Adding an Alignment to a Measure (Adv Canvas)

Overview

This article provides instructions for connecting Planning & Self-Study measures to assessment data within Canvas. The alignment process allows institutions to link their defined measures to specific Rubrics or Activities (assignments, quizzes, or graded discussions) to streamline the collection of student performance data. This process is intended for users with permission to manage measures and assessment plans.

Creating an Alignment to a Measure

The first step of pulling Canvas data into Planning & Self-Study is to create a Measure against an Outcome. Once this is complete, alignments can be established to connect those measures to rubrics or activities within Canvas.

The implementation steps are divided by alignment type:

• Adding an Alignment to a Rubric
• Adding an Alignment to an Activity

Note: Alignments are not plan-specific, meaning they can be created interchangeably within the Measure Library or directly from within an Assessment Plan.

Adding an Alignment Directly from the Assessment Plan

When users edit a measure within an assessment plan, the Results section includes an LMS Integrations option. This option appears automatically for institutions with an Advanced Canvas integration, providing a direct path to manage alignments to LMS activities and rubrics without leaving the plan workspace.

1. Access an assessment plan and navigate to a measure.

2. In the Results section, select LMS Integrations.

   

3. Choose either Align by Activity or Align by Rubric to proceed.

Adding an Alignment via the Measure Library

1. Click Organization Management.
2. Click into a program/organization.
3. Click Program Information.
4. Click Manage Measures under an Outcome.

5. Create a New Measure, or click into an existing Measure.

   

6. If using an existing measure, click Edit Measure.

   

7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Add Alignment.

Adding an Alignment to a Rubric

1. Click Add Alignment.

   

2. Select Canvas as the data source and click Next.

   

3. By default, the system selects Align by Rubric. Click Next to continue.

   

4. Select one or more rubrics from the available menu, then click Next. All rubrics used for assessing assignments, quizzes, or graded discussions within the organization's associated course sections will appear in this list.

   

5. Review selected items by clicking View Selected Rubrics in the upper right.

   

   Upon opening the review page, users can inspect details for each chosen rubric, including:

   • Name of the Rubric
   • Term: The active term for the course section where the rubric was applied.
   • Course: The academic course associated with the alignment.
   • Course Section: The specific roster section utilizing the assessment tool.
   • Count of Activities: Total distinct activities graded using the selected rubric.

   

   Users can remove selections dynamically from this screen; once removed, items revert to unselected in the primary repository list.

   

6. Conduct a final validation of selected rubrics on the comprehensive summary layout.

   

7. Click Align Rubric to commit the structural relationship.

8. Finalize the container metadata by selecting Create Measure.

   

Note: Rubrics can only be aligned to a single unique Measure once. Duplicate alignments of the same rubric within the same Measure are restricted.

Adding an Alignment to an Activity

1. Click Add Alignment.
2. Select Canvas as the institutional data source.

3. Select Align by Activity and click Next.

   

4. Select Terms: Check one or more academic terms. Selecting terms populates the interface with assignments, quizzes, or graded discussions published within course sections attached to the organization. Available terms mirror the active rosters mapped to the organizational unit.

5. Select Activities: Choose one or multiple activities from the generated list, then click Next.

   

   Review the selected assessment properties on the next window, verifying the total configuration count and entry properties:

   

   • Name of the Activity
   • Term & Course Sections: The timeline and section locations where work is submitted.
   • Grading Method: Displays the classification configuration coming from Canvas:
     • Point-based activities: Shows the max numerical value allocated for performance scoring.
     • Rubric-based activities: Displays the structural title of the Canvas ledger template attached.

   Unwanted items can be removed from this verification screen before saving.

6. Filter Options: Users can isolate entries using cascading drop-down selectors structured hierarchically: Course > Section > Rubric.
   • Selecting a specific course restricts subsequent section and rubric choices exclusively to parameters valid for that course.
   • Applying a section filter narrows the scope down to matching criteria found inside that specific section environment.
7. Click Align Activity to lock in the canvas link.
8. Click Create Measure to deploy the complete setup into the workspace plan.

Note: Once an activity is successfully aligned within a Measure, it cannot be selected again for that same tracking measure.