Canvas: Quizzes

Quizzes tool screenshot from course navigation menu

What do they do?

Quizzes Links to an external site. in Canvas are assignments that can be used to challenge student understanding and assess comprehension of course material. The quiz tool is used to create and administer online quizzes and surveys. Quizzes can also be used to conduct and moderate exams and assessments, both graded and ungraded.

Canvas has four different types of quizzes:

A graded quiz is the most common quiz and rewards students points based on their quiz responses.
A practice quiz is a learning tool to see how well users understand course material without providing a grade.
A graded survey rewards students with points for completing a survey but grading is not based on right or wrong answers.
An ungraded survey obtains opinions or other information without providing a grade.

How do I ...?

Refer to this Canvas Guide to learn about quizzing options.

Best Practices

Use an ungraded quiz to gather mid-semester feedback from your students.
Make sure your quiz is published when you're ready for students to complete it.
Use the moderate quiz options Links to an external site. to view completion time, add extra attempts Links to an external site., give extra time Links to an external site., and more!

Example Use Case

An instructor of a fully online course wants to incentivize reading of important research related to a module's topic so they create a low-stakes comprehension check quiz to focus on key ideas. They enter feedback at the question level to emphasize critical takeaways.