Welcome to the user guide for Canvas data fields. Here you can find comprehensive information about how you can add Canvas data to your Qualtrics survey. The first part of this tutorial (point 1 and 2) is intended for root account admins, the second part of this tutorial (point 3) is for teachers and sub-account admins. If something is unclear, feel free to reach out to our support here.
Contents
- What are Canvas data fields and where can I add them?
- What kind of data fields are available?
What are Canvas data fields and where can I add them?
What are data fields? Qualtrics allows you to use user-specific data in your surveys. This data is called embedded data and can be used to personalize questions for participants or to analyze the survey data in a more meaningful way. You can, for example, use Canvas course names or teacher names in a survey. As a root account admin, you define those fields for all your users.
By clicking on the desired survey you will be able to see the survey overview, where 'Data Fields' are displayed.
On the page 'Data fields' (1) you can choose the data-fields that can be used across all sub-accounts and in each Canvas course. By Pressing the 'Activate' button (2) you activate the data field in Qualtrics LTI backend and Canvas. After the data is activated there is no need to do anything manually. 
Bellow you can see how the activated data looks like in the 'Active Data Fields'.
If you need to make any changes you can easily deactivate the data field by pressing 'Deactivate' button. You can also rename the data field by pressing on 'More'.
What kind of data fields are available?
On the left side or data fields table you can see all the data fields that you are able to choose from it is called 'Inactive Data Fields'.
If you want to add your own 'Data Field' name you can do so by clicking 'Custom text' option and add the name there. We do advise that you choose a name that is clear and easy for you and your colleagues who will be working with the Qualtrics LTI. This might come in handy if you, for example, want a Qualtrics field to contain the name of a faculty member. The desired faculty member can be chosen from a list of names at the survey setup. That way you will always get the same spelling of the name which will make analysis in Qualtrics easier.
With the ‘Activate’ data fields you are linking the field to some type of data. Below are listed all the options (with an example for when you would use them).
| Inactive data fields options | |
| Custom text | This is a piece of text that you type yourself. This is useful when you want the exact same spelling over multiple courses, preventing typing errors and allowing for easy analysis. |
| Faculty selection | This data field gives you exact information on the Faculty that the survey is linked to. This is non copyable data field, thus it needs to be manually updated if copied to another Canvas course. |
| Course name | The name of the course you want to have in the survey. |
| Student first name | The name of the student who is taking the survey. |
There are many more data fields but they speak for itself. Some data fields have an orange avatar which means that the data fields are non copyable. If you decide to copy the survey with these data fields they will not be copied. Instead they need to be added manually by activating the desired data field.
In order to have multiple teachers evaluated in the assignment you can activate the 'Customer text' data field and rename it to "Instructor Name'. Then you can duplicate the active data field and name it 'Instructor Name 2' and so on.
| Need a different data field? Please contact your root account admin. |
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