Canvas New Quizzes Resources

Instructure has released New Quizzes, a new quizzing tool for Canvas. New Quizzes offers several new features and and four new question types, but is missing a few features from the current Classic Quizzes tool on which many instructors depend. Both tools will continue to be available until New Quizzes has achieved feature parity with Classic Quizzes. The original Canvas Quizzes tool will eventually be retired, but Instructure has not yet announced any exact end of life date.

Top 10 Reasons to Switch to Canvas New Quizzes

Canvas New Quizzes Hub and Features Roadmap on Instructure’s Site

What is New Quizzes and how is it different from Classic Quizzes?

  • New Quizzes is the new assessment engine that integrates with the Canvas LMS as an LTI tool. It will replace the “Classic Quizzes” functionality that currently exists in the JCCC’s Canvas account eventually but there is no specific end of life date.
  • Instructors can use New Quizzes to create assessments using a variety of questions types. Assessments display as assignments in the Assignments page and can be duplicated. Students can take an assessment in New Quizzes directly from their Canvas course, including through Respondus LockDown Browser.

A few key features for New Quizzes include:

  • New Question Types: Categorization, Hot Spot, Ordering, and Stimulus. Essay, Fill in the Blank, and Multiple Choice question types have also received design enhancements.
  • Item Banks (formerly Question Banks) are now linked to your account so they are available from any Canvas course that you teach, and you can share them with colleagues.
  • Migrating a Classic Quiz to New Quizzes allows instructors to re-use an existing assessment in your Canvas course by moving it to the New Quizzes assessment engine. Question banks used in Classic Quizzes can also be migrated to New Quizzes.
  • Print a quiz answer key or a blank quiz with no answers. Quizzes can also be saved to your computer as a PDF file.
  • Add extended time for one or all quizzes in a course to meet an individual student accommodation.
  • Enable a “Waiting Period” on any re-attempts for an assessment after a set amount of time has passed from the student’s first attempt.

New Quizzes FAQ

Below are some frequently asked questions (FAQ) from JCCC Faculty about this transition process as it pertains to the JCCC Canvas account.

Can I use New Quizzes now in my current and future courses?
Yes. New Quizzes is available now and can be used or migrated by instructors in each of their Canvas courses. We recommend starting out using New Quizzes in one course to become familiar with how to navigate and build assessments in this new tool, then working ahead to migrate the rest of your courses for the Summer and Fall terms. New Quizzes can certainly be used for all courses you teach in the Spring if that is your preference, but you’ll want to ensure that all the assessments in the course have been migrated so continuity in quiz engine type is being provided to students in your courses.
What is Instructure's timeline for transitioning to New Quizzes?
Both New Quizzes and Classic Quizzes are available for use in Canvas courses currently, but Instructure will deprecate Classic Quizzes by restricting features in the old quiz engine at some future time BUT has not announced any specific date.  The Classic Quizzes API will continue to be supported for archival purposes for many, many years to come, but eventually the database and API will be removed as well.
Will there be a option to migrate an entire course including the change from Question Banks to Item Banks?
According to Susan Sorenesen at Instructure – By late Spring 2023, “bulk” migration to New Quizzes will be available to use on our Production server. We’ve conferred with the community about how multiple quizzes might migrate, and the results suggested the best mechanism is during the course copy or importing process.
If I use Canvas Assignments (vs Quizzes) for my assessments, will this major change affect my courses?
No. Canvas Assignments such as online submissions and external apps will not be affected by this change and can continue to be used as you have set them up in your course.
If I use a publisher or third party tool outside of Canvas for my assessments, will this major change affect my courses?
No. Third party tools or publisher software such as Pearson and McGraw Hill products are separate LTIs that can be linked and accessed by students from a Canvas course. This upcoming change will not impact other LTIs as long as they are not used within Canvas Quizzes.