How an LMS Can Help Track Student Progress and Engagement

Before the advent of the internet, learning required the presence of both professors and pupils in the same area. However, there are several methods available today that enable professors and students to communicate virtually. Due to this, some argue that the classroom-based approach is no longer effective and even obsolete. An institution must adapt and embrace online learning and e-learning if it wants to stay relevant. They can choose the blended learning route to maintain the conventional method of teaching knowledge and skills, so they do not need to be entirely online.

In this section, we'll take a closer look at the eLearning tools and techniques you can use to gauge your students' proficiency with your courses and their comprehension of them.

A student's progress is typically evaluated in one of two ways: qualitatively or quantitatively. A solid LMS software will provide you with all the tools you need to help you with the first as well, however, eLearning systems are typically more suited to the second.

The face-to-face evaluation of a student is something that eLearning may not typically provide (although it can in the case of video sessions), but LMS platforms offer a variety of conventional and cutting-edge methods to assess your student's progress, with the added advantage of automating the laborious manual grading process.

Let's examine some of the tools that LMS software provides for student assessment and their features in the context of e-learning.

What is an LMS Software?

What is a learning management system, first and foremost? An LMS is a piece of software that enables educational institutions to oversee every facet of the online learning experience. It serves as a central hub for online education where teachers may plan and organize classes, give out tests, and grade pupils. Additionally, it acts as an open line of contact for the administrative team, parents, and students.

How Does LMS Software Help In Student Tracking System?

• Exams And Tests

Tests for eLearning are more effective than tests on paper and pencil. They can be randomized, giving each student his or her own unique test (this can help prevent cheating). They can be customized so that each student receives a test based on his or her prior progress. They can include a range of question types, such as interactive and multimedia ones. They can also be quickly graded by the LMS, which is last but not least.

• Assignments And Projects

Even though eLearning automates many components of the learning process, conventional homework still exists in the form of longer activities that students must do at home and then turn in for assessment.

Although the supervising or assistant instructor managing the eLearning course typically grades and assesses homework and projects manually, the LMS platform can still automate some aspects of the entire process. For example, it can automatically accept student submissions (through file upload), catalog them and present them to the teacher, provide grade entry forms, and store student grades alongside those automatically calculated by the LMS.

• Discussion And Cooperation

Students can develop and organize knowledge before integrating it using an effective learning technique. According to research, students link knowledge most successfully in an engaging, lively social learning setting. LMS solutions are created with social learning features to help students negotiate comprehension through peer interaction and conversations and to meet the needs of over 24% of academic institutions wanting to enhance engagement.

The social aspect encourages better teamwork and permits knowledge sharing among pupils. It builds pupils' confidence while assisting them in developing critical thinking skills. Additionally, internet discussion forums offer a useful setting for group problem-solving and ongoing conversations. By seeing another person's framework, they help learners fully establish sound conceptual frameworks.

• Individual Meetings

The opportunity for the direct instructor and learner contact is something that many LMS platforms offer in addition to tests, quizzes, and exercises. This can be done through an online chat, an audio or video teleconference, or a mix of the three.

These kinds of one-on-one meetings can be extremely beneficial for getting a qualitative assessment of your students, motivating and assisting them with course material that is particularly challenging for them, and, last but not least, catching cheats.

• Reports 

If there is one feature that eLearning systems have over traditional learning that makes it better for assessing your learners, it is reporting.

By displaying a student's progress in a variety of ways, such as in the form of simple-to-understand plots and graphs, a modern LMS platform can help the teacher in the evaluation of a student. The latter may come out as shallow, yet it's remarkable how much simpler they make it to identify issues with a student's performance.

When Selecting An LMS Solution, Be Thoughtful & Strategic

LMS software, in conclusion, are very practical tools that help streamline and arrange the digital components of the learning process. They offer a whole range of features that are advantageous to the school, lecturers, students, and parents alike. Teachers have access to administrative and course-building tools, while students can access learning resources through portals and parents have options for tracking their children's development. The LMS will also help to speed up the student tracking system and provide individualized reports to teachers of their progress.

Hopefully, you are now familiar with the learning management systems definition, and how they help in assessing student performance.