The 4 Most Important Reports in Learning and Development

Modern age management thinker Peter Drucker was often quoted as saying that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure “ and in a similar vein noted physicist Lord Kelvin stated, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

A comprehensive analysis and a reporting solution is unavoidable in the case of selection of an LMS, as it offers key insights into the performance of different learners and ultimately the effectiveness of the enterprise training strategy.

An increasingly competitive business landscape, rising complexity, persistent uncertainty, a multigenerational workforce, and a shorter shelf life for knowledge have placed a premium on reskilling and upskilling. One of the L&D executive’s primary tasks is to develop and shape a learning strategy based on the company’s business and talent strategies. Only 40 percent of companies say that their learning strategy is aligned with business goals. For 60 percent, then, learning has no explicit connection to the company’s strategic objectives.

Creating successful Learning and Development training goals in the workplace is both an art and a science.

This is because learning is personal and cannot be templatized completely. Hence it must be tailored and adapted to fit different employees across departments and verticals. Setting goals for training is a science as there are strategies and practices that a body of research has shown to be effective in enhancing learning. Hence defining goals is a fundamental component of any employee training plan.

After having properly configured learning and development goals, an LMS Analytics system provides an HR manager or admin with critical information to better understand if trainees are completing the behaviors HR wants them to complete. Without this information, it will be almost impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of an enterprise L&D online program.

Most LMS providers have reports that showcase colorful diagrams and charts that make them visually appealing to boss/ higher management. However how much of this is a clutter and how many of these reports actually help the admin?

It must be kept in mind, that reporting tools are only as effective as the people using them. So how important are analytical insights from the LMS to the L&D manager?

“Analytics is essential for talent management professionals to be able to demonstrate user engagement and the business impact of learning. We’re investing more in talent intelligence, with crisper analytics experience for admins to understand learning activity within their organization, where skill gaps exist, and what actions they can take to close them,” agrees James Raybould from LinkedIn.

Below are four important LMS reports that will help an L&D administrator or as an HR manager to gain insight on learners/employee behavior and enterprise training goals.

1. Learner Progress And Completion Rates

This is one of the most fundamental reports in the arsenal of an L&D manager. Learner Progress KPIs are baseline metrics that enable enterprises to evaluate performance and can include activity pass/fail statistics, average test scores, and the average time to completion. These two metrics might seem very rudimentary in the era of NLP and behavioral analytics, however, they provide L&D managers valuable insight on the employees’ willingness to learn and also the aptitude of the learner.

Many corporate learning programs include assessments as part of their enterprise training, but HR managers often ignore what the assessment data reveals.

Firstly if employees/ learners are failing a course assessment, for example, it is a good indicator that they are unable to understand the information. The purpose of assessment data isn’t just to “catch” employees who are falling behind; it’s also an opportunity for learning departments to improve hard to comprehend or dated content.

This is a signal to L& D admin to revisit the content or attempt a new approach, like gamification. In a study by Karl Erenli, the Austrian researcher contended, “Gamification is proven to have an enormous impact on today’s learners.” “A student who is interested in the lesson or course taught will be a more productive learner. Games can be a great tool to help students stay engaged.”Once those changes are implemented, the enterprise can use the same LMS reports to see which strategy has the greatest impact on employee learning.

Secondly, a learner Progress report may also indicate those employees who complete a training program more quickly than normal and those employees who complete required training (with one screen running the training while they multitask elsewhere) without getting much out of the training program. In that case, it may be necessary to develop a more interactive or a more challenging course.

Thirdly, an L& D manager can also compare learner progress on compliance programs at different offices or work sites. This will help them understand the differences in training effectiveness across different geographical locations.

KlouLearn understands the time consuming and demanding nature of your job as an HR manager and provides you pre-built Learner progress reports. These reports can be scheduled to your stakeholders’ email addresses in a variety of file formats. Learner Progress reports can be configured to showcase individual employee performance as well as group-level performance.

