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This guide covers linking to or uploading your SoftChalk lessons into the Canvas learning management system.
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For your instructors, you may want to post the URLs for our guides (see below). As we update the guides, the URLs will remain the same.
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Description and URL
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Search our FAQs
https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SKB/pages/196182576/SoftChalk+FAQs
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This guide has step by step instructions for linking to or uploading your SoftChalk lessons into Canvas. Please note that scores from SoftChalk lessons can go into your Canvas gradebook.
https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/121995266/lms_canvas.pdf?api=v2
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This Student Guide includes a Troubleshooting section.
https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/200114368/studentguide.pdf?api=v2
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SofChalk Create is SoftChalk's content authoring program. It is available in both a web launch version (as part of a SoftChalk Cloud Account - see the section SoftChalk Cloud) and in a desktop version.
https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/129532299/createguide.pdf?api=v2
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SoftChalk Cloud is an award-winning, multi-function platform that combines a learning object repository, content authoring and hosting and management features. https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/129404604/cloudguide.pdf?api=v2
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Try out a SoftChalk Cloud account for 30 days. Click the Join Now button (see above) and click Register for a Free 30-Day trial for SoftChalk Cloud link to fill out the form. You will receive an activation key via email.
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- Scored lessons, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users). (While your preferred method would probably be to collect student scores in the Canvas gradebook, you can also collect emails from students and have students print certificates. See the section Print or Email Scores.)
- Non scored lessons, see the section Non Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).
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When you view your SoftChalk lesson scores within the Canvas gradebook, you are using a SoftChalk feature called the ScoreCenter. In other words, you click on the name for your lesson in the assignments area of Canvas and you see the SoftChalk ScoreCenter interface but all the scores are also "plugged into" the Canvas gradebook. In Canvas, students will also see their grades from SoftChalk lessons as well.
IMPORTANT: To use the ScoreCenter feature, your Canvas administrator needs to configure your system to use this feature. See the section Canvas Administrator.
With the ScoreCenter feature, you can:
- Determine which score is the grade for the student (i.e. first, highest, most recent or average score). Attempts for all scores are viewable.
- Determine how many times a student can go into a lesson (unlimited times or a specific number of times).
- Get detailed scoring information for individual students (i.e. what a student did on an activity and or quiz items).
- Change scores.
- Update your lesson in one place (SoftChalk Cloud) and link to it in multiple sections or courses.
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IMPORTANT: Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, be sure to assign points to each QuizPopper and Activity. (In the main editing window of your SoftChalk lesson, right-click on the QuizPopper or Activity and choose Modify QuizPopper or Modify Activity to assign points.)
To have your student scores appear within the Canvas gradebook area (i.e. ScoreCenter interface), you need to:
- Save your lesson into your SoftChalk Cloud account (see the section Save a Lesson or Course to the Cloud in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide).
- Use the SoftChalk Link Selector Tool to add your SoftChalk Cloud lesson.
- Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts for each lesson (see the section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts).
- View or change your students' scores (see the section View or Change Scores).
- If you plan to collect and/or score essays, see the section Essays.
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- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course (see below).
- At the left, click Assignments (see below).
IMPORTANT: If you put the SoftChalk content into another area such as Modules, the scores will NOT integrate with the Canvas gradebook. 
- Click on a + sign to add your SoftChalk content (see below).
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- For the Type, select External Tool from the dropdown menu. Enter a Name.
IMPORTANT: In the points area, enter the total number of points for the lesson (see below). Then click More Options.
- Scroll down your screen to the Submission Type area and confirm the External Tool is selected. In the Enter or find and External Tool URL field, click Find.
- Select the SoftChalk Link Selector.
- Click on a folder listed to open the folder.
NOTE: If you are a first-time user, you may need to enter your SoftChalk username/password credentials.
- Click on a lesson within the folder to select.
- Click Preview to view a preview of the SoftChalk lesson selected.
- Click Select for LTI Link to automatically insert the SoftChalk lesson LTI link into the Configure External Tool URL field. Click Select.
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At the bottom, click Save & Publish if you are ready for your students to use your lesson (see below). (If you are still working on your lesson, then click Save. Later you can publish the link.) 
