Description
Learning outcomes can assist you in tracking student mastery of learning objectives. Assessments created to test student knowledge or to require students to demonstrate specific skills resulting from a learning activity can be aligned to learning outcomes using rubrics, which can also be used for grading.
Learning outcomes in Canvas can be added at any level of the Canvas academic hierarchy--university, college, department, or course. When outcomes at the department level or higher are incorporated into course rubrics to assess student learning, the results can be aggregated across all courses within the academic unit where the outcomes reside. These can be used for purposes of longitudinal assessment, accountability, and program improvement. This document provides guidance on how to implement Canvas outcomes to support your assessment efforts.
Environment
Canvas in your web browser
Solution
Outcomes can be created at the course, department, college or university level. Outcomes should be used in conjunction with Rubrics to generate reports on student mastery of learning outcomes. Reporting on these Outcomes is dependent on the level at which the outcomes are created.
Course
Instructors can create Outcomes and Rubrics at the course level. Reporting on Outcomes that are created at the course level is only visible to instructors. Remember that Outcomes reporting requires the use of associated Rubrics.
Canvas provides a number of help guides to assist instructors in creating Outcomes and Rubrics within their courses.
Department or College
Creating Outcomes and Rubrics
To be authorized to create Outcomes and Rubrics at a Department or College level requires a special Outcomes Administrator role within Canvas. Department Chairs may request that an individual be granted the Outcomes Administrator role for their department. Deans, Assistant Deans or Associate Deans may request that an individual be granted the Outcomes Administrator role for their college.
The authorized requestor (Department Chair, Dean, etc.) would submit a request to servicedesk@ohio.edu asking that the individual be granted Outcomes Administrator access to the department or college.
Once that request is submitted one of our Ohio University Canvas administrators will reach out to the individual and schedule a training session. The Outcomes Administrator role will be granted in that training session. Supporting documentation provided by the Center for Teaching Learning and Assessment (CTLA) will also be shared during the training session.
The CTLA has also offered to provide support to the Outcomes Administrators should they need guidance on developing Outcomes and Rubrics.
Outcomes Reporting
To be authorized to run reports on Outcomes at a Department or College level requires a special Subaccount Administrator role. It is important to note that the Subaccount Administrator role has additional responsibilities, beyond reporting. Department Chairs may request that an individual be granted the Subaccount Administrator role for their department. Deans, Assistant Deans or Associate Deans may request that an individual be granted the Subaccount Administrator role for their college.
The authorized requestor (Department Chair, Dean, etc.) should review the documentation regarding Subaccount administrators. They would submit a request servicedesk@ohio.edu asking that the individual be granted Subaccount Administrator access to the department or college.
Once that request is submitted one of our Ohio University Canvas administrators will reach out to the individual to discuss the next steps, which include a FERPA confidentiality statement, watching recorded training sessions, and attending a live training session with a Canvas administrator.
University
Currently the only Outcomes and Rubrics that are permitted at the University level are those for the assessment of our General Education (BRICKS) courses. These Outcomes and Rubrics are maintained by the Outcomes Administrator from the Center for Teaching Learning and Assessment (CTLA).
What is the audit process?
Once a semester an Ohio University Canvas administrator will reach out to the authorized requestor to confirm that the individual should keep their role as an Outcomes Administrator or a Subaccount Administrator.
Considerations
Instructors can add Outcomes at the course level, these outcomes are only visible within the course for which they are created. The Outcomes reports at the course level are only available to the instructor. There is not a means to aggregate data across multiple courses when the Outcomes and Rubrics are created at the course level.
When Outcomes and Rubrics are created at the department, college or University level those Outcomes and Rubrics are visible to all courses associated with that hierarchy level. As such, they should be clearly named in such a way that instructors will be able to understand if they apply to their courses.
Creating Outcomes and Rubrics at a department or college level is only half of the process; to be able to pull meaningful reporting the individual instructors would have to associate the Outcomes and Rubrics with the appropriate assignments within their courses.
Once Outcomes and Rubrics are configured for the assignments in a course, that course can be copied into future courses and the associated Outcomes and Rubrics will copy as well.
Get Help from Canvas
- Live chat with Canvas support (Faculty)
- Get 24-hours/7-days a week Canvas support
- Dial the Canvas Support Hotline number located under "Get Help" in the Canvas Global Navigation Menu
- Contact OIT at 740-593-1222 for questions related to logging in, test courses/manually created courses, or third-party tools (Panopto, VoiceThread, Inclusive Access, etc.)
Get Help from OIT
Additional Resources