Yes we are . Students want to know what books they were reading and what pages, what quizzes they started and where they need to continue, what forum discussions they read and left comments on etc. Its not about marking something complete and then moving on - its about finding activities they have been working with but have not completed.
I'm not sure...there is a recent activity block. I don't know if it would help or not? You could try. I don't use it but it might work.
Forums is easy! Just tell it to do the tracking thing (it will tell them, just like on here it shows which posts you've read/vs not read. And your profile provides links to the posts you've made.