(FYI, in the Assignments area, there are different icons for published and unpublished items – see below)
- Be sure to see the next section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts.
If you do not see the SoftChalk Link Selector tool, your Canvas administrator may not have enabled this feature. However, the administrator may have enabled the LTI/ScoreCenter feature within your LMS. Please see the below FAQ if you are unable to use the Link Selector tool.
My institution does not have the Link Selector tool enabled. How can I add my scored SoftChalk Cloud lesson to Canvas?
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You will need to set the grading method (i.e. first attempt, most recent attempt, average attempt or highest attempt) and the maximum attempts allowed (unlimited or a specific number of attempts).
All the student attempts will be collected and you can view all the attempts for each student for each lesson. You can change the grading method and maximum attempts at any point. If you want to allow your students only one attempt for the lesson, you need to set that option right away.
- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course from the Courses menu at the left (see below).
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- At the left, click Assignments (see below).
- Click on name of your lesson in the assignments area (see below).
- The SoftChalk ScoreCenter screen appears. Click Change Grading Method. Select a grading method from the drop-down menu and be sure to click Change Grading Method (see below).
- At the SoftChalk ScoreCenter screen, click Change Maximum Attempts. Select the maximum attempts from the drop-down menu and be sure to click Change Maximum Attempts (see below).
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- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course from the Courses menu at the left (see below).
- At the left, click Assignments (see below).
- Click on the name of your lesson in the Assignments area (see below).
- The SoftChalk ScoreCenter screen appears. In the Learner area, click the dropdown menu for the attempts for a specific student. Click on an attempt (see below). As previously mentioned, IMPORTANT: Be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftChalk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test out the ScoreCenter feature. If you are logged into your SoftChalk Cloud account while also logged into Canvas and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded. If you have exited your browser, you may still be logged into SoftChalk Cloud, so please go to SoftChalk Cloud and see if you are logged in.
- Notice you can view detailed information about this attempt at the bottom.
- If you need to change the Score for the Attempt, click Change Score for Attempt. Enter a new score and click Submit (see below). IMPORTANT: An attempt has to be complete before you can change the score.
- Notice that you also have the option to Clear an attempt (see below). If you clear an attempt, it will not count as part of the grade calculation. If you change your mind, you can restore the attempt.
- Notice that you also have the option to Complete an attempt (see below). If a student starts a lesson but neglects to click the Finish button at the end of the lesson, then that attempt is incomplete. An incomplete attempt does not count as part of the grade calculation. You can cause the attempt to be completed so that the score for the attempt is part of the grade calculation.
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You have the option to complete all attempts for all students for a lesson. You may find that your students have neglected to complete their attempts (i.e. they have neglected to click Finish on the last page of the lesson – clicking Finish sends a completion status to the gradebook).
IMPORTANT: You may want to do this procedure after the availability of your lesson has expired. After you do this procedure, future attempts can be incomplete.
IMPORTANT: This procedure cannot be undone. (You can change individual scores or re-open individual attempts if you need to.)
- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course.
- Go to the area where you have your content or assignments.
- Click on the name of your lesson.
- Click Complete All Attempts and Complete All Attempts (see below).
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If you use essays in your lesson, you can view the essays within the ScoreCenter area (see the previous section View or Change Scores). Please note the following important information.
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You can modify the grade for the lesson based on the points you decide to give to the essay. For example, you may have a lesson worth 100 points including one essay worth 10 points. (You assigned the points under the Options tab for the essay and other items.) Let's say a student completes everything correctly, completes the essay, clicks the Finish button for the essay and then clicks the Finish button on the last page of the lesson to submit his or her score. At this stage, the student has a score of 90 out of 100 because you will need to evaluate the essay and assign points. You can go into the gradebook (i.e. ScoreCenter) and evaluate the essay and modify the score. You may want to provide feedback to the student on the essay by clicking the Feedback button within the attempt.
(You may want to explain the above process to your students; as mentioned, you also have the option to assign 0 points to an essay if you like.)
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- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course from the Courses menu at the left (see below).
- At the left, click Grades (see below).
- View the grade for your SoftChalk lesson (see below). (You may need to scroll to find your lesson listed.)
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This section explains how to have your students access "practice" SoftChalk lessons. In other words, you don't plan to collect student scores from these lessons. [You can have items that have points assigned to them within your lesson, but if you want to collect the scores, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).]
