how to import multiple choice questions from word to blackboard & moodle
TRANSCRIPT
How to Import Multiple Choice Questions from
Microsoft Office Word Files to Blackboard &
Moodle LMSs
By: Alireza Hejazi, PhD
Online Course Developer & Instructor
http://goo.gl/ST6zbY
What is Respondus?
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that
can be published directly to Blackboard Learn, Brightspace, Canvas,
Moodle, and other learning systems. Exams can be created offline
using a familiar Windows environment, or moved from one LMS to
another. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new
to it, Respondus will save you hours on each project.
www.respondus.com.
About this instruction
If you have a fully operating (licensed) version of Respondus installed
on your PC, you can import multiple choice questions from Microsoft
Office Word files to Moodle and Blackboard LMSs easily by following
this step by step instruction.
Step 1
Open the Microsoft Office Word file that contains multiple choice
questions. Now, redesign the questions as following:
Each question must begin with a question number, followed by a
period “.”
The question wording must follow the question number. (Note: at least
one space should be between the question number and the question
wording.)
Each answer choice (distractor) must begin with a letter (A-Z) followed
by a period “.”
The correct answer must be indicated by placing an asterisk (*)
directly in front of the answer choice (do not put a space between the
asterisk and the answer choice).
“General Feedback” must appear immediately after the question
wording and before any of the answer choices. The line must also
begin with the @ symbol, and there must be at least one space
between the @ symbol and the feedback text.
Your second question must appear after a blank line. Go on this way
to the final multiple choice question and save your Microsoft Office
Word file. Now, go to [File] and select [Save As]. Save the file as a
plain text in “.txt” format.
Step 2
Run Respondus program. From the Start menu, select the [Import
Questions] task.
The following dialog will appear:
Now, you must select the type of file that will be imported. The
“Standard Format” for organizing questions is Plain Text (.txt) file.
Next, use the [Browse] button to locate and select the file to be
imported.
Specify the name of new file where the questions should be added.
Click the [Preview] button to preview the file being imported and to
see if there are any warning messages. If warning messages are
shown at the bottom of the screen, you need to determine whether to
make changes to the text file or whether to continue with the import.
Be aware that some warning messages don’t actually require you to
make a change to the file being imported. For instance, Respondus
will generate a warning message if two questions being imported
have the same title (Respondus will place the number “2” at the end
of the second title to make it distinct from the first). But if you don’t
care about this issue, you can ignore the warning message.
If you are satisfied with how the results look in Preview, click [Finish]
to complete the import. The Respondus file has now been created
and saved.
Step 3
Now, go to Start tab and choose Blackboard 7.X – 9.X in the “Current
Personality” box.
To keep “General Feedback” of each question in the output file and
having randomized questions in your quiz, go to Settings tab, choose
Other Settings and check all Feedback Options boxes and Randomize
Questions.
Next, click on Preview & Publish tab and click [Publish Wizard] button.
The following dialog will appear:
Select “Save pool to local file for manual uploading” and click the
[Next] button.
Now you should save the pool file by saving it as a new .zip file.
Type the name of your Blackboard quiz zip file and save it. Then click
the [Finish] button.
It is done and you can import it to your Blackboard LMS easily.
Step 4
This step must be taken by Moodle users. If your LMS is Moodle, then
you can import the generated zip file to your question bank. To do
this, click on “Question Bank” when you sign in your Moodle site as
the administrator of the system and select “Import.”
Choose your desired category or make a new category and select
“Blackboard” file format. Then, click on [Choose s file…] button.
Finally, click on “Import” button.
When all questions are imported, click on [Continue] button down the
page. It is done. Enjoy it!
How to Import Multiple Choice Questions from
Microsoft Office Word Files to Blackboard &
Moodle LMSs
By: Alireza Hejazi, PhD
Online Course Developer & Instructor
http://goo.gl/ST6zbY