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Pros
It's especially terrific for media and has many features to handle animations, video, and programming work. The galleries are great and overall the visual design of the platform is beautiful.
Simplicity and accessibility of use. The graphic layout is beautiful and the quality of substancial information is excellent.
We love using Kannu for the CalArts CAP CABLE class - Harmony has been exceptionally excellent in customer support too.
I loved Kannu from the beginning because it was clear that they had a team of great designers. I didn't have being on the site like I normally do with lms.
Cons
Students had problems with uploading coursework. I had problems with posting comments, critiques, and grades.
We would run into occasional bugs and hiccups in the system but the team at Kadenze was always quick to respond and address the problems.
However, we are still finding it hard to facilitate this.
So back to the lms tools and our old one had a lot of things missing. Most notably, a community feature.
Showing Most Helpful
Showing 25 of 47 reviews
"aesthetics matters; a thoughtfully designed and elegant LMS (at last)"
Pros: Finally, a LMS whose interface was clearly designed by people who care about making full-featured systems, understand the importance of elegance, and grok the educational experience for teachers and students. Having long struggled with Coursework (tolerable) and Canvas (yikes), working with Kannu has been a breath of fresh air: 1) it doesn't feel like an endless hodge-podge of obligatory features checked off by some corporate committee, but a purposeful integration designed by educators; 2) the portfolio feature is simply excellent, particularly for courses with creative projects. Its presentation really elevates (rightfully) a sense of accomplishment and pride for the student as they go from project to project, and something they can later point to as part of a job application. LMS's are complex, and Kannu is no different (there is a learning curve). Yet Kannu is lightyears better than other LMS's I've used for one core reason: everything about it gives me the sense that it intensely cares about its quality of use, and by extension what my students and I can do with it.
"Intuitive and elegant UI that encourage student engagement"
Overall: Blended delivery of on-campus courses with Kannu helped reduce tutorial time. It is also helping to reduce the time spent on grading standardised assessments. We rolled out bite sized online courses that cater to a large segment of learners who could not come to our campus. This helped us make education accessible and affordable.
Pros: Course cards look very cool, modern and clean and is one of the most elegant course catalogue looks I've come across. Session and coursework building is simple, quick and efficient. Excellent communication features. We use the individual and group messages with students a lot. And students love to use these too since they have very familiar look and feel like popular social messaging apps. The Course Galley feature was our first step to encourage students to engage in peer assessment. The entire faculty team love the announcement feature, especially the ability to schedule any number of future announcements. We use them a lot to remind students to keep up with learning tasks, due dates, etc. All it takes is an hour at the beginning to the term to set up the entire messaging for the term (with planning of course!) Automatic grading of quizzes is a huge time saver, especially for classes with peak student numbers. We even run final exams in full automation by programming the start time, end time and fully automatic grading. In-video quizzes is simply awesome. Helps heaps to make videos into interactive learning tools with very simple quiz setup. This is a gem. And finally, the folks at Kadenze work with us (you) to solve challenges and to roll out features. Kadenze doesn't treat us like another client, we feel we are in a learning technology partnership, and that gives us the confidence to disrupt course delivery practices and effect change.
Cons: A faster server would be great (we can never get enough speed, can we?! :) ). Also, a deeper drill down of individual student engagement analytics would be awesome. We believe this is in the works. The App version of the Kannu is awaited. Though the mobile version of Kannu works/feels almost like an app, ability to send push notifications, etc. would be awesome. We would have loved to have the ability to lock/release individual sessions based on completion of the previous lesson in the sequence (and not just by time/date).
"Kannu support needs improvement"
Overall: I've taught online courses in design and drawing since 2007. I've experienced several different LMS as an instructor and a student. I have had the worst experience with Kannu, and the lack of responsiveness to cries for help is not acceptable. My overall experience was not easy, and I spent a LOT of time trouble-shooting. Right now, I'm attempting to download my courses and continue to receive error messages via email, and support tickets remain unanswered.
Pros: Having used other LMS platforms, Kannu didn't measure up. I didn't like much about it.
Cons: I want better instructor support. There's delayed or no response to support tickets/requests. There's no chat or ability to call and TALK WITH A HUMAN to resolve problems. Students had problems with uploading coursework. I had problems with posting comments, critiques, and grades.
