8 Essential LMS Reports You Need to Track and Optimize in 2024

n the pre-online era, analytical tools were grades, long testimonials from the teacher, and notes in a notebook, like: “We covered topic X in class. There were problems with Y.” Therefore, the resourceful teacher, relying on their instincts and experience, should’ve taken this data and managed to adapt the educational process accordingly.

Today, we are lucky to have the opportunity to teach and learn with the support of automatic systems that collect learning statistics. They collect data & then give it to us in the form of tables, dashboards, and graphs.

Now, we're diving into those essential LMS reports that every instructor and teacher should be keeping an eye on to monitor and enhance the educational process.

So, let's get into the compelling aspects of LMS reporting and analyticsg!

What is LMS Reporting?

A Learning Management System reporting feature allows you to track and analyze how students perform in an online learning environment. LMS reports are necessary for this process, providing instructors & LMS administrators with precise information about student growth and success.

For instance, you can use LMS reports to view how many learners completed a course, the number of hours spent on each module, and the assessment scores.

By evaluating these reports, tutors can discover areas of strength and weakness in student learning and any potential gaps in teaching. There, LMS reports can also be used to inform instruction for better student outcomes. For example:

• The Gradebook report bolsters your data analysis with granular details, such as the average grade for a quiz, each individual's score, the average grade on a single quiz question, the breakdown of individual answers for that question, and the contrast between individual responses and the overall quiz results.
• The attendance report features an individual student's attendance history, including their name, date, time slot, class name, and attendance status.

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Why Track These LMS Analytics?

Uncovering the potential of LMS through data analysis can provide innumerable benefits for organizations, such as improved accuracy, higher knowledge retention rate, and amplified effectiveness. Let's dig deeper into these advantages!

Understanding Participant Engagement Metrics

LMS analytics gives organizations the power to measure the involvement of learners, both one by one and as a collective. Manually evaluating a single person's usage of LMS platforms is virtually impossible. 

The automation of LMS analysis provides immediate data on learner behaviors, registration, completion status, and other relevant info. Thanks to all this data, organizations can gain insight into which learners are dedicated, disinterested, or need further direction. 

They can then devise more effective learning plans utilizing these metrics.

Scrutinize the Effectiveness of Courses

LMS analytics gathers crucial insight into the student's journey and how effectively the course conveys knowledge. This data can show if the course is too difficult, if the learning length is adequate, or if it should be broken down into smaller sections to enable greater understanding. 

Furthermore, LMS analytics enables observing whether the course content has been fully understood to meet the desired outcome.

Supporting Long-Term Strategic Planning

Analyzing data from the Learning Management System is crucial for gaining meaningful insights that are essential for optimizing the e-learning solution.

The data collected and interpreted are used to sharpen the program. Plus, participant engagement levels can be employed to highlight spaces for progress.

Reporting in Real Time: Stay Informed and Up-to-Date!

The overriding benefit of LMS reporting is that organizations remain constantly informed with data concerning engagement on their platform. With access to this information at all times, any potential complications are identified quickly, and timely solutions are implemented.

Cost-Cutting

Gleaning insights from LMS reports enable organizations to evaluate the success of their courses and pinpoint areas for improvement. This empowers them to shape their strategies and create more effective solutions, thereby decreasing expenditures. 

With reliable data, small businesses can accurately allocate resources, maximizing their budget.

Maintaining Strict Compliance

Using LMS, companies that mandate employee certifications can effortlessly and expediently meet compliance standards. By guaranteeing staff are adequately trained in areas that the law demands, businesses can minimize the risk of non-compliance and employ LMS reports to confirm their adherence to the pertinent regulations.

8 Essential LMS Reports for Effective Training

#1. Course Performance 

A course report evaluates the modules, programs, and coursework. It considers the participants who enrolled in the course and those who passed or failed. Collected data is analyzed to determine if the course is excessively challenging, not challenging enough, or if it is achieving the desired objectives.

💡Who needs it: Curriculum designers, educational methodologists, course instructors, and LMS administrators. It provides valuable insights into student performance, course completion rates, and the overall impact of the curriculum on learners.

How to use it?

You can utilize course performance reports, to gauge the success of a course in meeting its intended objectives. By analyzing participant enrollment, pass/fail rates, and module completion, they can identify areas for improvement or adjustment. 

