[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

[sarah-canatsey]

I agree with the TXT file option. It's annoying this idea has been around since 2015 and still not implemented. Sakai even has the ability to do "markup text" to import a quiz. 

Relying on a third party vendor, such as Respondus (which doesn't have a MAC version) is silly. This should be a basic function for a LMS with your market reach, especially in higher education. 

And it's currently #4 in the top 10% list. Will you just keep pushing it off?

[gcavin]

Let me add my voice to those asking for the ability to upload a test bank from a Word file.  The publisher for a new course that I will be teaching in a few weeks provides excellent test banks in Word format - usually over 100 questions for each chapter.  It will take forever to get all those questions into the test bank.  We need the ability to import the Word document asap!

Thanks

[gwied]

Glynn, That sounds serious. Do you have access to Respondus? Maybe a personal subscription would be worth it - the tool works well for getting Word format exams/question banks into Canvas. A series of 1 import per book cahpter would be a good start; then inside Canvas question banks, you could further sub-divide QBs by sub-topic. There are many versions online of the tutorial offered by Respondus;  I made yet another refinement for the faculty I assist. Let me know if you'd like it. 

See my discussion above on Nov 27, 2018 3:14 PM.  

[gcavin]

Thanks Glenn for the advice - I'll check into Respondus right away.

Cheers

Glynn

[demellon]

I've checked out Respondus.  This PC only authoring app runs $150 each and isn't a solution for us.  I'm with  @sarah-canatsey  — text file exports are a baseline functionality for quiz systems.  It's amazing that this request from 2015 is still unimplemented.  Having to deal with hacks, workarounds, and complex workflows is frustrating and make Canvas seem less professional than other tools.  We are still (overall) happy with our choice of Canvas but the lack of this one feature is making us look elsewhere for assessment tools.  It is not possible to scale up, organize, refine, and manage large scale assessments without it.

[gwied]

Nicholas,

Well said.

Though I do have access to Respondus and use it, some of our faculty are being forced into a _downgrade_ from feature-rich publisher-provided exam authoring/question bank software just to get exams and QBs into Canvas. 

[myoung11]

I think there needs to be the ability to import from word or atleast as an xml into the component. It is something that has long existed and I try and create MC tests as pre tests and post tests for most units it would save a huge amount of time.

[megankoontz]

And be able to export back to MS Word....

[gwied]

Yes, we need ability to print paper exam from Canvas as 1) backup and 2) special accommodations.

I just had this problem, and the solution was terrible. I THOUGHT Respondus 4 would be the “bridge” back to paper copy of the exam. Printing paper backup copies from Canvas is problematic if the exam is more complicated than multiple choice questions plus essay questions (i.e., instructor is using available tools to make the exam interesting/varied/secure).
− Although Canvas can export an exam as a .QTI file, Respondus 4.0 does not properly interpret/parse the QTI file if the exam uses any of the features from Canvas that make authoring within Canvas attractive, e.g., question groups, etc.
− “Matching” question-type not Recognized as valid format
− Question groups are not recognized as groups
− Questions within question groups lose the point value assigned to them, thus default to 1 point.
− Printing direct from the Canvas exam preview webpage is possible for some question types; “matching” questions show up as “select one”, which is obviously useless in print media.
− Thus to print an exam from Canvas, preparing the exam for Word (via Respondus) may take a lot of work.

(I am looking for a better place to post this...)

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi  @gwied ...

I'm not sure if you've seen this yet or not, but there is a reply from  @peterfoxflick  in this thread: Printing Canvas quiz (near the bottom) where he's created a Google Chrome extension you can install in your browser.  It might be a temporary work-around for your needs.  Here is a direct link to his reply.