This guide helps you evaluate which online tool is most suited (there are benefits and drawbacks to each) to your assessment. This often involves evaluating academic integrity features, types of submissions (e.g. handwritten work, machine-gradable questions, etc.), and whether the assessment is designed to be completed individually or collaboratively. Before you make a selection, you might want to consider how your assessment is designed and if an alternative assessment could be right for you.
This guide provides a comparison of the online assessment tools available in the U of T Academic Toolbox: Quercus Quizzes, Quercus Assignments, and Crowdmark Assigned Assessments.
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1. Online Assessment Tools in the Academic Toolbox
1.1. Quercus Quizzes
Quizzes is a tool in Quercus used to create and administer online quizzes, exams, and surveys, both graded and ungraded.
Quercus Quizzes are ideal for:
- Assessments with multiple questions and question types requiring some academic integrity security
- Accommodating different start/end and active writing times
Quercus Quizzes are not ideal for:
- Providing feedback on submitted files (e.g., handwritten work) in SpeedGrader
Learn more about Quercus Quizzes:
Will your students be submitting digital versions of handwritten work? You cannot mark files uploaded in the Quercus Quiz tool in the SpeedGrader; to mark, you can download them. If you are marking file uploads (especially across a large teaching team), you might consider using Crowdmark.
1.2. Quercus Assignments
Quercus Assignments are a tool for accepting student online submissions (including files, images, text, URLs, etc..)
Quercus Assignments are ideal for:
- Accepting student online submissions (including submission of photographed or digitally scanned work) for grading within SpeedGrader
- Open window access and submission availability
- Accommodating different start/end times
- Use of plagiarism detection tool
Quercus Assignments are not ideal for:
- Multiple questions
- Assignments where limiting active writing time is required - no function to limit active writing time (within larger availability window)
Learn more about Quercus Assignments:
- U of T CTSI guide: Quercus Assignment
- Canvas support guides for Assignments
1.3. Crowdmark Assigned Assessments
An Assigned Assessment in Crowdmark is administered fully online. It allows students to receive the assessment via email and submit their responses digitally within a specific time frame. Students can complete the assessment on paper and take photos using a mobile phone or complete it digitally using Microsoft Word and save it as a PDF file.
Crowdmark Assigned Assessments are ideal for:
- Feedback on submitted files (e.g. handwritten work across large marking teams) for large classes; timed assessments
- Assessments requiring a combination of multiple-choice, text responses, and file upload responses
Crowdmark Assigned Assessments are not ideal for:
- Assessments requiring rigorous technical academic security
- High volume of accommodations
Learn more about Crowdmark Assigned Assessments:
2. Things to do before your assessment
- Complete a test run using a mock or lower stakes assessment early in your course. Regardless of your solution, you want to ensure that your students are comfortable with the process, know what is expected of them, and have the technology to complete the assessment. A great way to ensure that everyone (you, your students, and your teaching team) is ready for the final assessment is to run a mock final assessment. You'll also be able to ensure that any handwritten work is submitted in a format that is easily legible (for tips on how to ensure high quality submissions, see "How do I submit handwritten work?")
- Review what your assessment looks like from the student point of view. You can review the student interface of Quizzes, Assignments, and Crowdmark Assigned Assessments by visiting "What does the assessment look like for the student?"
- Set your grade posting policy. The default grade posting policy is set to manual, which means that grades will automatically be hidden until a member of teaching team releases the grades (see how to post grades in the gradebook). If you want the grades to be shared with student immediately, you can change that setting either for the course as a whole or per each individual assessment column in the gradebook.
3. How do the different assessment tools compare?
| Quercus Quizzes | Quercus Assignments | Crowdmark Assigned Assessments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment distribution |
|
|
|
| Submit on behalf of students | No | No | Yes; See submitting on behalf of a student |
| Enables Group Assessment | No | Yes; See How do I assign an assignment to a course group? |
Yes; See Creating a group assignment |
| Question types |
LaTeX is supported. See Using the math editor as instructor | as student |
|
See Types of questions/responses |
| Randomize questions | Yes; See create a quiz with question group to randomize quiz questions |
No | Yes; See Creating randomized question groups |
Manage submissions |
|
|
|
| Customize availability window | Yes; See quiz options |
Yes | Yes |
| Limit active writing window | Yes | No | Yes |
| Plagiarism detection |
No; |
Yes; Plagiarism detection through Ouriginal tool |
No; |
| Grade assessments |
|
|
|
| Multiple Grader Support | Yes; Might require set up (see filtering by groups or sections) |
Yes; Might require set up (see filtering by groups or sections) |
Yes; |
| Provide feedback |
|
|
|
| Download assessments in bulk | Yes; You can download a .csv file with student answers and each attempt from the Quiz Statistics section |
Yes; You can bulk download a .zip file of all student submissions. See How do I download all student submissions for an assignment? |
Yes; Export graded booklets to PDF See Downloading student work and results |
If you are considering conducting an in-person assessment, refer to our comparison guide for assessment types available in Crowdmark: What Crowdmark Assessment type should I choose: Administered or Assigned?