Overview
Terracotta makes it possible for Qualtrics surveys to be embedded within learning management system (LMS) assignments. This guide explains how to create a Qualtrics survey that can be seamlessly integrated with Terracotta into the LMS.
Terracotta was designed as a tool for experimental education research. To integrate a Qualtrics survey in Terracotta, you will first need to create an experiment in Terracotta. When creating an experiment, you will be able to create different experimental conditions and to set up an informed consent process. However, if you are not interested in these options, it’s possible to set up an experiment with only one treatment condition, where all students are assumed to be participants.
Terracotta does not share students’ names with your Qualtrics survey. Instead, Terracotta assumes that your Qualtrics survey is anonymous, and sends an anonymous identifier to Qualtrics that can be used to connect Qualtrics responses to additional details about the student in Terracotta. If students will be asked to provide their name or any other personally identifiable in your Qualtrics survey, make sure you have permission from your school.
Configuration in Terracotta
To configure a custom web activity in Terracotta, you will first need to create a new experiment. Once the experiment is created, you will add a new assignment. For the treatment that will integrate with the custom web activity, select External Integrations > Qualtrics. Then you will see the interface below.
In Box 1 (Launch to Qualtrics), provide the URL to the Qualtrics survey, and indicate the maximum score that students can receive for their responses to the survey. Once you provide the URL, the Connection status should turn green and display “Connected”; then you will be able to preview your survey in a new tab. When Terracotta launches students to your survey, it will append a set of launch parameters onto the URL (listed below).
In Box 2 (Return to Terracotta) you are being provided with a return URL. Your custom web activity should redirect users to this return URL. Terracotta expects that your Qualtrics survey will have two embedded data fields: (1) launch_token, and (2) score. If “score” is omitted, Terracotta will assume that the survey submission will receive the maximum score on the assignment.
Note: Instructions on how to obtain the URL to your Qualtrics survey, and how to embed data fields are in the A Minimal Example section below.
Configuration in the Qualtrics survey
When a Qualtrics survey is integrated in Terracotta as a LMS assignment, your activity is responsible for supporting student learning, honoring the assignment settings set by the teacher, and reliably returning students’ outcome scores back the LMS.
Launch parameters
The following variables are automatically provided to the Qualtrics survey as URL parameters:
launch_token: A single-use token for launch validation and score return
anonymous_id: Anonymized student identifier. This ID matches Terracotta’s participant_id, however, depending on the configuration in Terracotta, students who access an custom web activity may not be consenting participants. Thus, we use the label anonymous_id to refer to students accessing Qualtrics surveys.
assignment_id: Unique identifier for the Canvas assignment
condition_name: Experimental condition name
due_at: Assignment due date and time
experiment_id: Unique identifier for the experiment (specific to the course)
remaining_attempts: Number of remaining submission attempts
submission_id: Unique identifier for the current submission attempt
Return to Terracotta
Terracotta expects that when a student completes the activity, they will be redirected to the URL:
https://app.terracotta.education/integrations?launch_token=${e://Field/launch_token}&score=${e://Field/score}
If “score” is omitted, Terracotta will assume that the submission will receive the maximum score.
Terracotta will not accept a score for a launch token that has already been used, nor will Terracotta accept a score for an activity that has 0 remaining attempts.
Best practices
Check if the Launch Token has Previously Been Used: If the Qualtrics survey receives a launch token that has previously been used, this indicates that a student is attempting to review their responses from a past submission. Check if the launch token has previously been used and that the anonymous_id and assignment_id of the current launch matches the anonymous_id and assignment_id of the past submission associated with the launch_token. If so, the Qualtrics survey should display the data from the past submission associated with the provided launch token, but with no interactivity.
NOTE: There is one reserved launch_token: 99999-99999-99999-99999-99999. This launch token is issued by Terracotta when previewing external integrations.
Communicate When There are No Available Attempts: When remaining_attempts is 0, the external webpage should still display the activity, but Terracotta will accept no submissions. In this situation, to avoid misleading students about whether they can make another submission, the external webpage should disable submission functionality.
Respect Due Dates: Consider warning users when they are accessing the webpage after the due date. Submissions made after the due date will be flagged in Canvas.
Score Calculation: The custom web activity is responsible for determining the student’s score on the activity, which should be returned to Terracotta as a URL parameter value with the name “score.”
A Minimal Example
Here is a minimal example of a custom web activity that will integrate with Terracotta:
Create a new survey in Qualtrics. In this example, there is a single multiple choice question:
Solve for x: 2x + 3 = 7.
If you want students to receive scores based on the correctness of their responses, you need to set up scoring in Qualtrics. Click Survey Options, and then click Scoring, highlighted in yellow:
Mark the correct answer. In the example shown below, the student will receive 1 point for selecting the option “2.”
Go back the survey builder, and click Survey Flow. Add a new element to the survey flow, and select Embedded Data. You should enter two fields: launch_token and anonymous_id. The launch_token will be used when returning a student’s score to Terracotta. The anonymous_id refers to individual students, and can be used to connect survey responses to data in Terracotta. Once you have added these two fields, move the Embedded Data element to the top of the flow, as shown below:
Now add another embedded data element at the bottom of the flow. The purpose of this element is to assign the student’s score to an embedded data field called “score.” Click “Set a value now” and navigate through the options to find the score: Insert Piped Text > Scoring > Score > Score.
When complete, this is what your survey flow should look like. Click Apply to save the changes.
Go back to the survey builder. At the bottom of the survey, select the End of Survey block. Change the End of Survey Message to “Redirect to URL” and paste the following URL into the website URL:
https://app.terracotta.education/integrations?launch_token=${e://Field/launch_token}&score=${e://Field/score}
Now publish your survey, and input the survey’s URL into Terracotta.
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