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 best design it so that it is not possible 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