Preparation and planning were common themes among faculty and support staff during the online panel discussing New Quizzes in Canvas the Center of Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) led on March 22.
Canvas is phasing out Classic Quizzes and replacing it with New Quizzes, which gives instructors more options for question types and is built for accessibility. Instructors can create quizzes in the classic format until June 1, 2023. After that, existing quizzes can only be edited and administered to students. Canvas will sunset Classic Quizzes on June 30, 2024, but instructors can continue migrating quizzes to the new format after that.
New Quizzes will be enabled campuswide on June 1.
When New Quizzes is available, the following courses may benefit from an earlier transition:
-
New courses requiring new content and quiz creation
-
Courses with low-stakes, formative assessment
-
Courses with smaller enrollment and uncomplicated quizzes
-
Courses in which new question types can enhance teaching and learning
Instructors may want to postpone a transition to New Quizzes for some courses, for now, to allow Canvas to continue development and improve functionality. Large enrollment courses using high-stakes, summative quizzes with question content that relies on the rich content editor, uses formulas or third-party tools should consider postponing.
"Since this is a multiyear transition, I would recommend not jumping in with all of your courses all in the same semester," said geological and atmospheric sciences assistant teaching professor Lindsay Maudlin, who is part of a pilot group testing New Quizzes this semester. "Strategically pick a class that has a lower enrollment or a class where the new features may help save you time and ease into it."
Marketing lecturer Susan Fleming emphasized the importance of taking time to test New Quizzes. She also advocated for experimenting and practicing before making the transition.
Instructors will not make the transition alone. Help for instructors is available through CELT virtual open labs on Mondays and Wednesdays (8-10 a.m.), Tuesdays and Thursdays (1-3 p.m.) and Fridays (by appointment).
Demonstrations
During two virtual demonstrations of New Quizzes on April 5 (2-3 p.m.) and April 27 (1-2 p.m.) faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs can get an overview of New Quizzes.
"We will demonstrate New Quizzes from the student and instructor perspective," CELT instructional specialist Lesya Hassall said. "It is our goal to showcase the capabilities, and help you understand it is best to transition your courses."
CELT will host training sessions for instructors after New Quizzes launches, beginning the week of June 6.
New Quizzes course shell
Instructors can request a course shell, or "sandbox," within Canvas to experiment with New Quizzes before transitioning an actual course.
Classic and New Quizzes share similarities, but the panelists noted the change in interface, moving functions to different places on a user's screen. Trial and error now can help eliminate issues when instructors and students begin using New Quizzes across campus.
After they request a sandbox, instructors automatically are enrolled in a self-paced Canvas course that provides several resources to build and navigate New Quizzes.
Related article:
Canvas making switch to New Quizzes, Feb. 24, 2022
