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Whether you’re educating customers or training your employees, engagement is everything. That’s why personalized interactive training will always outperform static, passive learning.
But without the right training tools, opportunities to incorporate interactivity into training programs are limited. That’s why this article sets out some of the best options for interactive training software, along with an explanation of how you can find the right solution for your needs.
But first, it’s time to unpack the advantages of interactive training platforms.
Benefits of Interactive Training Platforms
Providing tailored, authentic hands-on training experiences makes your business up to 70% likelier to be chosen as a supplier. There are several reasons for that.
Enhanced Engagement
Which of the following seems more interesting?
- A simulated exercise that encourages people to apply what they’ve learned
- A static slideshow
The first one, right? Interactivity is proven to keep participants both attentive and engaged, boosting course completion rates. Many modern training platforms also support collaborative learning, further enhancing engagement, comprehension, and knowledge retention.
Making Learning Stick
The more engaging you find a training program, the more likely you are to remember it. To that end, interactive learning software solutions offer a ton of options designed to up the fun factor, including quizzes, scenario-based learning modules, and gamification.
Better Personalization
Most interactive training tools are designed for customizability. They allow you to tailor your content to different learning styles, learner preferences, and software ecosystems.
Rather than requiring you to manually customize each program, these platforms typically employ adaptive learning, using AI to deliver personalization at scale.
Flexibility and Cost-Effectiveness
With virtual training software, there’s no need for participants to travel to a physical classroom or log in to an online session. Instead, they can access self-paced modules at any time and from anywhere. This flexibility vastly extends the reach of your training, making it invaluable for distributed teams.
It also takes a significant chunk out of your training overhead, with further cost reductions through streamlined course creation.
Real-Time Feedback
Training is data-driven. The more you know about how people are engaging with your training content, the easier it becomes to optimize that content. Learners, meanwhile, can greatly benefit from knowing their own strengths and weaknesses.
Interactive training platforms support both sides, with real-time feedback for participants and comprehensive analytics for instructors.
Key Features to Look for in an Interactive Training Solution
While the specifics may vary based on your needs, we recommend prioritizing interactive training platforms that offer the following functionalities, either out-of-the-box or via integration with other learning tools:
- Content authoring
- Comprehensive learner analytics and reporting capabilities
- Mobile accessibility
- Compatibility with your existing software ecosystem
- Cost-effective scalability
- Real-time learner feedback
- Compliance with industry standards such as AICC and SCORM
- Secure user management and content delivery
- AI-driven features such as adaptive learning and automated course creation
- The ability to customize the branding and appearance of training content
- Collaborative learning features such as chat and breakout rooms
- Gamification, including leaderboards and achievements
- Hands-on, scenario-based training
Top Ten Interactive Learning Tools
Having covered the core considerations and capabilities, here are our top picks for platforms and solutions that will help you deliver a more engaging and effective learning experience.
1. CloudShare
Our cloud-based solution makes it easy to create high-impact virtual environments for just about any training program, with top-drawer tools for both virtual instructor-led training and self-paced learning. Your instructors can spin up complex environments in minutes without needing development or IT support. You can also streamline the learner experience by delivering structured “Guided Journeys” with visual AI-powered automated assessment of in-lab exercises.
2. TalentLMS
TalentLMS combines an intuitive interface with advanced AI functionality to deliver an experience that’s effortless for both instructors and learners. With a comprehensive library of ready-made courses, it’s an excellent choice for smaller businesses.
Delivered via the cloud, TalentLMS supports a wide range of use cases, including customer onboarding, compliance training, and sales training.
3. SkillJar
SkillJar is a learning management system (LMS) designed specifically for partner and customer education. It delivers a rich feature set that includes course creation, custom learning paths, and monetization options alongside an easy-to-understand analytics page.
SkillJar also works seamlessly with CloudShare via LTI LMS Integration.
4. 360Learning
Arguably one of the most comprehensive LMS platforms on the list, 360Learning provides everything you could possibly need for interactive training. In spite of its kitchen sink approach, it’s also easy to use, blending AI-enabled content authoring, scheduling, and enrollment with custom dashboards.
5. LearnUpon
Designed primarily for membership-based organizations and corporate training initiatives, LearnUpon offers pre-built integrations for tools such as Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, and Zoom. While it delivers all the features you’d expect from an interactive training platform, its personalized learning portals are the real standout.
It’s essentially a one-stop shop for the entire training journey, with progress tracking, discussions, leaderboards, and announcements.
6. Docebo
Branding itself as the first generative AI learning platform, Docebo is built around a powerful, flexible drag-and-drop configuration engine supported by a host of extensions for features like certifications and gamification.
The platform can also automatically identify each learner’s skill gaps and bridge them via adaptive learning. A comprehensive marketplace of e-learning content ties everything together alongside over four hundred integrations, including CloudShare.
7. EducateMe
EducateMe is built around two core elements: AI-powered content creation and a Kanban-style assignment tracking dashboard. It also offers built-in messaging, live session hosting, and peer-to-peer review functionality. Automated assignments, grading, and feedback free up more time for your instructors, allowing them to focus on learners.
8. SC Training
If you’re looking for a mobile-friendly employee training platform, look no further. Formerly known as EdApp, SC Training comes with more than 80 course templates and support for videos, quizzes, and games. It also supports AI-enabled content creation alongside a library of over a thousand ready-made, customizable courses.
These features make SC Training an excellent choice for both microlearning initiatives and compliance training.
9. LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is all about lightweight, human-centric training. It supports multiple delivery methods through a highly customizable user interface alongside learning monetization. The thing that makes it really stand out is its customizability.
LearnWorlds supports over 4,000 integrations, ensuring it can work more or less seamlessly with your tech stack.
10. Absorb
Absorb brings intelligent automation, mobile learning, and AI personalization together into a single platform. Designed primarily for corporate training initiatives, it features a comprehensive selection of eLearning tools alongside advanced branding and custom scheduling and reporting. Absorb backs all these features up with a huge library of pre-made content and learner analytics.
How to Choose the Best Interactive Training Software
Every organization’s training will be different, even within the same industry. A tool that works flawlessly for one business might be ineffective for another. To help narrow down where you should look, ask yourself the following questions:
- How big is my organization? A platform such as Docebo is typically better suited to large organizations, while TalentLMS is generally aimed at small to mid-sized businesses.
- What do I want my training to achieve? Cybersecurity education, for example, will have different desired outcomes than sales enablement training.
- How many people do I intend to train? Answering this question will help you determine the resources you’ll need as part of your initial deployment.
- How quickly do I expect my learning needs to scale? Will your requirements remain stable for an extended period or do you expect rapid growth?
- What do my learners need? Do they have any specific training or delivery preferences?
- What is my training budget? Ideally, a maximum of 30-40 percent of your training budget should be allocated to software.
- What does my software ecosystem look like? Specifically, what integrations does a prospective training tool need to support?
- Are my instructors missing any capabilities? Pre-built courses and AI-guided content authoring can help in scenarios where your instructors are less knowledgeable about a topic or lack the bandwidth to develop training.
Ready to Start Building Your Training Program?
The right software provides an excellent foundation for interactive training. The next step is developing the training itself. Check out How to Create an Exceptional Interactive Online Training Program to get started.
