Importing Quiz Questions into Canvas

Canvas Tutorials Importing Quiz Questions into Canvas

Instructor Creating Content Module

How Do Question Banks Work in Canvas?

 Current Quiz Tool Retirement Coming Soon!

In late 2020 or early 2021 the current quiz tool will be retired in favor of the new quiz tool. Please note quiz content from the current quiz tool must be migrated to the new quiz tool during the 2020 school year.  Please review the important notes tab below to learn more. See timeline at the link below. 

 When you create quizzes in current quiz tool in Canvas it is important to understand how you add questions to a quiz will affect how you grade and maintain the quiz later on.  View tabbed menu below for the easiest way to get questions into Canvas. 

Video Tutorial

View the Video Tutorial below. 

Important Notes

This  guide is specifically about the current quiz tool. If you are using the new quiz tool, please review the following guides. 

When questions created directly in a quiz in the current quiz tool, copies of the same questions will automatically be added to a question bank called "unfiled questions". You can copy or move the questions into other banks or create new ones to keep question content organized. 

Questions created or added directly to a quiz in the current quiz tool will be a "copy" of question stored in the question bank. There is no direct link so if you edit a question in quiz or bank, the copy WILL NOT be updated. If you plan to make major changes to question content, always edit questions in the question banks. Once you drastically alter a question  in quiz, there will not be a corresponding copy of the question in question bank. 

In the current quiz tool when creating a quiz, you will have option to create quiz question groups. Quiz question groups allow you to organize question into groups for the purpose of randomizing questions. Questions can be added directly to the quiz group or a question bank can be linked to a quiz group. Please note if you link a question bank to a quiz group, the regrading options will NOT BE AVAILABLE in the quiz.  Also, quizzes in the current quiz that are setup with linked banks in questions groups cannot be migrated to the new quiz tool. 

How to Import Questions

There are several ways you can get test questions into current quiz tool in Canvas. It is important to understand the methods of creating questions in Canvas. Review each option carefully. If you need help, please contact Information Systems and Services. 

Typing Questions Directly in Canvas

On the quiz index page click the upper gear icon and select Manage Question Banks. (1) On the question bank page click Add Question Bank. Give the new question bank a title and hit the Enter key. (2) Click the question bank title to display the page where you add questions. Note: If you create questions in the quiz, the questions will be automatically added to a question bank called unfiled questions. (3) Questions banks can be bookmarked. Question Banks you create will be bookmarked by default. When you bookmark a Question Bank, it can be accessed in any other course you teach. (4) Click the pencil icon to edit the question bank title. Click the X to delete the question banks.  This method is time consuming if you have many questions you want to add to Canvas. If you do choose this option, be sure to start in the Question Banks first so questions are organized in a manner that makes sense to you.

Question Bank screen

From QTI ZIP File from a Publisher

See the Importing Question Banks Troubleshooting Guide Links to an external site. from the Canvas Community for detailed instructions. 

Using Respondus

Note: At this time Respondus only works with the current quiz tool. 

In some cases the textbook publisher may only offer Word documents for quizzes or instructors may want to review the questions before importing into Canvas. In these case it may be best to use Respondus to import questions into Canvas. Quizzes stored in Word documents can be imported into Respondus and then published to Canvas. This is one slight caveat to using Respondus. The questions must be properly formatted for Respondus to import them correctly and identify the correct answer. Review the Respondus handouts and videos below for further instructions.

Respondus is available for instructor use. Contact the Information Systems & Services helpdesk line at 234-5261 and make the request for the software. 

Please note at this time in Respondus Canvas quizzes cannot be downloaded using the Canvas personality. However, Quizzes can be exported from Canvas and imported into Respondus using the QTI personality. From Respondus the quiz can be printed. The handout below shows the step by step instructions.