This article outlines a number of helpful features that are available to assist and guide students when doing quizzes in eClass.

In-progress quizzes

Please note: If you are *currently writing a quiz* and are experiencing a problem, follow these steps first:

1. Contact your instructor immediately to advise them you are encountering problems. They may be able to suggest workarounds and will be able to add more time to your quiz.
2. Clear your browser cache. This action may immediately resolve the known 'flickering' issue affecting some Windows/Chrome users.
3. Switch browsers and restart. This only applies to base eClass quizzes, not exams proctored with Smart Exam Monitor (SEM) or ExamLock. If the problem is specific to your browser (e.g., a 3rd-party extension issue, a caching issue, etc.) then this may get you up and running again right away. eClass quizzes automatically save answers every time you switch between pages, and you should be able to sign in with a new browser, enter any required password, and click Continue last attempt to resume right away.
4. Contact the IST helpdesk (or your internet provider) for computer problems. 780-492-8000. IST may be able to assist with general computer trouble. If your internet service is out, you may be able to use a personal hotspot from your mobile phone to access the quiz. 
5. Contact eClass support directly for in-quiz problems. 780-492-9372. They can review quiz settings and can suggest potential sources of problems and any solutions.

Also, be aware that the tips and guidelines below apply only to base eClass quiz attempts. For fully remote exams, students may need to consult the following:

• Using Smart Exam Monitor (for students) and, if encountering problems, Troubleshooting SEM Issues

Avoiding Common Problems (Review In Advance)

• Perform any practice quizzes your instructor has enabled for you to troubleshoot issues in advance.

• Use a wired internet connection whenever possible. If internet connectivity drops during a quiz, eClass will store the last saved answers for any questions attempted.

• When completing in-class or on-campus exams on their own devices, students should always ensure they are using the regular campus UWS wifi network and not the Guest@UofA free wireless connection. The guest network is known to drop connectivity and cause interruptions during internet sessions.

• Students should troubleshoot their connectivity issues and resume their attempts once they have restored their connection. If connection problems occur, be sure to contact your instructor and advise them you have encountered difficulties.

• Students who encounter internet access or wifi issues during practice exams and/or do not have reliable internet access may wish to book a lab computer in Cameron Library to complete exams there. If your exam requires SEM monitoring you should select a Mac workstation as they are the only available machines with built-in webcams and external webcams may not function on Windows computers.

• Do not use 3rd party browser tools (e.g., Grammarly) as these can interfere with quiz application performance.

• Switch browsers and restart if you encounter any issues: a fresh browser will reveal if the problem is widespread or if it is something in a particular web-browsing session. 

• Important note: Do not launch multiple browser sessions accessing the same quiz at the same time. If you are completing an open-book exam and have a second browser window open to review course notes or static quiz information, ensure you close that additional browser windows and tabs before submitting the quiz and ensure that you do not allow the quiz to auto-submit at the deadline with additional windows or tabs open as it may not submit your work correctly.
• The eClass mobile app should not be used to submit high-stakes summative exams. 

Attempting a quiz

We will use 'quizzes' and 'exams' interchangeably as they use the same eClass resource.

Major topic headings may be collapsed when you try to access a quiz. While quizzes and exams may not be under a specifically-labelled topic heading, if they are under a collapsed topic, you will have to expand the topic to see the quiz:

Once you have expanded the topic you will see a link to open the quiz (if the instructor had made it available), and you may see quiz due dates and attempt information below the quiz: 

Quiz timer

Quizzes may be configured with a time limit as well as open and close times. This information will be displayed on the quiz launch page.

Quizzes cannot be attempted before the start time. Before the start time, they display the message 'This quiz is not available'.

If a value is set in 'Grade to Pass' it will also be displayed here in the summary along with more detailed information about quiz timing.

