Assign a Total Quiz Value and Automatically Distribute the Points to Questions

[merickson]

I am copying this feature request from the old community as a request for it recently came in at our institution:

Original text:

"I want a spot where I can say this quiz is worth 15 points and then have Canvas divide the number of questions by the total points and assign point values to each question. Sometimes I add or subtract a question but I need the quiz to total a certain number of points so I have to go in and calculate the exact number of points for each question and change the pt value of each question, etc...this is tedious.  Why won't the computer do this for me?"

🔎 This idea has been archived. While this idea isn't open for comments, it is an important part of Instructure’s idea conversations and development process. Contributions like this are valuable as Instructure prioritizes work on new or existing features.

[clong]

Prior to the Canvas Production Release Notes (2015-05-16) teachers could add a question on a quiz that had a negative point value. We had many teachers do this after their students had taken a quiz as a way of adjusting the point total and artificially boosting the grade of all students on a quiz. For instance, a teacher gave a quiz that was worth 100 points but they realised that perhaps the quiz was too difficult. Many teachers set the maximum points possible on a quiz based on the top scores of their students on the quiz. Maybe the highest score on this quiz is a 93 and you wanted to make the quiz out of only 93 points. What you used to be able to do would be to add a question to the quiz that was worth -7 points. This adjusted the total point value of the quiz to 93 and raised everyone's percentage on the quiz

Now there is no way to do this . In order to fix another problem with quiz question imports from Blackboard, Instructure made the decision that all quiz questions have to be worth 0 point or more.

Please bring back the ability to use negative quiz questions which teachers have been able to use for years in Canvas. If you choose not to do this, then please add a feature for instructors so they can change the total point value of a quiz. This is especially valuable when you are testing out new quiz questions. I know you can change certain questions to zero points or add fudge points to certain student's but adjusting the total points requires much less effort.

Thanks for considering this.

[asatkins]

I would love to see this, but I think there still needs to be a way to tell Canvas you do NOT want to do that, for example if you have 3 multiple choice questions and an essay, you probably don't want them weighted equally. So maybe a quiz level setting that says "weight all equally" or something like that? I also think if that was selected, it should pull out the "points" option when pulling questions from a bank. So if the "weight all equally" button was selected, it would prompt you for the number of questions and the bank, but would not prompt for point values because it would decide that based on your total.

[emileerummel]

I very much agree with this. I was editing a quiz uploaded from Respondus today and for all 38 questions I had to go edit the points individually and they were dependent on type of question. This feature update would only work if this also goes through:

[rvidal3]

Great feedback!

[jsparks]

I agree this is an incredibly value feature in the quiz development process--especially in lengthy quiz forms.  As we look to new feature development and enhancements to the quizzes engine, we can consider this new functionality. Unfortunately, we will not be able to develop and release this feature in the next six months; as such, we will archive this topic and consider it for future planning.

Thank you so much for this and other feature ideas. They are not falling on deaf ears...  when we are ready to plan and implement a modern quizzes experience, we will take all of these ideas into consideration.

[mburton]

I report all grades as being worth 100 points.  I then weight different categories of assignments.  I would love for the quizzes in Canvas to have a feature where you can adjust the overall point value of the quiz to 100 points (or whatever number of points) and it would adjust the overall quiz score accordingly.  In assignments I can report the score as a percentage.  I would love for this percentage to be what is reported to powerschool so I don't have to adjust the point value to 100 as well.

[jsparks]

Hello team!

We are planning some updates to Canvas Quizzes, and my expectation is we will work to offer more granular ways to manage points and questions in some way. We will not likely release this in the next six months, but this is something we want to plan for in a future overhaul of the tool.  For now, we will archive this idea. Please know this is something we want to deliver.

Jason

[allison_adams]

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/5275?et=watches.email.idea_comment#comment-43704

I've re-created this idea as this is an issue for me. Please vote so we can get this fixed!

[kona]

Because this original idea was responded to by Instructure, I don't believe it can be revived right now. It is my guess that if anything it might become a part of the Canvas Studio: Modern Quizzing Engine​. My recommendation is to add your comments and support there!

[Renee_Carney]

  Idea is currently in Product Radar Learn more about this stage...

[glassf10]

There should also be a way to adhere to weightings mathematically.  For example, a multiple choice question is worth 1 pt, an essay question 5pts.  Then, Canvas is told the max possible points for the quiz is 100pts.  So, even if there are 5 multiple choice questions and 5 essay questions the math would auto compute based on the essay quesiton be worth 5x more than the multiple choice question.  The default values for all questions can remain at 1pt for simplicity so no matter how many questions are chosen, the math weights each question equally out of 100pts.  So, the question point value can be absolute if no "max quiz points" set; a simple sum of question points is used.  If the max quiz points is set, each individual quiz question points functions as a weighting not an absolute value.  This is standard fare on other LMS's. 

[cgottlieb]

It sure would be nice if Canvas developers got some clues from other LMS's.  Again this should have been a no-brainer from the start!

[nolanr]

What is the latest on this update? I seem to search for a fix on this issue every semester only to find out nothing has changed.

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[eshew]

I would like to suggest that you change a few things in Quizzes. When teachers edit quizzes, please have a feature to "Make all quizzes worth ___ points." This would save so much time. As of now, I have to go into each question and edit it. Also, while editing, please number the questions. I always preview the quizzes where they are numbered, but if I have to change a question, it is hard to find since they are not numbered in the editing page.

[RileySchmidt]

A huge time saving option for grading would be to allow for a grading option that would allow a teacher to put in the number of questions a student got correct out of the total number of questions, and have Canvas automatically calculate the percentage of points the student earned. This was a feature that EDSBY has and seems like a huge missing feature. 

Currently, Canvas allows you to set the amount of points an assignment is worth, and then you can choose between the # of points the student earned, the percent, complete/incomplete, etc. 

EDSBY allowed an additional option: a teacher could set a point value, but then put in a separate line for what it was "out of." 

For example, you could make an in-class quiz worth 20 points, but input it as a 12 question assignment. In the gradebook, all you had to do was put in the number of Qs they got correct ( 11/12 or 10/12 etc. ) and EDSBY would automatically calculate the percentage of the points they earned.

With Canvas, you have to calculate the percent on your own. 

[KristinL]

Thank you everyone for contributing to this idea! We acknowledge that this has been a long-standing thread in the Community, but because Intructure’s product teams are no longer developing new functionality for Classic Quizzes, which is scheduled to be deprecated 2024, we are archiving this idea. We hope that you continue to participate in the Community’s Idea Process!

The resources in the New Quizzes User Group should help you get started with using New Quizzes in your courses. If you don't see the ability to enable New Quizzes in the settings area of one of your courses, please reach out to your local Canvas admin for information about its availability at your school.