To adequately support learning and development goals in the modern workplace, organizations have increasingly turned their attention to powerful learning management systems (LMS). As a result, companies are also in need of robust data and analytics from their LMS to assess the value of these programs.
With a number of eLearning analytics to consider, we’re taking a closer look at the top seven metrics to track for a better understanding of your workplace learners as well as the necessary steps to bring your training opportunities to the next level.
What is eLearning analytics?
29%
of employees don’t feel optimistic about the learning programs available to them.
Workers are increasingly in pursuit of sufficient learning and development opportunities at work, yet 29% of employees don’t feel optimistic about the programs available to them.1 As a result, organizations are leveraging eLearning analytics as a key factor in elevating their learning and training opportunities at work.
eLearning analytics is essentially a data-driven model that companies can use to evaluate and assess the outcomes of learning and training opportunities — typically involving the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts. Ultimately, this digital strategy is being increasingly introduced to understand and optimize the workplace learning experience while affirming the efficiency of these initiatives.
Leveraging powerful eLearning analytics can help organizations:
- Promote the development of essential workplace skills — from critical thinking to communication.
- Support strategic alignment with organizational goals and substantiate return on investment (ROI).
- Provide personalized and timely feedback to learners regarding their progress.
- Positively influence employee engagement and productivity.
- Leverage comprehensive data to improve the learning process moving forward.
7 eLearning analytics to track in your LMS
eLearning analytics provided by your learning management system is one of your most valuable tools to review, evaluate and modify your learning and training opportunities in the workplace. This not only promotes employee engagement and satisfaction, but also ultimately helps your organization optimize integral processes and maintain a competitive edge.
The top seven analytics to track in your LMS include:
1. Online learner proficiency
The goal of your online learning course likely isn’t solely completion, but rather to support learners in gaining new knowledge and sharpening their existing skills. eLearning analytics from an advanced LMS solution can provide real-time data surrounding learner proficiency — helping business leaders understand how workers are uniquely absorbing information throughout the process.
2. Learner satisfaction rating
Organizations can create rating polls or surveys for deeper learning insights into how workers feel about the course content. These learner satisfaction ratings will quickly reveal what learners agree is working and where the areas of improvement lie.
3. Course engagement
Your completion rates may not always align with your learner engagement levels — meaning learners who have successfully completed a course in its entirety while demonstrating low engagement throughout the process. Analytics from your LMS can flag a lack of engagement for business leaders to respond to moving forward.
4. Learner progress
Workplaces can use benchmarks and eLearning analytics to track how far learners are progressing in their courses. Individuals that are considerably further ahead might require harder course material to keep them engaged, while workers that are falling behind can receive the support and communication they need to drive progress.
5. Session times
Taking advantage of comprehensive analytics provided by your LMS can give your learning and development leaders insight into user session times. This is not only a great indicator of interest in material with longer session times, but also the most favorable “learning windows.” Organizations can use this information to determine the optimum topic length moving forward.
6. Device type
The eLearning courses offered by your LMS platform should support all types of devices — from mobile devices to traditional desktops. Leveraging powerful analytics can uncover what devices learners are using to visit your material — providing organizations a valuable opportunity to customize these courses to meet their needs. If the site is particularly difficult to navigate for specific devices, such as on a mobile phone or tablet, this can quickly lead to high click-off rates. This will prove increasingly important, considering 76% of online users accessed course content and training materials from their own devices last year.2
7. Drop-off
eLearning analytics can also be used to keep track of click-off rates from course pages. When pages have high drop-off rates, organizations can analyze why this might be happening — considering potential issues such as page errors, irrelevant content, low engagement or user experience difficulties.
How to build an eLearning analytics framework
Establishing an eLearning analytics framework can provide teams with valuable guidance on evaluating and analyzing learners’ activities — where specific measures and dimensions are typically defined. The five pillars that are generally involved in fostering an effective eLearning analytics strategy within your organization include:
- Collect data: Learning analytics is a data-driven process; therefore, collecting data is critical to provide business leaders, trainers and content developers with actional metrics.
- Create reports: After data is collected, reporting will help teams turn this knowledge into usable information.
- Predict learner behavior: Teams can predict how learners will behave in the future based on reports about learner activity, performance and feedback. Depending on your organizational goals, predictive requirements may vary.
- Take action: By considering the above information, your framework should assist you in making decisions that encourage more successful learning outcomes in the future.
- Review and refine the process: Improving your learning and training offerings is an ongoing process. For the most effective results, it will be essential to continuously review, evaluate and refine your framework along the way.
How to get started with Absorb LMS
You can get the data your organization needs to make informed decisions with Absorb LMS reporting and analytics. The reporting and analytics dashboards provided by Absorb LMS are designed to help organizations:
- Gain key insights that make sense for your specific business.
- Prove ROI for your learning program.
- Track learner progress.
- Take on the future with confidence — with valuable data at your disposal to streamline the process.
With key analytics at your fingertips, you can ensure your workplace learners are getting the most out of your LMS. Learn more about LMS reporting from Absorb LMS or request a demo today.
1. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/employees-fear-employers-dont-offer-enough-career-skills-development.aspx
2. https://research.com/education/lms-elearning-statistics