Click 'Attempt quiz' to open the quiz:

After reviewing any additional information about the quiz, click "Start Attempt" to start your attempt and start the quiz timer:

Navigating a quiz

- Quiz navigation panel

• New in 2023: As you start a quiz, the right 'Quiz navigation' panel may disappear:

If the 'Quiz navigation' panel does disappear, you can restore it by clicking to open the 'Block drawer' at the top right of your quiz page:

- Crossing out alternatives (multiple choice questions only)

Students can use the cross-out feature to visually mark unlikely answers in multiple-choice questions. These strike-throughs are only visible to students while responding to a question: they have no effect on which answer is selected, are not saved when a student navigates between questions (if questions are on separate pages), nor are they saved when a quiz is submitted.

- Question flagging

Students can flag a question in a quiz to mark it as something to return to later.

- Clear Multiple choice answers

In multiple choice questions, students can now click the Clear my choice(s) link to remove any answers they have already selected for that question:

- Manually saving quiz progress

By default, every time a student switches pages in a quiz, the results are saved to eClass. In addition, clicking the Save progress button at any time will do the same thing. If a quiz is structured with a single question per page (the default option), progress is saved without clicking on the 'Save Progress' button; this feature is more useful for quizzes with a large number of questions per page or for long-form written questions when students might be authoring or selecting answers for a long period of time without switching pages.

- Quiz navigation index

The right-hand 'Quiz Navigation' box provides a quick method to access different pages or questions. It is also possible to navigate page-by-page with the buttons at the bottom of each page. You may also go straight to the submission confirmation for completing a quiz attempt through the link on the index.

If the quiz has a time limit or closes at a particular time, students will see a countdown to when the quiz closes. Please note: quizzes will close to students whenever the FIRST of these occurs - i.e., if a quiz has a time limit of 60 minutes but a student begins their attempt 45 minutes before the attempt close time, their attempt will end at the close time, not after 60 minutes. 

 The quiz timer is located at the top of the quiz page. Once the timer runs out, the quiz will submit automatically.

- Notification about unanswered questions

Before finalizing your submission, the quiz will show you a summary of complete and incomplete questions (as well as anything flagged).

Submitting your quiz attempt

After clicking 'Submit all and finish,' you cannot re-open your quiz attempt without the permission of your instructor.

Note: Instructors will sometimes have configured multiple attempts. Multiple attempts will be indicated in the quiz timer as above.

Reviewing your quiz attempt

At the discretion of the instructors, students may be given access to review quiz attempts. Options may include allowing review when the attempt closes or when the quiz close; you may or may not also see correct answers and comments. time expires. 

To review a quiz attempt, return to the quiz activity where it may now show the attempt(s), and click on Review. If review is not permitted, you will only see your score here but only once the instructor has released it.

Discussion forums on eClass can be used for course announcements or to facilitate discussion among students and/or instructors. This article describes how students and instructors can post in a forum.

This article will explain how to add simple web links into any editable content area where the HTML editor is available. For instructors the main places would be: the content section headers of their course home page, as content within page resources, in descriptions of activities or resources, and in forum posts. For students, the main places for this would be in the content of online text assignment submissions and in forum posts.

As a part of efforts to improve the site performance of eClass during exams, areas in the site that contribute high load on the service will be blocked during the official final exam period.

One area that will affect students is the Grades link in the top-right dropdown menu under their profile. This link provides an overview of grades across all the courses a student is enrolled in:

During final exam periods, this link will be removed from the dropdown list.

Students will still be able to access their grades in each course through the grades link at the top of the course page:

This article outlines the mechanisms and best practices for students to submit assignments in eClass. These can be text-based, images, or even multimedia but the submission must exist as a digital file on the student's device.

The recommended file type for submitting files into eClass is PDF. .PNG file submissions cannot be graded online so should be avoided.

Best Practice for Converting to PDF

If you have been instructed to take photos of your work and upload them to eClass as a PDF, make sure that you first copy/paste the photos into a Word or Google doc and then convert them to a PDF. Converting your photos directly to a PDF can cause problems during grading for instructors. Photo to PDF conversions often cause the file size to bloat and the resulting files may not display correctly in eClass, and your instructor may not be able to grade your submission as a result. It is also good practice to avoid 3rd-party applications or online PDF convertors as your file(s) may not be compatible with grading in eClass. Whenever possible, convert your files to PDF using Microsoft Office, Google Suite, or Adobe applications to ensure compatibility with eClass. 