Moreover certain industry verticals such as BFSI, Healthcare, Pharma. etc have extremely high compliance norms. L&D managers can use this pre-built report and monitor progress and ensure employee compliance with the completion of key learning modules.

2. Learner Participation And Engagement

The Learner Participation and Engagement Report is an effective way to determine the level of participation in a company’s training program. Key metrics in this report such as the number of views, time spent are indicators about the participation of trainees in a course.

Using learner engagement data, managers can determine which employees are the most highly engaged with professional development content.
What courses are they taking? Do they have an increased interest in a particular area?

Two crucial inferences can be drawn by L&D admins from a low level of participation in this report.

One the learner has a very low level of motivation to engage with his learning/training curriculum. The problem of poor completion rate can be solved with a one on one chat with the employee and the real value of this training can be explained.

Employees usually thrive in a work environment that operates via positive reinforcement. “Staff training is vitally important in increasing employee engagement. Employees feel valued through career enhancement and development, which therefore increases motivation to achieve company objectives,” said Rachel Allen, head of people & culture at BPS World.

Secondly, a thorough analysis of this report can assist the HR managers to restructure their training content. A legacy system with offline training content coupled with drab PowerPoint slides that are text-heavy, and with poor resolution images do not captivate the millennials.

L&D managers have to rapidly embrace digital training solutions, particularly the “ blended approach” to cater to different employees. Technology in the form of artificial intelligence (AI) can help in personalization or contextualization of learning delivered to an employee, using information about a person’s previous experiences and background. Further, L&D managers must adopt a micro-learning approach and make gamified training materials and resources accessible via mobile devices.

KloudLearn’s suite of pre-built reports allows L&D Admins to make quick decisions based on real-time information.

3. LEARNER Assessment Results

Learner assessment results are the most direct indicators of learner progress and performance.

These tests can be scheduled at interim points during a course to assess learner aptitude and comprehension. Benchmarking and pretesting can also be used by L&D admins to assess employee skill gaps and track their progress over an extended timeline.

The Assessment Report also provides training heads better analyze learner management capabilities by identifying students who are excelling, and those who need assistance.

For example, if a learner scores low on their soft skills exams at the beginning, but by the end of their training program, they score significantly higher. Then this proves that the learners have increased their proficiency in this area and have upskilled.

4. Learner Satisfaction Ratings

The Learner Survey Report is the easiest way to glean user feedback for the training content on an LMS. Also, how is the training program faring? Are online learners getting the requisite information to complete their upskilling course?

One way to find out is to attach surveys at the end of the actual eLearning module. This online survey can be as simple or complex as the information an admin wishes to track. The L&D manager can use the course feedback report to identify problems and improvements in existing courses, as well as opportunities for additional training.

For example, if a survey indicates that more than 50% of trainees prefer micro-learning video content or content in a regional language it is a clear indication of a need to personalize the courses as per the learner’s feedback.

By using a modern LMS platform there is no requirement for L&D admins to partner with a third -party survey provider, to collect results of employee feedback of a training program.

Kloudlearn’s feedback reports by providing a platform to a learner to share their opinions ensure transparency and democratizes the learning process.

Conclusion

The goals of an L&D manager can be all-encompassing and include employee upskilling, reduction of attrition, and improving training ROI. These macro goals however are totally dependent on employee participation and performance.

KPI of learner engagement via views and employee performance via scores are quantifiable metrics that can help a Training manager measure different L&D goals over some time.

The cornerstone of effective L&D is to ensure trainee satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Once this metric is ensured from a micro employee/learner level, the macro efficacy of the Company-wide training and development program will fall into place.

KloudLearn’s array of reports help save development costs and precious man-hours.

These custom-built dashboards and convenient reports help you hit the ground running as soon as you set up your LMS platform.

To know more about our LMS solution, get in touch with us now by clicking here.