[ARCHIVED] Can I add a PDF to new quiz?

[jvulcano]

Is there a way to add a PDF to the new quiz? I want students to read a Newsela article and answer questions about it. (Newsela Pro  LTI integration is too expensive for us, so I'd like to use the free PDF we have access to.)

[GideonWilliams]

Hi  @jvulcano ‌

My first thought was to add it to the Stimulus feature which is a new feature in Quizzes which allows you to have text entry alongside questions.

So I had a look but the problem is the Rich Content Editor is not the same as the RCE in Canvas (why, I dont know!) - so there is no option of adding in the PDF file through a link and having it display inline.

Next I tried to create a link to the PDF which I had saved in the linked Canvas course:

But all that did was download the file...

So I am stuck.

The RCE for Quizzes is not consistent with the rest of the platform which is a MAJOR ISSUE that Canvas need to address. There is (currently) no LTI opportunity or HTML editor which might allow you to embed the document.

Short of taking a picture of the PDF and uploading as an image I cannot see how to make this happen.

Hopefully someone else might have a more effective workaround..

[rswengel]

While it is a bit cumbersome, you can copy the text from the Newsela page(s) where the article appears and paste it into the Stimulus window. You will need to do some reformatting once you have pasted the contents, but it does work.  You might want to copy, paste, and reformat in small chunks.

[stefanieB]

The way I went around this was to add a pdf in one of the Classic quizzes and then Migrate the quiz. This only provides a link to the pdf. 

I actually have an old quiz that is named "pdf for New Quizzes" that I use anytime I want to add a link into one of my New Quiz assignments. I keep this because there have many times that I have created an entire quiz and at the end decided to add a pdf. Now anytime I want to add a pdf I open my classic quiz, create the link, migrate the quiz, copy and paste the link into the quiz that I am working on and finally delete the migrated quiz!!!! 

[RobDitto]

Fabulous method, @stefanieB - thanks for sharing that!

For anyone interested in this discussion, please consider rating or commenting on feature ideas for stimulus PDF, as well as for New Quizzes RCE standardization: 

New Quizzes Stimulus PDF 

New Quizzes - RCE to match Canvas 

[mbuchanan]

It took me a few minutes to figure this one out but here's an easy fix. Convert the PDF to an image file and insert it as an image. 🙂

[chriscas]

Hi @mbuchanan,

While this may be a temporary workaround, I'd really caution this method because it's definitely not going to good for accessibility.  Screen readers will not be able to process an plain image, and depending on the quality, it could even be hard to read for people who want to zoom in.  I realize it might not be a concern for you right now, but I wanted to add this note for others who might come across this thread in the future.

-Chris