[ARCHIVED] New quiz points not updating

Jump to solution
mhartman
Community Explorer

In Classic quizzes, the number of points would automatically update based on the point values in the questions I added.

However, this does not seem to happen in the New Quizzes.  It stays at "zero" (the default) regardless of the actual point value of the questions that are added.  This is true even if the quiz has been published.  I can of course update the value manually, but that's a bit annoying and I will be sad if this basic feature (which had been in the older version of Quizzes) somehow doesn't work in the New and Improved Quizzes 😉 ... 

Labels (2)
2 Solutions
Chris_Hofer
Community Coach
Community Coach

Good afternoon, @mhartman ...

I completely understand why this would be a bit frustrating for you...not having the total points automatically update in a quiz based on how many points each quiz question is worth.  However, I think that this Guide, How do I create an assessment using New Quizzes? - Instructure Community, may help to explain things...and why, for us, there seems to be a slight disconnect between the two.  Specifically, check out the paragraphs under the heading, "Edit Assignment Details".  Hopefully that explanation will help you.

Please let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

View solution in original post

The disconnect between the points in quiz details and the total points calculated automatically in the Build quiz option is not a feature. It does more harm than good. It's a poor usability/Ux choice. The tutorial @Chris_Hofer mentioned says:


For example, if you set the total points on the assignment details page to 50 and create an quiz with 10 questions each worth 1 point, the quiz has a total of 10 points but is worth 50 points when graded. If a student answers 9 questions correctly, their quiz score is 90% (9/10). However, their final score in the Gradebook will be 45/50 (90%).

In this scenario, it's much simpler to just configure 5 points per question! 

This manual configuration of points in quiz details is confusing (for instructors looking at the two different numbers) and error prone (as it's easy to forget to manually enter the total points in details). Another aspect that makes you forget: when you create a new quiz, it asks for points. However, you haven't yet built the quiz questions. Only after you built the quiz, thinking and rethinking the number of points per question, you have the total points (automatically displayed in the Build left bar). Having forgotten twice to go back to manually enter the points in details, I created my own "create quiz guide" with a reminder in capital letters to manually update the points in quiz details after you're done building it. 

The default should not be zero; it should be the total points of your quiz. Minimally, Canvas should have a warning when you publish the quiz to say something like "You are publishing a quiz that is worth zero points, but your quiz has questions worth a total of 10 points. Are you sure you want to publish it?"

View solution in original post