Body
Introduction
Canvas Outcomes can be aligned to Canvas Assignments, Discussion Boards, and Quizzes by attaching a Rubric that includes the Outcome(s). After the student has made a submission, and the instructor completes the rubric, then Outcome data is collected
Outcomes can also be aligned to individual quiz questions (New Quizzes only). In this case, there is no Rubric, and there is no action required by the instructor. The Outcome data is collected automatically.
How to Interpret a Student's "Outcome Results"
There are 3 different metrics that can be used to report whether the student has achieved Mastery for the Outcome. As an example, consider an Outcome that has following achievement levels: Exceeds Expectations, Meets Expectations, Approaching Expectations, Not Meeting Expectations, No Evidence. "Meets Expectations" is defined as the level representing Mastery.
- Learning Outcome Rating - the non-numeric rating, usually a word or phrase that describes the student's level of achievement. In this example, that would be: "Exceeds Expectations", "Meets Expectations", etc.
- Learning Outcome Rating Points - a numeric value associated with the Learning Outcome Rating. In the example above, the instructor might set No Evidence = 0, Not Meeting Expectations = 1, Approaching Expectations = 2, Meets Expectations = 3, Exceeds Expectations = 4. The instructor (or whoever creates the Outcome) can set these rating points to any value they want, but a scale of consecutive integers starting at 0 (0, 1, 2, 3.. etc) is common. These points are being counted in the background even if the Outcome is set up such that the "points" are hidden.
- Mastery/Mastered - a Boolean/binary value (0/1) indicating whether the student has achieved Mastery.
How does it work for Quiz Questions?
Auto-graded Questions (Multiple Choice, True/False, etc)
Correct Answer:
- Learning Outcome Rating = "Exceeds Expectations" (or whatever highest rating is)
- Learning Outcome Rating Points = 4 (or whatever highest rating is)
- Mastery/Mastered - 1 (indicating yes, Mastery Achieved)
Incorrect Answer:
- Learning Outcome Rating = "No Evidence" (or whatever lowest rating is)
- Learning Outcome Rating Points = 0 (or whatever lowest rating is)
- Mastery/Mastered - 0 (indicating no, Mastery not Achieved)
Essay Questions - Graded By Teacher
For essay questions, the instructor must grade the question manually in Speedgrader by entering a score. Note that this "score" is the point value associated with the quiz question - not the Outcome. The number of points possible for a question does not have to be the same as the highest possible Learning Outcome Rating Points, but setting these values to be the same number could potentially reduce confusion.
Consider the example of an essay question worth 7 points. Here is what Outcome data would be reported for the following scores, given the example Mastery Scale described above :
Score of 3 out of Possible 7 Points:
- Learning Outcome Rating = "Not Meeting Expectations"
- Learning Outcome Rating Points = 1*
- Mastery/Mastered - 0 (indicating no, Mastery not Achieved)
Score of 6 out of Possible 7 Points:
- Learning Outcome Rating = "Meets Expectations"
- Learning Outcome Rating Points = 3*
- Mastery/Mastered - 1 (indicating yes, Mastery Achieved)
Where do these values (1 and 3) come from? The Learning Outcome Rating Points (LORP) are distributed proportionally based on the student's score relative to the points possible.
So a score of 3/7 *(maximum LORP) = 0.43*4 = 1.71. Because this system does not "round up," the student's LORP comes out to 1, corresponding to a Learning Outcome Rating level of "Not Meeting Expectations." Because this is lower than the defined Mastery level of 3, the student has not achieved Mastery.
Similarly a score of 6/7 *(maximum LORP) = 0.86*4 = 3.43. LORP = 3, Meets Expectations, Mastery.
Please note that although in this scenario the instructor does manually enter the points for the quiz question, they are NOT manually evaluating the Outcome. In other words, they cannot manually mark the student who acheived a 3/7 as "Meets Expectations." That LOR will be automatically assigned based on their score on the question. Therefore, if an instructors wants a clearer connection between the score on the question and the LOR, they should set the maximum point value for the question equal to the highest possible LORP for the Outcome.