Revise Tests & Quizzes assessment questions.

Many questions can be imported from UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes to Canvas’s Classic Quizzes. However, there are question types and options that could not be imported due to a difference of features between UVACollab and Canvas. In most cases, you will find entries in the Migration Exception Log to help you identify quiz questions you may need to edit as a result of these system differences.

Open the link for an affected question type or option below to find a description of potential issues and recommendations for moving forward.

Tip: You can use the information in this article as you work through Step 3: Revise in the Checklist for Reusing Content from UVACollab. Go back to the checklist for additional steps.

WARNING: We strongly recommend reviewing all assessment questions and settings to see if you need to make adjustments. A comprehensive review of all assessment settings should be completed prior to publishing.

Go to Quizzes.

Select Quizzes from the Course Navigation Menu.

Get started with Canvas Quizzes.

The Canvas Quizzes tool includes options to create quizzes as either Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. Assessments copied from UVACollab are Classic Quizzes. A white rocketship icon displays to the left of each quiz title, as shown in the screenshot above.

Some of the recommendations for editing questions in the sections below mention using features of New Quizzes. To do this, migrate the quizzes that include those questions by following the steps in How do I migrate a Canvas quiz to New Quizzes? (opens new window).

Tip: For links to documentation describing the differences between Classic and New Quizzes, see the New Quizzes Transition Toolkit (opens new window).

Note: You should continue to use Classic Quizzes to include audio or video content in a test or quiz. New Quizzes is still under development and does not yet have media tools integrated into it.

Select a quiz.

Select the name of the quiz to review.

Select Edit.

Select the Edit button near the upper right corner of the page.

Select Questions.

Select the Questions link above the field with the quiz's name.

While revising, note the following.

Show Question Details

Screenshot highlighting Show Question Details checkbox. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.

If your assessment includes fewer than 25 questions, you can select the Show Question Details checkbox near the top of the page for a quick overview of your question text, answers, and correct or incorrect answer feedback comments.

Quiz question labels with parts and numbers

Unless a UVACollab assessment was using the random draw from question pool setting for questions, each quiz question imported into Canvas should have a label of the part number and question number from the source assessment, e.g., Part 1, Question 1.

These labels are only for instructors and will not be visible to students taking a quiz.

Note: Many UVACollab assessments only have one part. If the assessment only had one part, the Canvas quiz will have "Part 1" included in the labels for all questions.

Part descriptions in text blocks

If a Part in the source UVACollab assessment included instructions, embedded content (e.g., images, videos), or attachments in its Information, this content will be included in the Canvas quiz as a text block labeled with the Part number and title and Part Information. For example, if the original assessment had a first part titled Case Study 1 that included a scenario, the equivalent Canvas quiz would have a text block preceding the questions in that part labeled Part 1 - Case Study 1 - Part Information with the scenario as the text in it.

As with question labels, the labels on the part information text blocks are only to help instructors and will not be visible to students during a quiz.

Note: If a Part in the source assessment had a Title, but no Information, that part's title will not be reflected in the Canvas quiz.

Question and answer ordering

If you had randomization enabled in the source assessment for either question ordering in a Part or for answers to multiple choice questions, they may have been randomly reordered during import.

You can reorder questions by following the steps in How do I reorder questions or question groups in a quiz? (opens new window)

Edit a question or text block.

You will need to select the pencil icon for a question or Part Information text block to Edit it.

To make the icon appear, hover your mouse over the question or information text, or use the Tab key on your keyboard to navigate to the icon (the icon displays at the right side of the box containing the text).

Note: All files embedded using My Media or Media Gallery (Kaltura) will currently display an Access Denied error in UVACanvas. The original files are available to you in My Media in UVACanvas to re-embed or publish in Media Gallery in your upcoming courses. We are currently working with our vendor partners in hopes of rectifying this issue.

Questions with a Minimum Point Value

In UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, there is an option to set a Minimum Point Value to automatically award points to students who enter any answer for a question, regardless of their answer. The Minimum Point Value option is available for Short Answer/Essay, Matching, Multiple Choice, True False, Fill in the Blank, and Numeric Response questions in Tests & Quizzes.