When saving a PDF from Microsoft Word (important):
The setting "ISO 19005-1 compliant (PDF/A)" must be checked to ensure that the PDF will display properly when your instructor grades it:

Submitting Assignments

There are two ways to submit an assignment. You can upload a file directly from your device, or you can upload a file via your Google Drive. Both options are explained in detail below. 

Uploading a file directly from your device (Recommended)

1. Navigate to the assignment on your eClass course page

2. Click on “add submission”

3. Add your file by dragging and dropping or clicking on the “select a file” icon. If clicking “select a file”, a pop-up will appear where you can upload a file. Then, save changes.

Please note that the 'eClass Confetti' extension for Google Chrome has been associated with submissions not loading correctly for instructors so is not recommended.

Submitting a file directly from your Google Drive

Note: The process below only functions if the source file is less than 5MB in size. If the file is larger than 5MB, students must download the document from their Google Drive, save it on their device, and then upload it into eClass using the method above. It is always recommended to check the size of your file before submitting it via your Google Drive, so you know the file will open properly for your instructor. 

1. Navigate to your assignment, and click “add submission”.

2. Select a file

3. Select “Google Drive Repository,” and log in to your ualberta.ca Google account

4. Find and select the file from your Google Drive

5. Save changes

Viewing Grades and Feedback for Completed Assignments

Once your instructor has graded your assignment and released it, you can view your grades and feedback by clicking the same link you used to submit it:

Grades and feedback appear below the 'Submission status' information:

Please note: A known issue is affecting annotated feedback when downloaded where the positions of annotations are not accurate. Students should click the 'View annotated PDF' button to view the annotations online until this is resolved.

To view text annotations online, click 'View annotated PDF...', then hover over the yellow icons:

The eClass mobile app, currently in a public beta release, offers faculty, students, and staff easy access to eClass course content. The app is available for download here.

This article describes some of the differences between the app and regular desktop access as well as the main expected uses for the app. Overall, the app should be thought of as a tool for students and instructors to access course content on-the-go. 

Please note, that there are some major differences between the functionality in the mobile app and the regular browser-based experience:

• Instructors should not plan to perform any major administrative functions using the app such as constructing their courses or grading students.
• Students may encounter issues viewing content on mobile and should not plan on using the mobile app as their sole option for accessing eClass.
  

General Interface Differences:

• The Dashboard page (course list) uses a standard version that is missing many of eClass’s customisations including re-ordering, highlighting, and hiding.
• Course content is displayed one section per page with options added for navigating between sections.
• The different course formats available in the regular browser view are not available in mobile. Note that this may drastically change the display of content between the browser version of eClass and the app.
• The online text editor has a different look and includes a different set of options.
• The right-side blocks available in the desktop view are not available in the mobile view.
   

Student Activity Differences:

• Forum posts and replies can be added through the app by clicking the large green plus icon near the bottom right. Files and photos from the device can be attached to a post and as assignment submission (but cannot added through the system editor within posts.)
• Quizzes can be taken using the mobile app with an alternative for offline delivery. Note: quizzes containing the ‘All-or-Nothing Multiple Choice’ question type cannot be completed in the app.
• Many of the U of A’s custom developed plugins are not yet available in the app but instead display a link to launch the mobile browser view of that tool. These include:
  • Tab display
  • Group peer assessment
  • Anonymous forum
• LTI external tools do not function reliably including Zoom meeting links.

Instructor / Course Administration Differences:

• Many administrative functions are not possible in the mobile app including adding or changing course participants, viewing or modifying groups, viewing course usage reports, creating or editing course content, and modifying the gradebook setup.
• No grading table is available for instructors. Student grades can be viewed (not entered) by clicking Participants > [Student name] > Grades.

