Quizzes/Surveys - Importing and Downloading Questions

Index for Quizzes/Surveys


What do you want to do?

If you choose to create your questions outside of WebCT, you must follow a specific set of formatting rules. The question formats are described below.

Downloading Questions to Your Personal Computer | Top

You can download questions from any category in the Question Database to your personal computer.

  1. From the Course Menu, click Quiz. The Quizzes/Surveys screen appears.
  2. Click Question Database. The Question Database screen appears.
  3. Under Options: Category, from the View drop-down list, select the category that contains the questions you want to download, and click Go. The table of questions appears. Note: If you are unsure of the category, select All categories.
  4. In the table of questions, next to each question you want to download, select the check box.
  5. Under Options: Question, click Download questions. A browser prompt appears. Follow the instructions to save the questions on your computer. Note: The questions are saved as a .txt file.

Importing Questions to the Question Database | Top

Before you can import questions to the Question Database, you must upload the file containing your questions into the My Files folder. For more information, see File Manager - Upload Files . For information about the format of the questions in your file, see Question Formats below.

  1. From the Course Menu, click Quiz. The Quizzes/Surveys screen appears.
  2. Click Question Database. The Question Database screen appears.
  3. Under Options:Question, click Import questions from file. The Import From File screen appears.
  4. Click Browse. The File Browser pop-up window appears.
  5. Click My Files. The My Files folder expands.
  6. Select the file and click Select. The Import From File screen appears with the filename in the Filename text box.
  7. Click Import. The Import From File screen updates to display the questions.
  8. Click Continue. The Question Database screen appears and the questions are added to the specified categories.

Question Formats | Top

Creating individual questions in the Question Database can be lengthy. As an alternative, you can create multiple questions in a text file, in a predefined format, and then import the file to WebCT.

Notes:

  • Be careful not to introduce extra spaces.
  • Observe the case sensitivity of the field names.

General format conventions:

  • All lines beginning with a colon signify a field name.
  • Each question must begin with the type declaration line :TYPE:{MC|S|P|M|C}.
  • Questions may include a :TITLE: to specify the title of the question.
  • There must be a :QUESTION: specified.
  • Lines beginning with a # are comments for your own information.

Specific question formats

Multiple Choice Question Format | Question Formats | Top

Note: The line numbers are for reference only.

  1. :TYPE:MC:{1|N}:{0|1}:{C|A}

    MC indicates that this a multiple choice question. The options in the braces are explained below:

    • {1|N}: 1 indicates that only one correct answer is possible. N indicates that multiple answers are possible.
    • {0|1}: 0 indicates that there are no negative scores (default). 1 indicates that negative scores are allowed.
    • {C|A}: C indicates a cumulative score will be used for multiple answers (default). A indicates that the student must answer all the correct choices for multiple answers, or the student will receive a score of zero.

  2. :TITLE:text

    Specify the title of your multiple choice question. Replace text with the question title.

  3. :QUESTION:{H|T}
  4. text

    Specify your question format to be either HTML (H) or text (T). On a new line, replace text with your question. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  5. :IMAGE:filename (Optional)

    Specify the path to an image in your My Files folder.

  6. :LAYOUT:{horizontal|vertical}(Optional)

    Specify the layout of the question choices. Note: The default layout is vertical.

  7. :ANSWER1:% value:{H|T}
  8. text

    Specify the percentage value of the question as a number in the % value field. Specify whether the answer will be in the default HTML format (H) or text format (T). On a new line, type the text for your first answer. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted, but ensure that you do not use a carriage return until the final line.

  9. :REASON1:{H|T}(Optional)
  10. text

    Use this option if you want to include a reason for the first choice of answer. Specify whether the answer will be in the default HTML format (H) or text format (T). On a new line, type the text for your reason. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  11. :ANSWER2:% value:{H|T}
  12. text
  13. :REASON2:{H|T} (Optional)
  14. text

    You can continue to add answers and reasons by incrementing the number in the answer and reason field names.

  15. :FEEDBACK (Optional)
  16. text

    Specify any feedback you wish your students to receive after this question has been graded . Replace text with your feedback. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  17. :CAT:text

    Specify the category name. Replace text with the category name. Note: Ensure that the category name exactly matches a category name already specified in the Question Database.

Short Answer Question Format | Question Formats | Top

Note: The line numbers are for reference only.

  1. :TYPE:S

    S indicates that this is a short answer question.

  2. :TITLE:text (Optional)

    Specify the title of your short answer question. Replace text with the question title.

  3. :QUESTION:{H|T}
  4. text

    Specify your question format to be either HTML (H) or text (T). On a new line, replace text with your question. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  5. :IMAGE:filename (Optional)

    Specify the path to an image in your My Files folder.

  6. :ANSWERS:n

    Specify the number of answer boxes you want to use by replacing n with a numerical value.

  7. :CASE:{0|1} (Optional)

    Specify whether the answer is case sensitive. 0 indicates no case sensitivity (default), and 1 indicates case sensitivity.

  8. :ANSWER1:text:value %:{0|1|..|n}:width:{0|1|2}

    • Replace text with your answer.
    • Replace Value % with the numerical value of your answer.
    • Specify the answer box into which the answer should be typed. Note: 0 means any answer box.
    • Replace width with the number of pixels for the width of the short answer answer box.
    • Specify how the answer is to be graded: 0 indicates that student responses must be an exact match; 1 indicates that student responses must contain part of the answer; and 2 indicates that a regular expression answer is required. Note: WebCT uses standard Perl regular expression: it is a pattern or template that is matched against a string.