There is no similar feature in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. The Minimum Point Value setting will not be mentioned in the Migration Exception Log.

Recommendation (Multiple Choice only): In New Quizzes, vary points by answer.

There is a way to give students points for any answer they choose in a multiple choice question in New Quizzes. Use the Vary points by answer option to assign point values to each answer choice. For more information, see the Vary Points by Answer section of How do I create a Multiple Choice question in New Quizzes? (opens new window).

Recommendation (other question types): Manually add points for incorrect answers.

While grading, you can manually adjust the points earned by students who entered incorrect answers. For more information, see one of the following articles:

Questions marked as Extra Credit

Canvas does not provide the option to mark a question as Extra Credit.

There is no similar feature in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. The Extra Credit setting will not be mentioned in the Migration Exception Log.

For information on different options recommended by Canvas, refer to How do I give extra credit in a course? (opens new window).

Audio Recording Questions

The Audio Recording question type in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes requires students to record an audio response to a question with a microphone.

Canvas’s Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes do not have an option for similar audio recording questions. Audio Recording questions have been converted to Essay Questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 7, Question 1 - [Student Audio Response] not supported in Midterm Exam

Recommendation 1: Update the instructions in the Essay Question.

Students can record and embed content in an Essay Question in Classic Quizzes using the Rich Content Editor with Kaltura Media Gallery or Canvas Studio. Provide instructions in the question text for them to do this. For more information, see:

Recommendation 2: Create an audio submission assignment.

Create an assignment where students can record audio or video and submit it for grading. Students can record and embed content into an assignment submission with Kaltura Media Gallery or Canvas Studio. For more information, see:

Note: You should continue to use Classic Quizzes to include audio or video content in a test or quiz. New Quizzes is still under development and does not yet have media tools integrated into it.

Calculated Questions

The Calculated Question type in UVACollab's Tests & Quizzes uses variables and formulas to randomly present a mathematical problem to solve.

Calculated Questions were handled differently depending on how they were configured. For more information, open the links below.

Simple Calculated Questions with one answer blank

Simple Calculated Questions in UVACollab's Tests & Quizzes that had only one answer blank have been converted to Formula Questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 2 - [Calculated Question] in Midterm Exam was converted to Formula

The questions should be edited to remove the text in double curly brackets that defined the blank where students would enter their answer. For example, if the original question was written as {x} + {y} = {{z}}, remove the {{z}} so students are not confused. For more information about the Formula Question type, see the following articles:

Classic Quizzes: 

New Quizzes: How do I create a Formula question in New Quizzes? (opens new window)

Calculated Questions with Calculations in the question text

Calculated Questions in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes have an option to include a Calculation (a numerical value constructed from variables) in double brackets [[ ]] within the question text. For example, [[({a} + {b} + {c} + {d})/4]].

Calculated Questions with calculations have been converted to Essay Questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 7 - [Calculated Question with Calculations] not supported in Midterm Exam

Recommendation: Use question or item banks to present questions with different numbers.

Consider how you could rewrite the question so a calculation is not needed in the question text. If you used calculations to randomize the numbers students are presented, you could create a question bank in Classic Quizzes or item bank in New Quizzes filled with similar questions using different numbers. In the quiz, add a question group linked to the question or item bank. Students would be presented with the number of questions you specify selected at random from the linked bank. For more information, see the following articles:

Classic Quizzes:

New Quizzes:

Calculated Questions with multiple blanks to answer

When authoring a Calculated Question in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, there is an option to have students solve for multiple blanks in a question.

Calculated Questions with multiple blanks have been converted to Essay Questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 1 - [Calculated Question with multiple answer blanks] not supported in Midterm Exam

Recommendation: Assess students across multiple questions.

