Quiz Descriptions only viewable and editable from mobile app

[JamesKCOS]

New Quizzes created on a desktop do not have the option to edit the "Description" under assignment details. "Description" doesn't even appear to students when accessed from a desktop, only when accessed from the mobile app. 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @JamesKCOS,

You are correct that web Canvas no longer has the description field for New Quizzes.  I can't exactly pinpoint when this changed, but I think it's likely intended behavior as that field does not appear in any of the New Quizzes guides either.  Instead of using the description field in the assignment area, you can utilize the Instructions field in the Build area of the quiz.  It's likely that the Canvas apps will catch up with this eventually as well, as they do usually lag behind web Canvas a bit.

I hope this helps a bit!

-Chris

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @JamesKCOS,

You are correct that web Canvas no longer has the description field for New Quizzes.  I can't exactly pinpoint when this changed, but I think it's likely intended behavior as that field does not appear in any of the New Quizzes guides either.  Instead of using the description field in the assignment area, you can utilize the Instructions field in the Build area of the quiz.  It's likely that the Canvas apps will catch up with this eventually as well, as they do usually lag behind web Canvas a bit.

I hope this helps a bit!

-Chris

[JamesKCOS]

Thanks, Chris. The problem that I'm having is actually that it used to exist, and I had a link there to another part of the Canvas shell (which now in a new semester doesn't work.) I think the description field is still there because I imported my previous shell. That information still appears to students when they use the app, but the link is broken. I couldn't figure out how to delete it until I tried checking in the Canvas Instructor app. 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Ah that totally makes sense!  I've seen that field (via the API) somewhat randomly generated myself too, perhaps from migrating classic quizzes.  I do think it's supposed to be totally unused for New Quizzes going forward, but if you can figure out the exact scenario(s) where it is still created, it may be a good idea to create a case with Canvas Support to report those details to they can clean up the code and basically fix the problem that way.

-Chris