[New Quizzes] Create Item Banks from MSWord

[rledda]

It would be useful that when you create a question [item] bank at the account level being able to upload a huge number of questions once by using a word document. Now, the only way to do this is to create them one by one.

Rosalie

[jason_mysinger]

This thread was created in 2015 and currently has 600 votes, yet the issue has not been resolved!  Come on, Canvas!  Our school system switched from Blackboard to Canvas a year ago, and I love a lot of tools that Canvas has; however, this feature of importing questions from a Word doc to Canvas questions needs to be added!!

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar‌ idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[joel_duffin]

My company, Atomic Jolt, has implemented an open source Ruby library that converts MS Word documents to Canvas quizzes: GitHub - atomicjolt/word2quiz We also build lots of LTI apps for Canvas and have an open source LTI starter app that we use as a starting place for new tools: GitHub - atomicjolt/lti_starter_app. We could implement an LTI tool that utilizes the our word2quiz library to allow users to import MS Word documents into Canvas quizzes. Once Quizzes.Next adds API support, we could also support importing directly into that tool. If you are interested in discussing this, please reach out to me at joel.duffin@atomicjolt.com

[gwied]

You can import MS Word question banks using Respondus. 

Pro: this retains italics, underlining, bold, and tables. 

Con: question titles are truncated to 20 characters. If you want longer question titles, use plain text or .rtf files for Respondus import.

[gwied]

Hi  @millerjm ,
I have been working with several faculty in exactly this situation. I use a text processor (BBEdit) that allows regex text search-and-replace, so I am able to quickly batch-edit a lot of questions at once, typically using several steps to make sure everything is ready for Respondus.

for example, a Word doc set up like this (from faculty):

Question 10 (Lesson 11)  10 points

From your knowledge of the Late Spring Nitrate Test (LSNT) for corn nitrogen need, at what plant height will you perform the LSNT as an agronomist?

 a. When the corn plant is 6 to 12 inches high

b. When the corn plant is 24 inches high

c. When the corn plant is 36 inches high

d. When the corn plant is 48 inches tall

e. Plant height is not an issue

Question 11 (Lesson 11) 5 points

The concentration of essential elements in plant tissue is related to plant growth and crop yield. If tissue concentration is at the critical range, the supply is just (marginal, sufficient, incipient toxicity, toxic range) and growth is expected to decline if the nutrient becomes less available.

 a. Marginal

b. Sufficient

c. Incipient toxicity

d. Toxic range

...is transformed/prepared for Respondus, via regular expressions replacements, to this:

Points: 10
Type: MC
Title: q10-L11-MC-timing of LSNT
10. From your knowledge of the Late Spring Nitrate Test (LSNT) for corn nitrogen need, at what plant height will you perform the LSNT as an agronomist?
*a. When the corn plant is 6 to 12 inches high
b. When the corn plant is 24 inches high
c. When the corn plant is 36 inches high
d. When the corn plant is 48 inches tall
e. Plant height is not an issue

Points: 5
Type: MC
Title: q11-L11-DD-concentration of essential elements-MAKE DROPDOWN
11. The concentration of essential elements in plant tissue is related to plant growth and crop yield. If tissue concentration is at the critical range, the supply is just (marginal, sufficient, incipient toxicity, toxic range) and growth is expected to decline if the nutrient becomes less available.
*a. Marginal
b. Sufficient
c. Incipient toxicity
d. Toxic range

Note regarding question 11 above: Since Respondus can't import "dropdown" as a question type, it is imported as multiple choice simply to get all the text into Canvas; I added a "note to self" within the question title as a reminder to alter the question type once inside Canvas.

A typical regex search/replace would look like this (approximately applicable to the above example - the search/replace criteria would be customized for the patterns at hand):

search:

Question (\d\d?) \(Lesson (\d\d?)\) +(\d\d?) points\n

replace:

Points: \3\nType: __\nTitle: q\1-L\2-TYPE_KEYWORDS_HERE\n\1\. 

[gwied]

Hi Cynthia,

Please see my response to Joni Miller  below.

[ronmarx]

I have refreshed this idea here: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/12874-text-conversion-to-qti-for-bulk-question-import 

[Renee_Carney]

Hi  @ronmarx  

There is no need to "refresh" this idea.  It is still open for vote and for consideration.  I am going to archive your other idea since you say it is a match. 

[ronmarx]

Hello  @joel_duffin ,

Is your LTI app up and running as a stand alone cloud-based app like KSU's legacy Classic to Canvas (QTI 2.0) Converter ?

I don't have the programming chops to install what you posted on GitHub, but would certainly entertain a solution like KSU's or what is built into Blackboard LMS, which I also have experience using.

Creating assessment questions one...at...a...time, especially ones that are already constructed, is such a waste of time.

I'm a power user looking for a remedy from a real code doctor. Doc Joel, can you relieve my pain?

Thanx,

i.Ron

[jalexander6]

Well, here I go.

We converted from Blackboard to Canvas 2 years ago. At that time, everyone with whom we spoke said that uploading exams from Word into Canvas was a great idea that someone would implement Real Soon Now.

I just had to go to my go-to upload spot to create a Blackboard quiz from a copy-and-paste Word document, and it turns out that school has converted to D2L. The Word-to-Blackboard converter now creates D2L quizzes.

Blackboard's going to a new system this month, meaning my free Blackboard account — on Blackboard's online system — may or may not export the format I need for Canvas.

Why on this planet must I convert Word-formatted quizzes to Blackboard to get them into Canvas? How long will someone at Canvas dally about with this before someone — anyone— gets a clue that we've asked for this feature for years?

I don't need a reason why you haven't done it yet. I don't need more discussion, and I especially don't need a deflection that points us to a convoluted process that provides a feature Canvas should already provide. I need a solution. I need it NOW. We need it now.