Does the Course Link Validator Analyze Images in Item Banks?

[EmilyStory]

I switched to New Quizzes and Item Banks. I recently had my students take a quiz, and two images didn't show up for the students taking the quiz. I always upload images using the Rich Content Editor, I upload all files from the course I use to create Item Banks, and I share Item Banks across courses.

I was told from Canvas support that, "The image in question was associated with another course and, therefore not accessible from the current course". However, when I ran the Course Link Validator, the images did not show up. Does the Course Link Validator not work with item banks? If it does that the images in question did not show up when I ran it, how can I tell whether images will be accessible to my students or not? 

I never had this issue before and obviously troubleshooting with a room full of students is stressful for myself and the students. 

[Steph_30 · Accepted solution]

Hi @EmilyStory,

I'm sorry you had to troubleshoot during class. I've been in that situation and it is indeed very stressful.

I don't think the link validator looks "inside" the new quizzes, just pages (but I could be wrong). The safest thing to do when copying a quiz to another course is to quickly do a test run of that quiz in student view before you publish it. It's a bit more work, but it's much less frustrating than solving any issues that crop up in class.

Hope this helps!

[KellyLane]

Hi @EmilyStory ,

Our district is new to Canvas and made the decision to do "new quizzes" only. At the beginning of school, Canvas updated new quizzes with the full rich content editor and something changed. We have found that importing content or copying to quizzes may cause the images to not copy over. Our CSM has been in constant contact with us about the progress of the fix (it was escalated to a priority). The only work around we know that works most consistently is using item banks, but are anxiously waiting for the new fix so workarounds are not necessary. We encourage you to reach out to your district Canvas system admin so they can talk to the CSM about the progress. 

I say this to reassure you that it is not a "user" error, but a system thing we are experiencing and Canvas is actively working on the solution. Hope that helps! 🙂

[MichaelZuk]

I may have discovered a workaround for this problem.

Our problem is similar: I make an item bank and use it to build a quiz. The questions in that bank contain images (copy/and pasted or uploaded doesn't seem to make a difference.) The quiz is the copied or sent to another teacher. (That teacher also has access to the banks). In both of our banks, we can see each others images. But my students can only see images associated with questions I made, and v/v for her students. Same goes when we preview as a student.

Our work around.

Go to FILES, UPLOADED MEDIA folder, then change the visibility (the little crossed out eyeball icon) from "inherit from course" to "public". After Canvas spins its wheels for a few minutes, the public status sticks, and both teachers are able to see each other's images. This should be repeated for every image uploaded. Tedious, but effective.