Abstract:

Learning Management Systems (LMS), particularly Moodle, generate large volumes of log data capturing students’ activity, assessment behavior, and participation patterns. While learning analytics dashboards (LADs) are increasingly implemented in higher education, there is still limited guidance on what information should be visualized to meaningfully support teachers’ pedagogical decision-making. Foundational work on LADs has shown that most dashboards remain at the level of awareness and reflection, rarely demonstrating measurable instructional impact. At the same time, research highlights a persistent gap between technological functionality and empirical validation, as well as a misalignment between pedagogical goals, system design, and evaluation practices.

This study addresses the research question: What information and visualizations should be included in a learning analytics dashboard for teachers? A focused literature review was conducted using Scopus- and Web of Science-indexed studies examining LMS-based dashboards in higher education, with particular emphasis on Moodle implementations. The aim was to extract recurring metrics, visualization approaches, and monitoring practices derived from LMS log data and consolidate them into a structured, teacher-oriented Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework.

The analysis resulted in four KPI dimensions aligned with instructional monitoring needs:
(1) engagement indicators (e.g., login frequency, resource access trends, temporal activity distribution) to support course awareness;
(2) assessment and progression indicators (e.g., submission timing, grade distribution, completion rates) to enable reflection and instructional adjustments;
(3) interaction indicators (e.g., forum participation and activity density) to monitor collaborative dynamics; and
(4) irregular or risk-related indicators derived from deviations in LMS event patterns to trigger timely intervention.

The proposed framework explicitly aligns KPI selection with progression from awareness toward instructional impact and emphasizes pedagogical justification rather than mere data availability.

To demonstrate practical applicability, the identified KPIs were operationalized through a scalable, open-source dashboard implemented in Grafana and integrated with Moodle log data. Grafana’s real-time querying and modular visualization capabilities enable flexible configuration across blended and large-enrollment higher education contexts.

The contribution of this work is twofold: it provides an innovation-oriented, evidence-informed KPI design framework for teacher-facing dashboards and demonstrates a replicable implementation model that bridges learning analytics theory, LMS data, and actionable pedagogical monitoring in higher education.

Keywords:

Learning Analytics Dashboards (LADs), Teacher-Centric Dashboards, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Moodle, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Higher Education, Teacher monitoring tools, Data-informed Teaching, Pedagogy Aligned Analytics, Dashboard Design.