We recently kicked off the first session in our four-part webinar series focused on the transition to New Quizzes. It was energizing to see so many Canvas administrators, instructional designers, and edtech leaders join us to talk about the future of assessment.
During the session, we explored where New Quizzes stands today, what’s coming next on the roadmap, and how institutions can confidently move forward with adoption. Just as importantly, the Q&A brought forward thoughtful questions from the community about timelines, migration strategies, analytics, and the long-term direction of quizzing in Canvas.
If you weren’t able to join us live, or if you want a quick recap, this post highlights some of the key themes that emerged during the webinar and the questions we heard most often. You can also find the recording for this session and register for the rest of the series here.
Theme 1: New Quizzes is the future of assessment in Canvas
A major theme throughout the webinar was how institutions should approach the transition from Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes.
Classic Quizzes is now in maintenance mode. It continues to function but is no longer receiving product updates. All ongoing development and innovation are focused on New Quizzes, which continues to evolve with new capabilities for assessment, analytics, and integrations.
Because of this, many institutions are choosing to begin their transition now. Starting early allows teams to move at a comfortable pace training faculty, testing workflows, and gradually migrating content while also taking advantage of the latest innovations.
Theme 2: New Quizzes is ready now, and innovation continues
Once institutions understand the direction, the next question is whether New Quizzes is fully ready for widespread adoption.
New Quizzes has reached near full feature parity with Classic Quizzes and in many areas already goes beyond what Classic Quizzes could support. In addition to core functionality, it introduces modern capabilities like expanded question types, improved item analysis, and more flexible grading workflows.
At the same time, innovation continues to move forward. Recent improvements include:
Looking ahead, additional enhancements are on the way, including feedback and grading improvements, outcomes data in DAP, and default font settings for quiz authoring.
Just as importantly, adoption data shows that New Quizzes is already operating successfully at scale. In 2025 alone:
- 32 million New Quizzes were created
- 172 million student submissions were processed
- 78% of Canvas institutions used New Quizzes in the last six months
Taken together, this reinforces that New Quizzes isn’t just the future, it’s a solution institutions are already relying on today with continued innovation planned ahead.
Theme 3: Institutions can transition at their own pace
One of the most reassuring points from the webinar was that institutions don’t need to flip the switch overnight.
Canvas provides several tools that allow administrators to move through adoption gradually. Many institutions follow a phased rollout model often described as crawl, walk, run.
During early adoption, instructors may be able to choose between Classic and New Quizzes. As adoption grows, administrators can set New Quizzes as the default option. Eventually, institutions may move toward requiring New Quizzes for all new assessments.
This approach allows each institution to align its transition with faculty readiness, training capacity, and support resources.
Theme 4: Analytics, integrations, and content migration remain key priorities
A large portion of the Q&A focused on data visibility, integrations, and content migration which are all areas that are critical for administrators managing adoption across large institutions.
For analytics and reporting, Canvas provides visibility through Admin Analytics in the Analytics Hub, where administrators can compare Classic Quiz and New Quiz activity across courses and export data for deeper analysis. Learn how here:
Many administrators also asked about question banks and item banks, particularly whether existing Classic Quiz question banks can be moved into New Quizzes. The answer is yes. Question banks can be migrated to item banks, allowing institutions to continue using their existing assessment content while taking advantage of the more flexible item bank architecture in New Quizzes. Learn more here.
At the same time, ongoing improvements such as the native Canvas experience for New Quizzes and expanded data access through APIs and the Data Access Platform (DAP) are designed to strengthen reporting, integrations, and interoperability moving forward.
Resources to help you plan your transition
We know that moving assessment systems can take time and planning. That’s why we’ve created the New Quizzes Adoption Toolkit, available in the Instructure Community.
The toolkit includes:
- Ready-to-use communication templates
- Faculty training materials
- Implementation guidance based on the crawl–walk–run framework
- Technical resources for administrators and instructional design teams
Whether your institution is just beginning to explore New Quizzes or preparing for full adoption, these resources are designed to help you move forward with confidence.
Learn more and join us for the rest of the series
This webinar was the first session in a four-part series exploring the transition to New Quizzes. Upcoming sessions will focus on helping instructors and teachers adopt New Quizzes and on navigating the final stages of institutional rollout and change management.
If you’d like to dive deeper, you can register for the upcoming webinars in this series or watch the recording from this session here.
Thank you again to everyone who joined us live and shared thoughtful questions during the Q&A. Your feedback continues to shape how we improve Canvas and support institutions around the world.
We look forward to continuing the conversation and to building the future of assessment in Canvas together.
