Add a "code entry" question type to quizzes

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Computer science tests administered on Canvas often require the student to enter typed code. Unfortunately, the "Essay Question" box is inadequate for this purpose, as it is designed for paragraphs, not code. For computer science tests, we need a simple text-entry box that allows you to enter several lines of single-spaced text in a monospaced font, and THE ABILITY TO USE THE TAB KEY to tab over 4 spaces to properly position each line.

The Tab key is currently used to navigate through the test, so you can't use it in entering code text by hand (yes, I am aware of the preformatted option but that doesn't allow the tab key. For computer science students, this means that it is difficult to space your code properly for grading.  I am aware of the "increase indent" function but it doesn't really work very well (often interacts with other lines) and gives you a whopping 8 spaces of indent. 

Rather than waste time trying to teach student how to tweak the "essay question" box to sort-of allow code entry, I would much prefer a different option, preferably one that still works with Lockdown Browser. I have seen this functionality requested before as a "bug fix" but it really needs to be a different kind of text entry window.

2 Comments
KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: Open
 
ProductPanda
Instructure
Instructure
Status changed to: Archived
Comments from Instructure

As part of the new Ideas & Themes process, all ideas in Idea Conversations were reviewed by the Product Team. Any Idea that was associated with an identified theme was moved to the new Idea & Themes space. Any Idea that was not part of the move is being marked as Archived. This will preserve the history of the conversations while also letting Community members know that Instructure will not explore the request at this time.