This guide helps you select the most suitable online assessment tool based on your goals and assessment design. Key factors to consider include submission type (e.g., handwritten work, auto-graded questions), academic integrity needs, and whether the work is individual or collaborative.
This guide compares the main 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:
- Designing assessments with multiple questions and question types that require 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:
- U of T CTSI guide: Quercus Quizzes
- Canvas support guides for Quizzes
Will students be submitting digital versions of handwritten work?
Keep in mind that files uploaded through the Quercus Quiz tool cannot be marked directly in SpeedGrader - you’ll need to download them manually to view or annotate.
If you plan to mark file uploads, especially across a large teaching team, you may want to consider using Crowdmark, which is designed for streamlined grading of handwritten or image-based student submissions.
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
- Providing open-window access and submission availability
- Accommodating different start/end times
- Using plagiarism detection tool
Quercus Assignments are not ideal for:
- Designing multiple questions
- Limiting active writing time within a larger availability window (no function to restrict active writing time)
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:
- Providing feedback on submitted files (e.g. handwritten work across large marking teams) for large classes; timed assessments
- Designing assessments that require a combination of multiple-choice, text responses, and file upload responses
- Accommodating different start/end times and due dates at both the individual assignment level and course level
Crowdmark Assigned Assessments are not ideal for:
- Assessments requiring rigorous technical academic security
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 |
|
|
| 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;
Consider administered assessments for higher stakes assessments |
| 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?