Tools in the education and professional growth industry are continually growing. And, rightly so. After all, growth is the goal of education. So, as the learning community needs change, the tools must keep up at a minimum and stay a step ahead at best. Learning Management System (LMS), in particular, play an essential role in learner development. Organisations like yours that are committed to a development strategy deserve a solution that helps you achieve your goals. Totara Talent Experience Platform consists of Totara Learn, Totara Perform and Tōtara Engage to meet your current and future needs. This Totara ecosystem is also widely adopted across more than 19 million users because of its commitment to staying ahead of the learning community's needs. So, in this blog, we're returning to basics and exploring: what is Tōtara? Where did it start? And where is it heading?
What Is Tōtara LMS?
Tōtara was founded in New Zealand in 2010 with a goal to transform learning management systems. Built on open-source software and the foundation of Moodle's LMS, it provides flexible customisation for organisations' professional development, from onboarding to certification, peer-to-peer learning, compliance, and even performance management.
Totara Learn provides a functionally rich eLearning platform that can be implemented quickly on Catalyst Cloud as a SaaS solution. Tōtara is supported by Totara HQ, Tōtara Partners like Catalyst, and a strong global community continually helping the platform to grow through users and features.
Tōtara enables learning providers to adapt the platform exactly as they need to help them get the most out of their learners' journey. Since day one, our dedicated Catalyst Tōtara team has helped pioneer custom solutions and integrations for organisations globally. Today, Tōtara stands as a testament to its evolution, with over 19 million users worldwide.
As Tōtara grew with the learning community's needs at its core, so did its offerings. Now, organisations have more tailor-made options than ever with the Totara Talent Experience Platform consisting of Totara Learn, Totara Perform and Tōtara Engage. These are designed to cater to specific aspects of organisational learning and development. Below is a breakdown of what they have to offer.
Tōtara Learn
Tōtara Learn is a learning management system designed to manage, deliver, and track eLearning content and courses. It serves as a central hub for training and development and is suitable for organisations aiming to deliver structured and formal training programs. For example, compliance training, onboarding, certifications, and skill development.
Tōtara Learn features:
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Course management: Courses are fundamental for learning delivery and feature activities and resources. Configure criteria for activities and courses, enrol learners and organise courses into categories for better access.
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Personalised learning plans: Learners and managers collaborate, designing plans with courses, competencies, objectives, and programs. Admins establish templates, which are assigned to learners and have content aligning with their goals.
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Programs and certifications: Arrange courses in a specific order for enrolled learners. Additionally, leverage features that support certifications requiring periodic re-completion. Alternatively, create a distinct recertification pathway to avoid redoing initial coursework.
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Content marketplaces: Expand your Totara Learn instance with external content. Default options include GO1 and LinkedIn Learning. You can also create custom marketplaces to offer additional content sources.
Totara Engage
Tōtara Engage is a Learning Experience Platform (LXP) focused on informal and social learning. It's tailored towards organisations nurturing continuous learning, peer knowledge exchange, and self-directed exploration.
Tōtara Engage features:
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content curation: Empower users to curate and generate content, from videos to surveys. Sharing relevant information becomes seamless and efficient.
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social learning: Encourage teamwork through private or public workspaces, offering real-time discussions and information exchange in a single location.
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User-generated content: Users create public or private playlists, curating content for themselves or as experts to share with others.
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personalised recommendations: Personalised content recommendations via the "Recommended for You" block enrich the learning experience.
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integrations: Tōtara Engage also integrates with Microsoft Teams, enabling learning within the flow of work meeting users where they are.
Totara Perform
Tōtara Perform is a Performance Management System (PMS) supporting traditional and continuous performance management processes.
Tōtara Perform features:
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supports the annual performance appraisal cycle with flexibility
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supports continuous performance management processes, often based on employee start dates
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ties in direct support from people leaders through check-ins
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collects performance insight and evidence through open 360-degree feedback
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enhances the connection to both learning and recognition of skills through competencies.
The Tōtara Ecosystem
Whilst Tōtara offers tailored offerings by mixing Learn, Engage and Perform, at its core, the proposition remains the same. It's a powerful platform designed to address diverse learning needs.
Top 10 Benefits Of Tōtara LMS:
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Customisation: Tailor the platform precisely to your needs, branding, and learning objectives. Additionally, you can also refine learning paths for strategic alignment.
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Adaptive learning: Deliver personalised content and experiences catering to individual learning styles and abilities.
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Performance enhancement: Integrate performance management tools to monitor and enhance learner or employee performance within the same platform.
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Streamlined compliance: Tōtara ensures regulatory adherence with comprehensive tracking and reporting tools.
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Collaboration tools: This includes discussion forums, chat features, and collaborative projects. These foster interaction and engagement among learners and, ultimately, a sense of community.
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Mobile accessibility: With a mobile-responsive design, Tōtara backs learning-on-the-go. Learners can access content and engage in learning activities across their preferred devices.
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Rich content diversity: Tōtara supports various content formats, including videos, documents, quizzes, and interactive elements, which enriches learning experiences.
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Seamless integration: If needed, integrate with other systems and tools, like Moodle, to create a cohesive learning ecosystem and user experience.
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Data-driven insights: Data analytics and reporting features provide learner progress and engagement insights. Ultimately better enabling informed decision-making.
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Cultivating lifelong learning: Tōtara promotes continuous learning by offering resources, skill-building modules, and avenues for learners to engage beyond formal courses.
Tōtara is a tool to help nurture your students' or employees' growth and success.
Getting Tōŧara Fit To Your Business Needs
At Catalyst, we are Platinum Certified Partners for Tōtara and have dedicated Tōtara LMS teams based in New Zealand, the UK, and Australia. We've been collaborating with businesses like yours for over 20 years to match, design, and develop eLearning solutions that fit your strategy. As open-source experts, we can also support you with ongoing maintenance and build features into your LMS that work exactly as you need.