Aligning Area Learning Outcomes (ALOs) to Canvas Assessments

**Required of all General Education Courses**

 

Per the requirements of Gen Ed course renewal and our regional accreditors, all instructors of General Education courses must align their course assessments beyond the Signature Assignment to the appropriate ALOs in Canvas. These instructions will help you align your Gen Ed course to the ALOs and Gen Ed program requirements.
Need more help? Contact WSU Online Instructional Designers. 
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FIRST STEPS

  1. Review your Gen Ed course syllabus to ensure that it is aligned with the appropriate Gen Ed Syllabus Checklist and the current area learning outcomes (ALOs).
  2. Frame your Gen Ed course around a Big Question that is addressed, in some way, through a Signature Assignment. 
    1. For more guidance, please first reach out to your department chair. Examples can be found in the eWeber portal app titled, Signature Assignment samples. 
    2. CRITICAL: You must include the words “Signature Assignment” in the title of your signature assignment in Canvas (e.g., Comm 2110 Signature Assignment, Final Signature Assignment Submission, Signature Assignment).
  3. Your Canvas course assessments (e.g., exams, homework, papers) need to be aligned with the Gen Ed ALOs. Two sets of directions follow to help you align ALOs to rubrics used to grade homework, essays, papers, projects, etc., and to Canvas question banks for quiz or exam items.

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Step-by-Step Instructional Video to Import GE ALOs and Align to a Canvas Rubric

0.00-1.33 MIN: INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMPORTING GE ALOs INTO YOUR CANVAS COURSE

  1. In Canvas Course navigation, click the Outcomes link. 
  2. Click on the Find link, then click the Account Standards link, and then click Weber State University.  
  3. Click on folder entitled Gen Ed ALOs, and then select the relevant core or breadth area to which your Gen Ed course is aligned.
  4. Each core and breadth area has ~3-5 ALOs. Click on the appropriate core or breadth folder (e.g., Social Science) to import all ALOs at once. Then click on Import and OK. It may take a brief moment to import the ALOs.

1.34-3.08 MIN: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALIGNING GE ALOs TO CANVAS RUBRICS

  1. Start by importing GE ALOs into your Canvas course as outlined above.
  2. Find an existing rubric to edit. Click on Rubrics in the Canvas Course navigation menu, find the appropriate rubric, and then click the three-vertical-dot icon for that rubric and select Edit Rubric. You can also build a new assignment rubric in Canvas and align it to the desired ALO(s). 
  3. Then click on Create from Outcome at the bottom of the rubric. Click the folder to reveal the ALOs. Align the relevant ALO(s) to the rubric. Be sure to uncheck the box “use this criterion for scoring” if you don’t want to use the outcome for grading.
  4. Now, your assignment rubric is complete. Click Save Rubric before leaving the page to save the rubric.
  5. You will see that the rubric now includes the relevant ALO and there are no associated points since you deselected to use the criterion for grading.

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Canvas Help Page: How do I align an outcome with a question bank?

INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMPORTING GE ALOs TO QUESTION BANKS IN CANVAS CLASSIC QUIZZES

  1. Import: Start by importing GE ALOs into your Canvas course as outlined above (0.00-1.33 min in video).
  2. Access Question Banks: Open your course and click the Quizzes link in the Canvas Course navigation menu.
  3. Manage Banks: Click the Options menu (three-vertical-dot icon) next to the "+ Quiz" button and select Manage Question Banks.
  4. Select Bank: Click the name/title of the Question Bank you want to be aligned with the core or breadth ALOs.
  5. Align Outcome: Click the Align Outcome button (usually on the right side or bottom of the page).
  6. Choose Outcome: Choose the desired outcome from the listed outcomes in the relevant core or breadth ALO folder (e.g., Social Science).
  7. Set Mastery: Set the mastery level by typing in the percent field. The mastery level is the percentage score that a student has to earn before you consider the student to have mastered the outcome. We suggest this be set to 80% since our mission fulfillment metric is “70% of students will achieve 80% or higher".
  8. Import: Click the Import button to align the Outcome with the Question Bank.
  9. View the aligned outcome in your quiz or exam.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMPORTING GE ALOs TO CANVAS NEW QUIZZES

  1. Import: Start by importing GE ALOs into your Canvas course as outlined above (0.00-1.33 min in video).
  2. Open your New Quiz: Select the Build option
  3. Alignment Options: imported outcomes can be aligned to stand-alone questions, questions in an item bank, or an entire quiz.
  4. Quiz alignment: once a quiz contains questions, one or more outcomes can be aligned to the entire quiz by selecting the Outcomes tab next to the preview button. Remember, this aligns every question in the quiz to every outcome aligned.
  5. Stand-alone question alignment: select a question for alignment, select the edit pencil, locate and select the 'Align to Outcomes' bar. Browse to the imported outcomes, select the appropriate outcome, confirm the selection by checking the box and selecting "Done"
  6. Outcome alignment to item banks: this is actually a question-by-question process. Outcomes cannot be aligned to a bank, but individual questions in the bank can be aligned to outcomes.
  7. Mastery: Do not worry about this! The default mastery level is used.

Key Considerations

  • Timing: Alignments should be made before students take the quiz or exam, as this is not retroactive.
  • Multiple Outcomes: A single question bank can be aligned with multiple outcomes, and a quiz/exam can contain multiple banks with different outcomes.
  • Resulting Data: This process allows instructors to track student performance on specific learning goals through the Learning Mastery gradebook.