Set Up Canvas Outcomes for Program Assessment

Relevant Roles

Before starting the process of creating account-level outcomes for the purpose of program evaluation, a few roles and responsibilities must be defined:

1. Education Technology Office (ETO)
   1. Personnel: one or more ETO staff will be designated to support this project (pending approval by Director of Academic Technology)
   2. Responsibilities: Configure sub-account and permissions. Provide guidance and support for all assessment project tasks.
2. Department Representative
   1. ​​​​​​​Personnel: one or more representatives of the department or program (chair, faculty members, administrative assistants, etc). There can be multiple department representatives assigned to various tasks, with different levels of permission
   2. Responsibilities: Manage project (set deadlines, communicate to stakeholders, etc). Develop assessment criteria. Receive admin access to the Canvas account. Add/Create Outcomes and Rubrics in Canvas, and align with assignments. Pull reports. Maintain copies of assessment records (outside of LMS) in compliance with relevant policies.
3. Faculty members 
   1. Personnel: all instructors of courses for which work will be assessed
   2. Responsibilities: receive training and assist in setup at the level of their own courses. Complete assessments of student work (rubrics, outcomes).

Process

1. Sub-Account Setup:
   • Department representative provides list of courses and designated admins
   • ETO creates subaccount(s), if an appropriate sub-account does not already exist

2. [OPTIONAL] Complete Formatted Spreadsheet of Outcomes (Learning Standards)

This step is optional. Outcome information can be entered directly without creating a pre-formatted spreadsheet (see Step 3b). If you have only a small list of of Outcomes (25 or less), it is likely faster to just enter the outcomes directly.

• ETO provides template and guidance for completing template
• Department representative completes spreadsheet.
• Outcome Import Format Documentation

3. Input Outcomes into Canvas

Outcomes to be added to Canvas either by manually inputting the Outcomes one at a time through the user interface, or by importing a spreadsheet of pre-formatted Outcomes.

1. Import Outcomes from CSV
   • ETO uploads Outcomes or provides guidance to Department Representative on how to do this.
   • Video: Access SubAccount and Importing Outcomes Part 1
   • Video: Importing Outcomes Part 2
2. (OR) Add Outcomes Manually through the User Interface
   • ETO provides guidance to Department Representative on how to do this.
   • Video: Adding and Account-Level Outcome Manually

4. Create Rubrics
   • ETO provides guidance on how to add account-level rubrics.
   • Department representative creates rubrics
   • [Video: How to Add or Edit Account-Level Rubrics]
5. Add Rubrics to Assignments

• Department representative provides guidance to faculty on how to add rubrics to assignments
• Faculty members add rubrics to assignments.
• Video: Adding a Rubric to An Assignment

Note: A given assignment can only have one rubric attached to it. If a faculty member wants to use their own rubric that is specific to that assignment or course, they can create a new rubric that has both their criteria and the accreditation-specific Outcome criteria in it. [Video]

• Rubrics can also be attached to quizzes (both Classic and New) and Discussion boards (if they are graded discussions). An option is to make a discussion graded but worth Zero points.
• Canvas Guide: Add a Rubric to a Graded Discussion
• Video: Adding a Rubric to a Discussion
• Finally, Outcomes can be attached directly to Quiz Questions (New Quizzes Only), without being in a rubric.
• Video: Adding Outcomes to Quizzes

Note: This is now possible as of 2022, and results will appear in the Learning Mastery Gradebook as well as Account-Level reports. This method is slightly more complicated for the end user because the Quizzes interface will not allow them to directly access account-level outcomes. So, the Outcomes must be added to the individual course first.

Note: It is technically possible to get Outcome data from a classic quiz, but it is a clunky process. Outcomes can only be attached to CQ banks, not quizzes or individual questions.

6. Pull Reports

• ETO provides guidance on pull reports.
• Department representative downloads Outcomes Results reports and manipulates data using their program of choice (Excel, Tableau, etc)
• Video: Pulling Account-Level Outcomes Report

Additional Resources

Outcomes in Canvas: An Overview Handout