Quiz not displaying questions bug (Updated)

[helfco]

We had multiple students with this problem. They would start the quiz and see a blank screen with no questions.

We logged in as the students on multiple browsers and saw the issue so it's not a browser problem.

Canvas said it's due to the instructor originally publishing a quiz with no questions in it, then students start the quiz and don't see questions displayed, then the instructor edits the quiz, but because the attempt has been started the quiz won't display the questions on the resumed attempt.

I created a test quiz myself with no questions in it, and confirmed this is what happened.

Not sure why Canvas lets instructors publish quizzes with no content in them.

The workaround fix was to give the students a second attempt and then submit the first attempt.

[kona]

 @helfco , what specifically is Canvas Support saying in terms of what the original problem is? We in the Community are fellow Canvas users and can't really fix something like this, so if you want to submit this as a bug you would need to do it through Canvas Support. 

I can say that we use Canvas quizzes a lot at our school (I myself use them at least once a week) and haven't had this issue. Because of this though I'm especially interested to hear what Canvas Support said was the cause of the problem.

Kona

[helfco · Accepted solution]

I called Canvas myself after posting this, but felt it was important enough to check here first to see if anyone else had this issue.

They said it's due to the instructor originally publishing a quiz with no questions in it, then students start the quiz and don't see questions displayed, then the instructor edits the quiz, but because the attempt has been started the quiz won't display the questions on the resumed attempt.

Not sure why Canvas allows instructors to publish a test with no questions in it.

I haven't heard back from the instructor to confirm this on their end. I posted it here to see if anyone else had this same experience or if it was a system wide issue.

The video may be helpful if any other instructors run into this issue down the line.

[jrupenareynolds]

I have this issue but my quiz was never published without questions in it.  My students still can't see any of the quiz questions.

[helfco]

Interesting, I did speak with the instructor after talking with Canvas support. The instructor swears she previewed the test before publishing, and that it did have questions in it. Julie, if you talk to Canvas please update this thread with what they tell you.

[TanaMobley]

I had this same issue, realized it may have happened because I tested the Quiz in "Student View" mode and then made further edits. I had revamped the whole quiz and was afraid I'd lost everything.  I played around and found two solutions to the problem:

1) Copy the Quiz and republish it, then delete the old one.

2) Go to "Student View" and click on "Reset Student" 

Both ways worked for me. If an actual student has taken the quiz, however, I think only solution 1 would work.

[vsinou]

You saved the day, Cyrus! 

[SteveRohr]

Here's a Hail Mary Fix:

I moved the question down to the box which gives the student instructions. This was my emergency fix until I can actually correct the issue for the next quiz. I'm attaching a screenshot example, but if it doesn't open for you, here's an example of how I worked around the issue:

Question #1:  A small group is defined as three or more people, without a set maximum number.

I copied the question and pasted in the box right below it.  (This is where we are asked to input instructions for the students.)

Instructions for student box: A small group is defined as three or more people, without a set maximum number. Please select the correct answer below.

True

False

You must do this for every single question. And if your students have already made an attempt, you will get a warning message. Click through it. Be sure to click "DONE" after every question. 

PS - If you have given more time for a student with an SAS accommodation, be sure to go back to Moderate to make sure that is still active. I had to re do it.