"Very polished, friendly system"
Overall: It helped me run my MOOC
Pros: The system is easy for students and instructors to navigate, and it has a very polished feel throughout. I've used Moodle and Blackboard in teaching, and they are much clunkier and less intuitive for students (not to mention they are very ugly out of the box, and it takes a talented internal tech team to make Moodle/blackboard look good).
Cons: It is not as customisable as Moodle/Blackboard. For instance, group submissions are not supported as far as I'm aware.
"2 years using Kannu"
Overall: Support was quick and effective.
Pros: The site looked great, and was simple to use. Minimum additional instruction was needed when introducing users to the site - navigation was very obvious.
Cons: Video upload & processing could take quite a long time. When setting up repeats of a course, every element needed the dates manually changed and publishing.
"Impressed with the contemporary design, easy navigation, and built-in instructional features."
Overall: It allowed us to grow our eLearning program.
Pros: It truly serves as a digital hub for the classroom. Not only is my own instructional content in the system, but students can upload a variety of coursework. There is auto-grading and auto-tracking so it easy for students to track their progress and for us to communicate with each other.
Cons: I would like to see a more robust ePortfolio system and more course analytics for administrators to pull out usage data.
"Kannu adds self-learning to our university courses"
Pros: We needed a way for our in-person university students to self-learn and self-serve before and after our courses - they had pre-work and resources to prep before, and competitions to submit to afterward. Kannu lets us easily set up and run online components to these courses under our own organization's brand with a lot of customization.
Cons: Nothing I dislike - but we'd love to use it to run student competitions with judging and feedback. It currently doesn't let us set up individual judges who can enter grades and feedback for any one submission.
"Used to build an easy system to interact with students"
Pros: The design is simple and easy to navigate, with a good amount of features. It's easy to collaborate using this software.
Cons: It would be ideal if there was a cheaper version of this software with fewer functionalities that my team could purchase.
"I used the Kannu LMS platform teaching a music technology course."
Pros: This software makes it extremely easy to track all the basics such as lessons, assignments, attendance and grading with advanced features making it easy to customize your course and make a unique online experience for students. Things such as assignment forums make it easy for students to interact.
Cons: It takes a bit of getting used to at the start, tool-tips and walkthroughs may have helped more but the Kannu team was very responsive to any questions I had.
"Kannu for Visual Arts Classes"
Overall: our art and design department really likes how modular the system is and how many different options you can have with modifying the content
Pros: Great utility for having well documented digital and physical work. Easy to work with and very flexible in the way you can teach a class.
Cons: some calendar and time management systems could be broaden to improve the efficiency in which you can edit some data. i.e. maybe use a csv to do some of the date reorganizations faster
"MDST project making use of Kannu"
Overall: This is a multilingual digital storytelling project (https://goldsmithsmdst.wordpress.com) that works with multiple schools in the UK and overseas and has as its key partners the BFI, British Museum, Museum of London and NRCSE. We have used Kannu to set up a safe shared place for schools, their teachers and students. We have been using kannu with the teachers for just over a year and we have found where teachers make the time to engage with the platform, upload sessions and keep a clear ongoing record of their work that the platform facilitates this. We have carried out regular training sessions with teachers on the use of kannu and emphasising the importance of getting their students online and critiquing and commenting on other digital stories. However, we are still finding it hard to facilitate this. At the moment teachers are more focused on the work in preparing the students in creating their digital stories and they have not given as much time to getting their students logged on and critiquing the stories of others. They have tended to do this as a group activity in the classroom where the teacher selects a range of digital stories that the children respond to orally and in small groups. We are working across a large age range from 8 - 18 years old. We also wanted to set up an e-portfolio or reflective journal on the kannu site and this is not yet possible. We set up a survey that some of the students completed but again this was hard to implement across all the schools. We have found it a very good platform but some teachers have found it hard to navigate.
Pros: Easy to manage and develop.
Cons: Hard for teachers to navigate with their students.
Vendor Response
"Awesome for teaching art and design"
Overall: Support staff are very helpful when able to address tickets. The built in system guidance made a huge difference in helping new faculty learn to organize content online. Was able to develop a consistent relationship with the vendor because it is a small company.
Pros: The gallery module is perfect for online critiques. Makes such a difference for online art and design instruction. No other Learning Management System offers an elegant solution for this. I also appreciate how easy it is to populate my content with dates to control student visibility. I also appreciate the contemporary UI. Received a lot of focused attention and support.
