Meet the LMS That’s Shaking Things Up with Interactive and Personalized Learning

Say Goodbye To Frustrating Internal Training

TL; DR: Back in college, I applied for a job at a department store. Before starting, I had to endure a mind-numbing four-hour computer training session that nearly put me to sleep. I quit on the spot. While your training may not be as boring (or who knows — maybe it is?), I bet your employees wouldn’t say no to a more engaging experience. LearnUpon is a learning management system (LMS) that can do it all with gamified modules, interactive courses, and personal configurations. We talked with Steve McCurry, VP of Product, who shared how LearnUpon can make revamping your training easier — and more fun.

Ever sat through a workplace training video and felt like you were watching paint dry? Yeah, me too. There’s nothing quite as dull as listening to a stranger on a screen drone on in a monotone voice only to be quizzed on how well you stayed awake minutes later.

Workplace training doesn’t have to be this way. Research shows that active learning — think problem-solving, discussions, and interactive activities — is far more effective than absorbing information through lectures or endless text, which is called passive learning.

So, here’s a challenge for all the employers and managers out there: When you can’t whisk your employees off to an escape room for a team-building exercise, consider another solution, and it’s called LearnUpon.

LearnUpon homepage
With the best-blended learning practices at its core, LearnUpon may be the all-encompassing LMS you need for your employees, partners, or members.

When I first discovered LearnUpon, I immediately thought that this is exactly how technology should be used — to better our everyday lives. Because, let’s be honest, when was the last time you thought about improving your training modules?

And if you did, when would you find the time to make it happen?

“It’s one of the easiest platforms to get up and running, from a standing start to having a live program,” said Steve McCurry, VP of Product at LearnUpon. “For both us and our customers, it’s all about results.”

Steve isn’t exaggerating. LearnUpon is a learning management system (LMS) that’s unlike any other you might’ve used. LMSes are similar to content management systems (CMS) but are specifically designed for educational purposes.

Not only can you fully personalize the training experience down to the last detail, including creating modules and analyzing learning types, but it integrates seamlessly into your existing infrastructure.

Changing the Game

It all started with a late-night conversation at the kitchen table between Brendan Noud and Des Anderson.

With years of LMS experience and a background in software development, the two noticed that most LMSes had two main problems: They’re overly complicated to implement and are poorly supported.

It only took a few minutes for them to decide that they wanted to create a better way to deliver online training.

So LearnUpon was created in 2012. From the beginning, the goal was to have a platform that is quick to set up, has powerful features, is simple to use, and is backed by 24/7 support.

By 2013, a year later, LearnUpon had more than 100 loyal customers. Fast forward to 2024 and it’s used by 21+ million users across 1,550+ organizations, including Zendesk, BambooHR, and Gusto.

LearnUpon Anywhere is the company’s approach to integrating training directly into your existing workplace systems.

That means your employees or customers won’t need to download yet another app or create a new login. Instead, it fits so effortlessly that nobody will even know you’re using external software.

I think it’s one of the best features of the platform because it offers the flexibility we all crave when integrating a new but essential tool:

  • Courses are embedded directly into your product or service so your customers or employees don’t have to navigate to a separate LMS
  • Easily manage your courses, modules, content, and users in a centralized management dashboard where you can also track progress and interactions with courses
  • The just-in-time learning method lets your users get the information they need right when they need it with bite-sized content

Since LearnUpon can embed directly into your company’s infrastructure, your users also won’t have to create a new login.

It’s really just as Steve put it: “We want to be completely invisible from a learner perspective. Our goal is to blend in and meet the learners where they are.”

But on the B2B end, LearnUpon is very hands-on with its clients. Instead of being a free-for-all of features (which, frankly, can be a bit overwhelming), LearnUpon has a focus on simplicity, a results-focused approach, and creating partnerships.

So if clients want some guidance, Steve described the process as a collaborative approach to build what’s called a Results Strategy.

