Quizzes: Classic vs. New

Which quiz engine to choose?

Classic Quizzes is the original engine from Canvas. New Quizzes was rolled out in late 2021 and initially planned for all users to move to the new engine and discontinue Classic Quizzes. That has been changed due to bugs and feature requests from users.

Classic Quizzes are designated by an outline of a rocket icon:

Classic quiz rocket icon outline

New Quizzes are designated by a filled-in rocket icon:

New Quiz filled-in rocket icon

NOTE: Each quiz engine has pros and cons. A big reason to use New Quizzes is if you have a large class with DSP students who need extra time. In New Quizzes, this is only done once to cover all assignments. With Classic Quizzes, it must be done for every assignment.

Use Classic Quizzes if you want to:

Use imported question banks from a GauchoSpace backup (Classic Quizzes can be migrated to New Quizzes, but there is no bulk migration of question banks to item banks)
Administer Surveys (graded or ungraded)

See also Instructor Guide: Classic Quizzes

Use New Quizzes if you want to:

Use Hotspot, Ordering, Categorization and Stimulus question types
Shuffle quiz questions
Apply an accommodation for a student (such as 150% time) that applies to all New Quizzes in the course
Have different total quiz points than the sum of the question points (for example, a total quiz worth 10 points, but 17 questions each worth 1 point)
Use Build on Last Attempt
Print the quiz or the answer key
Enforce a waiting period between quiz attempts

Additional Resources

Quizzes Overview video (4:36)

Canvas Quizzes Feature Description chart

New Quizzes Updates

Instructor Guide: New Quizzes

Need help? Reach out to OTL Services