Quick Tip: All About Classic Quizzes
Last week, we took a comparative view of Classic vs. New Quizzes in Canvas. This week, we’re taking a deeper dive into the Classic Quiz tool, including how to create the quiz, configure the settings and accommodations, preview and publish, and handle grading and makeups. This is a bit longer than our typical Quick Tip emails, but we wanted you to have all the info you need in one place.
Tip: Not sure which kind of quizzes you have in your course? If you are working with quizzes migrated from Blackboard, you are likely using Classic Quizzes. You can also tell from the icon on the Quizzes page – a white rocket ship icon denotes a Classic Quiz, while a filled-in rocket ship indicates a New Quiz.
Not using Classic Quizzes? Look for our “All About New Quizzes” Quick Tip next week!
Canvas Quick Tip: All About Classic Quizzes
Click the links throughout the email to view Canvas Instructor guides for more detailed information and instructions for each item.
Step 1: Create a Classic Quiz
Follow these instructions to create a Classic Quiz in your course. This guide includes all the steps, plus information about each question type available in Classic Quizzes.
Did you know? You can also create a quiz from within a module. If you create the quiz from the Quizzes page, make sure to add it to the appropriate module as well.
Step 2: Configure Classic Quiz Settings
This guide walks you through all the Classic Quiz settings. However, we will expand here on the settings for which we often receive questions.
- Shuffle Answers
Classic Quizzes includes the option to randomize the order of the answer choices within questions. However, if you want to randomize the order of the questions for each student, you will need to create your questions in a Question Group within the quiz.
- Quiz Response Feedback
By default, students are able to review their test attempts (including each question and correct answers) directly after submitting the quiz. In order to protect the integrity of your quiz, you may want to deselect the “Let Students See Their Quiz Responses” option, at least until all students have completed the quiz. View examples of quiz response setting configurations and the corresponding student view.
- Availability & Due Dates
There are three date settings for quizzes in Canvas:
- Due Date = The date and time the quiz is due. Submissions after the due date are accepted but marked with a Late status in the gradebook.
- Available From = The date and time at which the quiz becomes available for the students to take. Depending on your publishing and module settings, students may be able to see the quiz link ahead of time, but will not be able to take the quiz until after this date/time.
- Available Until = The date and time at which the quiz becomes unavailable for students to take.
- Due Date = The date and time the quiz is due. Submissions after the due date are accepted but marked with a Late status in the gradebook.
Important Note: If the student is in the middle of their quiz attempt when the Available Until date/time hits, Canvas will save and submit their attempt, even if they the time limit hasn’t yet expired. Make sure your students know to allow themselves enough time to complete their quiz attempts prior to the Available Until cutoff time.
Step 3: Configure Classic Quiz Accommodations (if applicable)
If any of your students have an SAS accommodation where they need 1.5x or 2x time for tests, you can use the Moderate Quiz option to grant them extra time.
Step 4: Preview and Publish the Quiz
In order for students to take your quiz, you must publish it. Note that if a quiz is linked in a module, the module itself must also be published.
Tip: It’s always a good idea to preview your quiz before you publish it. Previewing the quiz will allow you to see how it will look for your students, as well as catch any potential mistakes in question construction. To preview a quiz, simply click on the quiz name (from the Quizzes Index or in a module), then click the Preview button in the top right corner of the screen.
Additional Classic Quiz Tasks:
- View student results
You can view each student’s quiz results from the quiz page. You can view also view an individual student’s quiz log, which will give you more information about an individual student’s test attempt (e.g., start and finish times, time spent on each question, etc.). Please note that these logs are informational only and are not intended to validate academic integrity.
- View quiz statistics and item analysis
After students have taken the quiz, you can review the Quiz Statistics to see the quiz average score, high score, low score, standard deviation and average completion time. Item Analysis and Student Analysis reports are also available from the Quiz Statistics page.
- Edit and regrade questions
In the event that you need to make an correction to a question after students have taken the quiz, you can edit the question and then regrade students’ attempts. There are several caveats for regrading, so make sure to review the Canvas guide prior to using this option.
- Set up makeup quizzes for individual students
Sometimes you may need to allow a student to make up a quiz due to personal reasons or technology failure. You do not need to create a separate quiz – the student can be accommodated within the existing quiz settings. Depending on the situation, you may need to grant an individual student an additional quiz attempt, give the individual student different availability/due dates than the rest of the class, or both.