Over the past decade alone, the workplace has changed at a profoundly rapid pace. We’ve witnessed the emergence of the global workforce, driven by flexible work arrangements and contingent employment opportunities. Employers are now managing geographically dispersed teams. The challenge, then, becomes fostering companywide professional growth — no matter when, where, and how employees work.
That’s where blended learning solutions come into play. Designed to help employers tackle the challenges of employee education with minimal time and cost investments, implementation boils down to combining face-to-face instruction with online learning. The result? A more accessible, collaborative, and personalized training strategy that boosts knowledge retention.
The benefits of blending
One of the most notable benefits of blended learning is that it offers the best of both worlds: Employees get the convenience of online access and the face time that keeps them connected to your organization. Consider the fact that employees lose about 90% of the skills they learn in traditional training once they get back to the grind. A blended learning system incorporates multichannel resources that reinforce key concepts and provide accessible reference materials to drive on-the-job application.
From a leader’s perspective, blended learning software allows you to test the online training waters without diving in head-first. You’re able to combine synchronous training, such as virtual classrooms, with self-paced online activities, including microlearning libraries and personalized training paths.
Furthermore, though some industries (e.g., retail, customer service, hospitality, healthcare, nonprofits, and academia) have particularly high success rates with this approach, virtually any organization can benefit from mixing technology with traditional training. Case in point: Ernst & Young managed to slash its training costs by about 35% by implementing blended learning, condensing nearly 3,000 hours of classroom training to 500.
5 must-have reporting features
All that said, while the versatility of blended learning software enables you to meet the diverse needs of your organization and employees, it also complicates matters when it comes to monitoring engagement, performance, and other key performance indicators.
Your blended learning software must be able to compile data for both face-to-face and online training activities and then generate reports that offer a holistic overview of such things as social learning activities, simulation performance, assessment results, and in-class participation. Use this checklist to determine which reporting insights are must-haves in your learning management system portfolio:
1. Detailed login and time logs: Login activity metrics and time logs are among the most basic LMS reports — but they’re also some of the most essential. They tell you how often learners access the system, which devices they use, and how long they take to complete an activity. This helps you optimize your content and personalize the learner’s experience. For example, let’s say your login report shows that most employees access the platform from their smartphones. Given that information, you should provide more mobile-friendly microlearning online training resources to meet their needs and reinforce knowledge.
2. Activity completion and performance reports: Going beyond the basics, completion and performance metrics help you understand how employees are applying what they’ve learned. Assessment results also play a crucial role in determining learner proficiency and knowledge acquisition. If you’re seeing low scores on assessments or low participation in online training simulations, these reports help you find the root causes. Employees might, for example, lack the required technological know-how when accessing resources, or there could be a gap in awareness regarding which tools are available.
3. Personalized reporting dashboards: Personalized dashboards allow both employees and administrators to track relevant metrics. For example, just as you can monitor specific groups or departments to identify areas of improvement, your employees can pin certification reports to self-tracked skill or knowledge gaps. Personalized dashboards improve ROI and ensure everyone has access to actionable data.
4. Informal learning and gamification metrics: Including social and informal learning metrics, as well as gamification, on your LMS will enhance learner motivation and participation. Earning award badges does more than acknowledge top performers; it also inspires those who don’t meet the requirements to identify gaps and seek additional support. In addition, these metrics help you measure employee participation and interactions outside the LMS. In most cases, users manually input these activities to receive credit — allowing you to determine which platforms are most popular and adjust your strategy accordingly.
5. Customizable reporting: Being able to build your own reports and automate the delivery ensures the right people in your organization have the information they need to track KPIs and enhance education strategies. With customizable reporting, you can also create and track specific groups based on various criteria. For example, you could set up a report focused on employees enrolled in an online sales training certification program. The custom report’s charts and graphs make it easier to identify patterns or performance gaps over time.
When they’re combined with robust LMS reporting tools, blended learning solutions offer many cost-effective advantages. To optimize your company’s investment and equip your L&D and HR teams with actionable data, look for platforms with proven track records and high user satisfaction. LMS free trials and demos give you the chance to put a system through its paces and ensure it will meet your reporting requirements before making a long-term commitment.
