The course logs record every time a student performs an "action" -- logs in, opens the course, opens a quiz, submits an answer, submits a quiz for grading.
If you ever need to find out when a student has logged in or to track a student's activities, you can search the logs.
Find the Logs
After logging into your section of Newsroom 101, look near the upper right of the screen that displays course material for a "gear" symbol. Click it. Then click "More."
In the resulting list, choose "logs."
In the most common use, pull down the "Participants" box and choose the name of a student you want to check on.
You can download the logs into a spreadsheet if that would help you. The logs tend to be quite long, because they record so many actions for so many students.