Better quiz layout for multiple-choice questions with a question stem?

[amtravco]

On the quiz that I am creating, I have questions that have an initial problem statement followed by several multiple-choice (MC) questions based on that statement. I am currently doing this by giving the statement as a "Text (no question)" question, followed by the MC questions. This pattern in repeated eight or ten times.

My issue is the following. All the questions, repeated problem statements with following MC's, flow in a long, visually undifferentiated page. The problem statement and the MCs look very similar in design and so it's difficult to tell them apart.

When I used to write these kinds of exams by hand, I would indent all the MC's, making them more visually linked with their problem statement. Are there any formatting tricks that someone could suggest that would better visually link the problem statements to their MC's in a Canvas quiz?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello @amtravco ...

This really isn't a solution to your question...but I thought I'd share an experience from our previous LMS, Pearson eCollege's LearningStudio, before we transitioned to Canvas in 2014/2015.  In eCollege, we could build a single exam that had pages in it...similar to physical printed pages of a multi-page exam that you'd had out in the classroom.  I could create as many pages as I needed within the exam.  At the top of each page, I could include some directions for the questions that were going to be on that page...which only applied to those particular questions.  It was pretty nice...because I could create a page of True/False questions, a page of Multiple Choice questions, etc.

Canvas doesn't have this functionality, though, I wonder if you could just use some simple text formatting in your "Text (no question)" items ... such as maybe increasing the size of the font slightly or bolding the font so that it stands out more compared to the questions.  Or, use a different color for these instructions (make sure your color contrast between your font color and background color is acceptable -- WebAIM: Contrast Checker).

Anyway...just thought I'd share from a past experience.  Hope this help a bit!  Take care...

[amtravco]

Thanks for the information. I had thought about using colors in some way to differentiate different problems. Is there a way to add color, perhaps to the entire question box, other than simply using font color or font background color, which don't work all that well and can be hard to read?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello again, @amtravco ...

As far as I am aware, there is no way to color the actual boxes a different color, so you'd be stuck with using the interface that Canvas has provided.  I suppose you could use a background text color behind your text, but I'm not a huge fan of that at all, to be honest.  People start messing with colors too much, and then it can get really out of hand with what is readable on the screen (again, keeping in mind color contrast between your foreground and background colors).  You might even want to try using text headings.

Hope this helps a bit...