Known Issues:

In addition to the above known functional differences, there are a number of known bugs and issues in the app functionality that are under investigation or which are already being repaired (some by Moodle HQ and some by the eClass team). These include:

• Many of the blocks in the right-hand block drawer, including the "Library Resources" block, will not display in the app.
• Styling and display of activity completion restriction messages on course content items.
• The ‘Add New Discussion’ button in forums that do not yet have posts is not currently working (posts can be added via the green plus icon).
• Improving display for custom local activities and resources by replacing the generic puzzle piece icon with actual existing icons.
• Android navigation back button and the bottom application navigation options do not function consistently.
• Android app looks for any installed audio recording apps for doing audio recording submissions. Fails when none are detected.
• Embedded google drive videos will not play.
• Kaltura video content will only load on the second attempt.
• Some filters, such as the MathJax filter for displaying mathematical notation, may not display properly.
• At the top of a course, a student might see a percentage bar. This relates to the percentage of activities that are able to be marked as complete that are marked as complete. This does not relate to course completion or the grade that you have on the course. 

The eClass mobile app allows iOS and Android users on-the-go access to their courses whenever they require. The app features:

• Easily access course content - browse the content of your courses, even when offline.
• Connect with course participants - quickly find and contact other people in your courses.
• Keep up to date - receive instant notifications of messages and other events, such as assignment submissions.
• Submit assignments - Upload images, audio, videos and other files from your mobile device.
• Track your progress - View your grades, check completion progress in courses and view feedback,
• For a full list of what the app can (and can’t) do, please see Detailed features of the eClass Mobile App.

To access the eClass Mobile app:

Please note that in addition to functional differences listed above (and in the linked article), the mobile app may display course content differently based on the file type or display mechanism. If any issues are encountered accessing specific pieces of content, these problems should be validated on the desktop version before contacting eClass support or the instructor.

This article outlines how YuJa videos can be added through the standard eClass editor available in most content areas in the system.

For instructors, common spots for adding media would include content section headings, labels, or page resources.

For students, media would most commonly be added to forum posts or in assignments requiring online text submissions. This article will show the process from a student's point of view when adding a video to a forum post, but the process is common to all of the different content entry locations.

Adding a video to a content area (example)

To add YuJa videos in a forum post, for example, click add Add a new discussion topic, add a subject, open the content editor, click the top left expander icon to expand the additional rows of icons, then select 'YuJa for atto':

Uploading media

The first time a student accesses YuJa through, no media will be available to select so they should select Upload media or Record content:

When uploading, it is possible to drag and drop or browse to upload existing video files. Once selected, these will appear in a progress bar below the uploader while they are in progress:

Recording media

If students do not have their own media content to add, they can record content.

To record, students will first need to download the YuJa desktop capture application and should select the desktop recording option (browser recording is recommended only if a user is working on a machine that does not have the desktop capture application installed):

Once launched, the capture application allows users to select the video, audio, and screen feeds:

More information on recording videos in YuJa can be found in Recording Videos Using YuJa and on the YuJa support portal.

Adding media to a course

Once they have uploaded or recorded a video, students will need to re-launch the Yuja Media Chooser from the forum post editor. They should now see the media they have added which can then be selected and inserted:

Once the YuJa video title appears in the discussion topic content area, it can be posted into the forum or assignment by clicking Insert Content.

The resulting Forum post will look like this with a hyperlink to the video stored by YuJa:

Users can switch to a dark-themed version of eClass similar to dark modes found in various modern apps and operating systems. Dark mode can be used to reduce eye strain and improve sleep through lower levels of blue light, improve device battery life, or simply for aesthetic appeal.

To enable the dark theme:

1. Access your profile from the top left drop-down menu:

2. Select  Edit profile (Click here for a link to your own profile.)

3. In the General category, Choose 'Dark theme (beta)' from the Preferred theme dropdown and click Update profile at the bottom of the page.

Notes:

The dark theme has been in beta release since 2021 and we have received much user feedback regarding how it looks in some areas of eClass. In the event something is unclear in the dark theme, please switch back to the default Light theme if it becomes an issue. If you find issues with viewing content in the Dark theme, please contact eclass@ualberta.ca or forward your concern to your instructor.

