4 Ways To Boost Learner Engagement With LMS Reports
For years, training managers have grappled with one tricky question: how to engage and motivate staff in ongoing learning. Because employees, who are committed to training, and embrace habits of continuous Learning and Development, are the kinds of people companies need to remain successful in the 21st century.
Of course, there’s more than one way to boost learner engagement and commitment. But, one of the most important tools has got to be, hands down, Learning Management System reports.
Training reports offer some obvious benefits for the L&D team. For example, course-wide assessment reports can help Instructional Designers spot sections of the training that learners are struggling with. But perhaps you didn’t know that LMS reports, a feature that is included in TalentLMS, can also be useful when it comes to helping employees engage in learning.
How Reports Can Increase Learner Commitment
What’s the purpose of LMS tracking and reporting if not for feedback, right? Reports provide feedback to trainers about the success of the course, and to learners about their performance and progress. But feedback for its own sake isn’t helpful to anyone. So, what makes LMS reports a useful form of learner feedback that boosts commitment to training?
Studies seem to point towards a few common qualities [1]. Learning reports create a personalized learning experience, where employees are involved in their own progress, develop learning habits and benefit from immediate feedback. Here are 4 ways to use LMS reports to help learners commit to training:
1. Create A Personalized Learning Experience
Feedback is most effective when it’s specific to the learner, and focuses on their progression towards a learning goal. This feedback doesn’t just look at whether or not the learner was successful in achieving their goal. It also evaluates their actions and performance during the learning journey.
Today, LMS reporting features often include individual-level feedback that helps learners figure out what their strengths are, and where their development areas lie. For example, a report might summarize the certificates and badges a learner has earned during a training course. This encourages learners to continue learning, as well as to practice their strengths in the workplace.
On the other hand, information about time spent on training, or badges that haven’t yet been earned, helps learners to spot areas for improvement. This motivates them to invest the necessary time and effort and commit to training so that they can achieve their learning goals.
2. Involve Learners In Their Own Progress
Staff training reports are most effective when employees have access to them, too. For example, when staff can download their own reports, or view infographics about their learning achievements. Why? Because employees are adult learners.
Adults like to feel empowered to direct their own learning experiences. Feedback about the amount of time they’ve spent on training, assessment results, and interactions on discussion forums can demonstrate the connection between the decisions employees make, and the consequences of those decisions. This way, employees can understand better the connection between their training and the progress of their career. And, if an employee knows that training will help them advance in their career, they will become more committed to learning.
For example, an employee might choose to spend less than the recommended time on training. They might also choose not to engage in discussion forums with their peers. Looking at their employee training report, the employee would see how this negatively impacted their performance on the course, and as a result, why they didn’t receive a gift card like other, higher performing colleagues.
This supports the research finding that feedback is most impactful when learners and teachers are equally involved in the feedback process [2]. When employees are aware that they’re responsible for their own learning experience, and of the consequences of their decisions about learning, they become more committed to training. This is especially true when the reasons and rewards for learning are valuable to employees.
3. Provide Real-Time Feedback
Many people prefer eLearning to more traditional training approaches. Why? Often, it’s because online courses offer convenience, autonomy, and flexibility. And LMS reports are an important part of this.
LMS analytics and reports that can be downloaded in real time offer employees immediate feedback about the course content they’re following. This means that they get to correct, change and improve their learning performance right away before they become distracted. More than this, they can gauge their improvement immediately after adapting their learning approach, or repeating a section of content.
4. Foster Learning Habits
Ever heard of the “Hook” model of behavioral design [3]? It’s a modern-day habit-forming theory consisting of 4 key elements. This includes the trigger, action, variable reward and investment. The trigger sparks action (or behavior). Action leads to a reward, although the nature of the reward is inconsistent. And the reward motivates the person to invest further time, effort or other resources.
This model was built with digital products in mind, but it can be applied to training, too. For example, an employee takes action by beginning their learning path. Then, once they’ve completed a module or achieved a positive result, they might be rewarded with a badge or certificate. This motivates the employee to invest further time and effort into their learning so that they’ll be rewarded again.
So, where’s the hook? Why, LMS reports, of course! Information and analytics help learners to see how they can adapt their actions in order to achieve their goals (and rewards). And this, in turn, leaves employees feeling more committed to their learning experience.
Conclusion
Engagement and motivation can be the greatest obstacles to learning and practicing new skills and knowledge in the workplace.
But, as they say, knowledge is power. So, with the help of LMS reporting features, empower your employees with the real-time feedback they need to commit to their learning journey. It’s time to learn better, faster and smarter.
References:
[2] Making Sense of Assessment Feedback in Higher Education
[3] Hooks: An Intro on How to Manufacture Desire
