Overview
Question Banks and Item Banks are similar in function as they allow instructors to add reusable questions to quizzes from a "bank" of user created questions.However there are key differences between Question and Item banks. Question Banks are tied to a specific course and cannot be easily shared with colleagues. Question Banks also only work in the Classic Quiz format. Item Banks are tied to the user and can be used in any course that the user is listed as an instructor in. Item Banks can be shared with colleagues using the Share feature (owners can allow users to view or edit the item Bank. Also if a user edits an Item Bank question, the changes made to Item Bank question(s) will reflect on any Quizzes that the question is used in (Mass update questions).
Limits & Observations:
- Question Banks only work in Classic Quizzes and Item Banks only work in New Quizzes.
- Only one Quiz can be exported per zip file. This process coverts a Classic Quiz iinto a New Item Bank; if multiple quizzes are exported at the same time, the quizzes will be combined into a single question bank. Steps 1-12 could be repeated until all of the quizzes are ready to go, however they would just need to be exported one at a time).
- Course Question Banks are not erased when they are converted to user Item Banks.
- When Editing an Item Bank item(s) that is being used in a test(s) the test will automatically be updated to the latest version of the question(s). If student(s) have already taken a test using an Item Bank Item, then Canvas will offer to create a separate copy of the Item Bank item as to not effect the student(s) grade/ correct_incorrect response.
Video Instructions
Written Instructions
Step 1: Navigate to Quizzes
Step 2: Create a Quiz
Step 3: Choose Classic Quizzes
Step 4: Press the blue Submit Button
Step 5: Provide a name for the quiz; this will be the name of the Item Bank
It is important to create a name that makes the quiz easy to identify!
Step 6: Move the Quiz to an Assignment Group (this is optional, however if you have lots of Question Banks, this will make it easier to delete the Quizzes/cleanup the course afterwards)
Create an Assignment Group
Step 1: Navigate to Assignments
Step 2: Select +Group
Step 3: Create a name for the Assignment Group
Step 4: Press the blue save button
Step 7: After naming the Quiz and optionally creating an Assignment Group to place the Quizzes into, Press Questions 
Step 8: Choose Find Questions
Step 9: Locate and select a Question Bank that you want to convert into an Item Bank
Step 10: Press Select All
Step 11: Press the Add Selected Questions Button
Step 12: Scroll to the bottom of the page and press the blue Save button
Optional Step 12b: Repeat steps 1-12 until you have all quizzes created
Step 13: Navigate to Course Settings
Step 14: Choose Export Course Content
Step 15: Choose Quiz
Step 16: Select the Quiz you just created/most recent quiz (Do not attempt to export multiple Quizzes at the same time)
Step 17: Press the create Export button
Step 18: Click New Export to download the .zip file (do not unzip it).
Step 19 Navigate to Item Banks
Step 20: Press the + Bank to Create a new Item Bank
Step 21: Create a name for the Bank; the name does not matter--when you import the zip file the name will be replaced with the zip file name (when creating a new Item Bank, the name can't be left blank)
Step 22: Press the blue Create Bank button
Step 23: Change Bank selection to "All Banks"
Step 24: If you don't see your new Item Bank listed, try to search for it
Step 25: Once you have located the Item Bank, click on it to open it
Step 26: Press the three vertical dots
Step 27 Select Import Content
Step 28: Drag & Drop the .Zip file from earlier (Step 18) or alternatively, use Browse to locate the file (the file is usually stored in Downloads, Desktop or Documents)
Step 29: Press the blue Import button
Step 30: Press the blue Done button after the upload has finished
Step 31: Press the Return button to exit the bank
In the Item Bank Navigation Menu you have several options:
Share: This button allows you to Share the bank with Colleagues
Edit: This button allows you to change the name of the Item Bank
Delete: This button allows you to delete the Item Bank
Return: This button takes you back to the course Homepage
To edit questions within the bank, click on the title of the bank to open the bank.
Course Quiz Cleanup
After this process is finished the course will likely have lots of place holder quizzes. If you have created an Assignment Group during this process, you can simply delete the assignment group and it will delete all of the placeholder quizzes.
Step 1: Navigate to Assignments
Step 2: Select the three vertical dots on the right side of screen (across from the Assignment Group title)
Step 3: Choose Delete (If the delete button is greyed out, refresh the page)
Step 4: Select "Delete its assignments"
Step 5: Press the blue Delete Group button
If you did not create an Assignment Group as a placeholder for all of the Question Bank/Old Quizzes, then you will need to delete each quiz individually.
Step 1: Navigate to Assignments
Step 2: Select the three vertical dots to the right of the quiz
Step 3: Choose Delete (if the delete button is greyed out, refresh the page)
Step 4: Repeat process until all placeholder quizzes have been removed from course.
Need Help or Have Additional Questions?
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