When you invest in a learning management system (LMS), data is imperative to understanding its performance.
Data can reveal the areas where your learners are succeeding and where they might be failing. It can show you what course content they are engaging with, and what content isn’t resonating well.
These insights can help you adjust your LMS strategy and increase your ROI.
Here are some of the most powerful metrics your digital learning solution should be reporting to you.
Engagement Levels
Engagement with your LMS can have a lasting impact on your organization’s objectives. Studies show that companies using online learning programs see an 18% increase in employee engagement.
Access to granular data on individuals and learning groups helps you assess engagement. This can reveal a great deal about your organization’s education strategy.
Learner engagement data can also answer the following questions:
- How and where are learners interacting with an educational program? Desktop, tablet, or on mobile?
- How often do learners engage with the education program?
- What are the lengths of usage time spans? How much time are learners engaging with the program each hour, day, week, or month?
- Which learning modules are they most engaged with? Practice exams, videos, flashcards, etc.?
- How soon before an exam or required time frame are learners engaging with content?
Completion Rates
The modern learner expects an on-demand, personalized learning experience. Using data such as completion rates provides insight into learners’ long-term success.
Course completion data can be used to evaluate dropout rates. It can also lend insight into how to improve your program to maximize completion.
Dropout rates can show you how many learners are abandoning their courses and why. This can help organizations that supply resources for seasonal exams or certifications.
Completion rates can also show when learners engage with the program in relation to the exam date. For example, let’s say your education program is available to learners year-round.
The data reveals that dropout rates are higher during the summer and around the holidays. That tells you that these are seasons in which learners have other priorities.
Your organization can then take actions to engage learners and minimize dropouts. Such steps could include shortening lessons or changing your course cycle to reduce study during these seasons.
Implementing a blended learning strategy can also reduce dropout rates. Blended learning offers the best learning environment for any learner. This holds true regardless of whether they prefer to learn in-person or digitally.
In fact, 59% of teachers said that learners were more motivated with blended learning. A study published by the Department of Education states that “blends of online and face-to-face instruction … had stronger learning outcomes than did face-to-face instruction alone.”
Course completion data doesn't just tell you how many people finished the program. This metric also provides detailed insights improving your program’s efficiency and outcomes.
Assessment Scores
Assessment scores divulge much about learner outcomes. If a majority of assessment scores are passing, you can confirm your content's efficacy. If scores aren't meeting expectations, data shows how you can improve your LMS strategy.
One of the most powerful insights you can glean from these assessments is learners’ strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to create personalized learning paths for each user.
For instance, you could have an initial assessment at the start of your online course. Data from this assessment reveals which topics the learner is proficient in and which topics need more work.
Then, the entire program can be crafted to accommodate these areas of strength and weakness. Personalization often culminates from assessments and generates improved outcomes.
In one study, students engaging with customized lessons improved at a rate more than double that of students using standard ones. Though this study focused on school students, the insights can be applied to learners of all levels.
Some may fear that data turns learners into “just another statistic” instead of individuals with specific needs. On the contrary, data allows greater personalization in learning. Here’s how.
Administrative-Level Data
If an administrator believes a learner’s score can improve based on data points, they can make adjustments to the content. They can also update content as needed if data shows the current learning material is no longer connected to the real-world application of lessons.
User-Level Data
Using data in your LMS platform, users can assess which topics need more studying. This allows learners to self-personalize their learning experience.
Instructor or Manager Validation
Particularly in blended learning, assessment data can provide insight into how the live part of a learning experience might impact overall learner success. If learners in one classroom setting perform differently than those in another setting, administrators can assess instructor-based training issues.
Learning Gaps and Successes
Data can also help you identify broader learning gaps and successes among all your learners.
One of the greatest advantages of using this data is the patterns these insights can reveal about your content. For example, say one of your lessons is based on a particular instructional video.
Only a few students pass a subsequent quiz and achieve an above average score. You can then identify that the majority of learners are struggling with this aspect of the course. This provides a reason to re-evaluate the efficacy of your video’s content and its ability to meet the needs of learners at the point in a course.
An effective learning platform can also help learners themselves avoid missing the mark on their achievements. Learners should have access to metrics that show their progress compared to others in a group. This creates urgency for learners to stay on track and prioritize their time and remediate effectively.
Data plays an indispensable role in learning today. When you apply data insights to your education program, you’re sure to increase efficiency and improve outcomes.
BenchPrep has developed this infographic to ensure you’re building and implementing an impactful program.
