Understanding Canvas Quiz Logs

Canvas quiz logs are designed to help instructors monitor the status of student quizzes. This feature is available in both Canvas New Quizzes and Classic Quizzes. These logs begin creating a record as soon as a student starts a quiz, capturing various actions and timestamps throughout the quiz attempt.

The primary purpose of quiz logs is to assist in investigating any issues students may encounter during their quizzes and to gain insights into quiz questions and student performance. It is important to recognize that a quiz log on its own has little value; however, it can be used alongside other information to support the verification of issues or unusual actions.

Features of Canvas Quiz Logs

Automatically Starts: The quiz log starts creating a record when a student begins the quiz. This ensures that all actions taken by the student during the quiz are documented, providing a comprehensive view of their activity.

Multiple Attempts: If a student is allowed multiple attempts for a quiz, the log will default to showing the most recent attempt. However, instructors have the option to view any of the previous attempts within the log, allowing for a detailed analysis of the student's performance over time.

Timestamps and Action Statuses: Each quiz attempt is accompanied by timestamps and action statuses in the log. These details include when the student started the quiz, when they answered each question, and any other significant actions taken during the quiz. For example, it provides fairly good evidence of whether students typed an answer directly into the quiz or pasted it from elsewhere. This information can be useful for identifying any technical issues or unusual patterns in student behaviour.

Using Quiz Logs Effectively

Investigating Issues: One of the primary uses of quiz logs is to investigate problems that students may encounter during their quizzes. For example, if a student reports a technical issue, the quiz log can provide detailed information about their activity, helping to identify the root cause of the problem. Information found in the log should be used alongside other data, where possible.

Gaining Insights: Quiz logs can also offer valuable insights into quiz questions and student performance. By analyzing the logs, instructors can determine which questions students struggled with the most, how much time they spent on each question, and other patterns that can inform future quiz design and instruction.

Limitations of Quiz Logs

Academic Integrity: It is important to note that quiz logs are not intended to validate academic integrity or identify cheating. While the logs provide detailed information about student activity, they should not be used as the sole basis for determining whether academic misconduct has occurred.

Retention Period: Within Classic Quizzes, logs are only retained for six months. This means that any analysis or investigation using quiz logs should be conducted within this timeframe to ensure that the necessary data is available. Within New Quizzes, Canvas does not state a specific retention period; therefore, we would recommend operating with the expectation that it may be six months.

Learn More

• Logs within New Quizzes (information found within Moderate)

• Logs within Classic Quizzes

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