Overview

1. Opens another browser tab or window and is no longer active in the course.
   
2. Switches to another application and is no longer active in the course.
   
3. Remains idle on a page for more than five minutes.
   
1. Exception: Time tracking continues while learners are viewing video content, interacting with MS Live Embed documents, or viewing embedded documents and resources.
   
4. If the mobile app or browser is force quit, time spent tracking is paused when the app or browser closes.
   
5. In the event a browser crashes or the battery suddenly dies on a device, time spent tracking will end at the duration set in your platform’s User inactivity settings.

Time spent setting

1. Interaction time: Tracks only the time a learner is actively interacting with a course section. Idle time is excluded. This is the default setting for new sites.
   
2. Total time: Tracks the total amount of time a learner has a course section open, from the moment they open it until they close it, regardless of whether they are actively interacting with the content. In the event of a browser force quit or crash, time tracking will end at the duration set in your platform's User inactivity settings.
   

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Policies from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Learners tab.
   
4. Locate the Miscellaneous section.
   
5. Select or deselect the Use interaction time to calculate time spent on a class to determine the way time is tracked.
   
1. If Use interaction time to calculate time spent on a class is selected, time spent will display learner's interaction time.
2. If Use interaction time to calculate time spent on a class is not selected, time spent will display learner's total time in a course, regardless of their activity.

Please note that enabling or disabling the setting is NOT retroactive. Time will be tracked based on the setting moving forward, but will not update previous course times.

Viewing learner time spent

Viewing the time learners spend in a course can be checked in several locations. To view learners' time spent for a course:

1. Access a course.
   
2. Click Learners from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Note the Time spent column for each learner.
   
1. The time shown displays the learner's total time in the course, or active time spent in the course, based on your platform's setting.
   

You can also access more specific details about a learner's time spent for each section and module through learner activity. To access a learner's activity:

1. Access a course or class.
   
2. Click Learners from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the three dot/more  icon to view additional options for a learner.
   
4. Click Activity from the drop-down menu.
   

The learner's Activity tab displays. Details of each module, section, and assessment are included, with the time spent listed in parentheses for user visits to the course.

Reports

There are a number of reports that can be run to access learner activity.

Custom reports for users

To create a new custom report for time spent or total time for users:

1. Click Reports from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Add from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Enter a Name for the new custom report.
   
4. Enter an optional Description and select a Library for the report.
5. Select Users from the Report on drop-down menu.
   
6. Click Save.
   

Your new report displays. To select which fields to include in the report:

1. Click the Columns tab.
   
2. Select the fields you would like included in the report from the Users section, such as First name, Last name, Email, etc.
   
3. Scroll down and open the User visits tab.
   
4. Select either Time spent OR Total time.
   
5. Use the tabs to customize your report as needed.
   
6. Click Run at the top of the page.
   
7. When the report finishes, you will receive a notification. Click the link to view the results.
   
1. The report will list selected user information, along with Time spent or Total time (based on your selection).

Custom reports for courses

To create a new custom report for time spent or total time for a course:

1. Click Reports from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Add from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Enter a Name for the new custom report.
   
4. Enter an optional Description and select a Library for the report.
5. Select Courses from the Report on drop-down menu.
   
6. Click Save.
   

Your new report displays. To select which fields to include in the report:

1. Click the Columns tab.
   
2. Select the fields you would like included in the report from the Courses section, such as Course code, Description, Credits, etc.
   
3. Scroll down and open the Learner visits tab.
   
4. Select either Time spent OR Total time.
   
5. Use the tabs to customize your report as needed.
   
6. Click Run at the top of the page.
   
7. When the report finishes, you will receive a notification. Click the link to view the results.
   
1. The report will list selected course information, along with Time spent or Total time (based on your selection).
   

Learner time tracking report

There is also a built-in report that returns data on user sessions using the login history from the profile page. To access this report:

1. Click Reports from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Users tile.
4. Locate the Learner time tracking report and click Run.

The Run report pop-up displays.

1. Name the report.
   
2. Select a Date range for the report.
   
3. Select the Organization(s) you would like included in the report.
   
4. Select any Custom fields you would like included in the report.
   
5. Select an Output format: HTML or CSV.
   
6. Determine if you would like to save the report in the Catalog.
   
7. Determine when you would like to Run the report.
   
8. Add an optional Email address.
   
9. Click Run.

When the report finishes, you will receive a notification. Click the link to view the results. The report lists user sessions by user, with Login at and Duration information for each user session.

Best practices

The system includes several settings you can use to prevent users from inflating their tracked time by remaining idle on a page.

1. Session timeout: The Session timeout setting allows you to set a number of minutes of user inactivity that will cause the user to be automatically logged out of the platform. To learn how to enable this feature, visit the Session timeout section of the Portal article.
   
2. User inactivity: The User inactivity setting allows you to set a number of minutes of user inactivity that will cause the user to timeout. To learn how to enable this feature, visit the User inactivity section of the Portal article.