Instructional DesignBest practices for using images in Canvas Classic Quizzes

Adding images to quizzes is important, especially if the content students are being quizzed on is visual. That being said, if not done properly, images embedded in quiz questions can cause headaches for you and your students. Here are five best practices for adding images to a Canvas Classic Quiz.

Use course files

Canvas automatically adds images that have been embedded into a quiz into your course files. If the images are published in your course files, students should be able to see them.

In exceptional cases, images will not show up in a specific student browser. If the images are published and in the course files, this is remedied by having the student use a different browser.

If you import content and quizzes to a new shell each semester, you can create a folder in your course files for quiz images. To confirm that you have all of your quiz images, move them into the folder. If they are not in Files, which can sometimes happen when you import a quiz or from a course that uses question banks, find the image(s) on your computer, upload them into your quiz image folder in the course, and then re-embed them in your quiz questions.

Once all your images are in your images folder, make sure both the folder and the images are published. You can then disable "Files" from your course navigation so students are unable to view the quiz images beforehand. Disabling "Files" will not disable the images in the course (as long as the images and the folder they are in are published).

For more information, see the guides below:

Quiz and question bank images

If you have copied, shared, or imported quizzes from another Canvas course, and you have found that your students can't see the images in the quiz, it's possible that your quiz had been connected to a question bank in an earlier shell. The best practice to avoid this problem is to always check each quiz before your course begins by using student view. If you can't see the images in your quiz, then you might be missing the quizzes associated question bank(s).

Make sure your questions banks have come over with any quiz you copied, shared or imported if you already know you use question banks for your quizzes. One clear sign that you are missing a question bank is that students see an "Access Denied" message rather than seeing the image in a question. While you can see the image (if the quiz is yours from another course), your students can't because they do not have access to your previous course.

If you find that you are missing question banks, you must import the question banks from the original course and then make sure the quizzes are re-linked to the banks. If you catch this before you run your quiz, you can delete your quizzes, and re-import the quizzes and question banks together. This will assure that they are linked. If you need to, submit a help ticket for assistance re-linking the question bank to the quiz.

For more information, see the guide below:

How do I select specific content as part of a course import?

Quiz directions

Provide students with a quick check in the quiz directions to determine whether or not they are able to see images in the quiz, by embedding an image in the quiz directions and providing a brief description of that image. A description of the image is necessary as students will not be able to see if an image is there or not if they are having browser or hardware issues. If students are unable to see the image described before they begin the quiz, they may be having browser or hardware issues and they should switch browsers and/or hardware before they begin taking the quiz.

Ex: “WARNING: Below is a UNC bear logo. The bear is in UNC Gold, outlined in white, on a UNC blue background. If you are unable to see this image as described, you may not be able to view the images in this quiz. To ensure that you are able to see the images in this quiz, switch to either a Chrome or Firefox browser. If you are still not able to see the image, you may need to use a different computer. Submit a help ticket if you are still unable to see the image described. To complete this quiz successfully, you need to be able to see the images."

Use View as Student

View as student, previously known as Student View, allows you to see your content the way students see it. Student View also gives you a test student. Once your quiz is published, go to View as Student and take the quiz. If your "Test Student" is able to see the image embedded in the quiz directions and each of the images in the quiz, chances are good that your students will also be able to see them. If you are unable to see the images in the directions or in the questions, check the best practices above to remedy the situation. Return to View as Student until you are able to see the images.

For more information, see the guide below:

How do I view a course as a test student using Student View?

Browser and hardware compatibility

Even if you've followed all of the best practices here, students may still have issues seeing images in the quiz directions or quiz questions. If they still can't see the images, it is likely to be a browser or a hardware issue. Students should use Chrome or Firefox and either a desktop or laptop computer. Students who take quizzes in the mobile app sometimes report that they are unable to view images in quiz directions or quiz questions.

While the guide below references Safari as a browser option, it also notes that there have been issues displaying files and images when using Safari 13.1 and later versions.

If students are unable to see a described image in the quiz directions, they should switch to Firefox or Chrome. They can also try a different device (desktop or laptop). If they are still unable to view the images, they should submit a help ticket to IM&T for further assistance.

For more information, see the guide below:

What are the browser and computer requirements for Instructure products?

We are here to help!

Your IDD and IM&T teams are here to help you and your students. If one or a few of your students reach out and report issues seeing images in quizzes, be sure they have followed the browser and hardware requirements in the Canvas guide. If they have done so, have them submit a help ticket.

If most or all your students reach out saying they are unable to see the images in a quiz, check that you have followed each of the best practices outlined above. If you have, then submit a help ticket and let us know the course ID, the name of the quiz, and a description of some of the questions.

To submit a help ticket:

(Links to an external site.)

Call: 970-351-HELP (4357)
Email: help@unco.edu