Seeing images within the Canvas app?

[everson_50]

Hello,

I use the quizzes tool in Carmen to set up homework assignments.  Since I teach statistics, some of my homework questions naturally include images (like graphs, tables, etc.) that students need to interpret or use to answer questions.  Although students enter homework answers through the quiz tool so that the questions can be automatically graded, I always make a PDF file of the homework questions readily available to students so they can see the questions and think carefully before submitting their answers about how to work through the problems.

I've occasionally had students who try to do all of their work on their phone--through the Canvas app--tell me that they cannot easily see images in quiz questions when using the app.  Is this a known issue?  I ask because we have a midterm exam coming up.  For the midterm exam, I WILL NOT be sharing a PDF copy of the exam with students because I want to try to the greatest extent possible to prevent answer sharing (plus, I have things set up to randomly select exam questions from question banks). When the exam window opens for everyone, students will need to take the exam before the window closes and complete the exam within 90 minutes of starting it.  I have some images that will be necessary to view to answer certain questions, and I now worry about students not being able to see these images, especially if they plan to do things with the Canvas app.  Should I encourage students to try not to use the app when taking the midterm exam?

I hope this makes sense.  Occasionally, other things have not easily shown up either in the app--like equations or special symbols in questions or answer options.  I can only avoid using such things so much in my course.

Thank you!

Michelle

[KristinL]

Hi Michelle -

Sometimes this is an issue if the operating system and/or the app isn't up-to-date. If you know studnets are completely updated and still experience issues, please encourage them to submit a ticket to your local Canvas support team..

I have a few thoughts for you though --

Could you create a "practice" quiz, something with random (fun?) images that are saved/formatted in the same way that the images are presented in the mid-term? Students could complete the quiz, even though it doesn't count towards the grade. However, they would know -- as would you -- if the images work for them.

Another option is to encourage students to use a mobile browser. The mobile browser version of Canvas is really mobile-friendly now, and I think it would still be a pleasant test-taking experience for your students.

[everson_50]

This helps a lot, Kristin.  Thank you!  I do already have a practice exam set up, so we'll see how that goes.  I appreciate the suggestion about using a mobile browser.