TopHat vs DigitalChalk

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

TopHat Software Tool

Product Basics

Top Hat is an online teaching platform that offers digital classrooms, discussions, customizable questions, textbooks, lectures, videos, attendance, assignments and more. Learners can get real-time feedback, proctor tests and quizzes and stream lectures. Administrators can track progress and look at overall trends.


It integrates with other education programs and works for students and instructors. Overall, the tools let users design workspaces, create interactive materials, make quick assignments and proctor exams. In many classes, it’s used to replace clickers which allowed teachers to show materials on-screen and students to choose answers via a handheld device at their desk. The resulting answers are shown via a bar graph on the screen for a visual representation of the group’s understanding. Its specialty is helping educators find and publish quality open education resources.
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DigitalChalk, a cloud-based eLearning solution from Sciolytix, is designed to make corporate training easy and effective. It offers features like training, eCommerce, course management, course delivery, knowledge management, exam proctoring and more. You can access training content anytime, anywhere, and store it in a learning library.

The platform supports instructor-led training, customized learning paths, progress tracking and real-time analytics. Sell courses, ensure compliance with industry regulations, protect your intellectual property, and get unlimited product support for administrators and users.

Users love DigitalChalk for its responsive customer support, ease of use, and versatile branding and course creation features. For pricing details, please contact the vendor directly.

