Accommodations Not reflected in "count down" timer (Time remaining) in Quiz

[jmOrcutt]

An instructor has an exam with 75 minutes (1 hr 15 min) set as a time limit. She has 3 students who have 1.5 multiplier accommodations for quizzes/exams. She has set the accommodations at the course level. She has set up the exam so it opens at a specific time, and 75 minutes later it is due (eg, exam opens at 2 pm for all students, and due at 3:15 pm).

When the student accesses the exam, the instructions screen shows they have 1 hr 52.5 min (recognizing the accommodation). However, when the student starts the test, the "time remaining" timer reflects only the 75 min limit.

We tested this and the student is kicked out at the end of the 75 min time limit, rather than receiving the additional time.

Obviously, we can correct for this by setting up a separate "assign to" deadline for the student(s) with accommodations, however, this seems counter to having the accommodations setting -- one would think if the system recognized the accommodation time it would adjust the timer to reflect that and extend the student session (as implied through an accommodation).

Is this an error in Canvas or is this the expected behavior -- that even though we have the ability to set an accommodation, we still have to manually calculate the additional time and set a different instance for those students under the assignment settings?

Thanks!

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @jmOrcutt,

I do think you'll have to separately change the quiz availability windows for the students as well as the accommodation settings in this case.  For my institution, we have to have at least a 24 hour availability window, but the quiz timers are much shorter, so students have flexibility to take the quiz when they want to and would get extra time with accommodations if they start early enough.  The due and available until dates I would say are generally not expected to be extended for accommodations (at least here), but your case is obviously different that ours.

The How do I add accommodations for a student in New Quiz page also has a note specifically about this, "Note: Quiz availability dates still apply when moderating a quiz. If the Until date passes before a student completes an extra attempt or extended-time quiz, any in-progress quizzes auto-submit and the quiz closes, even if the student's attempt has not expired."  So with this being said, I wouldn't expect any changes to Canvas around this in the near future anyways.

I hope this helps a bit.

-Chris

[jmOrcutt]

Chris

Thanks! After posting I was curious about why other exams were not being affected this way, and realized they also had 24 hour windows so the accommodations could be addressed. I will talk with the instructor, I am wondering if she couldn't reconsider the timing, so perhaps open at 2 pm but extend the due date/available until a bit later. I appreciate your speedy response -- I had overlooked that note in the page you referred to.

Janice

[mdthomas]

Agree with Chris in recommending that faculty rely more on the timed assessment setting to regulate how much time a student has to take an assessment. This time starts when they begin the assessment, so in general the due and available dates can be expanded, especially in courses when someone has time and a half or double time to take an assessment.