This process often includes asking questions such as:

  • What business metric are you trying to move?
  • How will we do that?
  • What learning programs will impact that metric?
  • How do we bridge the gap between the learning program and the business outcome?

“We spend a lot of time on this because it’s a differentiator and shows how we approach customers as partners, not just in a transactional way,” Steve explained. “We’re in this together.”

Plans That Fit Your Needs

You can use LearnUpon for pretty much anything, no matter the industry you’re in — think of things like content style guides, safety handbooks, compliance training, product knowledge bases, cybersecurity training, and educational workshops.

Whatever your need, you can choose from three main plans:

  • Essential (~150 users): This plan lets you track online learning, personalize the platform with your branding, host live sessions, and use gamification to make learning fun (like badges or leaderboards). You can also sell courses, integrate with webinar tools, and offer Single Sign-On (SSO) for easy logins.
  • Premium (~150-500 users): This plan offers everything in the Essential plan, plus support for multiple languages, Zapier integration to automate tasks, and two-way API access to sync data with other systems.
  • Enterprise (500+ users): This plan includes everything from the Essential and Premium plans, with the added benefits of full white labeling, Salesforce integration, and top-level support through an Enterprise SLA.

Each plan also comes with a dedicated Customer Success people who will work with you to help improve your learners’ experience and reach your goals. You’ll get practical advice and clear action plans based on your strategy sessions, too.

You’ll also get an Implementation Consultant to help you configure, integrate, and launch your LMS — and if you have any additional questions, just hit up the Technical Support team, 24/7/365.

Build Courses Your Way

OK, let’s get into the fun part: the features.

Create Courses

Easily add videos to any course, upload and embed various file types, and even use blended learning options, such as live webinars.

As for the actual content, Steve announced that LearnUpon recently partnered with Easygenerator, a full-featured content authoring solution. Easygenerator has its own AI road map called EasyAI, which lets users quickly create or recycle new content.

But if you’re not interested in using third-party tools, don’t worry: LearnUpon has its own native built-in content tool.

Personalize Your Training Platform

Create all types of training content, whether it’s exams, assignments, knowledge checks, surveys, and reviews.

Plus, LearnUpon makes permissions easy. Bulk upload learners, automate enrollments, or opt for user self-registration. Even better: Organize your learners into groups (e.g., Dev Team and Content Team), and assign user roles and permissions.

Learn About Your Learners

As an admin, you’ll get detailed learner progress reports, which is a major win if you want to identify bottlenecks or pull detailed training history.

Configure Your Portal

Your LearnUpon portal is yours. Personalize it with your logo, banners, and content to make it truly your own. Enterprise plans let you white-label the interface.

Motivate Your Learners

Our brains produce a very important chemical called dopamine, which is triggered when you experience something rewarding, like receiving praise or accomplishing a task.

Releasing dopamine is good because it creates feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, which in turn, can boost motivation. LearnUpon leverages this by offering features like badges, leaderboards, and goals. You can also add your own banners, notifications, and reminders to help keep learners on track.

(And while it doesn’t have to be as intense as Duolingo’s mascot guilt-tripping you for missing lessons, it could be if you want. No judgment here!)

Use the Power of AI

Steve said the introduction of AI within the LearnUpon platform came from an understanding that it can be used as a tool in a larger toolbox.

“The opportunity I see for AI is driving efficiency and deepening the learning experience, making it more dynamic, adaptive, and personalized,” he explained.

You can use its internal AI at any step in the process: Use it to create automated assessments, recommend courses, or even translate text into another language.

Integrate Anything

LearnUpon integrates with a wide range of popular tools, including HubSpot, Degreed, BambooHR, Azure, Salesforce, and many more. Check out the full list of add-ons here.

If you’re thinking about upgrading your outdated LMS or adding a new one to your workplace, I’m here to tell you that LearnUpon is definitely worth a look.

There is so much more to this platform that I couldn’t cover in just one article, so check LearnUpon out for yourself or request a live demo here. It never hurts to find out what a little innovation can do.