Setting up online quizzing in Canvas is complex, and there are a lot of options available. There are some best practices that instructors can leverage to make exams go smoothly and with the appropriate amount of security.
Before you set options, consider how the quiz will be used in your class. Is it a self-assessment for the students to check their knowledge? Is it a regular, weekly check on content comprehension or whether students have done the reading? Is it a major assessment, such as a mid-term or final exam? If it's a self-check or a weekly quiz, you may want to allow students multiple attempts or not time the quiz. If it is a final, you may want to time the test and set it up to maximize exam integrity. For reference, review Strategies for Promoting Academic Integrity in the Online Classroom.
This article covers the following topics:
To review all possible question types, see the Canvas Guide on "How do I create a quiz with individual questions."
For nine question types, including multiple-choice and True/False, you can mark an answer as correct, and the question will be auto-graded by Canvas. That can save time if you plan on giving multiple quizzes throughout the semester. Some types (e.g., fill-in-multiple-blanks, multiple drop-down, matching) require more time to learn how to create, although they can also be auto-graded. If you need longer answers that you will grade in SpeedGrader, there is an Essay question.
Tip: Need students to upload a photo or a scan of handwritten work? There is a File Upload question type that allows students to upload any file.
Importing Questions from a Textbook or Word File
Canvas supports the QTI import type, so you can upload quizzes and question banks directly from publishers. If you have a quiz in Word format, you can format your quiz to upload it to Canvas by requesting assistance from Instructional Technology at support@stedwards.edu.
Importing Questions from a Question Bank
If you import question banks from a textbook or another class, you can use those questions when creating a quiz in Canvas by searching for questions. You can import all the questions in a question bank or just specific questions. See "How do I create a quiz by finding questions in a question bank?" for instructions.
You can randomize questions by using question groups. You can place a large set of questions in a question group and then set Canvas to randomly pull a smaller number of questions from that group for each quiz. Every student will have a unique quiz. This works best if you have many questions in your question group. The larger the number of questions in the question group (compared to the number randomly picked for the quiz), the more secure the quiz. If there is a limited number of quiz questions and all of them are needed for the quiz, you can still use question groups to randomize the order of the questions. Using question groups makes it unlikely that students will get the same questions or the same questions in the same order.
Shuffle Answers
This option will randomly reorder the answers to each question for a multiple-choice quiz. This can save time when you are building quizzes, as you can make the first answer the correct answer each time, but be assured, students will not see the correct answer as the first one.
Tip: If you want to "Shuffle Quiz Answers," make sure multiple-choice questions don't have "All of the above" or "None of the above" as possible answers.
Time Limit
You can choose to set a time limit by entering the number of minutes students have to complete the entire quiz. The timer begins as soon as a student opens the quiz and will not be paused if the student navigates away from the quiz. An unfinished timed quiz will be automatically submitted when the time limit expires. If no time limit is set, students will have unlimited time to complete the quiz unless you are using Availability Start and End times to limit submission time. If you have students with 504 Accommodation Letters, you may need to extend time on Quizzes for specific students. View the Extending Time on Exams in Canvas article for detailed instructions.
Tip: In your quiz instructions, make sure students know that once they start the timed quiz, they must finish it before the timer runs out. Navigating away from the quiz will not cause the timer to stop.
Allow Multiple Attempts
By default, students only have one attempt at a quiz. However, if this is a student self-check or you want students to learn by researching the correct answers, you can allow multiple attempts. If you allow multiple attempts, you can choose which score to keep (highest, latest, or average).
Let students See Their Quiz Responses
If this is enabled after a student submits a quiz, they see (1) the quiz questions and answer options, (2) the answer options the student selected, (3) if they got a question incorrect or partially incorrect, and (4) ALL question feedback. This information will be shown regardless of the due and until dates and even if the correct answers are NOT made available (via the "Let Students see the Correct Answers" setting). For enhanced quiz security, leave this box unchecked altogether or leave it unchecked until after the Due and Until date(s).
Let Students See Correct Answers
If you leave this unchecked, students will not see the correct answers. If you check it and do not set dates for showing and hiding answers, the student will see the answers immediately after submitting their quiz. For enhanced quiz security, set a date after the quiz is due to show correct answers and hide correct answers. In the example below, students have one attempt to complete the quiz, due on January 31st at 11:59 pm. Correct answers are not displayed until after the due date.
One question at a time
By default, Canvas will present the quiz questions on a single page to the student. To navigate from one question to the next, the students scroll. At the bottom of the questions page is a "Submit" button. Canvas auto-saves quiz answers in a one-page quiz or a one-question-at-a-time presentation. This option, "Show one question at a time," causes only one question to appear, with a "Next" button beside it. This allows students to focus on the current question, but may also be frustrating if they want to quickly scan the quiz and answer the questions they feel most comfortable with first.
Lock questions
If you select "Show one question at a time," an additional option becomes available: "Lock questions after answering." This option, if activated, prevents a student from going back through these one-at-a-time questions and altering answers. This allows you to reveal an answer to an earlier question later on in the test without worrying about students then going back and changing their answers. This may also be frustrating for students if they want to revisit a prior question.
Quiz Restrictions
We don't recommend requiring an access code or filtering IP addresses, as both options may impede student access to the quiz, but won't stop students from cheating if that is the goal.
Due Date and Availability Dates/Times
In addition to a Due Date, you can also set when the quiz opens and closes. For example, if you want the quiz to happen during standard class time, you can set the availability dates to those times. The exam will close and auto-submit with a final 10-second warning (if the student has yet to submit but is still working on it) when the until date and time is reached. If the quiz is open book, you will likely leave these open or set them for a longer period.
You can use the availability times in addition to or instead of a timer. If you only allow the students 30 minutes to take the test during a specific time period, set the availability start and end times for that time period. Remind the students that the quiz will auto-submit at the end of the available time.
Tip: If you need to set a different due date or availability date or allow extra time on a timed quiz for students with accommodations, see the instructions for Extending Time on Quizzes. If you have set an ending availability time on a timed quiz, and you need to give extra time to a student, you must add a separate set of Due Date/Availability Dates and moderate the quiz to add additional minutes.
Once you have set up the quiz, use the "Preview Quiz" button to take the quiz precisely as a student would. Previewing allows you to make sure settings are correct and review all the questions.
If your quiz requires online proctoring, the university-supported online proctoring solution is Honorlock. See details in the instructions for setting up a quiz to use Honorlock. Honorlock uses Canvas quiz settings to control the timer and availability for the quiz. If you moderate a quiz to add additional time for a student, Honorlock will also recognize those settings.
Once the assessment is open to students, you should avoid editing the assessment until the due date passes. Canvas allows you to edit the assessment while it is in progress, but it can cause grading errors. See the What Options Can I Use for Regrading a Quiz for details on which question types can be regraded.