New to Catalog

[parm]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to Canvas Catalog, and Catalog is new to my institution. We are in the process of setting up a sub catalog which includes a program that  we need to be able to collect some information about the users (for example, education level, employment status, etc.) when they enroll  in the program. I see that we have the ability to add in some text or checkbox user defined fields, and can view the collected data via the API. But it's limited to 255 characters for the description text, and we are not able to add in a drop down menus or control the layout of that form.

I also tried linking to an external tool, but I was not able to do that either. Ideally, we would like to collect the information when the users first register and enroll.

Does anyone in this community have experience with anything like this? 

Parm

[jsowalsk]

I would think  @bernstlc ‌ might have experience with this.

[bernstlc]

We have actually not used any user defined fields at BC. Our schools were mostly interested in obtaining data for every one of a student's enrollments -- not just the user's initial account registration. My understanding is that UDFs only do the latter (correct me if this is no longer -- or never was -- the case). Instead our schools have been using surveys within the Canvas course to obtain the desired data.

[jsowalsk]

Thanks. Our school does not use User Defined Fields due to using CAS as our Authentication. 

[jsowalsk]

Some of our customers have been doing the same by using Qualtrics to gather the data that is needed.

[parm]

Hi Jessica,

Do you know if they are linking to Qualtrics from the actual Canvas course? Or are they able to include a link from the Catalog dashboard enrol page? We could include a Canvas course/listing as the first item and then release content based on that, but it seems that making a listing required, forces users to take all the courses in sequence. We just want users to complete the information before they access any content, but they should be able to access the other 5-6 courses in any sequence they want. 

Parm

[jsowalsk]

Hi,

They are adding it as a page or assignment in a module within the course as the first item participants take when they enroll. If they do not meet the criteria then the teachers tell them to drop the course or the teachers unenroll the students themselves from the course. 

Jessica

[parm]

Thanks for your suggestions Jessica and Leigh. I think both the Qualitric and the Canvas Survey tools could meet our needs.

[jsowalsk]

You're welcome.