Exporting and viewing Echo360 analytics for an LMS/VLE Gradebook is fairly straightforward. You select a metric, select which classes' data you want to send, then click export. The trick is knowing what you're seeing once the data is sent.
Before going further, you need to know the following about how LMS Gradebooks, and LTI links work:
- LTI links to Echo360 need to be placed in a location in the LMS that recognizes the link as a "gradable" object. The "Add Echo360 Link to Course" instructions for each LMS are clear about how to create and where to put the link (i.e., Content-type link with Grading for Blackboard; Assignments for Canvas; etc.).
- Students MUST enter Echo360 using the LTI links to Echo360 at least once. This establishes the relationship in Echo360 between the student, the LMS course, and the Echo360 course.
- Each "gradable" LTI link generates a corresponding column in the LMS gradebook. THIS MEANS if you create a single link to the Section Home (class list), you will get ONE column in the gradebook. If you create links directly to the classes in the section, you will get a column in the gradebook for each link (you may need to scroll right or re-order the columns to see them).
This also means that if you create an LTI link but then delete it, in some LMS' the column remains; you may need to manually delete these unused columns.
- Every time you export an Echo360 metric to the gradebook, the previous value in the associated column is overwritten.
If these restrictions are a problem, know that Echo360 logs and maintains all student interaction data in our UI, regardless of how they got there, and you can reference it any time. The Students tab of the Analytics page shows much of the student-interaction data. You can export all the student data to a CSV file that includes both rolled up and class-specific data, and use that export to populate your gradebook if necessary.
Finally, be sure to review the article How Gradebook Exported Analytic Data is Calculated to be sure you know exactly what to expect in the exported data.
To send Echo360 analytics to your LMS Gradebook
- Log into the LMS as an instructor and navigate to your Echo360 course the way you normally do.
The Classes tab appears by default. - Navigate to the Analytics page in Echo360.
- Click LMS Gradebook from the left side of the Analytics page as shown in the below figure.
- In the Gradebook section, find the Link Name that corresponds to the Gradebook Column you are intending to populate.
- Use the drop-down list to select which metric you want to export to your LMS gradebook.
- Click the Export icon, located to the far right of the link row, identified in the above figure.
- Click OK on the warning message that appears. This simply reminds you that when you export to the gradebook, you overwrite any data currently residing in that column of the gradebook.
If you are exporting for a link to the Section Home, another dialog box appears, described in the next step, asking you to select which classes' data you want to aggregate for export.
If you are exporting for a link to a Classroom, you do not have to select which class' data to send; clicking the Export icon immediately sends the data to that link's column in the gradebook. -
Use the checkboxes to identify the appropriate classes. Click the checkbox at the top of the list to Select/Unselect all the classes.
Know that the selected metric data is added together then divided by the number of classes selected. So be CERTAIN to only select classes that apply. See Defining Exported Gradebook Analytic Data for more details.
- Scroll to the bottom of the list of classes and click EXPORT to complete the export.
You should now be able to return to the LMS and navigate to the LMS gradebook page and see the exported values. The exported data appears in the columns associated with the link you selected to export. The value in this column is the value for the metric you selected to send for each student.