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$33 Monthly
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$3,500 Annually, Quote-based
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Chromebook
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Linux
Android
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Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
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Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
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Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Better Content: The solution can help create and deliver high-quality content. Learners keep access to their materials even after the lesson is over. It also changes up boring PDFs and replaces them with interactive content with embedded videos, questions and graphics.
    • Digital Textbooks: Instructors can create, adapt, share and customize textbooks and other interactive materials for their course. They are always up-to-date. Users can embed assessments right into the material to see how students are absorbing material as they read. The text can also integrate videos and animations for more engaging material. It’s free or low-cost for the students and constantly added to by a community of educators.
    • Marketplace: It provides different integrated applications for coursework and content. Learners and teachers have access to thousands of textbooks, educational materials, question packs and over 20,000 open classroom resources. The subjects include anthropology, arts, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, cultural studies, earth science, education, engineering, ethics, health, humanities, law, math, medicine, physics, religious studies, science and more.
    • Customizing and OER: Users can change up the digital textbooks for intro courses to add and remove relevant information. Content is up to date and easy to modernize in the places where it may be lacking. It can take feedback and give changes in real-time. Through the marketplace, it’s easy to get open education resources from places like OpenStax and Saylor. This makes it easy for the school library to find the OER they need.
  • Greater Student Engagement: Students can receive more encouragement to participate, learn and have a voice. Some tools include a discussion prompt added between slides, awarding participation points and anonymous participation for shy students. Students can vote for responses in a queue, giving teachers an idea of where the group isn’t understanding the material. For creative questions, students can even submit drawings. The solution allows instructors to sync slides with students’ devices while students can’t move ahead of the class. This forces them to pay attention. Educators can share the responses of students in fun, interactive ways with visual graphs, heat maps and word clouds. Upon the end of the lecture, instructors can let their students see slides in review mode so they can study.
  • Better Interoperability: While the solution does some of the same things as the learning solutions, it also integrates with other more complex platforms such as Blackboard, Canvas, D2L and Moodle. For those who already have an LMS and SIS set up, this connects seamlessly to bump up the experience without getting rid of present tools.
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  • Create Courses Quickly: DigitalChalk makes course creation quick and easy, cutting down time spent on the process by up to 75%. Simply upload your videos, SCORM files or PPTs, add interactive elements like quizzes and publish the course.
  • Protect Content Privacy: With Content Fortress, give customers access to your courses on their own LMS without losing control. Protect your intellectual property, reduce losses from overuse or theft, and open new sales opportunities. Track exact usage, monitor learner performance and manage version control easily. You can create your course, package it as a SCORM or AICC file, and upload it to Content Fortress.
  • Innovate on Learning Delivery: Using the UPtick app, onboard staff, create custom simulations and run real-life sales scenarios for trainees. Get feedback from an expert who monitors staff progress and provides learners with the correct answers. Use content from an extensive library customized to various industries and situations.
  • Ensure GDPR Compliance: The solution follows GDPR guidelines and has strong security measures to protect your company and employee data. With Data Privacy Framework Certification and EU Data Residency options, the LMS is fully compliant with GDPR.
  • Save on Commission Fees: The vendor doesn’t charge a commission for transactions made from selling courses through DigitalChalk’s eCommerce system. However, there are additional fees based on the pricing plan you choose. Contact the sales team to discuss the details and find the best pricing model for you.
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  • Testing: With built-in security, users can host tests, quizzes and exams in a virtual environment where students can bring their own devices. Tests are easy to build and customize with multiple formats for questions. The fourteen unique question types include fill-in-the-blank, word answers, multiple-choice, numeric answers, click-on-target and many others. Students can also do video assignments, drawings or chemistry questions. Several behavioral algorithms help teachers monitor students and prevent cheating. If they do, they’re immediately locked out. Instructors can also see a real-time report and can offer secure codes so students can get into the proper test. Once the exam is complete, educators can automatically grade and have results show up immediately in the gradebook. This system is compatible with smartphones, laptops and tablets and doesn’t require a separate app. Grades can transfer to an LMS or other solution. Once grading is complete, it’s easy to review results and identify at-risk learners.
  • Attendance: Teachers can verify attendance in several ways. First, they can prompt students to sign in using a unique code and assign grades to reward students who are present. Second, the solution can verify the students’ physical location so only those in class get counted. It sends points for roll call and participation straight into the gradebook. Alternatively, instructors can build options for excused absences.
  • Grading and Reporting: Users can track learner progress, implement weighted grading and track attendance and performance. All of this transfers to the gradebook automatically. Instructors can weigh factors such as questions, participation and attendance. From there, administrators can analyze information and adjust for future lessons. To make sure teachers miss nothing it automatically captures student replies and participation grades in the gradebook.
  • Course Creation: Users can integrate quizzes, tests and other course materials. They can also track through analytics and port results over to other software. The system is FERPA compliant and has extensive support. Some other functions are the discussion tool where students can collaborate, offline mode, multiple file type capabilities, access to the marketplace, design consulting and more. Administrators can include gamification, flip classrooms and use devices to bump up engagement. Teachers can also stream lectures and students can participate in a live chat.
  • Assignments: It provides the functionality to create, personalize and auto-grade homework. Teachers can assign unique questions based on the group or individual and use interactive questions to engage students and reinforce the material. Homework assignments are easy and quick to assemble. Users can time responses, limit wrong answers or show the correct answers. They can also add images, videos and website links and build existing homework right into the platform. When the homework is complete, instructors can provide feedback immediately with comments. For hard subjects, users can create ungraded homework.
  • Institutions: Broader districts or institutions using the solution can acquire support specifically for their needs. The solution provides help with implementation, scaling, onboarding and other resources. Afterward, the company can help administrators review the program’s success. For organizations looking for more comprehensive help, the company manages support and training for the institution. They also offer workshops that follow the pedagogy and challenges of the faculty. A team of 40 instructional designers works to make this happen while a dedicated account manager communicates one-on-one. It integrates with all major LMSs and works with Shibboleth for easy configuration and single sign-on capability. It comes with institution-paid and student-paid options and has a clicker buyback program for the early transition.
  • Cloud-Based: The solution is a Software-as-a-Service and available without additional hardware or installing. It’s designed to scale smoothly and collects student data to ensure the organization is keeping track of student aptitude and progress.
  • Assessments: These deeper level analytics go after not just individual grades or students, but can track performance, completion, persistence and learning outcomes across the organization. It offers both summative and formative analysis so instructions can both correct the overall course and find individuals who need help. This makes it easier to track, identify, diagnose and fix problems when they arise.
  • Content Creation and Course Authoring: For specialized content, the solution provides authoring tools to create the materials. Users can get help with textbook projects. Instructors who want to share their work on the marketplace still own the copyright and earn royalties. It also provides collaborative projects where multiple educators and experts can come together to make a textbook. Creators can import OER or other content and split the revenue among collaborators.
  • Accessibility: It has various options to accommodate different students and learning styles. This includes allowing students to dial-in to a lecture via phone, transcripts of lecture records and videos of class meetings. It also optimizes assignments and textbooks so students can work from their desired device.
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  • Course Creation and Management: Chalkboards let you create courses using video, audio, slides and other media, along with tools like chapters and captions.
    • Add details for each course, such as title, instructor and passing grade.
    • Add various question types such as MCQs, Fill in the Blanks, True/False and more.
    • Manage who has access to modify the course by authoring permissions.
    • Select how the course is considered completed and manage completion criteria.
    • Add grading categories for the course and edit achievements, and remove the course if necessary.
    • Preview what the course will look like to a user and display the list of elements within the course.
    • Upload any of your packaged content, such as SCORM files, AICC files, xAPI files or PowerPoint.
  • Media Library: Store all your course content in the Media Library. Upload content to a course, and it will automatically be added to the library. You can also upload it to the library and add it to your courses from there. List each piece of content in the Media Library with details such as the number of courses it appears in, name, description, versions, captions, chapters, a preview and its usage type in any course.
  • Gamification: Set up games for your users to participate in while they experience your content, and award points based on their completion of various elements. Name your game, describe what it's about and who it's for, create levels based on point thresholds and award badges for completing certain goals.
  • Grading: Grade learners individually or grade course elements in the Gradebook. Review survey results for individual learners or as an aggregate for groups of learners.
  • Data Reporting: Get insights into learner data and analytics with real-time data reports. Track learner progress, top-selling courses, performance trends, course completion rates and more. Filter reports by user type, job role and date range, and download them in CSV and HTML formats.
  • eCommerce: Sell courses online using an integrated eCommerce system. Offer discounts, bulk purchases and gift options, and manage trainees efficiently through bulk imports and automated reporting. Certify learners with badges and issue CPD-accredited certificates automatically.
  • Integrations: Add or develop custom integrations with almost any software tool to meet your specific needs. Connect with GoToMeeting, LinkedIn Learning, Salesforce and Webex, or use the RESTful API and SSO functionality to incorporate other necessary programs.
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Product Ranking

