Training labs are great—until you have to figure out who’s actually learning anything. If you’re using Cloudshare to run virtual labs or hands-on classes, tracking learner progress is possible, but it’s not always as straightforward as people make it sound. This guide is for instructors, admins, and anyone who’s tired of guessing what’s going on inside those virtual machines.
Let’s cut through the fluff and show you, step by step, how to actually see what learners are doing in Cloudshare environments, what works well, and what you can skip.
Step 1: Get Real About What “Tracking Progress” Means
Before you poke around dashboards or export logs, ask yourself: what do you actually want to know?
Most people want one or more of these: - Who’s logged in and when? - Did they finish the lab or just poke around? - Did they do the important steps? - Are they stuck somewhere, or moving ahead?
Cloudshare lets you see a lot, but not everything. If you need to know every keystroke, you’ll be disappointed. If you want a high-level view and some specifics, you’re in the right place.
Pro tip: Don’t try to track everything. Focus on the metrics that actually matter for your course. More data isn’t always more useful.
Step 2: Set Up Your Environment for Tracking
You can’t track progress if you don’t set things up right from the start. Here’s what to do before learners ever log in:
a. Use Projects and Courses Wisely
- Projects: These keep your labs, users, and resources grouped together. Keep courses and learners separate when you can.
- Courses: Assign your labs to courses, not just to individuals. This makes reporting much easier.
b. Enable Lab Activity Tracking
Cloudshare lets you enable activity tracking for each environment. Make sure it’s turned on in your project or course settings.
- Go to your Project or Course settings.
- Look for “Activity Tracking” or similar. (The UI moves around, so check the docs if you can’t find it.)
- Enable tracking for all relevant labs.
c. Build Labs with Checkpoints (If Possible)
If you can, design your labs with clear checkpoints or activities that learners must complete. This could be: - Specific files to upload, - Short quizzes inside the lab, - Scripts that run and log results, - Or just clear instructions that say, “Take a screenshot here.”
You don’t have to go wild with automation, but the more “trackable” steps, the better your reporting will be later.
Step 3: Enroll Learners the Smart Way
How you get learners into the system affects what you can track.
a. Use Invitation Links or Bulk Upload
- Invitation links: Good for one-off labs or demos. Less control, but quick.
- Bulk upload: For classes or bigger groups, upload a CSV with user info. This ties activity to real people, not just anonymous users.
b. Assign Labs and Deadlines
Assign each learner to the right lab, and set start/end dates if your course has them. This helps filter reports later.
Step 4: Monitor Live Usage and Session Data
Now for the real tracking. Once people start using the labs, here’s what you can actually see:
a. Who’s Active, Idle, or Done
- The Cloudshare dashboard shows who’s currently logged in, how long they’ve been active, and when they last accessed the lab.
- You can see session lengths—helpful for spotting who’s rushing or who’s stuck.
b. Resource Use
- See which labs are spun up, paused, or abandoned.
- If someone launches a lab but barely touches it, you’ll know.
c. Activity Logs
- Depending on your settings, Cloudshare logs things like VM startups, file uploads, and sometimes in-lab actions (if you’ve set up checkpoints).
- The logs aren’t always the most user-friendly, but they do the job. Export to CSV if you need more flexibility.
What doesn’t work: Cloudshare doesn’t track every click or mouse movement. You won’t know if someone just watched Netflix in their VM. If you need that level of detail, you’ll need outside monitoring tools (but that gets creepy, fast).
Step 5: Use Built-in Reports (But Don’t Rely on Them Alone)
Cloudshare has some built-in reporting. Here’s what you’ll get—and what you won’t:
a. Completion Reports
- Shows who launched a lab, how long they spent, and if they “completed” it (based on your activity tracking or checkpoints).
- “Completion” is only as good as your lab design. If the lab has no checkpoints or forced steps, “completion” just means they visited.
b. Activity Timeline
- Lets you see when a learner started, paused, resumed, and ended sessions.
- Good for troubleshooting (“Why did everyone pause after step 3?”), but not a replacement for real assessment.
c. Export Options
You can export most reports as CSV. This is handy for: - Filtering by user, date, or lab. - Combining Cloudshare data with your LMS or HR system.
What you won’t get: You won’t see detailed in-VM actions unless you’ve built that in yourself. If you want quiz scores or code outputs, you’ll need to bake those into your labs.
Step 6: Add External Assessment (If You Need More Detail)
If Cloudshare’s built-in tracking isn’t enough, layer in your own checks. Here’s how:
a. Use LMS Integration
If you use an LMS (like Moodle, Canvas, or others), you can sometimes hook Cloudshare into your LMS for deeper tracking. This requires some setup and isn’t always plug-and-play.
b. In-Lab Quizzes or Scripts
- Add quizzes or scripts inside the VM that log results to a shared folder or email.
- Have learners upload screenshots or result files as proof of completion.
c. Manual Spot Checks
Sometimes, the best way is still a quick spot-check: - Ask learners to share their screen or submit evidence. - Review a few labs at random, rather than trying to automate everything.
Pro tip: Don’t overdo it. More tracking means more work for you and less fun for them. Track what proves learning—ignore the rest.
Step 7: Interpret the Data Honestly
What you see in Cloudshare is only part of the story. Don’t assume that “lab completed” means “learner understood.”
- Look for patterns: If everyone gets stuck at step 4, maybe your instructions aren’t clear.
- Compare session times: A 2-minute completion is probably just someone clicking through. An 8-hour session could mean confusion or distraction.
- Ask for feedback: Sometimes, a quick survey gives more insight than any dashboard.
What to ignore: Don’t get hung up on tiny details, or obsess over tracking every second. Focus on outcomes, not surveillance.
Step 8: Keep Improving Your Labs and Tracking
The first time you run a course, your tracking might be rough. That’s normal. Here’s how to make it better:
- After each session, review what data you actually used. Did it help? If not, skip it next time.
- Add or remove checkpoints in your labs as needed.
- Update instructions if people keep missing steps.
- Share what works with your team—no need to reinvent the wheel.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Tracking learner progress in Cloudshare isn’t magic, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare, either. Set up your labs with checkpoints, use the built-in reports for basics, and don’t chase every data point just because you can.
Start simple, see what actually helps, and tweak as you go. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try—and nobody remembers fancy dashboards as much as they remember a lab that actually taught them something.
Good luck, and don’t let tracking become the whole point. It’s just a tool—keep your eyes on the learning.