Cons: Smaller company so there is not a lot of personnel on hand for support but this issue will improve as the company grows.
"Ali Akbar College of Music Uses Kannu"
Overall: This is the first time we have used a product to manage our online class webinars, and we are enjoying the simplicity of the final product that our students interact with. In the past, our interaction with our students was primarily through emails, and sorting through the emails to find lessons was cumbersome. We don't actually use many of the features Kannu offers, mostly because of the size of our organization, but what we do use has streamlined our webinar interactions with the students in a very beneficial way.
Pros: The setup was easy to understand because of the personal training session I received, and Kannu's customer service is amazing. When issues have arisen their response has been prompt and the follow through has been quick. They were responsive to the needs of our school and tailored a few sections the way we needed things to run. Honestly, what I like the most about Kannu is the end product. Our students are happy with it, and it has made the handling of our class webinars neat and efficient.
Cons: When we first started, back in February 2016, there were a few bugs in the system that needed to be worked out. However, Kannu has just launched, so I wasn't surprised by it. 7 months later, many positive changes have taken place and things have evened out for us.
"I have moved all my courses to the Kannu LMS, and for good reasons!"
Pros: The Kannu LMS is a great tool for me and my students. From the creation of the course to the final student evaluations, this platform helps me to help my students. The process of setting up a course on Kannu makes me be thoughtful about what I want to the students to learn and how I plan on guiding then through that process. But the platform is flexible enough to add material that is unexpected, unplanned or even material discovered by my students. The ease of uploading reading material, linking to any all media types and promoting discovery through online discussions means I can have a plan but that we, myself and most importantly, my students, are not locked into trajectory that seemed right in September, but needed adjusting by October. The fact that I can copy a course from past semesters to upcoming semesters means that over time the resources grow and can be curated as fast as my course's subject matter evolves.
Cons: All Learning Management Systems have a learning curve, Kannu is no different. Luckily the curve is fast.
"The future of higher education, professional training, and online learning "
Overall: Kadenze's Kannu is an incredibly flexible business model and versatile platform. We were looking for a solid tool to build our own portal for Real Industry's educational content and also white label the platform for prospective industry partners. Kadenze said 'no problem.' Did I mention that we're a small non-profit - not a Fortune 500 company or a major University? My students have found their courseware 'refreshing and pleasant to use.' The product design is clean and intuitive for both viewing and completing assignments. The dashboards for educators are simplified and user friendly - no user manual required to update, create assignments, view grades and performance analytics. I use this platform for teaching at top universities (Stanford, University of Michigan, NYU,...) but also have portals for running academic workshops, small group tutoring, and even corporate training!
Pros: Interface, support, and team behind the product
Cons: Analytics is present but isn't quite up to what you'd get from a Google Analytics type integration.
"Responsive Learning Management System Site and Staff"
Overall: We've worked with Kannu for more than a year now and overall are pleased with the service and the versatility of the product. We looked at a lot of systems and most are outdated and don't work for visual learners (which is almost everyone). Kannu has an updated app like interface that is easy to use. There is a learning curve however and we would like more on-boarding videos for our students but I believe they will provide that as development continues. They regularly provide smart upgrades.
Pros: Beautiful interface. Friendly and user friendly design. Broad functionality.
Cons: There are features that we don't need and we would like to be able to turn off. That probably can be accomplished through development as they have a staff that works with you but we have not requested too much customization as the portal works for us well as is.
"Kannu takes our grad program to a higher level >> easy to use, dynamic, visually collaborative."
Overall: Enormous benefits: collaborative platform with visually aesthetic appeal and fairly easy to set up and utilize.
Pros: Ease of use -- both for students and faculty. Kannu is aesthetically pleasing, streamlined, and built for collaboration >> all important things for a portfolio driven graduate program such as mine. The creators and administrators of this product are always trying to improve usability. They're innovators and have a collaborative approach to improvement. They listen and are incredibly responsive to the particular uses of our program. Their tech support is ON IT -- I cannot praise them more highly.
Cons: The site is sometimes "wonky" -- certain areas are more complicated than others to set up and once in a while issues you thought you resolved creep back up. However, support is highly responsive. They'll investigate immediately and fix your problems with a "can do" attitude.
"Clean and Clear!"
Overall: Successfully created my first online course!