Moreover, these reports can inform decisions about curriculum revisions, instructional methods, and resource allocation to enhance the overall learning experience.

Advantages

• Offers a comprehensive evaluation of a course's effectiveness;
• determines if a course is appropriately challenging, meeting educational goals, or if adjustments are needed;
• enables continuous improvement in course design and delivery.

#2. Learners Engagement 

Usually, a learner engagement report contains several dashboards and analytics to help you measure the active participation level and learners' involvement rate. It provides insight into how users interact with the material, their interests, the topics they search for, and the most commonly asked questions. 

Several key metrics can measure engagement rate, including the number of views, time spent studying, time spent in the LMS, percent of content viewed, and percent of completed lessons/modules.

💡Who needs it: Educators, course designers, educational methodologists, and administrators. It helps in tailoring educational content to better suit learners' needs and interests.

How to use it?

Educators and administrators can use these reports to measure the effectiveness of learning materials and strategies. By analyzing dashboards and analytics, they can identify patterns in learner behavior, such as which topics are most engaging or which resources are most frequently accessed. 

This information can guide improvements in content delivery, course design, and learner interaction, ultimately leading to a more personalized and effective learning experience.

Advantages

• Offers actionable insights into learner behavior and preferences; 
• allows making informed decisions to enhance engagement and participation;
• helps identify areas where learners may be struggling or disengaged.

#3. Cohort Progress 

Cohort progress reports serve as the main instruments to assess the status and performance of a team or group. They offer invaluable insights into how the group is advancing and pinpoint opportunities for enhancement.

Without consistent progress updates, it becomes challenging to truly understand a group's achievements and to make well-informed decisions. Thus, it's important to prioritize the use of cohort progress reports, keeping the team aligned and working towards its objectives.

💡Who needs it: Team leaders, project managers, and educators who oversee group activities and performance. They are particularly valuable for organizations, educational institutions, or teams aiming to monitor and improve collective progress toward shared goals.

How to use it?

To get all the benefits of cohort progress reports, team leaders and managers should regularly review the provided metrics, such as cohort participation rates, task completion statuses, grade distributions, and engagement metrics. 

These insights help in identifying areas where the team is excelling or falling behind. Based on this information, leaders can implement targeted strategies to address challenges, boost engagement & collaboration, and enhance overall performance.

Advantages

• Creates an opportunity to drive a competitive spirit between different cohorts of students;
• enables to track progress over time, identify patterns, and make data-driven upgrades;
• promotes transparency and accountability, encouraging team members to take ownership of their contributions to the group's success.

#4. Individual Learner Progress

This report monitors metrics specific to each individual, including attendance, course completion, and assignments. This type of LMS report captures the learning transcripts for each student and can be shared with the learner to evaluate their progress. In essence, this report focuses on the student.

💡Who needs it: Educators, trainers, coaches, and administrators, who are looking for personalized learning approaches and want to ensure that students meet course expectations and milestones.

How to use it?

Educators can use individual learner progress reports, to identify areas where students excel or struggle. By analyzing attendance, course completion rates, and assignment submissions, instructors can tailor their teaching methods to better meet individual needs. Additionally, sharing these reports with students can foster a sense of accountability and motivation.

Advantages

• provides personalized insights;
• offers targeted support and interventions where necessary;
• leads to improved student engagement, higher retention rates, and better learning outcomes;
• promotes a collaborative learning environment and empowers students to be proactive in their education.

#5. Assessment Results 

The Assessments Report gives you the opportunity to overview all assessments in your LMS. You can use this report to assemble and compare high-level information about your assessment activities. Moreover, a good LMS system provides you with the option to drill down further on group & individual learner assessments for more detailed information.

💡Who needs it: Educators, trainers, and administrators. It's especially useful for those responsible for curriculum design, assessment creation, and performance tracking.

How to use it?

Trainers & administrators can compile and compare high-level data to understand trends and performance metrics. In addition, viewing all assignments at a glance allows managers to cross-check the workload for each employee. 

In a corporate training environment, assignments can be automated using an LMS, making it easy to see what content each learner has pending.

Advantages

• Helps to balance each learner’s L&D workload; 
• highlights assignments’ strengths and areas for improvement;
• facilitates timely feedback to learners;
• supports data-driven curriculum adjustments.

