Prerequisites: The Report Card function for Appraisals requires that the Appraisal Graphs block be installed.
As the name implies, the appraisal report card generates a "report card" from an individual user’s appraisal. A "report card" is a customizable summary of the appraisal that can be displayed on the screen or generated to a PDF. See the example below:
Legends Colour and Font Size
Legend colour and font size for the graphs that can be displayed on the Report Card graphs are system level settings inherited from the site configuration of the Appraisal Graph block. If you would like to change these, please contact support@learningpool.com.
Metrics and their ranges
Below each graph type that can be included in the Report Card, be it Bar or Radar, a cross-referenced table of the Datapoint Labels versus the Dataset names can be created with the aggregated values being represented by Metric labels. Each Metric label can represent a range of aggregated values. This is similar to defining a grading Scale. Once again, these values for the Report Card are inherited from the system level settings for the Appraisal Graphs block, and therefore can only be updated by Learning Pool Support (support@learningpool.com).
Configuring your report card
To begin configuring the Report Card for an Appraisal:
- Navigate to Site administration > Appraisals. This opens the Manage appraisals page.
- Identify the Appraisal for which the Report Card should be configured.
- Select the Appraisal’s name or its corresponding Settings (
) action icon to enter it in editing mode.
- Select the Report Card tab.
Enabling the Report Card
By default, the Report Card feature is disabled for all new Appraisals. This allows the site manager to complete the configuration of the Report Card prior to it being visible to users. When the Report Card has been configured as desired, set Enabled to “Yes”.
Designing the Report Card Text
The main section of the appraisal Report Card is designed using a fully functioning HTML Report Card Text area. This means that all toolbar functions can be used to design the Report Card main area as desired. This includes the ability to add images and media as well as utilize all available text formatting options.
In addition to the standard text and media objects that can be added, the Report Card text area supports a variety of placeholders that can reference and display information specific to the user and the user’s Appraisal.
The following placeholders for user-specific profile details are available:
| Placeholder | Description |
| {{user_firstname}} | First name of the user per the user Profile. |
| {{user_lastname}} | The last name of the user per the user Profile. |
| {{user_city}} | The user’s city per the user Profile. |
It is possible to include the content from text-based custom profile fields. To do so, use the placeholder format “user_custom_shortname of field”. See the example below:
| Placeholder | Results |
| {{user_custom_sport}} | Displays the value of the custom profile field with shortname “sport”. |
In addition, it is possible to include the content from text-based appraisal questions. This does not include non-question elements such as “fixed image”, “fixed text”, and “user profile information”. To do so, use the placeholder format “appraisal_question_text of question. It is important that the text of question must exactly match a question included in the Appraisal. See the following Example:
| Placeholder | Results |
| {{appraisal_question__The coach educator understands}} | The result of the appraisal question “The coach educator understands”. |
Information regarding the various Appraisal stages can also be included. To do so, use the placeholder format “appraisal_stage_stage name_field” with the available fields being: “status”, “timedue”, “timecompleted” See the following example:
| Placeholder | Results |
| {{appraisal_stage_Stage 1_status}} | The status of Stage 1. |
And finally, a page break can be added (applies to PDF only) as well as the date the Report Card was generated. See the following examples:
| Placeholder | Results |
| {{appraisal_report_pagebreak}} | A page break would be inserted here - this only displays on the pdf version. |
| {{appraisal_report_date}} | The current date that the report is being run |
Up to two graphs based on aggregated appraisal responses/results can be added to the Report Card. The instructions for doing so follow.
Adding Datapoint Labels/Legends
- Expanding the Configure Graphs for Report Card section will reveal the six Data point x Legend fields.
A data point is a value associated with a specific measured criterion. In this section of options, identify the names of the six criteria being measured.
Note: that any Data point x Legend field containing “N/A” will be ignored. As such it is possible to create Appraisal Graph Blocks for anywhere between 1 and 6 data point criteria by leaving some fields set to “N/A”.
- Enter the label/name that should be displayed for each data point criterion. See example of how the Datapoint Legends entered above would be applied to the graphs.
Multi-language Support
The Datapoint Labels and Dataset Names support the multi-language filter. Meaning, if there are additional language packs installed in the , one can include the label/name translations within the configuration of the Appraisal Graph block so that the appropriate language will be displayed based on the user’s language selection for the site.
To do so, simply add an additional line for each language when entering the Datapoint Labels or Dataset Names, with each term surrounded by its appropriate language tag. For example, if we have both English and French installed within the
, then a Datapoint Label or Dataset Name could be entered as:
|
{mlang en}year1{mlang} {mlang fr}Année1{mlang} |
Note: If using the above multi-language filter tags for graph Datapoint Labels or Dataset Names, do not include special characters or special formatting (bold, italics, etc.) in the text between the tags. Doing so will prevent the graph from rendering.
Configuring Each Dataset
There are six Configure dataset x sections. These are groups of data values to be graphed, typically the aggregate questions from a single appraisal activity. In our example, they are “Apples”, “Oranges”, and “Lemons.
Use the following steps to configure each set of data to be graphed.
- Expand the Configure dataset 1 section.
- Enter the Data Set 1 name.
- Using RGB format, set the color of the Data set 1 background color (rgb format). This can also be thought of as the fill color for this particular data set as indicated below.
Note: The fourth value represents transparency, 0 being completely translucent to 1 being completely solid.
- Using RGB format, set the color of the Data set 1 border color (rgb format). This can also be thought of as the outline color for this particular data set in the Radar graph as indicated. The fourth value represents transparency, 0 being completely translucent to 1 being completely solid.
The remaining Datapoint x fields are drop-down lists that offer the aggregate questions that are active in the LMS across all available appraisal activities and contain data available for graphing. Consider this as being mapped to the Data Point x Legends defined in the previous section.
- For Datapoint 1, choose the Aggregate question that will provide the value associated with the value entered in the Data point 1 Legend field.
- For Datapoint 2, choose the Aggregate question that will provide the value associated with the value entered in the Data point 2 Legend field.
- … and so on. There should be an Aggregate question selected for each Datapoint x given every Data point x Legend.
Selecting Chart Types and Enabling Metrics Tables
The Report Card is capable of presenting up to two graphs of data. To chose the number and type of graphs, use the following steps:
- Expand the Chart Types section of options.
- Choose either “Bar graph” or “Radar graph” for Graph 1 Type.
- Next, determine whether to Include metric table on graph 1. This will render a cross-referenced table below that maps the aggregated values in the graph to the metric ranges defined at the site level at Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Appraisal graph.
- If a second graph is desired, choose the other graph type for Graph 2 Type and decide whether it should Include metric table on graph 2. Otherwise, leave it set to “Not set”.
Placing the Graph(s) on the Report Card
When graphs have been configured to appear on the Report Card, the last step is to determine where those graphs should appear on the Report Card page. This is done using a specialized placeholder within the Report Card Text field.
| Placeholder | Results |
| {{appraisal_report_graph1}} | Graph1 as defined in the settings will be displayed (including the metric table if enabled) |
| {{appraisal_report_graph2}} | Graph2 as defined in the settings will be displayed (including the metric table if enabled) |
End User Experience
When a user is viewing their Appraisal, if the Report Card has been enabled for the Appraisal there will be a Report Card button in the upper right corner of the page. Selecting this will display the Report Card as configured for the Appraisal. If desired, select the Generate Report Card to PDF button to open/download a PDF version of the Report Card.