Settings for examining quiz
Quizzes in Canvas can be customized to suit your examination format with several settings. You can, for example, limit which students can open the quiz with IP addresses or access codes. You can also set a time limit and control when and how the students’ results are shown to them. Here, we go through the relevant settings for examining quizzes.
New Quizzes are recommended
Most settings can be made in both New Quizzes and Classic Quizzes. However, it is recommended that you use New Quizzes, since Classic Quizzes are being phased out and will eventually be removed from Canvas.
Read more about phasing out Classic Quiz in Canvas .
Here we focus on New Quizzes, but we also address Classic Quizzes at the end of the page.
Assignment settings and points for New Quizzes
The assignment settings for a quiz are the same as for a regular assignment and primarily handle the external framework for how the quiz is to be published and assessed. However, quizzes differ from assignments in how points are handled. In quizzes, it is possible to award points both per question and in the assignment settings.
The score per quiz question is used and displayed only in the quiz, and the points in the assignment settings are used in the rest of Canvas. The students’ results are proportionally the same for both, so a student that gets 70% correct in the quiz also has 70% correct in the Gradebook.
To avoid confusion, it is recommended that you either set the score in the assignment settings to zero or to the total sum of the scores from the questions. You may need to go against the recommendation if you need to weigh the quiz against other assignments or to fit into a specific grading scheme.
You can read more about our recommendations for other assignment settings on the page Settings for examining assignments .
For suggestions on exact settings for an examining quiz, read the page Randomize assignments during examinations .
Build settings in New Quizzes
You can change the build settings when a New Quiz is opened in the build mode, meaning where you add the questions. You can find the build settings under the Settings tab.
All build settings are optional to use, but a lot of them are strongly recommended in different examining situations. Below we go through the recommendations for settings that may need more explaining. If you are interested in a list of all settings, go to Creating a quiz .
One question at a time
You can set it up so that only one question at a time is shown to the students, meaning they need to press “Next” to move on to the next question. You can also choose whether the students can go back to a previous question or if they lock in their answers when pressing “Next”.
The setting can be used, for example, if the students are only allowed to use the built-in calculator on certain questions. However, use it carefully since students have different views on this type of setup. It can help students focus on one question at a time, but it makes it harder for them to get an overview of the entire quiz and plan their time.
Require a student access code
Activate and choose an access code of approximately 4 – 5 characters. The students will have to enter the code before they reach the questions in the quiz. The option “Show access code” allows you to see which code you have chosen, it does not affect the students’ view.
An access code is useful, for example, when examining in a computer room. If the code is given out on site, it becomes more difficult for people who are not attending the exam to get access to the exam questions. Not as safe as filtering IP addresses (explained below), but easier to set up on your own.
Time limit
The time limit is the maximum time a student can take to complete a quiz, counting from when the student opens the quiz. The quiz is submitted automatically when the time is up or when the specified end time in the assignment settings has passed, depending on what happens first. Therefore, the time limit can never give a student more time than the assignment settings.
Time limit is recommended only for quizzes with flexible start and end time, otherwise it is better suited to set the start and end times with the assignment settings. If you are going to use a time limit, remember to set the assignment settings end time with a margin so that everyone has enough time to use the full writing time.
Filter IP addresses
Activate and enter on or more ranges for allowed IP addresses (press "+ Allowed range" to add several intervals). Only computers in this range can access the quiz.
Recommended if you want to limit a quiz only to students on site in a chosen computer room. Contact examinationsadm@kth.se for help with which IP addresses are used for specific computer rooms at KTH, mark your message: IP addresses for Canvas quiz in a computer room.
Allow calculator
Gives the students access to a “basic” or “scientific” calculator in the quiz. Read more on the page Calculator in Canvas New Quiz .
Hide results from students
This setting handles which details the students should see in the quiz after they have submitted it, not what is shown in the Gradebook. This restriction is done in addition to hiding the grade in SpeedGrader, if you want to hide grades while you are working on the quiz. This can be useful if the quiz, for example, has questions that need to be manually assessed.
When you activate the setting you can choose to check several check boxes to specify what to show and what to hide. If no check boxes are checked, the students will only see a submission confirmation when they submit the quiz.
You can choose the following options:
- Show questions. Shows the quiz questions and opens up the following options:
- Show student responses. You can choose if you want to only show them between certain dates.
- Indicate response as correct or incorrect. You can also choose to show the correct response as well, if the student response was incorrect. You can also choose if you want to only show it between certain dates.
- Show feedback. Shows comments you made per question in SpeedGrader.
- Show student responses. You can choose if you want to only show them between certain dates.
- Show points possible. Shows the total and per question.
- Show points awarded. Shows the total and per question.
Note! Remember to turn off the setting when you have finished assessing the quiz, publishing grades via SpeedGrader or the Gradebook is not enough.
Canvas Classic Quizzes
For Classic Quizzes, there are not as many settings options. The options available are in the external settings for the quiz. There, for example, you can activate:
- "Require an access code".
- "Filter IP addresses".
Choose a code of approximately 4–5 characters as a password and contact it-support@kth.se for information about which computer rooms have which IP addresses. Mark your message: IP addresses for Canvas quiz in a computer room. Pressing the blue magnifying glass provides information on how to enter intervals.
More support for creating a quiz
If you need more information about support for creating quizzes, it can be found on the following pages on the KTH web:
- Creating a quiz
- Question types for New Quizzes
- How to set the external settings for Assignments and New Quizzes.