Overview
Provides user-level engagement insights with content by platform, page views, sessions and printed pages. These insights are based on engagement with materials via Bookshelf, giving publishers and institutions visibility into how learners are engaging with content over time.
Key Questions This Dashboard Answers
Use this section to help end users quickly determine if this dashboard meets their needs.
How is content being engaged with over time, sliced by week?
How does engagement compare across platforms (Online, Mobile, Desktop) and devices (browser/native app)?
What is our print activity and unique-user reach for a given asset or course?
How to Use This Dashboard
Guidance for navigating and getting value from this dashboard.
Set your filters first – Use the Date Range filter to scope the time period (defaults to the last 30 days). Narrow further with Asset Item ID/Name, Course Name, Instructor or User as needed. This is a single-view dashboard, so all filters apply across the whole page.
Read the tiles – The Executive Summary at the top gives aggregate KPIs broken out by platform; the trend and comparison tiles below break down page views, sessions and prints by device and platform over time.
Drill down for detail – Click a specific week within the 'Engagement Trends by Week' tile to view a roll-up of activity by day via 'by Executed on Date'.
| 💡 Tip: Start on the Executive Summary for a high-level snapshot before exploring the platform and device trend tiles. |
Filters
Filters apply across the entire dashboard unless otherwise noted.
Filter Name |
Description |
Required? |
Default Value |
Applies To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Date Range |
Date range for when engagement took place |
No |
Last 30 days |
All (single view) |
Asset Item ID |
Unique identifier for the item, typically an ISBN or VBID. Supports multi-search (up to 16,000 values via copy/paste of a column or comma-separated list; semicolon-separated values are not supported). |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Asset Item Name |
Name of the content accessed |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Publisher |
Name of the publisher related to the distributed content |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Distributor (Parent) |
Name of the parent company associated with the company that distributed the content |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Distributor |
Name of the company that distributed the content |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Course Name |
Name of the course the engagement is associated with (if available) |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Instructor |
Name of instructor with related safe email for distinction |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
User |
First name and Surname of user with related safe email for distinction |
No |
None |
All (single view) |
Dashboard Tiles
Tiles are numbered top to bottom, left to right.
Tile Name |
tab |
Visualisation Type |
Description |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Executive Summary |
Single View |
Table (KPI grid by platform) |
Summary of engagement performance indicators by device/platform |
| 2 | Engagement Trends by Week |
Single View |
Line Chart |
Summary of engagement KPIs by week |
| 3 | Comparison of Page Views by Device |
Single View |
Pie Chart |
Percentage comparison of page views by device |
| 4 | Page Views by Device Trends by Week |
Single View |
Stacked Area Chart |
Trend insights to page views based on device used |
| 5 | Page Views by Platform |
Single View |
Bar Chart |
Comparison of page views based on platform used |
| 6 | Sessions by Platform |
Single View |
Bar Chart |
Comparison of engagement sessions based on platform used |
| 7 | Printed Pages by Platform |
Single View |
Bar Chart |
Comparison of pages printed from eBooks by platform used |
Fields & Metrics
All fields used across this dashboard, listed alphabetically.
Field Name |
Description |
Data Type |
Example Value |
|---|---|---|---|
Avg Session Length (Overall) |
Average time users engaged with the content |
Number (duration) |
8.2 minutes |
Bookmarks (Overall) |
Total number of bookmarks created |
Number |
84,622 |
Device |
Format of the device used to access the content |
text |
Chrome |
Highlights (Overall) |
Total number of highlights created |
Number |
6,553,365 |
Notes (Overall) |
Total number of notes created |
Number |
176,456 |
Page Views (Overall) |
Total number of pages viewed |
Number |
140,097,280 |
Platform |
Bookshelf platform used to access the eBook. 'Online' represents activity from Bookshelf online, while 'Mobile' and 'Desktop' reflect activity from Bookshelf native applications. |
text |
Online |
Sessions (Overall) |
Total number of unique sessions. A session begins when a user starts interacting with content and ends after a 30-minute gap in activity. Sessions spanning multiple devices are only counted once under Sessions (Overall), but count as 1 session under each device used – so per-device sessions generally will not sum to Sessions (Overall). |
Number |
16,105,149 |
User Activity Count (Unique) |
Number of unique users who engaged with the content |
Number |
1,692,932 |
Week in Year |
ISO Week Date standard week number. Week numbering starts on the first Monday of Week 01 (e.g. 06-Jan-2025 begins Week 01 of 2025). |
text |
W24/2024 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why don't my page view numbers match a unique-reader count?
A: Engagement metrics like page views are cumulative, not unique. If a user views 10 pages and re-reviews those same 10 pages five times, that counts as 50 page views.
Q: Why does this dashboard only show a few years of data?
A: The dashboard displays a limited window: the current year to-date plus the previous two calendar years. Older engagement history isn't available in this view.
Q: Why are my per-device session counts higher in total than 'Sessions (Overall)'?
A: A session that spans multiple devices is only counted once under Sessions (Overall), but is also counted once under each device the user used during that session – so the sum of per-device sessions generally won't equal Sessions (Overall).
Q: Does this include publisher courseware activity?
A: No. Engagement events reflect only activity within Bookshelf; publisher courseware platform activity is not included, since VitalSource does not have access to that data.