Over the past few years, our district has been navigating life with both Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes (since June 2022). While New Quizzes brought some really exciting new features, there were also a few bumps along the road—so we intentionally took a cautious, steady approach. The good news? Things have come a long way. Feature parity has improved significantly, confidence has grown, and now it feels like the right moment to move forward—on our timeline, and ahead of any eventual deprecation.
With that in mind, I sat down and designed a phased transition plan to help our district move to New Quizzes. We’re also working on a communication plan so teachers are well informed before the end of the school year—no surprises waiting for them after summer break!
Below is our draft plan for transitioning to New Quizzes. My hope is that it’s helpful to others who feel ready to make the leap and are looking for a practical example to adapt for their own districts.
_____________________________________________________________________
OverviewCanvas currently offers two native quizzing tools – Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. While Canvas has not announced an official end-of-life date for Classic Quizzes, we know this is eventual. To avoid a rushed or disruptive transition later, we are proactively implementing a phased transition to fully adopt New Quizzes.
Note 1: it is always possible that Canvas can announce sunsetting before our timeline.
Note 2: New Quizzes originally was enabled at APS in June 2022 – adoption has increased with the release of more features and improvements.
Why are we transitioning? - To standardize support around a single Canvas quizzing tool
- To use a tool that continues to receive new features, analytics, and accessibility improvements.
- To align with Canvas's long-term roadmap and platform direction. Note: Classic Quizzes is no longer being updated
- To support schools using Respondus LockDown Browser, which only works with New Quizzes
- To minimize disruption when Classic Quizzes are sunset by Canvas.
Deprecation and Phased Transition Timeline Phase 1: SY 2025-2026 - (Planning/Status Quo)
- Both Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes are available
- Instructors are encouraged to explore and start using New Quizzes
- Optional: migrate a few Classic Quizzes to become familiar with the tool
- Begin Classic Quizzes deprecation process
- New Quizzes added to the List of Deprecations
- Sunset date set for Summer 2027
- As a part of the process, staff have 30 days to provide comments
- The APS Technology Review Committee will make final decisions on deprecation of each resource in June 2026
- Once the deprecation is approved all staff will be notified via Round Up
- ITCs will be notified that SY26-27 should be used to support the transition for all teachers
Phase 2: SY 2026-2027 - (Walk ⇒ Run)
Part A. Summer Import (into Sandbox or 2026–2027 Courses)
ADMIN SETTINGS: Keep current settings: Allow both Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. Allow migration of quizzes during course copy and import
|
|---|
During summer course imports, teachers may choose one of two migration paths: Walk — Migrate quizzes selectively (recommended for new users) - Import your course normally
- Manually migrate individual Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes, as needed
- Consider deleting the original Classic Quiz if you will not be using it
- Continue using Classic Quizzes were appropriate
Run — Convert all quizzes at once during import (recommended for those already using New Quizzes) - During course import, select the option to Convert content to New Quizzes
- This replaces existing Classic Quizzes with New Quizzes versions
- This also migrates Classic Quiz Question Banks to New Quiz Item Banks
|
Part B. Major Change: Ability to Create Classic Quizzes is Disabled ADMIN SETTINGS: Default to New Quizzes: Sets New Quizzes as the default quizzing option and removes the option to create Classic Quizzes. |
Starting the 2nd Quarter of SY2026-2027 (DATE TBA): - Existing Classic Quizzes can continue to be used
- Classic Quizzes can no longer be created
- Any newly created quizzes will default to New Quizzes
This change ensures that no new Classic Quiz content is added. |
Phase 3: Summer 2027 and SY 2027-2028 - (Full Adoption)
ADMIN SETTINGS: New Quizzes Migration Required: Requires all imported quizzes to be New Quizzes
At this phase, Classic Quizzes will no longer be available or supported.
- Only New Quizzes will be available.
- Any remaining Classic Quizzes will migrate automatically to New Quizzes during course import.
- Check for duplicate quizzes and decide if you need to delete any
Getting Started with New QuizzesNew Quizzes offers several features not available in Classic Quizzes, including:
- Additional question types: Stimulus, Ordering, Categorization, Hot Spot
- Course-level accommodations for Students (not only quiz by quiz)
- Ability to shuffle Questions and/or Answers by Question
- Printable Quizzes
- Ability to add waiting periods between attempts
- Ability to build on last attempt
- Ability to duplicate quizzes (not possible with Classic Quizzes)
- Surveys both Graded and Ungraded, and option for Anonymous
- Respondus LockDown Browser is available for use with New Quizzes
Steps to Migrate to New Quizzes
Start preparing for the transition by manually migrating a few of your Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes – for example, select a couple of quizzes to migrate (and edit) and use for retakes.
