Blackboard Learn vs Brainshark

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

Brainshark Software Tool

Product Basics

Blackboard is an educational management tool used commonly in K-12, higher education, online education and corporate training. It’s cloud-based and has several add ons including Learn, Open LMS, Classroom, Predict, Intelligence, Ally, Collaborate and more. All have different specialties that add to the primary online education functions.

The core product, Blackboard Learn, includes course management, mobile accessibility and insights into data and analytics. Upgraded versions have more robust facilities, including advanced web conferencing, virtual classrooms and more in-depth reporting.
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Brainshark is a comprehensive sales readiness solution that equips client-facing teams with crucial skills to maximize their productivity. Its advanced training materials and detailed analysis of an organization’s sales performance prepare sales executives to capitalize on every selling opportunity. It trains employees to outperform the competition by mastering superior sales techniques and handling tricky situations.

Businesses can author dynamic sales content quickly that can be accessed and imported from anywhere. It fast-tracks onboarding and delivers on-demand training to sales representatives while keeping them updated. Sales executives are coached to exploit every buyer interaction and effectively engage with buyers to bag more deals. It uses scorecards to display sales performance statistics and helps organizations make smart business decisions.
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$9,500 Annually
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$83/User, Monthly
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Product Insights

  • Mass Communications: A message can be written and then sent via social media, email, voice message, SMS or push notification to everyone who needs to see it.nbsp;
  • Student Retention: It provides data on incoming and outgoing students, which helps with the development of student retention strategies. Some functions within the dashboard are also specifically geared toward targeting at-risk learners. 
  • Accessibility: Not only does it allow for accessible file formats such as semantic HTML, audio files, ePub and electronic braille, but it can audit content sent out by instructors and return with annotations to improve accessibility. It is also fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
  • Parental Involvement: Parents get access to see how students are doing and address potential problems early in the process. 
  • Multiple Translations: Over 15 different languages are available, including Arabic, English, Chinese (both simplified and traditional), Dutch, Russian, Korean and more. 
  • Implementation: Through a partner program, users can get help with implementation through technical support and strategy analysis. 
  • Accreditation Tracking/Documentation: The assessment and accreditation solution makes institutional reporting automatic, helps provide documentation where needed and streamlines evidence collection. 
  • Partnerships: More services are available for buyers who use partner programs. This support may be technical, marketing or strategic and varies depending on the different levels of partnership.  
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  • Employee Structuring: Organize salespeople by objectives, activities and importance of tasks. Highlight top-performing executives and publicly reward their achievements. Gather knowledge from experienced sales representatives for reference. 
  • Content Sharing: Empower sales and marketing leadership to send approved, updated and consistent communication to all employees. Let sales executives find and share the best content from a central portal. 
  • Integrations: Integrate with major CRM and financial modules like Salesforce, Highspot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Seismic, TopOPPS and more to complete sales cycles. Ensure meaningful sales conversations with your existing systems. 
  • Notifications: Correct individual and team behaviors with notifications to avoid company specified prohibited zones. Steer sales processes in the right direction. Real-time updates help sales teams remain aligned to their goals. 
  • Mobile Application: Track progress of sales teams’ readiness and monitor performance on-the-go with its mobile application. Sales representatives have the flexibility to access training content anytime, anywhere, even in the areas with low bandwidth. 
  • Manage Live Events: Develop course materials for live events like webinars, instructor-led-training sessions along with the content for on-demand training programs. Offer flexibility for people to choose the sessions of their choice and schedules. 
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  • Integration: It can be integrated with other essential educational programs such as Student Information Systems, lunch systems, online grade books and others to make collecting data easy. 
  • Collaboration: Through web conferencing and virtual classrooms, students, peers and coworkers can collaborate on projects and content creation. 
  • Mobile App: The app, which is available across several devices, offers mobile-friendly content that’s been adjusted to flip less on a phone screen. Learners can access tests, quizzes, notes and more. 
  • SaaS: It’s a software-as-a-service or cloud-based product. This means the hosting is online and not local. 
  • Templates: When instructors create courses, they can choose from several pre-made templates and customize as needed. 
  • Strategic Planning: Extra services include strategic planning, which comes with market research, help to develop a comprehensive strategy, deployment support and more. 
  • E-Commerce: It allows users to buy or sell courses, training materials and other content. This can be used as a revenue source or to find more information for a program. 
  • Sales Training and Development: In addition to its uses in K-12 and higher education, it helps with the training of employees to keep them in compliance or certified in a corporate setting. Individual workers can be tracked, and areas of improvement can be easily identified. 
  • Registration: It manages learners throughout the enrollment process and can help them sign up along pre-defined learning paths or prerequisites. 
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  • Content Authoring: Create immersive, multimedia content to drive sales readiness. Develop video-based training content for sales representatives that can be accessed from anywhere. Convert Google Slides, PowerPoints, screen recordings, PDFs, webpages and more into compelling voice-based presentations. Include attachments, interactive polls, surveys and examination questions. Update existing content so that sellers can access relevant information. 
  • Onboarding and Training: Provide flexible training to salespeople anytime, anywhere. Help new sales representatives close deals quickly with immersive, on-demand training. Identify learning gaps of sellers and focus on critical skills retention with continuous learning. Ensure mandatory completion of specific training programs and provide badges and certifications once requirements are met. Improve formal training, onboarding, peer learning, certification, skills development and more. 
  • Coaching: Prepare sellers to meet rising revenue goals and hit targets. Create practice activities and training materials to tackle different types of selling scenarios. Curate text and video-based training scenarios to assess and certify the preparedness of sales executives. Make sure that sellers retain training information and demonstrate crucial messages. Promote peer learning through best video examples and boost team performance. 
  • Readiness and Scorecards: Identify and address sellers’ readiness issues before they impact performance. Track team coaching and learning trends to recognize how individual sales representatives are performing. Monitor team activities to identify top scorers, early finishers and those missing the mark. 
  • Machine Analysis: Transform coaching programs with AI-backed feedback and scoring. Generate user scores automatically when they upload a video. Gather actionable insights on a seller’s key metrics like performance, topic coverage and emotions exhibited. Scale coaching using machine learning while prioritizing feedback. 
  • Reporting: Create customizable reports to gauge employee performance. Generate default or customized reports to understand interaction prospects and usability of training materials. Get individual and team insights on staff’s sales readiness. 
  • Learning and Development: Create unique learning paths for sales representatives and other client-facing teams. Access assessments and learning programs created to achieve high customer satisfaction levels. 
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Product Ranking