YuJa is the U of A's Enterprise Video Platform. Students can use it to watch, upload and share videos through eClass courses.

Instructions for using the full range of video features are available on the YuJa support portal including using the YuJa mobile app.

Students can also view specific topics below.

Uploading and captioning videos
Any user with a CCID can sign in at https://ualberta.yuja.com to upload, record, edit, and manage their videos.

Students can consult the following articles for specific help submitting videos for assignments, forum posts, etc:
Adding YuJa Videos into Content Areas of Canvas
Editing videos using Yuja
Adding captions to Yuja uploads (Students)

Video shows 'Restricted' when other students can view it

Sometimes students receive the notice that 'This video is restricted' when their instructor has correctly published a video to a course channel. This issue occurs when 3rd party cookies or cross-site tracking is blocked in a browser.

YuJa requires enabling 3rd party cookies for correct access to embedded videos. 

To resolve this in Safari, students need to uncheck Preferences > Privacy > Prevent cross-site tracking:

To resolve this in Chrome, students need to uncheck Preferences > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data > 'Block 3rd party cookies:

Picture-in-picture controls

New in July 2022: For recordings created in YuJa Create Recording, we have activated controls to allow different views of the screen capture and camera capture. If there is no camera capture, you can turn off the blank picture-in-picture by switching to a single stream view.

Downloading Video Caption Files

All videos in YuJa get automatically captioned (or instructors upload specific caption files corresponding to videos). Students can download these files by:

1. Opening the video side-bar:

2. Clicking the download icon in the Documents tab at the far right:

Viewing full answers in video quiz attempts:

By default, video quizzes in YuJa will only post the quiz score back into the gradebook in eClass. Instructors have the option to close quizzes on a particular date which will permit students to view all the questions and answers in the quiz.

To do this, students should first access YuJa directly, either by 1) viewing their course channel in YuJa by clicking on a course-level link (this would be a link in their eClass page that launched YuJa instead of launching a specific video); or 2) if no course-level YuJa link is available, by going directly to YuJa at https://ualberta.yuja.com/ and selecting 'University of Alberta CCID login'.

Once on the YuJa platform, students should click the Profile icon near the top right, then select My account:

From there, open the left nav menu and select My grades:

Then select the specific course from the Group field and the specific Quiz, then click Get Result:

The Summary tab displays all the questions, whether questinos are correct, and the total score. Clicking on the specific question tabs (Q1, Q2, etc.) will display the specific answers selected:

This article provides an overview and explanation of the icons found on eClass that would normally be used by students. 

Courses with Completion Tracking display completion criteria for course items directly on the page for better visibility. A Mark as done button is used by students for items that allow manual completion tracking.

The screenshot below shows how completion items appear in a course. Multiple completion criteria are all displayed inline adjacent to the activity:

Each activity type on eClass may contain different completion options or criteria.

For example, in Activity Completion Demo (3), above, in order for the activity to be logged as completed, students must:

1. View
2. Make a submission
3. and Receive a grade

Completed items (or completed sub-items if multiple criteria are specified) will be shown as Done in green. (Grey-coloured conditions indicate that the condition has not been met.)

If an item is set by the instructor to allow 'Students to mark an item as complete', these will display a Mark as done button to the right of the activity or resource name. Students can then elect to click the button to mark an item done to track their own completion. Once clicked, the button will become a green Done button (which can be toggled back to Mark as done if necessary.) Students cannot mark an item as done if it contains automated completion tracking settings.

As a student, you can review a list of all your forum posts:

On the right-hand side of the screen, click on 1) your picture or initials and select 2) Profile. 

In your profile, you will have the following two links for viewing forum activity:

Forum posts: All discussions you have started and replies you have posted

Forum discussions: Discussions that you have started

 A list of your posts should look similar to this screenshot. Note, if you would like to save these posts, you can copy and paste them into a Google Doc.