Overview
Provides an overview of Bookshelf engagement at an institutional and course level. Gain insights into the number of courses, students, average time spent, and percentage of engaged students.
Key Questions This Dashboard Answers
How engaged are students with course materials at an institution?
Which courses have the highest or lowest engagement and average session length?
How does engagement vary at the individual asset level within a course?
How to Use This Dashboard
Guidance for navigating and getting value from this dashboard.
Set your filters first — Use Term and Course Active? to scope to the current or a specific term (defaults to active courses). Narrow further with Institution (Parent), Institution, VST Course ID, Course Name, or Asset Item Name.
Read the tiles — Start with the Summary tile for an institution-level snapshot of courses, students, average session length, and percent of engaged students; Institution Details provides the same metrics rolled up by institution.
Drill down for detail — Use Course Details for a per-course breakdown, and Course by Asset Engagement Details to see engagement at the individual asset level within a course.
| 💡 Tip: If only one institution exists in your data, the Summary and Institution Details tiles will show matching figures. |
Filters
Filters apply across the entire dashboard unless otherwise noted.
Filter Name | Description | Required? | Default Value | Applies To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Term | Standardized term name, based on course start date (ex: Fall-2024, Winter/Spring-2025) | No | None specified | All tiles |
Course Start Date | Date the course begins | No | None specified | All tiles |
Course Active? | Yes/No filter to isolate course relevance. Yes (Active) = course is currently in session; No (Inactive) = course is not in session. | No | Yes (Active) | All tiles |
VST Course ID | Unique identifier issued by VitalSource for the course | No | None specified | All tiles |
Course Name | Course name (provided by the institution) | No | None specified | All tiles |
Institution (Parent) | Name of the institution parent (Manage company name) | No | None specified | All tiles |
Institution | Name of the institution (Manage company name) | No | None specified | All tiles |
Asset Item Name | Name of the content accessed | No | None specified | Course by Asset Engagement Details |
Dashboard Tiles
Tiles are numbered top to bottom, left to right.
Tile Name | Tab | Visualization Type | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summary | N/A | KPI Summary | Institution-level snapshot of the number of courses, unique students, average session length, and percentage of engaged students. If only one institution exists, matches Institution Details. |
| 2 | Institution Details | N/A | Table | Institution-level rollup of the number of courses, unique students, average session length, and percentage of engaged students. If only one institution exists, matches Summary. |
| 3 | Course Details | N/A | Table | Course-level view of engagement. |
| 4 | Course by Asset Engagement Details | N/A | Table | Asset-level view of engagement by course. |
Fields & Metrics
All fields used across this dashboard, listed alphabetically.
Field Name | Description | Data Type | Example Value |
|---|---|---|---|
% of Engaged Students | Percentage of students that engaged with the content. Calculation = Engaged Students (Unique) / Students (Unique). Engagement is calculated by student and course, so a student in two courses is counted as two separate records. | % | 87% |
Asset Item Name | Name of the content accessed | Text | Sample Chapter 3 |
Avg. Session Length | Average time the student(s) engaged with the content. Calculation = total session time / total sessions. | Number | 12 min |
Avg. Sessions per Student | Average number of sessions engaged by a student. Calculation = Sessions (Overall) / Students (Unique). | Number | 3.4 |
Course End Date | Date the course ends | Date | 2026-12-15 |
Course Name | Course name (provided by the institution) | Text | Intro to Biology |
Course Start Date | Date the course begins | Date | 2026-08-25 |
Courses (Total) | Total count of unique course IDs | Number | 128 |
Engaged Students (Unique) | Total count of unique students that engaged with the material (course level). A student in two courses is counted as two separate records. | Number | 452 |
Institution | Name of the institution (Manage company name) | Text | Sample University |
Sessions (Overall) | Total number of unique sessions. Sessions are groups of engagement events; a new session begins after a 30-minute gap in activity. Sessions spanning multiple devices are counted once under Sessions (Overall), so this figure is generally not expected to equal the sum of the device-specific session counts (Online, Desktop, Mobile, etc.). | Number | 812 |
Students (Unique) | Total count of unique students. A student in two courses is counted as two separate records. | Number | 500 |
Term | Standardized term name, based on course start date | Text | Fall-2026 |
VST Course ID | Unique identifier issued by VitalSource for the course | Text | 123456 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why don't the Summary and Institution Details tiles match?
A: They will match when the data includes only one institution. When there are multiple institutions, Summary reflects the overall total while Institution Details breaks the same metrics out per institution.
Q: Why did the Avg. Session Length and engagement numbers change from the legacy Instructor Dashboard?
A: The calculation was corrected so that a student enrolled in multiple courses is counted separately for each course, giving a more accurate picture of engagement than the original rollup.
Q: Why doesn't Sessions (Overall) match the sum of the device-specific session counts?
A: Sessions (Overall) deduplicates a single user's activity across devices into one session, so it will not equal the sum of the device-specific counts (Online, Desktop, Mobile, etc.).