[New Quizzes] Student Highlight & Annotation Tools for Quizzes

[msommer]

Standardized testing looms large in the minds of all 3-8 grade teachers, in NJ where I work especially,  but also across the country. One of the skills students need to be able to succeed on the PARCC or SBA is to organize their thinking while reading across texts in an online testing environment, in order to write coherent essays and answer multiple choice questions citing text evidence in their answers. We teach them to do that by highlighting portions of the text as they are reading or going back to re-read, so they can use those pieces of evidence in writing their constructed responses. This is what they will be expected to do when they take PARCC or SBA.

We want our teachers to use Canvas to create engaging, meaningful, creative and collaborative learning experiences for students. The unfortunate reality of PARCC and SBA results being tied to teacher evaluations means our teachers also want tools they can use to specifically and directly help students practice for high-stakes testing. Annotation tools would go a long way in that regard. Please consider developing a way for students to highlight text in quizzes.

[tim_scanlon]

We are teaching Physician Assistant how to create medical documents.  We would like to have line annotation feature similar to the one available in speed grader for essay type questions within a quiz.

[brian_hester]

I think this idea should be integrated within the Canvas platform...as a high school teacher, part of my wheelhouse is teaching students to talk to the text and identify key features of a text. Allowing annotations would enable students to elaborate on the effect of the things that they notice. When students are currently taking a quiz on Canvas, they tend to jump straight to the multiple choice without doing best practice and practicing close reading. Allowing annotations would promote close reading. 

[wendys_mueller]

As an EC teacher, I am constantly needing to print copies of our online documents and quizzes so that our students can annotate their work. Teachers on my team are regularly asking if there is a way that they could allow their students to annotate in Canvas so that they can include the work on Canvas rather than requiring students to keep up with an extra piece of paper. In a population where we are encouraging 21st-century skills such as using Canvas consistently for all work, students need to be able to have the option to annotate and close read documents while allowing teachers to see their work. Annotations in Canvas would improve student workflow and learning independence.

[megand_handy]

I think this is a great feature idea that would benefit the teaching and learning process for students and teachers. As technology takes over education it has become essential to teach the skill of annotating online text. The same applies for the end of grade tests that many subjects require at the end of the school year. Teaching students how to dissect and annotate text on tests as well as the multiple choice questions has become a vital part of teaching and learning. Before any big game, it necessary for one to practice, practice, practice. Students AND teachers have to prepare for an end of grade test at the end of the year and students need to practice taking assessments that resemble this one. The test becomes an invalid data point if students are prohibited from doing their best simply because they are not sure how to utilize the tools on the test navigator. Plus, students need to use the tools on the test navigator to annotate text and questions in order to answer the question correctly. I am a passionate user of Canvas, however, my assessments must be administered through SchoolNet because there are annotating tools that appear on schoolnet that will appear on the end of grade test throughout the year. SchoolNet allows students to practice what the end "game" is. If I could contribute a little more to this feature idea I would say, have the highlight and annotating tools on the Canvas quizzes BUT ALSO it would be helpful to save the work that students do when annotating the quiz questions and answers as well as eliminating answer choices in order to help see student thinking and misconceptions.

[davinac_connell]

Features that enable students to highlight, annotate text, and drag and drop answers would be GREAT!  Throughout the course, teachers could infuse each tool into student assignments.  This would afford students the opportunity to become familiar with and use of the features throughout the course.  This, in turn, would better prepare students in using these tools on the state exams, as these tools are available for students during the state exams. This would be a wonderful addition!!!

[ashlid_crepsac]

Allowing students to highlight and annotate within their canvas quiz would be an amazing game-changing addition to canvas! The EOC exams that my students take has highlight and cross out functions. Allowing students to practice these test taking strategies within their canvas quizzes-which I use almost daily- would be great practice for them. This would allow them to practice positive test taking strategies in an online platform on a regular basis. I know this might be forward thinking, but if there were even a way for us to see what they highlighted/annotated after submitting their quiz that would be valuable information and allow a deeper understanding of where they stand with the content. 

[susie_tattersha]

I would like to be able to highlight, bold and add color to my comments to students' homework and tests.

[emilywthompson]

Med. School LMS admin. here! Our students constantly complain about:

1) Lack of ability to highlight in the question stem and

2) Lack of ability to strike out answer choices

These two features would be a huge improvement in our computer-based exam process (in addition to the printable quizzes).

[justin_hansen]

I definitely support this idea and I also think that the option to "cross off answers" would be a great integration. 

[emyers641979]

My students would love to have this feature everywhere in Canvas.  I use pages as a way to present resources and it would be great if they have annotation notes, highlights, and on tests if they could have student mark which responses they feel are wrong in Multiple Choice.  I hope this receives enough votes.