Canvas Quiz Creation - Tips & Suggestions

Quizzes can be used for all levels of assignments
Don’t let the term "quiz" limit your use of the quiz tools! Online quizzes are useful for creating standard homework assignments, quizzes, practice quizzes, exams, and surveys (both graded or ungraded).

When shuffling question or answer order, modify the wording of the answers accordingly
Randomizing answer order can affect the accuracy of the answers listed for a multiple choice question. For example, “All of the above” or “Both A and b are correct” are no longer reliable options because every student will see the potential answers listed in a different order. Tweak your answer wording to something along the lines of “All of these” instead of "All of the above" so that the randomized order doesn’t affect the literal meaning.

On a similar note, if you have back-to-back questions that all use the same scenario or data chart, either ensure that the questions are all presented as a single group in a logical order, or include all of the relevant information in every one of the related questions.

Keep your choice of quiz tool consistent within a course
Canvas comes with two versions of the quiz tool– Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. Both tools have their pros and cons, so it mostly comes down to personal preference. However, you should try to keep your choice of quiz tool consistent throughout a single course, especially if you require proctoring on your quizzes since the quiz's start-up method will vary depending on which version of the quiz tool you use.

Questions with objective answers will be automatically graded, but subjective answers require manual grading
Questions with subjective answers (specifically short answer or essays) will require you to manually grade them using SpeedGrader. Luckily, SpeedGrader makes it easy to switch between students’ quiz submissions when you have manually-graded questions or any grades to manually override. You can learn how SpeedGrader works at the Canvas Guides. This interface is used for assignments and quizzes alike, so it’s useful a tool to know about. 

Be deliberate with fill-in-the-blank questions
One drawback to fill-in-the-blank questions is that typos and different versions of the same answer will be marked incorrect. The New Quiz tool provides some additional options such as an allowable number of typos or if the answer just has to contain certain key terms. The Classic tool does not provide these options and will require an exact match (with the one exception being that answers are not case-sensitive). Because of this constraint, consider whether your question will be better suited in a different format instead of fill-in-the-blank. You can add a large number of accepted answers to cover the bases, but it will be up to you to be thorough.
Below this is a sample question where the variety of acceptable answers are on the lenient side. If we were to require an exact proper name, the top row of answers would be the only acceptable options. The number of variants you include in the answer list depends on the amount of precision you desire for the answer. 
  

• • • Fill-in-the-Blank Question: What university are you attending?

    • Accepted Answers:

      • University of Wisconsin-Parkside

      • University of Wisconsin Parkside

      • The University of Wisconsin-Parkside

      • The University of Wisconsin Parkside

      • UW-Parkside

      • UW Parkside

      • UWP

      • UW-P

      • Parkside
        
        

How to address concerns about cheating
There is no 100% guaranteed method to prevent cheating, whether in-person or online. That said, there are multiple ways to address those concerns in online quizzing:

• • Shuffle the answer order (Shuffling answer order: Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes)

  • Shuffle the order in which questions are presented (Shuffling question order: Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes)

  • Create more questions than you intend to use so that every attempt on a quiz presents each student a unique set of questions

  • Set a time limit on your quiz

  • Hide answers until after the due date has passed

  • Require an automated proctoring tool to proctor the quiz (Proctoring Tool Information)
    
    

Determine what level of proctoring & restrictions are appropriate for an assignment
Instructors can choose how closely a quiz is proctored by an automated proctoring tool, if at all. Consider the normal conditions an assignment would have in a face-to-face course when determining how you set your proctoring options. For example, students would be able to work together on a weekly homework assignment, but not for an in-class exam. That's not to say that you need to use the same exact criteria online as you would for face-to-face version of your course, but it is a factor to consider. One other thing to keep in mind is the fact that introducing additional steps or software into a process can bring up new technical hurdles for students as they attempt to take their quiz or exam.

Provide the students with a proctored practice quiz before they need to take a real proctored quiz
If Respondus LockDown Browser is required on a quiz, the student will need to download and install the lockdown browser program before they can access their quiz. Students may be using outdated or incompatible hardware. That is why you should have a practice quiz set up so that students can install & run the proctoring tool before they need to take an actual graded quiz with proctoring enabled. This way you can make sure your whole class is able to use the proctoring tool ahead of time and address any issues before the real quizzing period. This practice quiz can be a singular, basic question or an actual practice quiz based on your course content. It is a good idea to keep the quiz open all semester long and give your students unlimited attempts so they can test the proctoring software again if they end up using a different device at some point.