Move Quizzes.Next to Quizzes Tab

[ericwerth]

Currently to create a quiz or access an existing quiz in Quizzes.Next you must go to the "Assignments" tab.  I suggest changing this so that Quizzes.Next is in the "Quizzes" tab instead.

I believe it would be more intuitive to have all of the quizzes in the same tab.  If there were concern about differentiating regular quizzes/surveys from Quizzes.Next assessments, perhaps each could have a different symbol?

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For additional information please read through Canvas Release Notes (2020-02-15) .

[GideonWilliams]

Am guessing so, perhaps when the Beta feature is removed? Still a lot of tweaks and developments I'd hope to see before that happens....

[timothy_maw]

I am totally for this idea as long as legacy quizzes is still available in the quizzes tab.There are functions that have not been developed yet for Quizzes.nxt that we need and we still use the legacy quizzes quite a bit. If both types of quiz engine are available for now there then it is fine. I don't know how possible it is for now though since it is an LTI integration.

[l_lucas]

Can we also make it so that the only option when you complete a quizzes next activity is NOT to only go to assignments.

Can we allow users to resume the content they may have been looking at before being directed to their quiz - instead of sending them to assignments - and wondering how to get back to the content they were working through

[kmeeusen]

Hi everybody:

The problem with this idea, although I would be in favor of it, is that Quizzes.Next is an LTI that is integrated into Canvas. Canvas is structured so that LTIs that return scores to the gradebook, work through Assignments - thus the location. I know from discussions with Deactivated user‌, that this is the intended design path, so I seriously doubt if this will get changed.

However, even if the launch link could be moved to Quizzes, that might be nice, and perhaps less confusing for our faculty.

We'll see.

As for myself, I will just be happy if it achieves parity with the existing tool, where ever it lives.

Kelley

[l_lucas]

The biggest problem with the current setup Kelley is that it assumes that at the end of any quiz activity, that the student should be exited into the assignment area.

From a usability, learning flow, point of view this would be a big step backward for canvas.

If I can't put assessments 'inline' with my content then quizzes next will never reach parity - and navigation will feel very 1990

[ericwerth]

I'll be the first to admit that I am unsure how all the magic works behind the scenes, so am unsure what is and what is not possible.  What I was hoping was that the Quizzes tab could work more similar to the Assignments tab.  I can create a TurnItIn assignment in the Assignments tab which I think is an LTI tool.  The assignment appears in the the Assignment tab.  I can add it to a Module as I can assignment listed as "online" or "on paper".  I can grade the assignment and have the grade populate the grade book.  In addition, when added to a module students can submit a paper to TurnItIn without losing the Module navigation tools.  

It may not be possible but I was hoping that in the Quizzes tab you could do something similar to TurnItIn . . . create either a legacy quiz/survey or create a Quizzes.Next assessment, see them in the same tab, etc.  I'm sure it isn't easy, but maybe Quizzes could have a submission type indicator like Assignments where you can select "external tool" and find Quizzes.Next, indicate that the quiz is given "on paper", or pick "legacy quiz/survey" and launch the current quiz creation engine?

One can dream!

[vanzandt]

 @kmeeusen , I think you've hit on the underlying issue, which is Instructure's approach to everything being under assignments. From their perspective it makes sense to display and manage it all within the Assignments tool. They continue on that path and design for it. They understand why it's all there, but it's just not intuitive for new users. From the user/instructor perspective, "Assignments" has a very different meaning (e.g. homework assignments), and surely has many different definitions at that. This has been one of the biggest hurdles and frustrations for our faculty during adoption, since intuitively, Assignments is not one of the places they think of going to add an on-paper quiz, or to enter an exam score, or to add a any non-submission item, or to manage their gradebook (weighting/grouping/scoring set up). Can we explain it to them, and then they do it from then on? Yes, but wouldn't it be better to not have to. I believe that Canvas is more intuitive than most other LMS, but I have a hard time arguing with them about this being non-intuitive. For them, that little bit of confusion and frustration, early on in their experience, overshadows so much of the good stuff in Canvas. 

So now, with Quizzes.next rolling out, it would be even less intuitive for an instructor to go to Assignments to develop an online quiz, when there is already a Quizzes tool item in the course navigation menu. I think Deactivated user‌'s idea here is important, and I hope they can add the launch link to the Quizzes tool interface, the same way they have in Assignments. For that matter, have it in both places.  Or, rename Assignments, but that's probably a bigger fish to fry.

[kmeeusen]

 @l_lucas  I absolutely agree!

While I understand the reasoning behind using a LTI model for functional components like quizzes, I am still not sure this was the right path to take. In fact, I am leaning the other more everyday, and especially as parity seems to not be achievable within any reasonable time frame.

[kmeeusen]

vanzandt

"Instructure's approach to everything being under assignments."

I agree, however I think the flaw came in the original iteration of the platform, and the use of the jargon "assignments" to cover all graded activity. I think users could have been better served from the start through changing that jargon to "assessment". Yes, I recognize that this would have felt strange, maybe even uncomfortable, to some users at the time; but no more so than the use of "assignments" did and still does. Then what came next with the quizzing engine would not seem so strange.

I am as susceptible to the "shiny/new" syndrome as anybody, but sometimes a developer can stray so far from the norm (even, maybe especially, in the simple areas of naming and placement) that users and potential users struggle to understand the basics. Yes, Canvas is quite intuitive, but in some functionality the jargon and placement make it much less intuitive to users other than students. That is always my bottom line - do the students understand? Then fine, I can make the instructors understand. That was, after all, the goal of Devlin and Brian at the start! However, in looking up some early info on both Of them I also note that simplicity for instructors was the other half of their goal, because they believed that ease of use by instructors would translate to a much more rewarding experience to the students.

As for Quizzes.Next, it really won't matter to the students if teachers and course developers clearly identify an activity as a quiz in the titling. Students won't care about some silly little icon, they will just want to know what it is they are going to be expected to do - take a quiz, submit an assignment, talk our ears off in a discussion.

All that being said, I still see the Quizzes.Next LTI as a huge hurdle for my faculty! LTI use by my faculty is few and far between, and it is not even a skill set we teach in our initial Canvas training.

Does any of this sour me on Canvas? Oh heck no! I still think it is the best, but being a true fan forces me to question.

Kelley

[ericwerth]

I thought that I would update the thread here and let everyone know that Kevin from Instructure discussed the location of Quizzes.Next being in the Assignments tab in this discussion, https://community.canvaslms.com/thread/23621-will-quizzesnext-be-released-in-course-navigation-or-wi...