- Walk: For teachers who have not yet started using New Quizzes – you can migrate individual Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes
- Run: For teachers who have used New Quizzes and are comfortable using New Quizzes – you can import your 2025-2026 course to your sandbox this summer, or to your new course in the fall, and select the option to Migrate all Quizzes.
- Canvas Guides:
- All your Classic Quizzes will be converted to New Quizzes. You will not have copies in Classic Quizzes. Classic Question Banks also convert to New Quizzes Item Banks
_______________________________________________
Training Resources Familiarize yourself with New Quizzes. Here are a variety of training resources:
- Consult the New Quizzes Canvas Instructor Guides.
- For a more in-depth training enroll in Courses and Webinars offered by Canvas.
- Log in to Canvas. Note: Third party cookies need to be enabled in your browser.
- From the Global Navigation menu, click on Help (bottom left) => click on Training Services Portal > click Authorize
- Once in the portal, search for New Quizzes > Enroll in the New Quizzes Essential Course self-paced, online course. You’ll also see options to enroll for Live Webinars for Creating New Quizzes and Managing New Quizzes.
- Watch these introductory videos:
- Look through the Canvas Quizzes Feature Comparison Chart
- Heads up: (Noted in April 2026) Here are a few things we are aware of still missing from New Quizzes that you used to have in Classic Quizzes. We are actively advocating to have these added, including:
- No Question Groups for randomizing for a question
- Not able to provide feedback ONLY without releasing the correct answer
- Item Banks live centrally, which makes it difficult to collaborate in a Sandbox with a colleague – the item bank does not get imported to courses.
- Visit the New Quizzes FAQs page.
NEW QUIZZES QUICK GUIDE - Please note that our quick guide includes images, but I have not included them here.
New Quizzes - Quick Guide |
|---|
Identify a Classic Quiz from a New Quiz. Classic Quiz = icon of the outline of a rocket. New Quizzes quiz = icon of a solid rocket.Published = green; Unpublished = black. |
Create a New Quizzes Quiz from Scratch. Until [date TBA in SY2026-2027] you can build and use both Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes in the same course. Canvas Guide: How do I create a quiz in New Quizzes? When you create a quiz, a pop-up window appears prompting you to pick a quizzing tool. You can choose to save your quiz engine choice (or do not check the box to keep both options). If you only see one quiz tool option when creating a quiz, but would like to have both options, reset your quiz engine choice from the Quiz Options menu. |
The “Build” Button, Speedgrader Access, and the “Return” Button. New Quizzes was built as an external tool, so there are a few things that work a little differently than you may be used to. Three common points of confusion are: learning to use the “Build” button, accessing Speedgrader, and the “Return” button. The Build button. When you want to edit a New Quizzes quiz, you will need to either: - Open the quiz, scroll down, and click the Build button, OR
- From Modules, Assignments, or Quizzes, click on the kabob to see more options
Speedgrader Access. Teachers may be familiar with clicking “Speedgrader” from the sidebar for Assignments and Classic Quizzes. In New Quizzes can access Speedgrader from: - From Modules, Assignments, or Quizzes, click on the kabob to see more options, OR
- From the Build screen, click the kabob on the top right corner
This image shows the Build page, with the Return button and the option menu to access Speedgrader. The Return button. - For teachers: When you need to exit the Build page, click the Return button to return to Canvas.
- For students: Instead of clicking the Submit button, students can click their Return button to resume their quiz at a later time.
|
Question types. These are the current question types available in New Quizzes. |
Accommodations can be applied to New Quizzes for individual students. Teachers can add accommodations in New Quizzes. Accommodation settings include adding or removing time for all quiz attempts and multiplying time limits by a set multiplier. You can view Accommodations on the Moderate panel. |
Printing. Teachers can print New Quizzes and save them as pdf files. Canvas Guide: How do I print a quiz in New Quizzes?. |
Analysis and Data. New Quizzes provides additional analysis and data points for individual assessments. |
Item Banks. Here are some helpful guides on Item Banks in New Quizzes: A word about Item Banks Item Bank sharing & course copy/import note (New Quizzes): Item Banks have their own sharing and permission settings. If an Item Bank is only shared to a “template” course and that course is then copied or imported into a new course, the Item Bank may appear in the new course as view-only. In this case, instructors may still be able to use questions in quizzes, but they may not be able to edit the Item Bank until the Item Bank owner (or an admin) re-shares it to the new course (or at the account level) with Edit access. |
