Allow regrade after changing quiz question points

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

 

Sometimes an instructor will create a quiz question and accidentally make it worth zero points. This happens most often when using an exam-creation tool like ExamView or Respondus. It's an easy error to make.

 

When the instructor realizes it, it is usually after a student has taken the quiz and the score comes back unreasonably low. It's because many questions were right but worth zero points. Canvas lets the instructor change the point values after the fact, but forces a manual regrading (via speedgrader) of every question for every student who has already taken the quiz.

Why not allow a regrade of the entire quiz with the new point values?

 

This would also allow instructors to change point values after the fact (make a question worth less and another worth more) based on statistical data on how students performed on certain questions.

Comments from Instructure

This idea was completed with general availability of Quizzes.Next.  You can find more information about the overall project in the Quizzes.Next User Group.‌

  • Quizzes.Next is now available for all paid accounts.
  • Quizzes.Next documentation will live in the Quizzes.Next User Group until July 14, 2018. On July 14, 2018, all of the documentation will be moved to the Canvas Guides in the Canvas Instructor Guide or Canvas Student Guide
  • Quizzes.Next updates will be included in the Canvas Release Notes. This includes new features, updated features, and relevant fixed bugs. New and updated features will be deployed to Quizzes.Next near the same time as the Canvas release. Fixed bugs may be deployed at any time.
30 Comments
jazemlya
Community Contributor

I have seen the same issue with users at the Bloomington campus as well.  Definitely something worth updating.  There has to be other institutions seeing the same issue and would like an easier way to regrade a quiz.

acardenas1
Community Novice

I am having the same problem.

mlowry
Community Novice

This would be a helpful feature. 

jparry
Community Member

As mistake-prone as any teacher can become, particularly during times of stress, this would be so helpful.  At least we would know that the world would not end if we put in an incorrect point total.

lmixon
Community Novice

This also needs to allow for entirely removing questions but keeping the overall value of the test the same.   Say if I gave a 50 question test with an overall value of 100 and I would like to remove 2 questions after it has been taken but keep the overall test worth 100 points.

rpetrina
Community Member
Author

Deactivated user​, how do you want the system to accomplish this? Because currently all Quizzes are given a total based on the point total of every single question, added up. Not every quiz has all questions worth the same value, either.

Would you want the system to automatically split the extra points from the two questions you removed and distribute them as 0.002 points each across the other questions?

By allowing points to be changed after the fact, you could remove two questions and then manually re-add those points to other questions. However, I do see a potential issue from the student perspective. If I am taking a test and a question is worth 10 points, I will spend more time on it. But if a question is worth only one point, I might guess an answer and move on to a more valuable question. If we think point values affect the behavior of students taking our quizzes, we should be cautious about changing them after the fact -- especially when other students are still taking the same quiz.

glparker
Community Champion

As a workaround, would the following work

- Change the points for the questions you want to correct

- Change the correct answer for one of your questions (this would force a regrade option)

- Process the regrade

- Change the answer back for that question (forcing a 2nd regrade)

- Process the regrade

Would canvas pick up the new points as part of this regrading cycle?  

hfchen
Community Participant

That does work from what I've tested. But instructors shouldn't have to use this work around just to change a question's point value.

But until Canvas give us a regrade button when we change point value your solution seems like the way to go.

Thanks

rpetrina
Community Member
Author

Out of curiosity, how recently did you test this? I was unable to make it work in a live course. I had to change and regrade EVERY question in order to add the point values. It did not regrade other questions with newly updated point values. That is why I submitted the idea. If a recent update to the system has made it slightly easier, that's good. But my initial situation involved forcing a regrade on each question with a new point value. It was mind-numbing.

hfchen
Community Participant

Yeah it seems like you have to regrade everyone of the questions where you change point value. Still better than not having a solution, but not ideal.