Canvas - Creating Quizzes (for Instructors)


Introduction

Canvas is Virginia Tech's learning management system (LMS). Instructors use Canvas to manage teaching materials like assignments, quizzes, feedback, and student grades. 

  • Official courses are automatically created in instructors' Canvas accounts.
  • Enrolled students are automatically added.
  • Instructors can reuse teaching materials by importing them to a new course site.
  • Canvas provides 24-7 support by phone (833-639-7621) and chat (click Help on any Canvas screen).

The Canvas Instructor Guide and the Canvas Student Guide have full instructions on using Canvas. These instructions are specific to Virginia Tech. To see other Canvas topics, please see:

Contents

Instructions

Setting up Quizzes

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Managing Quizzes

Giving Students Extra Time and Extra Attempts

Please see Canvas - Granting Student Accommodations with Quizzes for further instructions.

Checking Student Quiz Attempts

If a student claims to have begun a quiz, but you don't see a submission on the Moderate Quiz page, see Checking Student Access Reports. You can review student activity in your site, including whether they viewed or started taking a quiz. 

Designing for Online Assessment

Discourage or hinder cheating in online assessments by: 

Or, give non-traditional assessments:

  • Assess students on authentic activities like group work, real-world case study analysis, and design.
  • Have students create new, unique deliverables, like a new blog, digital artwork, mind maps, and more. 
  • Give students multiple, low-stakes assessments like discussions or short quizzes throughout the semester. 

For more assessment ideas, contact the Center for Excellence for Teaching and Learning. 

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Using New Quizzes

New Quizzes is available in Canvas. Unfortunately, instructors must migrate quizzes and question banks individually from Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes. Canvas is developing better migration options, so for now we suggest only using New Quizzes to create new assessments. 

To turn on New Quizzes:

  1. Go to Settings in your Canvas course.
  2. Click the Feature Options tab.
  3. Scroll to New Quizzes and click the red X to pull up the options.
  4. Click Enable to turn on New Quizzes.

You can now start creating New Quizzes in your course and/or see the option to migrate a Classic Quiz to New Quiz.

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Using Respondus

Please see Using Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor for further instructions.

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Viewing Canvas Quiz Logs

Canvas guidance states that quiz logs are a troubleshooting aid and should not be used to indicate or validate academic integrity. See: How do I view a quiz log?

Activity in the Canvas quiz log can be caused by normal/benign behaviors or technical quirks. It shouldn’t be used as the sole basis for any academic‑integrity determination.

  • Focus changes are noisy: “Stopped viewing the quiz‑taking page” fires when the browser tab or window loses focus (even briefly). Common, non‑nefarious triggers include split‑screen use, resizing the window, notifications, screen savers, external displays, switching between keyboard windows (e.g., emoji, language switchers), or clicking into a calculator/notes app.
  • Autosave / network hiccups: Momentary connectivity issues and autosave can produce rapid back‑and‑forth “stopped viewing / resumed” entries every few seconds.
  • Mobile and accessibility tools: The Canvas mobile app, screen readers, dictation, or magnification can also trigger focus changes.
  • Limited granularity: The log samples events and does not capture every action; it may only show a few recorded answers even when more were entered.

Unfortunately, Canvas doesn’t provide deeper data for Canvas admins beyond the quiz log except for a log of URLs the student clicks while in Canvas (Page Views). That means admins wouldn’t be able to confirm anything more conclusive than what you’re already seeing.

Recommended actions:

  • Document patterns but don’t draw conclusions from quiz logs alone.
  • If concerned, follow up with the student in a non‑accusatory way (ask about their testing environment).
  • Look for corroborating indicators: big performance changes, unusual time per question, much shorter/longer attempt time than peers.
  • For future quizzes, consider measures like:
    • Respondus LockDown Browser (with or without Monitor)
    • Shuffling questions/answers
    • Using larger question banks
    • Reasonable time limits and availability windows
    • One‑question‑at‑a‑time settings (depending on length of exam and # of questions)
    • Low‑stakes practice quizzes to surface tech issues

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Getting Help

For instructions on resolving common issues with Canvas, see:

Instructure, the creators of Canvas, provide 24-7 Canvas support, including live chat and a support hotline.

To get Canvas help, click Help on any Canvas screen and choose from help options:

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