PRO MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Saving Time and Money with eLearning

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Tracking Viewer Attendance

Customers often ask how best to track and report who within their user community has taken which course. There is not a one-size-fits-all response to this question as there are several factors that need to be considered. First, we need to determine what level of tracking is desired and then understand what training system assets your organization might have that can be able to be leveraged for this purpose.
What Level of Tracking is Desired?
One of the first considerations for tracking viewer attendance is to determine how much information needs to be tracked. For example, do you just want to know who took the course? Is it important to know when they took it? Do you want to know if they started it but didn’t finish? Do you want the system to automatically log this information each time a user takes a course or is it acceptable to request a little action on behalf of the user such as clicking a link at the end of the course? Also, is competency testing part of your eLearming program or are you interested in asking your viewers to do a self-assessment as to their level of understanding at the end of each course in order to let you know who requires follow up? Every organization is different. The answers to these questions will help in determining the right tracking solution for you.
What Training System Assets Does Your Organization Have?
Next, we need to know what type of training system assets might already be available within your organization. For example, do you have HealthStream or another Learning Management System (LMS) already in place? Do you typically post training material on your Intranet? Does your organization use SharePoint or another on-line collaboration tool? Your organization’s existing systems may very well be leveraged for hosting your MEDITECH eLeanining material.
If you have HealthStream, or any LMS, we would recommend publishing your eLearning material within this system. By nature, an LMS will track who took what course, when they took it, and a host of other information. Of course you will need to take HealthStream/LMS accessibility and licensing costs into consideration.
Without an LMS, we would recommend inserting a link into the last side of the course, directing the viewer to a web form hosted within SharePoint or on your intranet. Simply collect a couple of pieces of information in this form and use this as a means of viewer tracking. This method does require a little effort on behalf of your users but it has no licensing fees and requires a lot less effort to setup and maintain than installing an LMS solely for this purpose.
We have integrated our custom developed eLearning material into HealthStream for several customers and can assist you with this process. We have also assisted our customers creating their tracking form and created the link within the course. Both solutions are viable. The right solution for you is really based on what level of information you are looking to collect and what systems within your organization can be leveraged.