Prompt Spotlight Series: Decaying Averages and Deeper Outcome Insights

[GergelyTar]

Welcome back to the Prompt Spotlight Series, where we highlight real prompts from Ask Your Data users -- ones that stand out for being especially creative, useful, or just plain interesting. These prompts often tackle complex questions or open up new ways of looking at Canvas data. We’re sharing them to spark ideas, encourage experimentation, and keep the conversation going across the Intelligent Insights community.

✳️ User Prompt

"Analyse the Outcome Results for each student. Using the following numerical mapping—Emerging = 0-0.5, Developing = 0.5-1.5, Competent = 1.5–2.5, Mastering = 2.5-3.6, Advanced = 3.6–4—calculate an accurate Decaying Average score for each outcome. Where no result is recorded, include “No Result.” The Decaying Average should give 65% weighting to the most recent score and 35% to the average of all other scores. Each student must receive only one grade per outcome or “No Result” if they have not been assessed on that outcome"

Why This Caught Our Eye

This one stood out for how thoughtfully it blends different pieces -- rubric levels, time-weighted scoring, and smart handling of missing data -- to create a single, easy-to-read outcome score for each student. That kind of summary is helpful when you're trying to understand learning progress at a glance, especially across multiple outcomes or courses.

We also love that this prompt turns qualitative rubric results into something you can actually chart, compare, and track over time -- without losing the nuance of the original assessments.

Ways to Adapt or Extend

• Tweak the decaying average formula: Want to weigh recent scores even more? Try 70/30 or 80/20.
• Change the score mapping: If your outcome levels are named differently or fall on a different score scale, just update them in your own version.
• Layer in course-level insights: Break down averages by course, instructor, or term.

💬 What Do You Think?

Working with outcomes data can surface all kinds of creative approaches. Any ideas, variations, or lessons learned are always welcome -- sharing them helps the whole community discover what’s possible.