#6

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LMS Software

#84

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LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 14 82 100 100 91 0 68 78 87 100 91 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 1521 reviews
Good User Sentiment 21 reviews
79%
of users recommend this product

Blackboard Learn has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 79% when considering 1521 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

79%
of users recommend this product

Brainshark has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 79% when considering 21 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

4.9 (18)
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3.9 (789)
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4.1 (456)
3.93 (21)
4.2 (54)
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3.8 (204)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Blackboard Learn and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Compliance.

Compliance Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Grading: A total of 80% of users who mentioned the grading capabilities felt it worked well and saved them time.
Effective Communication: Over 70% of users who mentioned communications features were thrilled with the discussion boards, messaging, live classrooms and other features.
Great Customer Support: More than two-thirds of reviewers who mentioned the customer support had good experiences with the staff.
Easy to Use: Users felt that the UI worked well in over 50% of reviews.
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Content Creation: Brainshark enables users to easily create content using a variety of media formats, including video, audio, and screen recordings. This flexibility allows for engaging and interactive learning experiences.
Content Management: The platform offers robust content management features, allowing users to organize, store, and share content efficiently. This streamlines the learning process and makes it easy for learners to access the materials they need.
Analytics and Reporting: Brainshark provides detailed analytics and reporting tools that allow users to track learner progress, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of training programs. This data-driven approach helps organizations optimize their learning initiatives.
Integrations: Brainshark integrates with a wide range of other business systems, such as CRM and HR platforms. This allows for seamless data sharing and a more holistic view of learner performance.
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Poor Mobile Function: Around 75% who mentioned the app said they had issues with the design, especially on mobile.
Issues with Features: Over 41% of users said there were holes in the functionality of the integrations, grading features and said there was too much text on the website.
Steep Learning Curve: While many said the UI was easy-to-use, over 40% of those mentioned it said it took a long time to learn.
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Limited Customization: Brainshark's customization options for branding and user interface are restricted, making it challenging to align the platform with specific organizational branding guidelines or user preferences.
Reporting and Analytics: The platform's reporting and analytics capabilities are relatively basic, lacking the depth and flexibility required for comprehensive data analysis and performance tracking. This limitation can hinder organizations in gaining meaningful insights into learner engagement and progress.
Integrations: Brainshark's integration options with other business systems, such as CRM or HR platforms, are limited. This can create challenges in streamlining workflows and data synchronization across different systems.
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Blackboard is an online learning solution used most commonly in educational institutions. As one of the biggest players in the market, its users appreciate its features, useability, grading functions and the different channels of communication. The most common complaint was that it’s hard to learn. However, many said it was easy to navigate after getting over the initial learning curve. Though many people liked its features, there were gaps and additional functionalities wished for in almost every category. Its lack of accessibility was also an issue for some users. This solution is good for institutions looking to implement a standardized learning solution. However, it’s important to compare it to its big competitors as some complained it was generic or too similar to other systems. Still, this can be an extremely efficient platform for online and blended learning.

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Dive into the deep end of learning with Brainshark: Brainshark users highlight its user-friendly interface and robust reporting features as standout strengths. The platform's ease of use makes content creation and management a breeze, even for non-technical users. Brainshark's reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into learner engagement and progress, allowing organizations to track the effectiveness of their training programs and make data-driven decisions. However, some users note that Brainshark's customization options can be limited compared to other learning management systems (LMS) on the market. Additionally, while Brainshark offers integrations with various third-party tools, some users express a desire for more extensive integration options. These factors are crucial for organizations seeking a highly tailored LMS experience or those with complex integration needs. Brainshark's emphasis on sales enablement and coaching sets it apart from competitors. The platform offers features specifically designed to support sales teams, such as video coaching, role-playing exercises, and content sharing capabilities. This focus on sales makes Brainshark an ideal choice for organizations looking to enhance their sales training and development initiatives. While Brainshark may not be the most customizable LMS available, its user-friendly interface, robust reporting, and sales-specific features make it a compelling option for organizations seeking to streamline their training processes and empower their sales teams. Keep in mind that the LMS landscape is constantly evolving, so it's always a good idea to check for the latest updates and offerings from Brainshark and its competitors.

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