Build dynamic question types

[MPioRoda]

Theme Overview

Instructors need question types that are feature rich and flexible

What value could this provide to users?

• Teachers would be able to apply partial credit to more question Types
  
• Teachers would be able to format questions in more question types if RCE was available in more question types and in answers
  
• Teachers in STEM classes could ask more complex questions

Why was this theme chosen to open for voting?

October 2023 • Teachers need enhanced functionality to provide more dynamic uses of existing question types that will improve the way they ask questions and the experience of taking a quiz for students.

[ProductPanda]

October 16 - November 15, 2023

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[MichaelMomot]

The only reason I use any LMS is for online quizzes; everything else is more easily done with other software.  "New Quizzes" has a number of problems, from not allowing downloading of specific answers to not allowing multiple answers on a single numeric/formula question.   Every other LMS I have used has these features, so this is a thorn in the paw of Instructure.

[GideonWilliams]

RCE (editor) in all quiz types - having it for Categorisation and Matching would bring in images (hey Art teachers, try this starter on grouping paintings by style), sound files (imagine taking that to MFL teachers), equations and formulas (come and look at this Maths teachers)

Instant Feedback option for all questions - sometimes students and teachers just need a quick response to a question - to check for understanding and move on. Would really bring quizzes into other workflow options rather than being a stand-alone element - imagine if you could embed that question into a page!

[jon_mason]

While I'm all for any improvements to New Quizzes, it has far more fundamental issues than these, most notably the inability to export student responses to Excel/CSV (which is at least on the roadmap) and the lack of support for granular permissions (which, staggeringly, isn't on the roadmap). Therefore, I wouldn't want focus/effort taken away from those issues by work being done on other, less vital, changes. 

[rake_9]

Many of the referenced ideas include being able to include images, color, and other media in question stems and answers.  These are good directions to explore; there are many topics that rely on non-textual knowledge, so demonstrating understanding of those topics requires a non-textual approach.

However, this highlights a related idea.  The idea is important for all question options, but is an especial issue for media-rich questions.  I would like to see the quiz question creation process include instructor-coaching and built-in controls to ensure that questions and answers remain accessible to students using adaptive technology.  If an instructor cannot be assisted to set up a question type to be accessible, instructors need a very visible reminder to have an alternative already planned for students who need it.

Since the name of this theme is "dynamic question type," wouldn't it be useful if the alternative question could be built right into the system?

[petern]

Some ideas I think should be considered with this theme:

Stimulus + formula question type.  @john_ratko came up with this excellent idea and it definitely fits the brief of improving STEM questions.  https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/New-Quizzes-Grouped-Formula-Questions-Shared-Set-of-... 

Student created quizzes.  https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/New-Quizzes-Allow-Student-created-quizzes/idi-p/4566...

Both these ideas have the status of being added to themes.  Have they already been added to this one?

[mtuten]

I have several accessibility concerns with the topics associated with this theme.

1. Cross-out multiple choice answer option.
• From he cognitive standpoint, I like this. My concern is for users who are blind, have low vision, and/or have reading impairments. While these users may get around most of barriers by choosing not to use the feature, the impact of an accidental activation of the feature needs to be considered. Several screen reader programs do not describe strikethrough formatting when on the default settings. With a little extra code that expresses the changed status, this shouldn't be a problem. For those with low vision  and reading disabilities, I would even recommend that a format other than strikethrough be used. Those with low vision may struggle to recognize that the letters have this formatting and those with conditions like dyslexia could be negatively affected even in multiple choice options that have not been struck through. On top of this, it may be difficult to detect if the answer option has strikethrough when the answer option is an image. 
2. Add Font and Color options to Equation Editor
• This topic is actually focused on font size not type. In my experience, it is possible to use <span style="font-size: 36pt; color #cc0000;">[equation]</span> to change the font size and color of the equation, but the change is not visible in editing mode and may be slow to load on the saved/published view. The convenience of being able to set these (and font type) within the equation editor may be useful. However, I would strongly encourage that any color controls added to the equation editor change the color of the whole equation instead of allowing users to change the color of part of an equation. Allowing for parts of the equation to be a different color would go against WCAG 1.4.1 unless additional code is used to compensate. This said, even if additional code could compensate, it would encourage the creation of WCAG 1.4.1 issues outside of the equation.
3. Student Highlight and annotation tools for quizzes
• In principle, I think it could be a good idea. The key is to make sure that annotation tools are available for those who struggle to perceive colors and cannot visually see where the highlight starts and ends.
4. RCE for Matching and Categorization questions
• I like this idea for the special ed scenario described in one of the related topics. In other applications, I’m slightly concerned that the question type will approach hotspot-level inaccessibility or even worse inaccessibility when iframes are introduced. This said, there are other question types that need and use the RCE, so I can let go of this concern.

[ob1]

New quizzes are useless without the possibility to download the score on all answers, e.g.

student1;question1score;question2score;...

[baldwinsh]

Being able to add color is a great idea. I would also like to see the ability to use a rubric on a quiz (particularly essay questions) and to have group quizzes as an option.

[simone_laughton]

At a minimum, the following basic functionalities are needed prior to adding new features:

• Ability to download CSV of all submitted student responses (one row per student) (currently possible with Classic Quizzes)
• Ability to complete a graded or ungraded survey (questions that have no right answer) - graded surveys to be included in Gradebook with the ability to mark a participation point if graded survey completed and ungraded survey with ability to download all responses (currently possible with Classic Quizzes)

[ebrummer]

Ive not participated in one of these votes before and I may be throwing a bunch of information/opinion in that's only tangentially related but...

Historically for some things, I've provided step by step instructions for students to follow, or left students to solve it themselves. Recently, I've been trying to challenge my more advanced class and so I started trying to setup a quiz like this:

Frame the problem, ask some questions, have student submit their thoughts/ideas on that question. Then move to the next question. Now all of this builds upon previous questions, so in order for them to not see answers, I turn on the one question at a time submission option in Canvas. So then they answer question 1 and submit and then get question 2.  But with that option, they can't see my automatic feedback/their answer on question 1 when doing so. So currently I copy/paste my feedback into question 2 at the beginning. I'd love to turn on an option where question 1 with answers is shown while they do question 2, etc through the whole quiz.

I'd also love better grading for quizzes. Even with the grade by question option there's so much clicking and loading. Populate all of question 1s answers on a single page for me to grade (potentially anonymously.) Then I can click to the next page with question 2. Similarly, I try to put the answer and explanation into the automatic feedback for the quiz. It'd make it easier when I'm randomly grading if that showed up for the question for me or a TA grading for me versus having to remember what I was looking for or have a separate cheat sheet somewhere.

[YvonneNaungayan]

Please add question types that align more closely with the new NCLEX question formats - thank you!

[LMacaulay]

As others have mentioned, before we add even more NEW features to New Quizzes, we still need feature parity with Classic Quizzes. I believe it is on the roadmap, but please be sure to bring back graded and non-graded surveys.  We need ways to collect information anonymously, not just without a grade.

Also, I love the idea of being able to show question feedback after each question is answered. This would be a great setting for formative assessments and knowledge checks.