[ARCHIVED] Can I convert a CANVAS multiple-choice quiz to BLACKBOARD format?

[jay_lewenstein]

Hola Canvas Community,

First of all, thank you for your support.  You guys are great.

Recently, I created a series of multiple-choice quizzes to post on Canvas.  I made them up myself.  Like one question after another.  I like how they work.

Here is my question:

Can I convert these quizzes in a format that I can use on Blackboard.

I am a part-time instructor who works on multiple campuses.

Since, I created the quizzes on Canvas, I have received the opportunity to work on a campus that uses Blackboard.

Please let me know.  Happy New Year.

Paz,

JL

[James · Accepted solution]

 @jay_lewenstein  

According to the documentation -- yes, this is possible. You need your quizzes in QTI format for this to work, but both Canvas and Blackboard support that format. Multiple choice are fairly standard question types so there shouldn't be much surprise.

The one thing I would caution about is whether the questions were entered directly into the quiz or you put them into a question bank and then linked them to the quiz. If you went the linked question bank route, it's a harder job as question banks aren't included in the exports and you need to get the questions into a quiz to export them. Question groups within quizzes are fine, it's only when you link the questions to a question bank and don't include them in the quiz itself that the issue arises.

Here are some links that might help.

• How do I export a Canvas course?  (Canvas export) When you follow the instructions, choose Quizzes rather than course if that's all you need.
• https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12683-4152724198 (Canvas import) This is not what you want to do, but it provides more information than the one on exporting did.
• Import or Export Tests, Surveys, and Pools (Blackboard import of quizzes)
• Import Course Packages (Blackboard import)

Disclaimer: I don't have any direct experience doing this. When I tried to search the Blackboard forums for posts with information (most here is on going the other direction), their forums are down until January 8 as they move.

[jay_lewenstein]

Hola Profesor James,

THANK YOU for your SUPPORT!

I followed your instructions.

I downloaded my quizzes to my computer.

They are saved in an export file.

I've done this before when I transfer Canvas "stuff" from class to class, from school to school.

In the past I've gone to my export file to transfer BLACKBOARD stuff to CANVAS stuff. It works. I'm very happy.

But, I have never transferred my CANVAS stuff to BLACKBOARD. I hope it works the same.

I have to wait, though. I don't think my Blackboard shell is up at my new school.

Here, I have a new question for you:

• I see that I have a series of quizzes based on a "Bus Stop" stage play - I entered them as "Assignments"

• I've attached a partial SNIP of how they look in Canvas for your convenience.

Can you tell me how to EXPORT these Assignments without exporting the entire course?

• I have them all - there's like 14 of them - organized in a single module.

Can you give me specific instructions to EXPORT this module?

Thank you for your support. This is going to be great!

Paz,

JL

[James]

For the Canvas side of things, you export an entire course, but then you can select specific content to import, so it's on the import side that you would limit it, not the export side. I have no experience using Blackboard, but the Blackboard Import Course Packages that I linked to in the first response shows an option to select course materials.

What I do not know, and cannot test, is whether it allows you to be specific about which content to import. It may be safer to export just those 14 items rather than the whole course.

Canvas doesn't support exporting selected content, but there is a work-around.

Create a sandbox course to contain just those 14 items. Then you import that module of content from your main course into the sandbox course. How do I copy a Canvas course into a new course shell?  You can also import content from a course into another if you already have a sandbox. How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool? Both of those allow you to select the content to import.

If you cannot create a course, then you log into your school's beta instance of Canvas and delete all of the content in the course except for those 14 items. The beta instance resets every Saturday with a copy of the production instance, so it's a temporary thing without lasting crud build up.

To keep the main instance of Canvas clean, I would do either of those in the beta instance of Canvas. If you created the quizzes this week, then they won't be into the beta instance until Sunday, so I might wait. It doesn't sound like this is an immediate need in the next three days.

You can't copy from the production instance into the beta instance (you can export from production and import into beta or vice versa), but the beta instance gets reset and doesn't leave an orphaned course out there showing up in your course list. How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?