Blackboard Assessments: Uploading Test Questions from a Tab Delimited Text file (.txt) You can easily create a collection of test questions in an application outside of Blackboard such as Excel and them import them into an existing Blackboard test, survey, or question pool. To do this, you can use the provided Excel spreadsheet as a starting point. This sample Excel spreadsheet provides you with examples of the required format structure for each type of question. The question types are described in detail below. Once you have edited the sample Excel file with your formatted questions, you must then save that Excel file as a Tab Delimited Text file (.txt) and upload the file into Blackboard. Question Types/Bb Codes There are 14 question types that can be used in the upload process: 1. Essay [ESS] 2. Short Response [SR] 3. File Response/upload [FIL] 4. Ordering [ORD] 5. Matching [MAT] 6. Multiple Choice [MC] 7. Multiple Answer [MA] 8. True or False [TF] 9. Opinion/Likert Scale [OP] 10. Quiz Bowl [QUIZ_BOWL] 11. Jumbled Sentence [JUMBLED_SENTENCE] 12. Numeric Response [NUM] 13. Fill-­‐in-­‐the-­‐Blank [FIB] 14. Fill-­‐in-­‐the-­‐Multiple-­‐Blank [FIB_PLUS] Question Template Using a template to create your questions is very helpful. Below is an Excel template that you can modify to create your own questions. Once you have edited this file, save the file locally as a “Tab Delimited Text file” using the correct file format (.txt) and then upload to Blackboard. Excel template: [link to Excel template] Question Format Structure The format for each question type is shown below, following an example of a question of that type. The format structure needs to be followed exactly for the upload questions process to import correctly to your Blackboard test, survey, or pool. Revised: 7/28/2014
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Question Types and Examples 1.
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Essay [ESS] You can choose to enter a sample answer or leave this field blank. Bb Question Code Question Sample Answer (optional) ESS What is Blackboard and how would you use it? Blackboard is a LMS…… Short Response [SR] You can choose to enter a sample answer or leave this field blank. Sample Answer Bb Question Code Question (optional) What is Blackboard and how SR Blackboard is a LMS…… would you use it? File Response/upload [FIL] If this question type is used, make sure to enable attachments for questions in the Test Canvas under Question Settings. Bb Question Code Question FIL Upload your field work results Ordering [ORD] You are able to add up to 20 answers for this question type. Bb Question Question Answer1 Answer2 Answer3 Code Order the four oceans in size, ORD with the largest Pacific Indian Atlantic first. Answer4 Arctic Matching [MAT] It is important to organize the Matching Text with the appropriate Answer Text as shown below. Once uploaded, the Matching Text will be formatted in the first column and the Answer Text will be formatted in the second column. The ordering in each column will be randomized once uploaded to Blackboard. Revised: 7/28/2014
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Bb Question Question Code Match each term MAT with its definitio
n Matching Text2 Erosion The conversion of sediment to rock Answer Text3 Matching Text3 Weather
ing The picking up and carrying away of sediment Question Answer Correct Answer Incorrect Answer Incorrect Bb Question Code Question Answer Correct Answer Incorrect Answer Correct MA Which Baseball teams are in the American League? RedSox Correct Cardinals Incorrect Orioles Correct 8.
Depositi
on The chemical alteration and breakdown of rock Answer Text2 Which Team is a Boston Tampa RedSox Correct Yankees Incorrect Incorrect MC Baseball Bay Team? Multiple Answer [MA] You may have multiple correct answers and incorrect answers up to 20 potential answers. All the answers (correct/incorrect) are uploaded to Blackboard exactly as indicated in your file. Matching Text1 Multiple Choice [MC] You may only have 1 correct answer and up to 20 incorrect answers. All the answers (correct/incorrect) are uploaded to Blackboard exactly as indicated in your file. Bb Question Code 7.
