Item banks allow instructors to create, manage, and reuse assessment questions across quizzes and courses. Questions stored in an item bank can be added to quizzes individually or as randomized sets, helping support flexible assessment design and question reuse.
Item banks are not automatically populated; questions must be added intentionally. They can also be shared with other instructors, allowing for collaborative development of assessment content.
Note: This page assumes instructors are using New Quizzes, the default quiz option at George Mason. If you are using Classic Quizzes, you should first migrate to New Quizzes. If you are currently using Question Banks in Classic Quizzes, migrating to New Quizzes will also migrate any Question Bank used into an Item Bank.
General Guidance
Canvas provides detailed step‑by‑step instructions for working with item banks. The following guides are commonly used when building and using item banks:
- How do I create an item bank in New Quizzes?
- How do I add an item from an item bank to a quiz in New Quizzes?
- How do I add all items or a random set from an item bank to a quiz in New Quizzes?
For additional instructions and workflows, refer to the full Canvas Instructor Guide.
Sharing Permissions
Item banks can be shared with a user or a course. This determines who can access and manage the content. Edits made to a question in an item bank will apply to all quizzes that use that question. If students have already taken a quiz, editing a question may require creating a copy to avoid changing previously submitted responses.
Be intentional when and how you share an item bank to avoid unintended changes. Users or courses with shared access can view or edit. Sharing with a course gives any instructor or TA the same permissions. Those who can view can also duplicate, which is ideal for sharing with faculty without allowing them to change the original item bank. Edit access gives the shared user or course permission to edit and delete items and banks.
Importing Content
Importing questions into item banks from QTI files is a straightforward way to create entire item banks from outside sources including publisher content. If you already have New Quizzes in your course, you can also convert it to an Item Bank, by first exporting it and then importing it using the instructions above. If you want to combine several quizzes into a midterm or final, for example, export all the preliminary quizzes, import them into their own item banks, and finally pull from the item banks as you create the midterm or final.
Additional Tips
- For whole course design, consider creating one item bank per outcome or topic to support targeted assessment design.
- Use consistent naming conventions so item banks can be easily identified across courses. You can access all item banks in your Canvas account from any course.
- Editing questions in the item bank helps prevent duplicate versions across multiple quizzes. If you want to preserve the previous versions, duplicate the item bank before editing.