[New Quizzes] Warning If New Quizzes Points Possible Differs From Question Point Totals

[polzinc]

Feature Request:  Pop up a warning when navigating away from editing a quiz to give instructors a chance to change the total points that are in the gradebook.  The warning should be similar to one that appears with Rubrics to say the totals are different, do you want to leave them that way or change it.

Why: Currently, in New Quizzes the instructor is asked to add a point total when it is first created prior to building the quiz. If you left the total at 0 or set it at some other total, the grade book shows the points possible as 0.  As you build the quiz and assign points to each question, the editing page shows the total points in the top left menu of the editing page.  For example, if you have 30 questions and each is worth 1 point, the page shows 30pts.  However, the total points possible in the gradebook for the quiz is still showing the initial total created, in this example 0.  To change this, you have to go into the initial edit screen and override the total score.  If students have taken the quiz before the discrepancy is changed, then the instructor has to regrade the quiz to get the points they earned to populate the gradebook.  

[mbthomas]

@jwolf2 I had the same question. I found the answer on another thread. Go to the Assignments section, click on the 3 dots for that assignment and select Edit. You'll see the fields to edit the names and the score. Not very intuitive at all.

[Vickyp]

Please please change this feature of the quizzes. It is counter intuitive and unhelpful

[douglas_rolley]

I can't believe this is a real issue. Fix this now please.

[Jul_Cro]

I like the idea of a warning, personally. However, once it is out of Beta and not an external tool, I doubt this will even be an issue. 

The problem lies in the education of the user. We put New Quizzes out there without really understanding that it is currently an external tool (LTI). It does not seem like one because it is an option of Quizzes, but once we start using it and running into these issues, the understanding that it is an external tool became crucial. 

So, my suggestion is to the user and to the admins. When using New Quizzes be aware that this is a separate tool from Assignments and Quizzes. As such, you should treat it that way. 

1. Update point values after completing the editing of your New Quiz within the Assignment settings. 

2. If you want to import this type of quiz from another course it is found in Assignments, not quizzes. 

[beavey]

With New Quizzes (not sure if the same is for classic), I've noticed when I go to update an quiz (change a question, etc) that the point value doesn't automatically update for the quiz itself. So, I run into many issues of the grades look funny because I updated the quiz, but forgot to update the point value. I'm hoping that this is something canvas can get fixed as I feel like when I update a quiz, it should automatically update the total points for the quiz itself. 

Example: Quiz is 10 points. Edited quiz and now is 8 points. If I don't update the 8 points, it messes up the grading on it. 

[GiovannaMacry]

Hello,

I read in a post in the Community about the total point value in New Quizzes and setting the point values for individual questions.  These do not align.  I realize there is an explanation that this is done to automatically weight accordingly (https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-quiz-using-New-Quizzes/ta-p/11...), however, this seems like it will create a lot of confusion and students will contact instructors to explain this when reviewing their grades.  

I would suggest that total points (what is shown in the gradebook) aligns with the question values to avoid continuous explanation of the misalignment between total points in the gradebook and the question point values in each new quiz question item.  OR create a setting to allow the current system to be utilized so instructors can opt out if they want points to align. 

If there is another layer of rationale that has not yet been described, please share it so we can consider it when training instructors and students on New Quizzes.  Thank you very much!

[PauloMerson]

I agree that the total quiz points should be automatically calculated based on the sum of points for the questions in the quiz. As of now, this total shows up on the left when in the "Build" screen. Two separate places make it very confusion. 

Minimally, there should be a warning when canvas sees a discrepancy between these two totals.

I migrated quizzes to new quizzes and only noticed this issue when I saw that all students had zero points after the submission of the first quiz. The total points in "Build" was 17, but the Points in the quiz config was zero. 😕

[nwilson7]

The warning is a great idea!  There are reasons as explained in this thread that justify why instructors might want the two to differ though, so I don't think it is a good idea to change it to automatically switch. 

I know when we first introduced New Quizzes (when it was called quizzes.next) this was actually a feature that many instructors loved.  Some know they want a quiz to be worth 100 points or some set number of points but don't really want to do all the math to work out what that means for individual question points (not saying this is great practice but it is how they want it to work).  This allowed them to create a quiz, give each question a point value, which more served as a sub-weight, and then Canvas did all the math for them.  In reading this thread, it sounds like other institutions have instructors that do this as well.  So yes to the warning but no to the automatic switching of points.

[PegChecchi]

I just spent about three hours with a faculty member who REALLY wanted those numbers to match. Even though the PERCENTAGE was correct, her grading is all points based and so having that discrepancy sent her students over the edge.  The point totals really need to match between canvas gradebook and new quizzes.  This should sync whenever a change is made and/or give the grader the option of choosing how they want to present it to students.  Thanks!

[KaraTooke]

I agree, having these totals not match and not having any sort of pop-up is really confusing. A pop-up like we see in Rubrics would be a great solution, if the totals can't auto populate.