Surveys, content statistics, user activity (both time spent and actual interactions within an online or hybrid course), evidence of student engagement with web-based course materials, and faculty engagement with both the course and with the students all combine to paint interesting pictures of both online and hybrid style courses. If you have access to this type of data you should use it and use it often. All of the data in the world is useless if no one analyzes it. One caveat: take all of that statistical data with a grain of salt. Question the numbers and talk to the faculty about the class if you are an administrator. It is possible the faculty member could be using tools outside of that particular course structure or Learning Management System.
If you are a faculty member with access to student surveys, exam statistics, and user activity data, do you review the information periodically to ensure your exams are valid measurements of student learning and that your students are spending the expected amount of time reviewing course content? Do you check in with your students in what I like to refer to as a 'pulse check' to make sure the class is still actively engaged with the content? Is there someone at your campus that you can go to with questions about student surveys or course statistical information?
If the user activity data shows a student spending a much larger amount of time on a particular content item than the rest of the class has spent, it could be an opportunity to reach out to that student either via email or a phone call and see if the student has questions about the content. It is also a great opportunity to start a discussion with the class about the concepts presented and have the class summarize the ideas presented in their own words. This reinforces the learning of the students who have grasped the concepts of the material while allowing them to put the information into a potentially more digestible form for classmates who may be struggling with the lesson. This is also a learning moment for us as faculty. By listening to the students' rendition of the same materials, we can then re-evaluate our content to see where it can be revised or expanded upon to clarify key concepts.
On the other side of the coin, if you are a student, do you provide constructive feedback on surveys or directly communicate with the faculty member (as an example: was there something in the course that was not clear that may have been clarified, and did you contact the faculty member to ask questions)?
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