#6. Satisfaction Rate 

The Satisfaction Rate LMS Report, often derived from learner feedback and survey results, evaluates the overall user experience within an LMS. It identifies aspects of training that resonate with learners and areas that require improvement.

In other words, it offers qualitative insights into learner satisfaction, helping organizations gauge the effectiveness of their training programs, support, instructors, and other learning process elements.

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💡Who needs it:  L&D managers, teachers & instructors, and organizations that are in the stage of LMS implementation.

How to use it?

Organizations can collect feedback through short, focused surveys integrated into the LMS. It's crucial to craft clear survey questions that capture core insights like course value, meeting expectations, and on-the-job performance improvement.

Starting with concise feedback methods, such as rating the course or leaving comments, can encourage more learners to participate. Utilizing tools like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) on the last page of the course can also provide a quick snapshot of overall satisfaction.

Advantages

• Helps to make targeted improvements to the LMS and course content;
• highlights areas where the training meets or falls short of learners' expectations;
• encourages higher participation & engagement in the learning process;
• guides in developing relevant and engaging content that resonates with learners.

#7. LMS System Report

This category collects comprehensive data, including individuals and courses, showcasing how participants interact with the system. In addition to courses, the system reports record the social interactions between learners and provide you with sufficient data to rate the system using various gauges. 

Moreover, you can filter the reports based on distinct criteria.

💡Who needs it: Organizations implementing or managing an LMS, L&D teams, training managers, course creators, and LMS providers.

How to use it?

Utilize these comprehensive LMS reports gaining insights into how learners interact with courses and the platform. Usually, you can use the filtering options to segment data based on specific criteria such as course completion rates, user engagement levels, or social interactions.

LMS providers can leverage this data to identify areas for system improvement, enhance user experience, and develop targeted features or updates.

Advantages

• Provides actionable business insights that aid in data-driven decision-making;
• LMS providers can evaluate system performance and user satisfaction;
• understanding of how users interact with the system allows for targeted strategies to improve user engagement and course completion rates.
• detailed individual data enables to creation of personalized learning paths.

#8. Certification Tracking

Certification tracking reports monitor employee completion of mandatory compliance training. They identify who has the required certifications and who needs to catch up. 

This is especially crucial in industries with strict regulatory standards like Healthcare, Finances, and Law. This helps ensure regulatory compliance and timely training completion.

💡Who needs it: HR managers, compliance officers, and others who are responsible for relying on certification tracking and ensuring all employees meet mandatory training requirements.

How to use it?

Certification tracking allows HR and compliance teams to monitor employee training progress effectively. 

For example, in a healthcare setting, these reports can show which nurses have completed CPR training or which doctors have updated their medical licenses. 

Managers can use this information to schedule necessary training sessions, send reminders, and ensure all employees are up-to-date with certifications. Additionally, it's beneficial to set up automatic reminders and collaborate with department heads to ensure timely completion of mandatory training.

Advantages

• Ensures that the organization meets all industry-specific regulatory requirements;
• encourages employees to take ownership of their training and certifications;
• simplifies the process by having up-to-date certification records readily available, in case of audits or incidents;
• benefits employees by highlighting opportunities for career advancement.

Read more: Top LMS for Healthcare Providers

 Which LMS Reporting Features Are Most Valuable?

Let's quickly recap everything we discussed upstairs.

​How to Implement Effective LMS Tracking and Reporting Strategies

Implementing reporting from Learning Management Systems can take time and effort. To make the most of your LMS reporting, use these best practices!

#1. Collect Data. Data gathering is the starting point of LMS tracking and reporting. Companies should certify that they are collecting the appropriate data from their LMS, like user action, course finish rates, and assessment results. This information must be accumulated regularly to ensure it is up-to-date and accurate. Organizations should also consider collecting data from other sources, like surveys and interviews, to fully comprehend their training and development programs.

#2. Analyze Data. Once the data has been collected, it should be analyzed to draw relevant conclusions. It would be best to employ analytical tools, such as Excel or Tableau, to filter the data and recognize trends and patterns. 

#4. Visualize Data. Data visualization is a crucial component of effective LMS reporting. Charts and graphs facilitate understanding of data and enable users to gain advanced insights.

#5. Automate Reporting. Automating LMS reporting processes is a surefire way to save time and resources. Leveraging tools like Zapier and IFTTT to expedite data collection, analytics, and visualization helps organizations generate reports quickly.