Answer Text1 True or False [TF] After the question enter either True or False for the correct answer. Bb Question Code TF Question Is the moon made of green cheese? True or False False Revised: 7/28/2014
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Opinion/Likert Scale [OP] The Opinion/Likert Scale question type will have the 6 standard ranges and the ranges could be changed once uploaded into blackboard: • Strongly Agree • Agree • Neither Agree not Disagree • Disagree • Strongly Disagree • Not Applicable Bb Question Code Question OP UNH is the greatest University 10. Quiz Bowl [QUIZ_BOWL] This question type is similar to the game show Jeopardy. You phrase the question as a statement, then apply the word and phrase up to 20 potential words/phrases. Bb Question Question/Statement Word1 Phrase1 Code It is the only country What is QUIZ_BOWL Australia that i
s a
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ontinent. Australia 11. Jumbled Sentence [JUMBLED_SENTENCE] When entering the Question, put brackets [ ] around the variable. When entering the variable, enter the corresponding letter that was input within brackets in the Question. You may have up to 36 variables. The Choices will be randomized once uploaded to Blackboard. Bb Question Code Question Choice1 Variable1 Choice2 Variable2 Choice3 Variable3 JUMBLED
_SENTEN
CE The capitol of NH is [x], the neighboring states are [y] and [z] Concord X Massac
husetts Y Maine Z 12. Numeric Response [NUM] A tolerance value can be placed so that any answer submitted within that range would be marked as correct. Bb Question Code Question Answer Tolerance (optional) NUM √64 8 .01 Revised: 7/28/2014
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13. Fill-­‐in-­‐the-­‐Blank [FIB] You may have as many as 20 possible answers. Be certain to include all different variations/alternate spellings of your answer to be allowed. Bb Question Code Question Answer1 Answer2 FIB The first public library was founded by______ Benjamin Franklin Ben Franklin 14. Fill-­‐in-­‐the-­‐Multiple-­‐Blanks [FIB_PLUS] Bb Question Question Variable1 Code UNH is FIB_PLUS located in [x] X and is a [y]. Answer1 Answer1 Variable2 Answer2 Answer2 Durham NH Y College University Blackboard Upload Question Format You can use this template to create your questions and save as a Tab Delimited Text (.txt) file. ESS Question Sample Answer SR Question Sample Answer FIL Question ORD Question Answer1 Answer2 Answer3 Answer4 MAT Question Answer Text 1 Answer Text 2 MC Question Answer Matching Text 1 Correct Answer Matching Text2 Incorrect Answer Text3 Answer Matching Text3 Incorrect MA Question Answer Correct Answer Incorrect Answer Correct TF Question True or False OP Question QUIZ_BOWL Question Word1 Word2 Phrase1 Phrase2 JUMBLED_SENTENCE Question Choice1 Variable1 Choice2 Variable2 Choice3 Variable3 NUM Question Answer FIB Question Answer1 Tolerance/
Answer range Answer2 Answer3 Answer4 FIB_PLUS Question Variable1 Answer1 Answer1 Varible2 Revised: 7/28/2014
Answer 2 Answer2
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Saving your Excel File as a Tab Delimited Text [.txt] File Save your Excel file as a tab-­‐delimited [.txt] file. 1. Within Excel, select File > Save As. 2. In the Format field, under Specialty Formats, select Tab Delimited Text (.txt) 3. A message may appear with a notification that some features in the workbook may be disabled. Select Continue. Uploading the Tab Delimited Text [.txt] File to Blackboard 1.
Within your Blackboard course, go to the Control Panel >Course/Organization Tools >Tests, Surveys, and Pools. 2. Select Tests, Surveys or Pools. 3. Select the Build button or edit a previous test, survey or pool. 4. If you are building a new test, survey or pool enter information and click Submit. 5. Select the Upload Questions button. 6. Select the Choose File button to locate and select your Tab Delimited Text file. 7. Enter the Points per question and click Submit 8. The test questions and answers appear on the screen. 9. To view/edit options for the questions, select Question Settings and choose options to to update. Note: If you had uploaded a File Response (FIL) make sure to enable ‘Add images, files, and external links to questions’ 10. The test questions, answers and points can be edited as needed after upload. To edit the questions, select the drop down arrow and choose questions to edit. Revised: 7/28/2014
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