How do I bulk import about 100 .qti question bank files into Canvas?

[pdaves]

I have about 100 qti question banks to import into Canvas. The LMS will only allow selecting one qti zip file at a time, so it takes a long time to do this! Each qti file has 10 versions of a question, and I have about 100 questions over the 3 exams for this class. 

How can I batch import these .qti zip files? I'd sure like to avoid doing 100 separate imports in Canvas. It's cludgy as it is, and takes a long time waiting for each one. 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

I fear you face an exercise in tedium, @pdaves, with the situation you describe. Canvas isn't written to have the meta awareness automatically to take a single file and recognize that it has a bunch of QTI files inside (as I related in my reply to @dbrace). So what I would do in your situation is one of two things:

1. Script the import using an API, which would at least save you from the separate imports
2. Write a QTI file that would treat each of the ones you have as separate banks

I do not have these skills else I would provide something tangible. I'm going to move your question to the Developers group, whose members are more likely to have these skills.

[pdaves]

It should be way easier than that. Virtually all file management interfaces allow you to select multiple files when selecting files for processing. When you select several, then they just process each one sequentially. Virtually all, except I guess Canvas. This is a simple programming fix and should have been implemented on the front end. Also, although canvas has the apparent ability to import qti item banks from the home page import content links rather than go through the 11 step process for each qti file in the add item bank dialog page. However, this simpler method simply gives an error on our system—it does not work. 

[dbrace]

@ProfessorBeyrer,

I believe you have some experience with QTI files but I am not sure if you have come across this before.

What are your thoughts?

-Doug

[pdaves]

None of those address the question I asked. 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thanks @dbrace for tagging me. I have seen QTI files bundled together, but they've always been separate components of another ZIP file. I ran into this when a publisher shared their test banks with an instructor. It was a single ZIP file and I hoped it would become a bunch of quizzes within Canvas but the import failed. I then looked inside the ZIP file and saw a bunch of ZIP files. It turned out that each of those was a QTI file but they had to be separately imported. Fortunately there were fewer than a 100!