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- At the left, click Assignments (see below).
- Click on a + sign to add your LTI link (see below).
- Enter a Name for your assignment and click More Options (see below).
- In the top box, click the SoftChalk Link Selector icon in the tool bar (see below).
- Click on a folder listed to open the folder.
NOTE: If you are a first-time user, you may need to enter your SoftChalk username/password credentials.
- Click on a lesson within the folder to select.
- Select Embed (or Hyperlink) to add the SoftChalk lesson selected to your course and click Select.
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- You will see the lesson appear within the Canvas HTML editor. (see below). If Hyperlink was selected, the linked lesson name will appear in the Canvas HTML editor.
- Scroll down and double-check your settings. (You can put in dates if you like.) Make sure the points match up with the number of points in the lesson.
At the bottom, click Save & Publish if you are ready for your students to use your lesson (see below). (If you are still working on your lesson, then click Save. Later you can publish the link.)
(FYI, in the Assignments area, there are different icons for published and unpublished items – see below)
If the Link Selector tool is not enabled, please see the below FAQ for steps to place your non-scored lesson in Canvas.
My institution does not have the Link Selector tool enabled. How can I add my non-scored SoftChalk Cloud lesson to Canvas?
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The steps below are for your Canvas administrator to enable the LTI/ScoreCenter feature for your Canvas server. For details on the LTI/ScoreCenter feature, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).
As a Canvas administrator to use the ScoreCenter feature, you need to register with SoftChalk and configure the ScoreCenter for your system.
- Please contact help@softchalk.com and provide the following information to register with SoftChalk and receive authentication credentials (i.e. an OAuth Consumer Key and an OAuth Consumer Secret).If you have a test server and a production server, you may send us two LMS URLs and we will register both of them. (You will receive a separate email with a unique key and secret for each registered URL.)
- Your institution name
- LMS URL
- First Name (optional) of the person registering with us
- Last Name (optional) of the person registering with us
- Email for this registration (the email can be a specific person's email or a generic email such as lmsadmin@myinstitution.edu)
- After registering, you will receive an email from SoftChalk with information to enter into your Canvas system (see the steps below).
- Log into your Canvas administrator account. Under the Admin menu and click on the name of your institution (see below).
- At the bottom left, click Settings (see below).
- Fill in the information on this screen (see the next page) by copying the information from the email you received from SoftChalk after you registered.
- Choose Paste XML as the Configuration Type.
- Select Apps tab and then select View App Configurations. Then select Add App (see below).
- Enter SoftChalk Link Selector for the Tool Name.
- Enter both the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. Consumer Secret in the email is the same as Shared Secret on this screen. IMPORTANT- Make sure to delete the extra space picked up at the end of the key and secret after you copy paste that information from the SoftChalk email.
- Click on the link below to download the XML file. Copy/Paste the XML into the text entry field in Canvas when setting up the tool. Click Submit.
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The web link for this guide is below. As we update this guide, the URL will remain the same. (You may want to bookmark this guide link in your web browser.)
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https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/272826374/SoftChalk_Link_Selector_XMLconfig.txt?version=2&modificationDate=1554401036100&cacheVersion=1&api=v2&download=true]
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- Choose Edit.
- Enter softchalkcloud.com in the Domain field.
- Click Submit.
- Test an LTI Link to see that grades go into the Canvas gradebook by following the steps in the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).
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IMPORTANT: As mentioned previously, we recommend using the SoftChalk Cloud ScoreCenter solution versus using SCORM. See the section ScoreCenter Overview.
IMPORTANT: Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, be sure to assign points to each QuizPopper and Activity. (In the main editing window of your SoftChalk lesson, right-click on the QuizPopper or Activity and choose Modify QuizPopper or Modify Activity. Go to the Options tab and use the Points dropdown menu to assign points.)
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Your students can print certificates of their scores and/or your students can email you within the lesson to send their scores. The basic steps are:
- Create scored quiz questions and/or activities within your SoftChalk lesson and assign points via the Options tab for each quiz question or activity.
- Add the email feature within your SoftChalk lesson. Within SoftChalk Create, choose File/Package Lesson. Make the appropriate selections under Student Options.
