Recommendations for Remote Exams in Canvas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Set up the Exam
• Communication with Students before the Exam
• Accommodations 

Introduction

This article explains how to use Canvas Classic Quizzes to create and administer exams.

For additional tips on administering remote exams, please consult: Planning a Final Exam (SAS Computing).

Set up the Exam

Important: Students might be in different time zones, so please establish a long-enough window (e.g., 24 hours) to give everyone time to complete the exam.

• Start creating the exam as a Canvas quiz

• Apply settings in the “Details” tab when creating the quiz in Canvas to facilitate academic integrity among exam takers. Suggested settings below:

• Check the box next to “Shuffle Answers” (please see #1 in the screenshot for “Set Quiz Options”). 
• Use a time limit (please see #2 in the screenshot for “Set Quiz Options”). 
  • Important: A time limit is not the same as availability dates, so both should be used. Example: an exam with a 120 minute time limit with May 5th 12pm-May 6th 12pm EST availability dates is set up so that a student can take the exam during any 120 minute period within the designated window of time (24 hours in this example).
• Un-check the box next to  “Let Students See the Correct Answers” (please see #6 in the screenshot for “Set Quiz Options”). 
• Check the box next to “Show one question at a time” (please see #7 in the screenshot for “Set Quiz Options”). Important: The “Lock questions after answering” setting is not recommended if you want students to have the ability to answer questions non-sequentially (e.g., you want to let students skip a question and return to it later). 
• Use the “Require an access code” setting (please see #1 the screenshot for “Set Quiz Restrictions”). Important: Do not use the “Filter IP Addresses” setting--since students will be using many different IP addresses to take the exam. 
• Use availability dates to limit students’ access to the exam to a designated window of time. 
  

        3.Add a due date that is the same as the “Until” availability date. 

4. Scroll to the bottom of the quiz-creation page and click Save. 

5. Start creating quiz questions. 

   1. Recommended: Use Question Banks to create a collection of questions on the same concept. Create questions for each concept in its designated question bank.

6. Navigate back to the exam and click Edit. 

7. Click the “Questions” tab. 

8. Use Question Groups for the exam to randomize the questions in a Question Bank that each student receives on a given topic.  

9. When you are finished adding question groups, scroll to the bottom of the quiz-creation page and click Save & Publish. 

   1. Important: Only click Save & Publish if you have enabled availability dates; otherwise, the quiz will be accessible to your students. If you decide not to use availability dates, you will need to publish the quiz before you want students to take it. 

   2. Enable quiz-audit logs to keep track of students’ quiz attempts-- useful if you are concerned about an academic integrity issue.

Communication with Students before the Exam

Send an email to your class email list with the following information for students at least 3 days before the exam:

• Ask students to read Penn’s Code of Academic Integrity. 
• Share a link to the exam in Canvas.
• Ask students to make sure they are using a Canvas-supported browser before they take the exam.
• Ask students to make sure they are using a secure internet connection. 

  • Students should not use public wi-fi

  • Students should ask anyone who shares an internet connection with them (e.g., a roommate) not to use the internet while they are taking the exam. 

• Tell students that they must use a laptop or desktop to take the exam; mobile devices (tablets or phone) and netbooks (e.g., Chromebooks) are not recommended. 

Accommodations 

• If a student has an approved accommodation for exams, please contact Student Disabilities Services for guidance.

• For information on how to use Canvas settings for approved accommodations or other scenarios, please consult this Canvas Accommodations page.

If you have any questions about how to set up a Quiz in Canvas, please reach out to online-learning-help@sas.upenn.edu