Using Canvas quizzes offers several advantages, both for instructors and students. Here are some reasons why you might consider incorporating them into your course:
Benefits for Instructors
- Customization: Canvas supports a wide range of question types, including multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, matching, essay, ordering, categorization, and more.
- Reusable: Canvas quizzes are a powerful resource for instructors who teach the same course in subsequent semesters. Quizzes and/or questions can be transferred to next semester’s course painlessly – so the time spent creating them pays dividends in the long-run (no more “reinventing the wheel” each semester)
- Automatic Grading: Canvas Quizzes can automatically grade multiple-choice, true/false, and short-answer questions, saving you significant time and effort in grading. Canvas Quizzes automatically integrate with the Gradebook, meaning grades are automatically recorded, reducing the need for manual entry and keeping everything in one place.
- Automatic Scheduling: Instructors can schedule when they want quizzes to be made available to students. This means that much of the work of creating the quizzes is upfront – “Set it and forget it!”
- Academic Integrity: Through question banks, randomization of questions, Lockdown Browser, and time limits, Canvas quizzes help mitigate opportunities for cheating, maintaining the integrity of assessments.
Benefits for Students
- Convenience and Flexibility: Students can take quizzes from anywhere with an internet connection, offering flexibility in when and where they complete assessments.
- Immediate Feedback: Students receive instant feedback (or when the instructor wants student to receive feedback) on their performance, helping them understand their mistakes and learn from them.
- Self-Assessment: Quizzes can serve as a tool for students to self-assess their knowledge before exams, helping reinforce learning and prepare for more significant assessments. You can set up quizzes for students to take as practice or study tools, which can be a great way for them to review material in a low-stakes, formative manner.
- Improves Student Attitudes Toward Learning: Canvas quizzes are best used as low-stakes assignments which engender a positive culture of accountability in the classroom. Students know that they will be assessed, but in a manner that allows them to make mistakes and learn from them.