Skip to main content
Skip table of contents

Tracking Time Spent Data on Usage & Course Analytics

School Analytics uses a system that provides insights into the overall adoption of Schoology at the district level and course level. This Time Spent feature includes:

  • An accurate way of tracking the time spent on course materials.
  • Covers the time faculty and students spend on materials across the web, iOS app, and Android app.
  • Assists system administrators and instructors to understand the overall usage of Schoology amongst students in their organization.

Accessing Time Spent Data

Time Spent data is available to both system administrators at the district level and instructors at the course level.

System Administrators:

  • Time Spent is available from the Usage Analytics export file.
  • The export file displays the amount of time a user spent on course material.
  • Time Spent data is supported on all course materials.
  • Time Spent is displayed in seconds.

Course Administrators:

Time Spent is displayed on the Report Dashboard and Student Detail Report on the Course Analytics page.

The Report Dashboard displays the total amount of time spent across all course materials.

The Student Detail Report displays the amount of time spent per item. You may filter by 
Assessment, Assignment, Discussion, Managed Assessment, and Test/Quiz.

Time Spent is displayed in a DD:HH:MM format.

Tracking Time Spent

The tracking system offers a more modern way of measuring Time Spent. Instead of providing the Start Time and End Time for URL accesses, the new system implements a time spent tracking solution specifically on course materials to target how long students are spending on their course work.

Time Spent data is tracked across web, mobile web browser, and Schoology mobile apps as per the following criteria:

  • Every 60 seconds, Schoology automatically checks whether or not a user is still actively using Schoology on their device, and will stop tracking time when they leave the platform.
  • Tracking begins once a user opens a course material. Tracking continues while that view remains static - i.e. the user does not navigate to another browser tab or another area of the material. Tracking ends for that specific view once the user navigates away from that view.
  • Additionally, Time Spent data for each static view on an item is captured for up to a maximum of 15 minutes. Since usage reporting is typically not required for more than 15 minutes to account for idle time, the duration of data is capped at this limit. For example, if a student views a discussion for 20 minutes, the Time Spent count displays as 15 minutes.
  • If you’re using the Time Limit feature on assessments and managed assessments, the Elapsed Time data displayed in the Grading area may differ from the Time Spent data due to the cap on the duration of data as outlined above.
  • Time Spent data is displayed in seconds in the Usage Analytics export file and in DD:HH:MM format in Course Analytics. Currently, the time spent data is displayed by rounding down to the nearest minute. For example, if a student spends 2 minutes 20 seconds on the course material, Time Spent is displayed as 2 minutes (Course Analytics) or 120 seconds (Usage Analytics).
  • Time Spent data is tracked across all roles in your organization.

Web and Mobile Web Browser

Time Spent is counted as the amount of time a user spends on material while the browser or browser tab is active i.e. when the browser is visible on screen in any way, including if it's partially on-screen and other windows are visible.

Time Spent data is tracked as soon as a material is opened in a browser.

Scenarios

Use the following examples for a better understanding of how time spent is calculated.

  • Scenario 1: A student has one tab of Schoology open, navigates to a material, then navigates away
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens a material page.
    • Time stops tracking when the student navigates away from the material.
    • If the student clicks on features within the material, time continues to be tracked.
  • Scenario 2: A student has one tab of Schoology open, navigates to a material, then switches tabs
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens a material page.
    • Time stops tracking as soon as the student switches tabs or desktop programs.
    • When a student navigates back to the tab, time is tracked again.
  • Scenario 3: A user has one tab of Schoology open, navigates to a material, then opens the same material in another tab
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens the first material page.
    • Time continues to be tracked as specified above.
    • If the student opens the same material in a new tab while it is still open in the original tab, time continues to be tracked on the material whenever the student has one of the two tabs displayed.
    • Time stops tracking if the student switches to a tab that doesn’t have the material open.
    • Time is not tracked twice if the student switches between tabs that display the same material.
  • Scenario 4: A student has one tab of Schoology open, navigates to a material, then walks away from their computer
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens the first material page.
    • Time continues to be tracked as long as the computer is on and the window/tab is visible on the screen.

iOS and Android App

Time Spent is counted as the amount of time a user spends on material while the mobile app is active i.e. the app is visible on screen and the user does not navigate to another app on the device.

Time is tracked as soon as a user opens a material view within the Schoology app.

Scenarios

  • Scenario 1: A student has the Schoology app open, navigates to a material, then navigates away
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens a material page.
    • Time is tracked until the student navigates away from the material.
    • Time continues to be tracked if the student is clicking on features within the material.
  • Scenario 2: A student has the Schoology app open, navigates to a material, then switches apps
    • Time is tracked as soon as the student opens a material page.
    • Time stops tracking when the student switches apps; puts the Schoology app into the background; or quits the app.
    • Time is tracked again when the student navigates back to the app and if the material view is still open.


JavaScript errors detected

Please note, these errors can depend on your browser setup.

If this problem persists, please contact our support.