Build & Customize Your Pre-Built Template

Building & Customizing Your Template

Locating Survey Templates in Canvas Commons

If you are signed into Canvas, the links in the Available Templates section above should direct you to the appropriate resource page in Canvas Commons. If these links don’t work, access templates by doing the following:

  • Log into your Canvas account
  • Click the “Commons” button on the Global Navigation bar (see image to the left)
  • Search for the survey you wish to retrieve. The title and search terms are provided for each survey in the section above
  • Click on the title of the survey to open the resource page. The surveys provided by CIRCLE and the CTL will contain this image:

 

Importing Survey from Canvas Commons into your Course

Once you reach a survey page, either via direct link or search, import into your course by doing the following:

  1. Click the blue “Import/Download” button on the right.
  2. In the pop-out menu, check all courses where you plan to use the survey, then click the blue “Import into Course” button.
  3. Use the Canvas Dashboard to navigate to your course. The survey will now appear in the “Assignments” and “Quiz” sections, and can be relocated and customized within the course.

 

Customizing an Imported Survey

Surveys will be imported into your course with default settings and questions. This section outlines how to change default settings and edit the survey questions to better fit your needs.

  1. In the Course Navigation bar on the left, click “Quizzes”, scroll to the “Surveys” section, and select the survey you wish to edit.
  2. Click the “Edit” button at the top right.
  3. Change settings while in the “Details” tab
    • By default, imported surveys are not worth any credit. To give completion points:
      1. Scroll to Quiz Type dropdown and change from “Ungraded Survey” to “Graded Survey.”
      2. In the “Score” box, input the number of points students should receive for completing the survey.
    • By default, imported surveys are anonymous. To make responses identifiable, click to uncheck the “Keep Submissions Anonymous” Box (Note this is generally not recommended)
  4. Click on the “Questions” tab to see the list of default questions, and check the “Show Question Details” box to view the response options.
    • To revise a question, scroll to it and click the pencil icon on the right. Edit the stem and/or response options, and be sure to click “Update Question" at the bottom left to save your changes.
    • To delete a question, scroll to it and click the X-shaped delete icon on the right. NOTE: one important change you might want to make is removing open-ended questions (see section Potential Advantages and Disadvantages of Open-ended Survey Questions)
    • To add a question, click the “New Question” button at the bottom, select a question type from the dropdown, fill out question stem, response options, and other information as needed and be sure to click “Update Question" at the bottom left to save your changes. 
    • To reorder a question, scroll to it, click the dotted icon on the left, and drag to a new location.
  5. Be sure to click the “Save” button at the bottom right to save all quiz edits.

For more detail on creating and editing surveys see General technical guidance on creating surveys using the Quizzes tool in Canvas.

 

Your Survey Data

Accessing Your Data

  1. In the Course Navigation bar on the left, click the “Quizzes” link and select the survey.
  2. In the right-side menu bar, click the “Survey Statistics” button.
  3. Scroll down to the Question Breakdown. The Breakdown will show the number and percentage of students who gave each response to each question.
  4. If you wish to download the response data, scroll back to the top and click the “Student Analysis” button at the top right to generate a .csv file. This step also allows you to access anonymous open-ended results.
     

Interpreting and Using your Data

Ultimately it’s up to you to interpret your data (e.g., do the data indicate a change is needed?) and respond. However, here are some important considerations to keep in mind.

  • Don’t overreact to a very small % of students indicating “Needs Improvement”
  • If your data indicate to you that improvement is needed, start by identifying one concrete change you can make rather than a major overhaul
  • Identify potential changes by consulting open-ended feedback (if you’ve collected it), soliciting follow-up feedback from students, seeking input from colleagues, or consulting with the CTL
  • Collect another round of feedback to assess the change you make. If this is a course-level change (and not just a change to a specific activity), give several weeks for the change to take effect before assessing