User story: As an instructor, I want to measure Outcome achievement automatically while grading with a Rubric.
Why is this needed? For assignments used to help document student achievement of Outcomes, an Outcome must be a single Rubric criterion. This forces the instructor to make a decision that is lose-lose for Rubrics used to score those assignments:
- If the Outcome criterion is worth assignment points, those points must fit in with the instructor's plans for the total point value of the assignment.
- If the Outcome criterion is not worth assignment points, the instructor must separately evaluate student achievement of that Outcome and students might understandably ask why they are being judged for something that is not worth any assignment points. (In my experience, students care a lot more about points and the grade then they do about their achievement of student learning outcomes.)
Instead, I want to align an Outcome to one or more criteria within a Rubric and for Canvas to calculate the student's achievement of the Outcome based on the value I assign to those criteria. As an instructor, the points I assign to each criterion can be used for that calculation.
This change will complicate how Canvas calculates mastery of Outcomes. Instead of forcing the instructor to select a number from 0 to 5 for the assignment-as-artifact, Canvas will instead use the value of the Rubric criteria that are aligned with the Outcome. I think it is reasonable for now that each assignment-as-artifact would continue to be valued equally in the overall Outcome mastery calculation. Once this idea is implemented, we can tackle that issue.
Here is an example: In my history class one of my outcomes is to demonstrate the mastery of higher level analytical skills, and among the assignments to achieve this outcome are primary source analyses (this semester each is worth 30 points). I use a Rubric to grade those assignments, and three of its criteria (21 points total) connect to the Outcome. Squeezing those three criteria into one would disrupt the points for the assignment as well as my ability to separately assess each criterion. With this idea in place, I could focus on the ratings that students achieve within each criterion and let Canvas handle the Outcome achievement for this assignment.
