Hi there, @jbielecki ...
@jbielecki wrote:
I've been searching this community for 20 minutes to find out how to create a short-answer question, and this post is the closest I've gotten after hitting a lot of dead ends. Can anyone point me to directions on how to create a short-answer question?
It is true that Canvas does not have a "Short Answer" question type...for either Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. What does a short answer question look like in your course? (You wouldn't have to post the exact question...just an example of what a short answer question might look like for you.) Are you looking for a smaller answer space compared to an essay question which has a larger answer space? Does the short answer question have an exact answer? Or, could the short answer question have varied responses from students...just maybe a sentence or two...or shorter? I think it would help to see an example from you.
You could certainly use an essay type question for your short answer. Just because it says "Essay" doesn't mean that your students have to write an essay for a response. It could be a short answer just the way you want. But, the essay type question wouldn't work if you were looking for a specific answer that Canvas could automatically grade.
You might be able to use a fill-in-the-blank type question to use as a short answer question.
Also, some of the posts I've read seem to indicate that short-answer questions aren't possible in old quizzes, only "New Quizzes." I haven't switched to "New Quizzes" yet because (a) it terrifies me because I have no idea what "New Quizzes" actually means, and (b) I don't know how. Is there a page or post that makes switching (or better yet, converting) to "New Quizzes" as easy as possible?
Here are a couple short tutorial videos available here in the Community that show you what Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes are:
Assuming that your school's Canvas administrator(s) have enabled New Quizzes for you in Canvas (check with them to confirm this), there is a Guide that shows you how you can migrate a Classic Quiz to a New Quiz. (Of course, you should always check the migrated quiz to make sure that everything looks ok before you would give the quiz to your students.)
Pay attention to the information in the light blue box at the top of this Guide...especially the information under the "Notes" area...because some question types migrate differently.
Hope this will be helpful to you!