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#16

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 63 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 135 reviews
78%
of users recommend this product

TopHat has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 78% when considering 63 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

94%
of users recommend this product

DigitalChalk has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 135 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.0 (22)
4.6 (28)
3.8 (38)
4.7 (99)
4.0 (3)
5.0 (8)

Awards

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DigitalChalk stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Interactive Features: TopHat offers interactive features such as live polling, quizzes, and discussion tools.
Easy Integration: TopHat can be integrated with other educational tools to streamline workflows.
Improved Engagement: TopHat helps increase student participation and engagement during lectures.
Valuable Analytics: Educators gain insights into student performance through TopHat's analytics features.
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Accessibility: An LMS allows students to access course materials and participate in learning activities anytime, anywhere with an internet connection. Its self-paced nature accommodates diverse learning styles and schedules and creates a personalized, inclusive educational experience.
Centralized Content Management: LMSs simplify the creation, storage and distribution of educational materials, ensuring an efficient and user-friendly delivery system. They enable smooth content management, update and dissemination, and make the learning experience structured and effective.
Interactive Learning Experiences: LMS platforms are designed to optimize the user learning experience, offering user-friendly interfaces, interactive features and personalized learning paths.
Centralized Data and Analytics: A centralized platform to collect and analyze student data allows educators to gain insights into learning patterns and tailor course content accordingly. They can get insights into key training metrics like course completion rates, learner progress and activity, top-performing employees and more to make data-driven business decisions.
Cost-Effectiveness: An LMS can be more cost-effective than traditional in-person training. Its long-term benefits often outweigh the initial implementation and maintenance costs, making it a financially viable option for many organizations and institutions.
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Cost: TopHat is often more expensive than other LMS options, which can be a barrier for budget-conscious users.
Technical Issues: Some users have reported experiencing occasional technical glitches or difficulties with the platform.
Learning Curve: New users may require some time to familiarize themselves with all of TopHat's features and functionalities, leading to a learning curve.
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Technical Difficulties: Implementing and maintaining LMS can be challenging for novice users. It may involve integration issues with existing systems and compatibility problems with various software components.
Adoption Challenges: Users unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the technology may have difficulty using the software, and require effective communication, training and support to transition smoothly.
Lack of Face-To-Face Interaction: Online learning can lack personal touch and face-to-face interactions that some employees may prefer, potentially leading to a sense of isolation or disconnection.
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Is TopHat a top-tier learning management system, or does it fall flat? User reviews from the last year reveal a mixed bag. TopHat is praised for its interactive features that boost student participation, such as polls, quizzes, and seamless integration with existing LMS platforms. Educators particularly appreciate its ability to transform lectures into engaging experiences, as highlighted by a professor who lauded TopHat for breathing life into their classroom and facilitating dynamic student interaction. However, some users find the platform's initial navigation somewhat cumbersome and occasionally encounter technical hiccups. A case in point is the "time-constrained attendance marker," which reportedly suffers from lag, impacting user experience. While TopHat's customer support receives mixed reviews, its strengths lie in its user-friendly interface, diverse question formats, and smooth integration capabilities. Its standout feature, the ability to create an interactive and engaging learning environment, makes it a hit among educators. Conversely, the pricing model, which requires students to pay individually, draws criticism for potentially hindering access for some. A user aptly pointed out, "Not all of my students have the means to pay for access (which can really impact their grade if they don't use the platform)." TopHat's differentiating factor lies in its dedication to fostering student engagement and active learning. This is achieved through features like real-time polls, quizzes, and interactive presentations, setting it apart from traditional, static learning platforms. A testament to this is a user's comment, "Top Hat is a great student engagement tool, useful in polling students on the fly or setting up assessments prior to class." In conclusion, TopHat is best suited for educators seeking to infuse their classrooms with interactivity and boost student participation. Its array of engagement-focused tools makes it ideal for educators who prioritize active learning. However, the pricing structure might pose a challenge for students with limited financial resources, making it crucial for institutions to consider alternative funding models or explore site licenses to ensure equitable access for all.

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