Consider how you could assess a student's ability to calculate each answer across multiple questions. For example, a question asks students to perform three different calculations to find three different solutions. The instructor could write three new questions with related scenarios, where each question asks students to perform one of those calculations. For more information about the Formula Question type, see the following articles:

Classic Quizzes: 

New Quizzes: How do I create a Formula question in New Quizzes? (opens new window)

Fill in the Blank Questions with Mutually Exclusive answers

When authoring a Fill in the Blank Question in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes that includes more than one blank with the same possible correct answers, there is an option to require students to supply a different answer in each blank for full credit.

There is no similar feature in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. The Mutually Exclusive setting will not be mentioned in the Migration Exception Log.

Recommendation: Manually subtract points for incorrect answers.

While grading, you can manually adjust the points earned by students who entered incorrect answers. For more information, see one of the following articles:

Matching Questions
Matching Questions with "None of the Above" as an option

When authoring a Matching question in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, there is an option to choose None of the Above as a match for a matching item.

Canvas’s Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes do not have this feature as it is used in Tests & Quizzes. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 3 - [Matching] has "None of the above" selected in Midterm Exam

Recommendation: Change "None of the Above" to "None of the Options".

Edit the question and for the item that would have been paired with None of the Above, change the answer to “None of the Options.” For more information, see How do I create a Matching quiz question? (opens new window).

Note: If more than one matching item was paired with None of the Above in the original question, each answer will need to be modified so it has unique text.

Matching Questions with an answer reused

Canvas does not support having the same answer for multiple items in a Matching Question. Questions that used this option in UVACollab need to be updated so students can answer them correctly.

These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 3 - [Matching] has answers reused in Midterm Exam

Matching Questions with rich text content in choices or matches

Canvas Matching Questions can only have plain text in their answers. If a matching item from UVACollab included rich text content, for example font colors or styles, multiple paragraphs, or embedded images, this content will appear as HTML code in the answer text. You will need to edit these questions so students can answer them.

If an affected question included at least one image embedded in a matching item, it will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 2 - [Matching] has an image in the matching options

Multiple Choice Questions with Randomized Answers

When authoring Multiple Choice questions, UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes provides an option to randomize answers for students when they view a particular question.

Canvas’s Classic Quizzes supports answer randomization for the entire assessment, not by individual question.

Recommendation 1: Shuffle answer choices for all questions.

In Classic Quizzes, use the Shuffle Answers checkbox in a quiz's settings to randomize answers for all Multiple Choice and Multiple Answers questions in the quiz. See Revise Tests & Quizzes assessment settings for steps to enable this option and edit other settings.

Recommendation 2: Shuffle answer choices by question in New Quizzes.

In Canvas’s New Quizzes, you can shuffle answer choices by question. For more information, see How do I create a Multiple Choice question in New Quizzes? (opens new window).

Multiple Choice, Multiple Correct, Single Selection Questions

The Multiple Choice question type in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes allows three options for the number of correct answers and how many options students can select. One of those options is Multiple Correct, Single Selection. In this scenario, multiple answer options are correct, but students can only choose one option. This also allows for negative marking for incorrect answers.

There is not a way to set multiple correct options and only allow one to be chosen in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. Multiple Choice, Multiple Correct, Single Selection Questions have been converted to Multiple Answers questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 2 - [Multiple Correct, Single Selection] was converted to Multiple Answers in Midterm Exam

Recommendation: Find alternative ways to assess the objective.

Consider if there are alternative ways you could assess the same objective. If you are assessing student’s ability to recognize something that is known by multiple names, you can write a question that provides a description (e.g., Identify the correct names of this creature: A brown lizard, native to Australia, with bumpy scales, which puffs up its neck when threatened). The answer options could all be sets of possible names with one correct set of names (e.g., Inland bearded dragon or Pogona vitticeps).

Multiple Choice Questions with Partial Credit

When creating a Multiple Choice, Single Correct question in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, there is an option to assign partial credit as percentages for each answer option. This allows students to earn some credit for choosing an incorrect but still partially acceptable answer.

There is not a way to assign partial credit to answer options in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 4 - [Single Correct] contained partial credit with B (50.0% Correct), D (100.0% Correct) in Midterm Exam

Recommendation: Use New Quizzes to vary points by answer option.

