Blackboard Assessments: Uploading Test s 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. Types/ s 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 [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] 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] 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 1
Types and Examples 1. Essay [ESS] You can choose to enter a sample answer or leave this field blank. ESS What is Blackboard and how would you use it? Sample (optional) Blackboard is a LMS 2. Short Response [SR] You can choose to enter a sample answer or leave this field blank. SR What is Blackboard and how would you use it? Sample (optional) Blackboard is a LMS 3. File Response/upload [FIL] If this question type is used, make sure to enable attachments for questions in the Test Canvas under Settings. FIL Upload your field work results 4. Ordering [ORD] You are able to add up to 20 answers for this question type. ORD 1 2 3 4 Order the four oceans in size, with the largest first. Pacific Indian Atlantic Arctic 5. Matching [MAT] It is important to organize the Matching Text with the appropriate Text as shown below. Once uploaded, the Matching Text will be formatted in the first column and the Text will be formatted in the second column. The ordering in each column will be randomized once uploaded to Blackboard. Revised: 7/28/2014 2
MAT Match each term with its definitio n Text1 Depositi on Matching Text1 The chemical alteration and breakdown of rock Text2 Erosion Matching Text2 The conversion of sediment to rock Text3 Weather ing Matching Text3 The picking up and carrying away of sediment 6. 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. MC Correct Incorrect Incorrect Which Team is a Boston Baseball Team? RedSox Correct Yankees Incorrect Tampa Bay Incorrect 7. Multiple [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. MA Correct Incorrect Correct Which Baseball teams are in the American League? RedSox Correct Cardinals Incorrect Orioles Correct 8. True or False [TF] After the question enter either True or False for the correct answer. True or False TF Is the moon made of green cheese? False Revised: 7/28/2014 3
9. 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 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. QUIZ_BOWL /Statement Word1 Phrase1 It is the only country that is a continent. Australia What is Australia 11. Jumbled Sentence [JUMBLED_SENTENCE] When entering the, put brackets [ ] around the variable. When entering the variable, enter the corresponding letter that was input within brackets in the. You may have up to 36 variables. The Choices will be randomized once uploaded to Blackboard. JUMBLED _SENTEN CE Choice1 Variable1 Choice2 Variable2 Choice3 Variable3 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. Tolerance (optional) NUM 64 8.01 Revised: 7/28/2014 4
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. FIB 1 2 The first public library was founded by Benjamin Franklin Ben Franklin 14. Fill- in- the- Multiple- Blanks [FIB_PLUS] FIB_PLUS Variable1 1 1 Variable2 2 2 UNH is located in [x] and is a [y]. X Durham NH Y College University Blackboard Upload Format You can use this template to create your questions and save as a Tab Delimited Text (.txt) file. ESS Sample SR Sample FIL ORD 1 2 3 4 MAT Text 1 Matching Text 2 Matching Matching Text 1 Text2 Text3 Text3 MC Correct Incorrect Incorrect MA Correct Incorrect Correct TF True or False OP QUIZ_BOWL Word1 Word2 Phrase1 Phrase2 JUMBLED_SENTENCE Choice1 Variable1 Choice2 Variable2 Choice3 Variable3 NUM Tolerance/ range FIB 1 2 3 4 FIB_PLUS Variable1 1 1 Varible2 2 2 Revised: 7/28/2014 5
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 s 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 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 6