servicio y soporte al cliente?

Positivo

¿Qué solución usé anteriormente y por qué cambié?

También usamos SieWeb, pero es más para comunicarse con los padres y compartir las calificaciones de los estudiantes.

Entendimos que necesitábamos CYPHER Learning porque necesitábamos un lugar donde se organizara todo el contenido de la clase semanal. Queríamos que los alumnos tuvieran un lugar único para esa información y un único canal de comunicación con el profesor.

¿Cómo fue la configuración inicial?

Nuestra implementación inicial fue un poco lenta porque no hubo capacitación. Nuestra área técnica de sistemas se encargaba de ayudar con cualquier problema que surgiera en general, pero no recibimos capacitación específica. Nos tomó cerca de dos meses implementarlo.

Hay tres personas, los directores generales, que se encargan de gestionar la plataforma, pero ahora cada profesor gestiona su propia clase. Los gerentes generales solo contactan a CYPHER LEARNING si hay alguna anomalía o problema sistémico.

¿Qué otro consejo tengo?

Investigar al máximo CYPHER Learning para informarse antes de la implementación y ver el potencial de la plataforma, ya que se puede utilizar para muchas cosas.

Recientemente recibimos capacitación sobre el uso de la automatización en CYPHER Learning y recién estoy comenzando a entender cómo funciona: cómo enviar mensajes automatizados como comentarios, cómo programar cursos y cómo ver los logros de los estudiantes mientras exploran el contenido de un curso. Estoy descubriendo más y más características dentro de CYPHER Learning. Al principio era solo para subir material, pero con la última capacitación que recibimos entendimos que hay muchas más posibilidades dentro del sistema. No sabía que se podían subir cosas interactivas, videos o vistas 360.

En términos de involucrar a los estudiantes con la plataforma, eso ha sucedido parcialmente, pero todavía hay muchos estudiantes que están acostumbrados a la educación presencial, por lo que no todos hacen un buen uso de CYPHER Learning. Hay muchas funcionalidades en la plataforma que aún no se aprovechan. Hay algunos estudiantes que toman la iniciativa de ser autónomos y usan todo en CYPHER Learning para avanzar por su cuenta. Todas estas actividades son muy importantes para nuestro instituto. Debido a que nuestra escuela opta por un programa de diplomado, es uno de nuestros objetivos y requisitos que los estudiantes desarrollen autonomía y autogestión de su tiempo, así como la búsqueda de información y fuentes. NEO LMS, en parte, les da una ruta a seguir.

CYPHER Learning no es tan influyente en términos de llevar a los estudiantes al mismo nivel o cerrar la brecha de aprendizaje. Eso no se debe necesariamente a la plataforma, sino a que existen otros problemas, ya sean personales o sociales, que limitan a los estudiantes de varias maneras. La plataforma me ayuda a entender qué estudiantes se están quedando atrás, pero no diría que los motiva de ninguna manera.

Creo que CYPHER Learning proporciona herramientas importantes para desarrollar la participación de los estudiantes en clase. En las clases físicas es muy difícil que todos participen, pero a través de este sistema tienen la opción de expresar sus opiniones y pensamientos de manera más personalizada. CYPHER Learning me ha enseñado a adaptarme al cambio.