Allow fill-in-the-blank answers that can *contain* a term vs having to match a term

[erica_daniell]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

Allow the option for a fill-in-the-blank answer to *contain* a specified term/word instead of having to match a word exactly.  This would cut down on the instructor having to think of all the possible variations/mis-spellings of a certain term that might occur.  Sometimes just setting part of the term for an acceptable answer covers a lot of acceptable submissions.

Additionally, and perhaps a separate issue, it would be nice to be able to set a character limit on what students can type in for their fill in the blank answer (i.e. it would be nice to limit them to writing a word instead, sometimes students are compelled to write sentences).

Comments from Instructure

This idea was completed with general availability of Quizzes.Next.  You can find more information about the overall project in the Quizzes.Next User Group.‌

• Quizzes.Next is now available for all paid accounts.
• Quizzes.Next documentation will live in the Quizzes.Next User Group until July 14, 2018. On July 14, 2018, all of the documentation will be moved to the Canvas Guides in the Canvas Instructor Guide or Canvas Student Guide. 
• Quizzes.Next updates will be included in the Canvas Release Notes. This includes new features, updated features, and relevant fixed bugs. New and updated features will be deployed to Quizzes.Next near the same time as the Canvas release. Fixed bugs may be deployed at any time.

[Beth_Young]

This is a great idea. It reminds me of this archived idea: ​   I'll bet people who voted for that one would vote for this one, too. I'm going to post a link over there.

[ChandlWM]

It sure would save a lot of time rather than entering all of the possibilities.  Be aware though that if a student knew how to beat the system they could just enter in lots of random possible words.  If the word you are looking for is in there then it is marked correct.  I know this is how some of State's Core testing questions work.  This is the reason for the character limit. 

I like the idea.  I would thing there would have to be a box that enables this option on the quiz question type.

[jordan]

This is a great idea and I'm glad to see it revived,  @erica_daniell ! Thank you for submitting this! Learn more about the feature idea process and how to champion your idea!

Your feature idea will be open for vote from Wed. March 2, 2016 - Wed. June 1, 2016!

[biray]

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. March 2, 2016 - Wed. June 1, 2016.

Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!

[fellerd]

The idea sounds good in theory, but I would recommend proceeding with caution. If this were allowed, a student may meet the requirement to "contain" the right answer, while providing an answer that is not actually correct.

I'm not sure how to incorporate this type of logic.

[erica_daniell]

The best solution would be to have it as an option- the answer must either contain the word or must match the word exactly- instructor chooses.  That was the scenario for the last platform my university used.

It is nice for terms where there are abbreviations and students will use every combination of abbreviation/spelled out, and want to write whole sentences for a fill in the blank question. I'm basically have to grade them all myself anyway, so for me personally, not worried about anyone working the system.

[rwatkins]

More than "contain" is regular expressions​, which have been in every major programming language since the 1950's and every LMS until Canvas. Regular expressions are also known as regex, pattern matching, and wildcards.

Here is a good example:

     Who was the major African-American civil rights leader of the 1960's assassinated in 1968?

The official answer is "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.", but what if they forget to put "Dr.", abbreviate Luther as "L.", or forget "Jr.". Is it wrong? How many permutations of the right answer could there be? Is punctuation included?

Using regex, the answer would be /.*Martin.*L.*King.*/i, meaning anything before Martin, must contain an L between Martin and King, can contain anything after King, and "i" means case insensitive. If you use "g" with the "i", you can apply multiple phrases across an entire document so you can check papers for content automatically.

[jordan]

We appreciate you, and the submission of your idea. Your dialogue helps our product teams prioritize feature development. Unfortunately, this idea has been archived because it did not meet the 100-vote threshold within the 3-month voting period. Learn more at: How does the voting process work for feature ideas?

Can archived ideas still become a feature?  Potentially, yes. Archived ideas can be resubmitted by Community members. As people’s needs change, previously submitted ideas may gain additional traction. Feature ideas are evaluated as a whole and influence product direction.

[cohenf]

Consider this an upvote

[karen_yip]

you can now add your vote to the https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/5826  which is similar to this one. Let's get this feature added to Canvas!