#6. Provide Security. Ensure the total security of your LMS reporting operations. Authorization should be strictly limited to approved personnel, and all data must be kept safely. Furthermore, encryption technologies should be implemented to safeguard the data from unauthorized access.

#7. Collaborate more. Utilizing collaboration tools, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, promotes communication between stakeholders to ensure that everyone is well-informed about the data and makes prudent decisions.

How Can LMS Reporting Tools Enhance Training Programs?

Here are the critical metrics you can use to enhance training program results. These LMS analytics enable you to tailor your teaching methods and deliver additional support and materials to maximize learners' success.

LMS Reporting Tools for Creative Academies

Creative academies striving to nurture collaboration and exceptional education can monitor these metrics.

• Program Performance

Program Performance is a crucial gauge used in Learning Management System reports. This metric evaluates the total performance of a program, providing an understanding of how well students are interacting with the material and completing the course. Program Performance can be used to locate areas that need improvement, allowing instructors to make the necessary changes to meet their students' demands.

• Course Attendance

A Course Attendance Report is a must-have for educators to monitor their students' presence at live sessions. Armed with this attendance data, teachers can create strategies to maximize engagement, like offering additional courses or sprucing up the current ones.

• Assessment Scores

Assessment scores clearly indicate how well students have understood and applied the course content. It is a powerful metric for gauging student achievement on assessments and exams and can be used to analyze the effectiveness of any given course or program.

• Learner Progress 

This LMS report keeps a pulse on each student's progress, allowing you to identify any increases or deficits in their education quickly. The student progress report helps to foresee which students may be in danger of dropping out due to unsatisfactory grades.

LMS Reporting and Analytics for Corporate Training 

Companies implementing staff training can leverage the following features to evaluate employee proficiency and the efficacy of their learning approaches.

• User Engagement

It allows you to measure trainees'/learners' satisfaction with a course or program. This metric provides insight into how users interact with the material, their interests, the topics they search for, and the most commonly asked questions.

• Group Progress

The Group Progress Report evaluates the performance of learning cohorts, illuminating their strengths and shortcomings in particular tasks/courses. These reports are calculated based on a range of elements, such as courses participated in, grades, and engagement.

• Leaderboards

Leaderboards present an authoritative glimpse into the top-performing members of a particular class or group for any given period. This data is used to gauge each employee's growth and determine if they are qualified for more prominent roles or should transition to more advanced courses fitting their aptitude.

LMS Reporting is great, and when integrated into a high-performing employee platform, it's unbeatable! Check out the top-notch employee training tools with desirable LMS analytics features!

LMS Report KPIs for Online Schools

Here are the LMS reporting metrics that online tutors must stay on top of!

• Course Dropout Rate

This report analyzes the number of students who chose to withdraw from a course and offers insights into what possibly prompted their decision.

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• Course Attendance

A course attendance report assists educators in tracking the number of students present at live sessions. With this attendance information, instructors can devise tactics to boost engagement, such as providing additional courses or making the current ones more engaging.

• Assignment Management 

After delivering instruction to learners, it is highly recommended to offer take-home tasks that evaluate their understanding of the material. Assignment status reports analyze data regarding the completion rate of the assignment, which students took on the task, and their level of achievement.

• Course Completion Rates

This metric monitors the percentage of enrollees who have fulfilled their course or program. It illustrates learners' capacity to understand the course content. Moreover, course completion rates can be used to distinguish any issues students may have, thus allowing educators to provide additional resources and help.

• Instructor Feedback

Instructor feedback is a critical evaluation of the tutor's proficiency in providing aid and direction to their students, accounting for the inquiries made by them. Furthermore, instructor feedback can be utilized to uncover areas where additional training or resources may be required.

How EducateMe Empowers You with Learning Reporting

LMS administration and keeping tabs on the reports are effective ways to measure the success of courses and the performance of learners and staff on an e-learning platform. EducateMe is the ideal partner to integrate this technology. 

We understand the importance of tracking student performance to meet learning goals. That's why we've developed a comprehensive LMS reporting system to help instructors & administrators easily monitor student progress. 

Our LMS reporting & analytics system offers detailed insights into both individual student performance & indicators across different groups. Give our 14-day free trial a spin to experience top-notch learning analytics & reporting firsthand.