Tracking Course Completions for Asynchronous, Self-Paced Course

[natalienx]

Hello, 

Does anyone have any suggestions/workarounds for the following scenario? We have an online, asynchronous certification course. Students have an open 4-month window to enroll, complete the modules, and pass the exam to maintain their certification. 

For reporting and record-keeping reasons, we need to be able to see who completed the course and passed the exam throughout the duration of the course (as in, we don't simply pull the records at the very end). However, since the exam does not have a due date, I'm unable to find a way to filter exam completions by date. I have to manually export the gradebook every week and compare lists. With hundreds of registrations, this gets tedious! 

The Canvas Set Pace setting would not apply in our case, since students have as long as they want to finish the course, as long as it's before the course deadline. 

Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

[paul_fynn]

Have you considered using Canvas Mastery Outcomes/Standards ? You could have a series of outcomes through to completion that would allow you to see where students were at based on quizzes and other forms of submission ?

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-use-the-Learning-Mastery-Gradebook-to-v... 

[natalienx]

Hi Paul, thanks for the input! We only have one exam for the entire course, so at first glance, it doesn't look like the Mastery Outcomes/Standards would fit this use case. The biggest issue comes with tracking new completions. We have to manually parse through prior completion data to account for new completions that come in.

[dbrace]

Hi @natalienx,

I have a possibility that I just brainstormed that might work. It would involve a mix of Canvas functionality and a common third-party resource.

First, setup the course so that it is designed using modules. In the modules, make sure that you are using prerequisites and requirements. When setting up the modules, prerequisites, and requirements, try your to best design it so that it is not possible to simply go through the course without reading, watching, and completing everything.  You will want to make sure that everything in the module is completed in sequential order before progressing to the next module.

How do I add prerequisites to a module? - Instructure Community - 1123

How do I add requirements to a module? - Instructure Community - 1131

Place your certification exam in the last module (or second-last module if you plan on creating a final module with any parting words, files or other information).  After the certification exam, create a Canvas page. In that module:

1. set a requirement that students need to "Score at least" a minimum score in order to get to the Canvas page
2. create a Google Form that collects student names and other identifying information related to the certification
3. follow the guidance in the How to embed a Google Form into a Canvas Page | Google Workspace (Google Apps) | TC Technology Knowl... support article to embed the Google Form into Canvas page (if you do not have access to Google Forms at your institution, you might have access to something else)

Following this setup for the final module (or second-last if you plan on anything else) will make it so that students can submit a form after passing the certification exam.

I hope this helps as a possibility or maybe it will spark something else.

-Doug

[natalienx]

Hi Doug, 

This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing! I know many of our students aren't able to access Google products at their workplace, but we might be able to do something like this with a similar product like Qualtrics. 

I have had an issue with the modules setup you describe, unrelated to this discussion. We do use modules with prerequisite requirements to ensure the final assessment can't be immediately accessed, but the actual course content is a Scorm file built by an external partner with no built-in assessment at the end of the modules (the final assessment is a Canvas quiz). With Canvas's prerequisite selections, the only one that fits this scenario is to "Mark as Complete." I've gotten feedback that someone figured out they could just mark all of the modules as complete and make it to the final assessment module without actually opening any of the learning content. Do you have any thoughts or could you point me in the right direction in this community?

Thanks again!

Natalie

[dbrace]

You are welcome, Natalie.

Let me first address: I know many of our students aren't able to access Google products at their workplace, but we might be able to do something like this with a similar product like Qualtrics.

If the Google Form that is embedded into the Canvas page is "public" (something that I would recommend and I do not believe I mentioned), "students" do not need access to Google products as a "student" for this purpose because all they are doing is submitting the form.  Depending on your institution's policies, you might want/need to share Google's privacy policy in the course.

As far as SCORM content and the "Mark as Complete" feature, there is not much that anyone can do about that because (1) the SCORM content does comes from an external source and (2) "Mark as Complete" feature, while somewhat helpful, does have a limitation and it is considered to be a feature "honor agreement" or "handshake deal" and it is possible for student's to bypass.

I would recommend that you start a different question asking specifically about SCORM and "Mark as Complete" and see what others in the community say instead of "latching" it onto this situation.

Best of luck!

-Doug