By: Natalie Deane, Senior Product Manager
This topic describes Phase 1 of the three-phase for Quiz Timing Improvements. For information about the overall improvements, see Quiz Timing Improvements - Summary.
Phase 1 is available now for all clients, and includes changes to auto-submission, provides a simplified quiz setup, and removes obsolete quiz timing options.
Automatic quiz submission
Instructors can now choose to have quizzes automatically submit learner work when the quiz time limit is up. When the time limit expires the learner sees a page letting them know their quiz is being submitted, followed by the Quiz Results Display page.
This new automatic submission functionality aims to improve learner experience by a learner’s attempt automatically submitting at the end of the enforced time. This will reduce learner confusion and anxiety, along with providing earlier access to feedback and ability to try another attempt sooner (when applicable). This feature improves quiz integrity and provides a more authentic quiz experience where quizzes are handed in at the end of the quiz time limit. In addition, it reduces the quiz administrator's burden by removing the need to manually submit learner attempts for automatic grading.
After you deploy the quiz timing improvements, quizzes that were previously set to Prevent students from making future changes or Automatically set score to zero when the time limit is reached are automatically set to Automatically submit the quiz attempt.
Note: Attempts for quizzes created before the changes are deployed are not affected. Existing quiz attempts are not automatically submitted.
How to set up a quiz to automatically submit using the New Quiz Experience
- On the navbar, click Quizzes.
- On the Manage Quizzes tab, click New Quiz.
- On the quiz creation screen, click Timing & Display.
- Check Set time limit and then enter a Time Limit in minutes.
- Click Edit Timer Settings.
- Select Automatically submit the quiz attempt.
How to set up a quiz to automatically submit using the Classic Quiz Experience
- On the navbar, click Quizzes.
- On the Manage Quizzes tab, click New Quiz.
- In the Restrictions tab, click to select Set time limit and then enter a Time Limit in minutes.
- Under When the Time Limit is Exceeded section, select Automatically submit the quiz attempt.
Simpler quiz setup
The quiz timing settings have been updated to make quiz setup quicker and easier. Previously instructors had to decide between time limit options: No Time Limit, Recommended Time Limit and Enforced Time Limit. Now instructors can choose whether they want to set a time limit and enter the length of time for the quiz.
Click Set time limit and enter the quiz length in minutes. Then do one of the following:
- If you want to automatically submit the quiz when the time limit is exceeded, click Automatically Submit quiz attempt.
- If you want learners to be able to continue working after the time limit, click Flag as time limit exceeded and allow the learner to continue working.
- If you do not want to enforce the time limit, click Do nothing, the time limit is not enforced.
Timing Summary information
There is now important summary information in the Timing & Display panel in the collapsed and expanded view. This helps instructors find errors and helps to understand which setting they could potentially change. Previously, only the time limit was displayed and instructors had to expand and open Timer settings to see the whole setup.
Figure: Collapsed view of an asynchronous quiz with an enforced time limit.
Figure: Collapsed view of a synchronous quiz with an enforced time limit.
Removal of obsolete Quiz Timing options
To further streamline the process of quiz creation, we removed the Grace Period and the option to score a learner’s attempt as 0 if they continue after the time limit is up.
Previously, grace period was intended to provide additional time for learners who were required to manually save all questions in addition to manually submitting their own quiz attempts. Now that quiz questions are saved automatically and quizzes can be configured to be submitted automatically, learners no longer need grace time to ensure their quiz is saved and submitted. Additionally, in quizzes that had a grace period, only a small percentage of learners actually used the grace period; the majority of learners submitted before the time limit ended as there was no visible indicator to the learner that a grace period was available after the timer ran out. With the grace period no longer being a necessary setting, we can remove the added complexity from quiz creation and quiz taking experiences to provide a simpler workflow.
With this update, the older settings are automatically updated to the following new behavior:
- A quiz that previously had a grace period now uses the time limit set on the quiz.
- A quiz that previously scored a quiz at 0 when the time limit was exceeded now sets the quiz to automatically submit the learner's quiz attempt.
Additional information
There are two other phases in the Quiz Timing Improvements. For more information, see:
Quiz Timing Improvements - Summary
Quiz Timing Improvements - Phase 2 of 3
Quiz Timing Improvements - Phase 3 of 3
Any end-user support questions and feedback can be shared through your D2L Account Team.
