Overall, I have had positive experience with the platform and I would encourage educators to at least take a look and decide if it suits for you. There is no 'one size fits all' approach in higher education.

I have used the platform for years. Started using it to take attendance, but then transitioned to a more inclusive approach. What I like the most is that you can setup your lecture flow with PowerPoints, include quizzes/assessment points throughout, include videos (or other multimedia), and export grades/attendance at the end. There are a lot of small features that can be catered to individual faculty needs, such as types of questions, integration, etc. Their tech support is excellent! They helped me transition my course to tophat in no time.

I liked everything about the platform as it suited my needs. My only issue is the pricing model where the students have to pay for access individually. Not all of my students have the means to pay for access (which can really impact their grade if they don' use the platform). However, there is a discount if the platform is used in multiple classes. I also think they have site licenses, too.

Fairly intuitive for users; flexible; offers a lot of functionality in one application; responsive development team that frequently updates (new functionality and fixes)

Development has had a pretty narrow view of the use cases; they didn't seem to anticipate all the different scenarios that might occur in a Higher Ed environment.

My overall opinion is that the app may be useful for classes that do not involve mathematical symbols, but if you are teaching CS or math courses, I strongly recommend finding another tool. I tried using the app for two years, letting the developers know about the bug, but since they have no plans on fixing the bug and don't say anything about it in the documentation, only use if you don't mind wasting a lot of time messing around with unicode characters (or you don't plan on using commas in any questions!).

The gradebook is very well-designed and students have mostly enjoyed the tool.

There is a persistent bug in the app that I have been asking them to fix for almost 2 years. When creating questions using LaTeX code, you cannot use commas. There is a hack-y fix requiring you to use a unicode comma, but it often doesn't work and adds a lot of extra time when creating questions. But, the responses for the company suggest that they have no plans on fixing the bug.

Overall I am pretty happy with Top Hat. It would definitely fall in the upper end of programs I have used. The students also seem to enjoy it as well.

I was able to log into Top Hat and immediately start using it without any training. It’s a pretty intuitive site. Seeing the grades and attendance is straightforward and has been easier to edit than other programs that I have used.

When students are submitting their quizzes or comments there is major lag time and I am not sure if that is because of the software or internet connectivity. I am never entirely sure if I know how many people have turned in their questions. Until about 3 minutes after the questions is over. Also, I wish there was a way to edit slides when they are posted into Top Hat because when I upload sometimes the slides become distorted and I need to make the text smaller or rearrange it so that it fits on the screen and can be read. Also, sometimes the link to videos do not work.