- On the last page of your lesson within the web browser, is an area for students to type their name or identifier and then click Email Score, Print Certificate and/or Print Score Summary. (You can preview your lesson on your local computer to see how this works.)
With the email option, you will get an email from each student for each attempt the student made for the lesson.
If you are uploading a zip file to Canvas, then see the next sections In SoftChalk Create: Package a Lesson and In Canvas: Upload a Zip File.
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IMPORTANT: As mentioned previously, we recommend using the SoftChalk Cloud ScoreCenter solution versus using SCORM. See the section ScoreCenter Overview.
The Canvas SCORM tool can play SCORM content and, if you wish, return a score to the Canvas gradebook.
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SCORM is hidden by default.
To add a hidden tool to your course navigation menu:
1.In your course navigation menu, click Settings.
2.On the Navigation tab, in the list of hidden tools (under "Drag items here to hide them from students"), find the desired tool, and then click the corresponding Settings (gear) icon.
3.Select Enable and, if desired, drag and drop the enabled tool to change its position in the tool list.
4.Click Save.
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- From your course navigation menu, select SCORM.
- At the upper right, click Upload.
3.Select the .zip file containing your SCORM package. It may take several seconds to upload the file, depending on its size; a progress bar will indicate upload status. When the process is complete, the new upload may appear at the bottom of your list of SCORM packages.
4.From the Choose import type... drop-down menu, choose to import as either a graded or ungraded assignment. Click Go.
5.Navigate to the Assignments tool and find the new assignment. Edit the assignment to add necessary instructions, point value, due date, and so on. Do not change anything in the "Submission Type" field.
6.Click Save, and then click Publish to publish the assignment.
Your students will access the SCORM object via the Assignments tool. If you have made it a graded assignment, students' scores on the assignment will appear in the gradebook.
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Within SoftChalk, you can package a lesson in a .zip format. Then upload this .zip file into Canvas and unzip it. See the steps below to package a lesson in a .zip format.
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- Start SoftChalk Create. Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, choose File/Package Lesson. Under Package type, choose Standard Zip. Under Track score using choose None (see below).
- If you are using SoftChalk Create, select the area where you want the .zip file saved such as your Desktop. Then click OK. By default, you would save to your Documents area. With earlier versions of SoftChalk, the .zip file is saved within the lesson folder.
- Your packaged file has your lesson name with a .zip extension (see below). If your file extensions are not showing, you will not see the .zip at the end of the filename. Look for a folder with a zipper or package icon with your lesson name.
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- Log into your Canvas account and choose your course from the Courses menu at the left (see below).
- At the left, click Files (see below).
- At the right, click Folder (see below).
- Type a name for your folder (see below) and hit the Enter key on your keyboard when you are finished (see below).
- Click on the name of your newly created folder to open it (see below).
- At the right, click Upload (see below).
- Navigate to your zip file. Click on your .zip file to select it (see below) and click Open. (If your file extensions are not showing, you will not see the .zip at the end of the filename. Look for a folder with a zipper or package icon with your lesson name.)
- Click Expand it (see below).
- Wait while the file uploads (see below). Sometimes it takes a while for a zip file to upload.
- The .zip file automatically unzips as it is being uploaded when you choose the Expand It option. When this process is complete, you will see your lesson folder with all the items (see below).
- At the left, click Assignments (see below).
- Click on a + sign to add your assignment (see below).
- Enter a Name for your assignment and click More Options (see below).
- In the top box, type some text such as Start Lesson. Select this text (see below).
- At the right side of your screen, click Files and click the course files folder to open it (see below).
- Open the folder you created previously (e.g. Eye Anatomy). Scroll down and click the index.html file for this folder (see below).
- At the bottom, click Save & Publish if you are ready for your students to use your lesson (see below). (If you are still working on your lesson, then click Save. Later you can publish the link.)
(FYI, in the Assignments area, there are different icons for published and unpublished items – see below)
- Click the link for the lesson to preview it (see below).
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- In SoftChalk, edit and save your lesson. Package the lesson (see the section In SoftChalk: Package a Lesson).
- In Canvas, delete your lesson folder.
- Upload your lesson again (see the previous section In Canvas: Upload a Zip File.)
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