Quizzes vs Surveys comparison guide
In the past, depending on the situation, you could use a D2L Brightspace Quiz, Self Assessment, or Survey for various form-based tasks.
D2L has recently announced their Intent to implement End of Life (EOL) of the Self Assessment tool, as of January 2027. The Fall 2026 term is the last term during which you鈥檒l be able to create this type of assessment.
There will be a tool to migrate existing Self Assessments to the Quizzes tool during the Winter 2027 term only, then by the end of 2027, all Self Assessments in Brightspace will be permanently destroyed.
In the meantime, we strongly recommend using either the Surveys tool, or the Quizzes tool, effective immediately, to create this type of 鈥減ractice assessment鈥�. You will use one of those tools in the future, once the Self Assessment tool is removed.
Use this comparison guide to select the best tool for your needs when creating a form-based task for your students.
Feature |
||
Recommended Uses |
High or low stakes graded or ungraded assessments, practice/self-tests, progress tracking, learning path decisions |
Query students to find out their opinions, habits, or feelings about a topic, vote on a decision that impacts the class, or provide course feedback at the end of term. |
Caveats |
To combat academic integrity concerns for high-stakes assessments, consider combining with an in-person environment, such as a lab or classroom. |
Due to the format of the results, the Survey tool is best for simple results. If you want to do a lot of data manipulation with the results, the format that D2L produces is not particularly easy to work with. An external tool, such as Google Forms, might be a better fit, as the table has a structure that is easier to work with. |
Supported question types |
11 question types (does not include Likert) |
12 question types (includes Likert) |
Feedback timing |
Feedback after the quiz is submitted (optional) |
Immediate (optional) |
Connect to Grades |
Yes (optional) |
No |
Point values |
Supports scored quizzes, hidden point values, and zero-point questions |
No point values for questions or the overall survey. |
Instructor visibility into learner responses |
Yes. Auto-grading (dependent on question type) and manual grading are possible. |
Yes, but if instant feedback is enabled, the survey submissions must be editable, or results are not submittable. |
Reporting & analytics |
Data sets and question statistics are available. |
Yes, but it is very limited (see Caveats, above). |
Release conditions |
Yes (optional) |
Yes (optional), only if not anonymous. |
Integration in Content tool |
Can be added as a Quicklink in Classic Content. |
Can be added as a Quicklink in Classic Content. |
Student submissions can be anonymous |
No, but anonymous grading is available (becomes non-anonymous when published) |
Yes (optional), if release conditions are not used (release conditions would require identification of users to work). |
Reuse questions from the Question Library |
Yes |
Yes |
Question pools |
Yes |
No |
Sections |
Yes |
Yes |
Shuffle question order |
Yes (optional) |
Yes (optional) |
Set number of questions per page |
Yes (optional) |
Yes (optional) |
Prevent moving backwards through pages |
Yes (optional) |
Yes (optional) |
In Summary
For most practice and assessments, quizzes are the better option. They provide instructors the potential for significant insight, and create a more engaging experience for students.
When in doubt, choose Quizzes.