Canvas’s New Quizzes allows authors to vary points by answer option. In New Quizzes, assign the desired point values to each answer option. For more information, see the Vary Points by Answer section of How do I create a Multiple Choice question in New Quizzes? (opens new window).

Numeric Response Questions with multiple answer blanks

While creating a Numeric Response question type in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, authors can specify where answer blanks would appear in the question text.

A Numerical Answer question in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes or a Numeric question in New Quizzes presents students with one answer field under the question text. Multiple answer blanks cannot be added to one of these questions.

Numeric Response questions with multiple blanks from UVACollab were handled differently depending on how their answers were configured.

If the question had multiple blanks and did not include a range of numbers as a correct answer for at least one blank, it was converted to a Fill in Multiple Blanks question. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log under the heading Item(s) requiring no action as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 2 type Numeric in Midterm Exam has been converted to Fill in the blank

If the question had multiple blanks and did include a range of numbers as a correct answer for at least one blank, it was converted to an Essay Question. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 1 - [Multiple Numeric] not supported in Midterm Exam

You will need to modify any Numeric Response questions that have been converted to Essay Questions.

Recommendation 1: Use a Fill in Multiple Blanks question to include multiple blanks for exact numbers.

Edit the question and change its type to Fill in Multiple Blanks, then set the correct answer for each blank to an exact number. For more information, see How do I create a Fill-in-Multiple-Blanks quiz question? (opens new window).

Recommendation 2: Use Gradescope to include multiple blanks for ranges of numbers.

The Online Assignment feature in Gradescope supports multiple short answer blanks in a question. These short answer fields can be automatically graded, allowing you to provide the exact answer, accept mathematical equivalents, and set a margin of error. For more information, see the Short Answer section of Gradescope’s Online Assignments (Beta) page (opens new window). For steps to link a Gradescope assignment in Canvas, see Using Gradescope with Canvas as an Instructor (opens new window).

Require Rationale for Multiple Choice or True False Questions

When authoring Multiple Choice or True False questions in UVACollab’s Tests & Quizzes, there is an option to present a text box to students and require them to provide a rationale for their answer.

There is no in-question feature to do this in Canvas’s Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. The Require Rationale setting will not be mentioned in the Migration Exception Log.

Recommendation: Add an Essay Question after the original question.

Create an Essay Question after each of the original questions that ask students to share an explanation for their response. It is strongly recommended that you do not randomize questions in the assessment if you add these short answer questions. For steps to create an Essay Question, see one of the following articles:

Tip: In New Quizzes, a Stimulus can be used to group questions together. For more information, see How do I insert stimulus content in New Quizzes? (opens new window).

Survey Questions

A Survey question in UVACollab's Tests & Quizzes is an ungraded question with set choices such as a yes or no response or a range such as strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Canvas's Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes do not include a Survey question type. These questions have been converted to Multiple Choice questions with the first answer marked as the correct answer. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 8, Question 1 - [Survey] not supported in Mid-Semester Feedback Survey

Recommendation to create questions with no correct answer defined: Set up a survey in Qualtrics

Set up a survey in Qualtrics that includes a Multiple Choice Question (opens new window).

Resources for Qualtrics

General Information:

Survey settings (UVA-only or anonymous):

Getting and providing a link to the survey to students:

Survey - Matrix of Choices Questions

A Survey - Matrix of Choices question in UVACollab's Tests & Quizzes provides participants with a table where they must select options for each row from corresponding columns.

Canvas’s Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes do not include a matrix of choices question type. Survey - Matrix of Choices questions have been converted to Essay Questions. These questions will be identified in the Migration Exception Log as in the following example:

Question Part 1, Question 32 - [Survey - Matrix of Choices] not supported in Mid-Semester Feedback Survey

Recommendation: Set up a survey in Qualtrics.

Set up a survey in Qualtrics that includes a Matrix Table Question (opens new window).  

Resources for Qualtrics

General Information:

Survey settings (UVA-only or anonymous):

Getting and providing a link to the survey to students:

Return to the Checklist.

Go back to the Checklist for Reusing Content from UVACollab to continue evaluating your content.