At the beginning of every quarter, instructors should assess their students to learn about their background and education as it relates to the course subject matter and assess their capabilities for online study and modalities of study that best suit them.

Instructor Excellence has created a student needs assessment survey that you can easily import from the Commons into your course and assign to your students.

Contents

1. Access the Commons through your Course
2. Select the survey
3. Open the import menu
4. Choose target course
5. Add survey to a module
6. Publish and assign the survey
7. View the results

Access the Commons through your Course

Open your course in Canvas through either the Courses or Dashboard button in the Canvas global navigation menu (far left).

On your course's homepage, click the Import from Commons button on the far right.

Note: If you do not see the button, enlarge the screen for the button to appear.

Select the survey

Locate and click on the student needs assessment survey to view the resource in the Commons.

Open the import menu

On the survey's information page, click the blue Import/Download button on the right.

Choose target course

From the list of courses,  (1) click the checkbox of the course into which you would like to import the survey. (2) Then click import into course. The process happens pretty quickly. Exit the Commons by accessing your course again through either the Dashboard or Courses button in the Canvas global navigation menu.

Add survey to a module

In your course Modules, choose a module you would like to add the survey to and then click the + (Add) button in the module's option bar.

(1) In the dropdown menu, choose "Quiz" (Surveys and Quizzes are in the same area in Canvas) and then (2) select the Student Needs Assessment Survey. Finally, (3) click the Add Item button.

Publish and assign the survey

In the module, click the gray 🚫 sign off to the right of the survey's tile to make it a green checkmark in a circle, which means the survey is published and viewable by students.

You can open the survey by clicking the text "Student Needs Assessment Survey" in order to find the Edit button which will allow you to customize the survey to your needs and add a due date.

What options can I set in a quiz?

Adjust due date for Canvas Quiz

Although the survey is non-graded by default, you can even make it a graded survey if you want to incentivize completion. For more detail on these settings, open the article linked below and scroll down to "Select Survey Options."

How do I create a survey in my course?

View the results

To view the results after students have taken the survey, open the survey by clicking the words "Student Needs Assessment Survey" on the item's tile in the module.

Then, on the survey's overview page, click the Survey Statistics button to open the viewing options.

For details about how to view the statistics for this survey, read the article linked below.

How do I view survey results in a course?

Use the results to make any needed changes to your instructional approach for the quarter or reach out to students who might need additional support or who may not meet the prerequisites and make any necessary arrangements.