Collaborative Testing in Canvas

Jump to solution
TanyaUponAvon
Community Participant
‎10-01-2024 12:22 PM

Hi Canvas, 

I submitted the following question to the Canvas Question Forum almost a year ago and never recieved a response. My faculty members would really like to know if any of the questions below can be answered. So, I am trying again. 

Collaborative Testing - Functionality in Canvas Quizzes

I'm an instructional designer, and I work with a team of faculty who use collaborative testing as the second stage of their two-stage (or, "two-step") exam process. In this scenario, students take the exam on their own in the first stage, then they retake the exam working as a group, for a percentage of the overall exam grade. When this process is applied in online courses, the collaborative exam occurs in a synchronous remote video meeting. Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor are used for the individual exam (Stage 1), but obviously not for the collaborative exam.

For context: collaborative and two-step testing are cutting-edge formative assessment strategies that have demonstrated great success with learning retention and student satisfaction. (Please see the short list of resources on the subject included at the bottom of this post.)

I have been trying to find ways to better support this exam process in Canvas. One difficulty is the following:

There doesn't seem to be any way for students to automatically receive a collective grade on a group exam, as is possible for group assignments. Currently, students are going through the questions one-by-one, and each marks their group answer individually in their quiz. The problem with this process is that invariably one or two students mark the wrong answer (i.e., they might accidentally select "C" when the group agreed the answer should be "B"). This hazard causes confusion, impacts their scores, and mucks up the grading.

So, here are my questions:

  • Is there any way to automatically assign a group grade for a quiz/exam, as wiith group assignments?
  • Is it possible for one student (a group leader) to mark an answer in a quiz that would auto-generate as the answer for all of the members of that group?
  • If (as I suspect) these functionalities do not currently exist, could they be added as an enhancement?
  • Are there other ways Canvas could be enhanced to better support collaborative testing?

Any advice or ideas you can share would be appreciated!


A Few Resources on Collaborative Testing/Two-Step Testing:

Goc, R. (2020, December 15). Q&A on collaborative or two-stage exams. Northwestern: The Canvas Post. https://canvaspost.northwestern.edu/2020/12/15/qa-on-collaborative-or-two-stage-exams

King's College London. (2023). Two-stage exams. https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/aflkings/rich-in-informal-feedback/two-stage-exams

Levy, D., & Klinger, M. (2018, September). Two-stage examinations: Can examinations be more formative experiences? Center for International Development at Harvard University, CID Faculty Working Paper No. 363.  https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/publications/faculty-working-papers/two-stage-examinations#:....

@canvas Quizzes @new Quizzes @Collaborative Testing @Quizzes @canvas LMS @canvas Feature Options

@canvas @Just shooting this out into the aether

Labels (1)
Labels
1 person also had this question
0 Likes
1 Solution

Jump to solution
ryan_corris
Community Contributor
‎10-02-2024 10:09 AM

Hello @TanyaUponAvon !

This is an interesting concept.  I have been working with Canvas for 10+ years and I am not aware of a way to have a collaborative quiz/assessment within Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes.

I am assuming that you are wanting the assessment auto graded which is why you are not using an assignment with a shared Google Doc / Word Doc for the collaborative aspect of the assessment.

The only way I am seeing this work is what you have stated where everyone discusses the correct answer but then submits their own separate quiz.  I know you said that there are downfalls to this method, but here are some of my initial thoughts.

  • You had stated that students may enter the incorrect answer which could skew their score from what the group talked about.  However, if you have one student that is answering the questions for all students and they accidentally enter the incorrect answer, it does not only affect them.  It would affect every other student in the collaborative group.  
  • I also feel that each student having their own quiz and answering their own questions gives them some flexibility.  Maybe one student does not agree with the collaborative group answer and wants to answer the question differently than the rest of the group (and they could be right).  One test for the collaborative group could also skew a score because sometimes the collaborative group could be wrong. 

I am not saying that this is not something that Canvas should look into.  As I stated previously, this is an interesting concept.  I am simply offering a different perspective with my initial thoughts.  It will be interesting to see where this might go with a possibility of future development if this gains some traction.

View solution in original post