Pros: This LMS is lightning fast! I've lost many a student's attention due to slow load/response times. Click a button , jump from video to video and it starts almost immediately (less than 1 second). Navigation is clean and clear. This platform helped me to re-think and re-organize my course in a way that was decidedly better for my students without making me feel as though I had to conform to a norm, dumb down, or surrender any of the artistic nature of the course. The team that I worked with when developing and shooting the course was remarkably efficient and personable. It was the first time that I had ever shot video for a course and felt that I was in good hands.
Cons: The little IVQ indicators in the videos seemed to disappear on me once but was fine after refreshing the browser.
"Kannu is awesome."
Overall: Kannu is streamlined, elegant, powerful and the perfect fit for any institution that wants to deliver high quality educational content through a safe and encrypted online learning platform. I use Kannu to manage my "One Minute Academy", whereby students from around the world learn to film and edit one minute videos (http://www.oneminuteacademy.org/) The "Kannu experience" starts with informative phone calls with Kadenze's welcoming staff; next they start the branding and on boarding process. The team is really looking out for every client's best interest. Once the platform is ready to roll, it only takes a couple quick clicks to upload video content, add/delete quizzes and format tests to create a superbly engaging experience for students. My single regret is that I only use a small portion of the many features that Kannu offers, but over time I know that I'll make a better effort to integrate all of their technology into our digital curriculum. I strongly encourage others to use Kannu without any hesitation whatsoever.
Pros: Streamlined, elegant, powerful, best LMS on the market. I'm a big fan of the video uploading capabilities and integration with AWS video encryption. The closed captioning functions are top.
Cons: Too powerful and robust, which isn't a bad thing, it's only daunting.
"We've used the Kannu platform to host our online school"
Overall: It enabled us to get our online school up and running quickly.
Pros: It's quick and easy to set up a course. The built in tools mean that there's very little need for external plugins such as Camtasia.
Cons: Cloning a course for an intake can be a little fiddly, and it's not possible to set Session Release dates relative to the course start - they all have to be adjusted manually
"Design and Support"
Overall: For design and support I couldn't recommend a product more. The features are certainly a huge part of the experience and are much appreciated, but the beauty and elegance in Kannu is really the design. Yet the tool aside, the main reason why it works for us is the incredibly responsive support we receive. Kadenze not only understands, but also really cares, about her users. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and willing to incorporate our ideas into their road map if at all possible.
"Most powerful and versatile white-label experience"
Overall: I found out about Kannu through the Edsurge newsletter. After demo'ing their new lms I realized this was something different from all the other LMS' I had been vetting. Before we had been on a tool that was simple and compatible with SCORM, however, we quickly realized that we did not have the development time to build everything in captivate, nor has the problem of mobile responsiveness really been solved. So back to the lms tools and our old one had a lot of things missing. Most notably, a community feature. I loved Kannu from the beginning because it was clear that they had a team of great designers. I didn't have being on the site like I normally do with lms'. Additionally, they are very receptive to new ideas and excited to implement good ideas. The platform accommodates a lot of different file types and so has a much wider range of assignment/assessment types. Most importantly, it has a really great forum feature that has led to much greater student interaction.
Pros: - The design - Look / feel - Usability - Aesthetic - Accommodates creative assignments - Supports community development
Cons: Nothing, because I can't find anything better. Without building your own LMS this is the best one out there for accommodating unusual trainings.
"Kannu is elegant, flexible and time-saving"
Overall: saved hundreds of hours of time.
Pros: Kannu helps us manage student submissions and communicate with my team. Having everything related to my course in one environment is key. Kannu interface is clean and beautiful (nothing more hypocritical than teaching design using an ugly and tedious LMS). Finally, Kannu support is the bomb.
Cons: Its improving constantly, which is great. And this comes with the territory of a web software that grows with technology, but it is something to be aware of: as a user, I need to be on top of new developments.
"CINA"
Pros: Kannu's customer service is amazing! The best customer service I've had with any product or service I've used.
Cons: There are some gaps in functionality, but the team is continually adjusting the product.
"I use this LMS for all aspects of my classes from grading to students collaborations. "
Pros: I just works. Since using I have found that students have access to each other's question which they are free to answer Teaching=learning.
Cons: Set up time takes a bit but once it's setup it works great. What's take the time is there are more options than I need for some of the things I am doing with it.