What every instructor using TestOut EduApp integration with Canvas should know – TestOut

Once a teacher has successfully configured a TestOut EduApp integrated class in Canvas they should understand these 4 critical points.

1. DO NOT create your class manually in LabSim. Instead, click one of your own TestOut assignment links inside of your Canvas class. This will cause a class to automatically be created in TestOut. Make sure to do this for each class. When you do, a class matching your Canvas class's name will be automatically created in your TestOut account. Don't rename it, archive it, or create a duplicate of it, at least not until after your semester ends.

2. Instruct your students NOT to manually create accounts on TestOut.com after they get their access keys. Instead, instruct them to launch one of the links to a TestOut assignment within Canvas. When they click the link it will automatically create an account for them, put them in the right class, and prompt them for their access key (or automatically apply a license in some cases). If students already have manually created or duplicate accounts, please see ‘Note 4’ below.

3. Instruct your students that in order for TestOut scores to transfer back to Canvas automatically they must launch the corresponding Canvas link for each graded TestOut assignment. Launching an assignment link in Canvas tells TestOut to send over the score for that assignment. When they first do it, it sends over the first score they receive. If the student doesn't like the first score and immediately does the assignment again without returning to Canvas, that newer or better score will not come back to Canvas unless the student returns to Canvas to launch the link to that assignment again. New or updated scores can be returned to Canvas retroactively in this way. 1 link launched = 1 score sent back. Launching an assignment link from Canvas for an already completed item will typically return the highest score achieved for the item. See ‘Note 2’ below for a way to batch synchronize scores or ‘Note 3’ for a list of common causes for scores not returning to Canvas.

4. DO NOT schedule the Certification exams or other custom exams from inside the TestOut LabSim interface; allow the exams to be scheduled automatically as the students click links to them in Canvas. You can limit when they take this exam by setting the availability for the link within Canvas.

4a. If more than one attempt is wanted for the custom exams, set a schedule for the class in LabSim, then go into the Canvas EduApp to create the link for the exam.

Note 1: See https://support.testout.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044805133-Pre-built-Courses-from-the-Canvas-Commons for videos and guides for setting up your class or school with the Canvas - TestOut EduApp.
If you are a K12 instructor, see https://support.testout.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052640274-Using-an-LMS-Integration-Multi-Step-Path- to get started with LMS integration.

Note 2: You can also use your TestOut EduApp menu in Canvas and select the Sync Grades option to pull in all the newest or highest scores for students whose accounts are correctly tied to Canvas as described in point 2. See the video on Grade return here.

Note 3: Scores may be wrong or missing from Canvas if…

…the teacher has not launched an assignment link in his/her own Canvas class.
…the assignments were done before the Canvas class was created or before its Start date.
…the assignments were done outside of the Canvas-configured date range for the assignments.
…the assignments were done when marked as hidden/unavailable in Canvas.
…the student is not launching the TestOut assignment(s) via Canvas.
…the student accesses the first assignment via Canvas but fails to return to Canvas to click their next link for their next assignment.
…the student failed to return to Canvas to click the assignment link a second time for assignments that they did multiple times (only the first score achieved would appear in Canvas until launching the link again).
…the assignments were done in a TestOut product version that does not match the class’s configured version.
…the student did not finalize the lab or exam but simply closed the tab or window before scoring the item.
…the teacher has manually inserted a score for that assignment in the gradebook. This score overwrites anything we send.
…the TestOut EduApp class or links are not correctly configured within Canvas.
…the browser was unable to successfully send the lab or exam score to our database.

Here are two score (grade)return troubleshooting tip videos as well:

Note 4: How Canvas links to or creates a TestOut account:

If a student has never created an account on TestOut.com, then the first time they click a TestOut EduApp assignment link from the school portal, a new account is automatically created. The account will have a username that matches the email address tied to the Canvas account. This new account does not have a password, and, unless they recover a password, can only be accessed Canvas.

If a student has already created an account via the Sign Up option at TestOut.com, the first time a student clicks a Canvas link to launch TestOut, the EduApp will search our database for a student enrolled in your school and that has the same email address as listed in Canvas. Two things can then happen:

A. If the student created their own account at TestOut and used their email address, as it appears in Canvas, then the TestOut EduApp will find that existing account and link to it. The Canvas links will work fine for that student and put them directly into their existing account without changing their account's username.

B. If the student created their own account at TestOut but with an email address that doesn't match what is in Canvas, then the EduApp will assume that they don't have an account and create them another automatically, like described in point 1 above. The student will then have two accounts, their manually created account and their automatically generated account. They probably used up their access key to create the manual account and, therefore, won’t be able to use it to access TestOut from Canvas with the automatically generated account. This usually forces them to continue accessing TestOut manually without any way for Canvas to receive their scores because Canvas is in no way connected with their manually created account.

If event B occurs, the only way to fix it is to merge the two accounts together, and the best way to do that is to contact TestOut Support. If you can ensure that students who have manually created accounts change their email addresses in LabSim to match what is in their school portal before the first time they click a TestOut EduApp link, then you can avoid the problem altogether. Students can change their TestOut account email addresses by logging in from TestOut.com and then clicking "(Firstname) (Lastname)", then "My Profile", and then proceeding to edit the email to match what is in Canvas and clicking Done.

Note 2: You can also use your TestOut EduApp menu in Canvas and select the Sync Grades option to pull in all the newest or highest scores for students whose accounts are correctly tied to Canvas as described in point 2. See the video on Grade return here.

Note 3: Scores may be wrong or missing from Canvas if…

Note 4: How Canvas links to or creates a TestOut account:

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