     

  9. :ANSWER2:text:value %:{0|1|..|n}:width:{0|1|2}

    You can continue to add answers by incrementing the number in the answer field name.

  10. :FEEDBACK (Optional)
  11. text

    Specify feedback you want your students to receive after this question has been graded . Replace text with your feedback. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  12. :CAT:text

    Specify the category name. Replace text with the category name. Note: Ensure that the category name matches a category name already specified in the Question Database.

Paragraph Question Format | Question Formats | Top

Note: The line numbers before each line are for reference only.

  1. :TYPE:P

    P indicates that this is a paragraph question.

  2. :TITLE:text (Optional)

    Specify the title of your paragraph question. Replace text with the question title.

  3. :QUESTION:{H|T}:columns:lines
  4. text

    Specify your question format to be either HTML (H) or text (T). Specify the number of columns and lines. On a new line, replace text with your question. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  5. IMAGE:filename (Optional)

    Specify the path to an image in your My Files folder.

  6. :TEMPLATE: (Optional)
  7. text

    Specify some initial text that will appear in the answer box. For example, you can display a hint, or a portion of the answer.

  8. :ANSWER:{H|T} (Optional)

    Specify the correct answer. After the students have submitted their quiz, they will be able to view this answer. On a new line, replace text with the answer. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  9. :CAT:text

    Specify the category name. Replace text with the category name. Note: Ensure that the category name matches a category name already specified in the Question Database.

Matching Question Format | Question Formats | Top

Note: The line numbers before each line are for reference only.

  1. :TYPE:M:{short|long}:{short|long}:{E|A|RW}:{0|1}

    M indicates that this is a matching question.

    • {short|long}: specifies whether the first column is in short or long answer format.
    • {Short|long}: specifies whether the second column is in short or long answer format.
    • {E|A|RW}: E indicates that each choice is equally weighted. A indicates that all the choices must be correct to get a full score (all or nothing). RW indicates right less wrong; the number of wrong matches are subtracted from the number of correct matches to determine the score.
    • {0|1}: specifies whether you want preview columns (1) or not (0).

  2. :TITLE:text (Optional)

    Specify the title of your matching question. Replace text with your title.

  3. :QUESTION:{H|T}
  4. text

    Specify your question format to be either HTML (H) or text (T). On a new line, replace text with your question. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  5. IMAGE:filename (Optional)

    Specify the path to an image in your My Files folder.

  6. :L1
  7. text
  8. :R1
  9. text

    Specify the first choice in the left column (L1) by replacing the text in line 7. Similarly, indicate the matching answer in the right column (R1) by replacing the text in line 9. Multiple lines of text are permitted in lines 7 and 9.

  10. :L2
  11. text
  12. :R2
  13. text

    Continue adding left and right column options, incrementing the value of each field (for example, in the third match, the fields would be :L3:, and :R3:). 

  14. :FEEDBACK (Optional)
  15. text

    Specify any feedback you want your students to receive after this question has been graded . Replace text with your feedback. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  16. :CAT:text

    Specify the category name. Replace text with the category name. Note: Ensure that the category name matches a category name already specified in the Question Database.

Calculated Question Format | Question Formats | Top

Note: The line numbers before each line are for reference only.

  1. :TYPE:C

    C indicates that this is a calculated question.

  2. :TITLE:text (Optional)

    Specify the title of the calculated question. Replace text with the title.

  3. :QUESTION:{H|T}
  4. text

    Specify your question format to be either HTML (H) or text (T). On a new line, replace text with your question. Multiple lines of text are permitted. Indicate all of the variables in braces (for example, the x variable is {x},the y variable is {y}, the q variable is {q}).

  5. IMAGE:filename (Optional)

    Specify the path to an image in your My Files folder.

  6. :FORMULA:text

    Specify the formula. Replace text with the formula using the variables specified in the Question.

  7. :x-MIN:number
  8. :x-MAX:number
  9. :y-MIN:number
  10. :y-MAX:number 

    Specify the minimum and maximum values for all your variables. In lines 7-10 above {x} and {y} are the variable names. However, if {q} and {p} are the variable names, then you would use :q-MIN:,:q-MAX:, :p-MIN:, and :q-MAX:.

  11. :VALUES:number

    Specify the number of values you wish to randomly generate. Replace number with the number of answer sets you are going to use. If you stop entering value information here, then you will have to go the calculated question in the Question Database and click Generate random answer set. However, you can specify the values of each answer set:

  12. :x-VAL1:number
  13. :y-VAL1:number
  14. :x-VAL2:number
  15. :y-VAL2:number

    Specify the values for the {x} and {y} variables. Note: If your variables are {p} and {q}, for instance, you would use :p-VAL1: and :q-VAL1:. Continue creating values until you have reached the number that you specified in line 11.

  16. :ANS-DEC:

    Specify the number of Decimal places or Significant Figures you wish to use in your calculated question.

  17. :TOL: (Optional)

    Specify the tolerance of your student's answer. This gives the ± variation from the calculated answer.

  18. :TOLTYPE:{percent|units} (Optional)

    Specify whether the tolerance is a percent range of the calculated answer, or a unit value deviation.

  19. :UNITS:text (Optional)

    Specify the type of units that should be used with the answer. For example, use m for meter or g/L for grams per liter.

  20. :UNITREQ:{0|1} (Optional)
  21. :UNITSPACE:{0|1} (Optional)
  22. :UNITCASE:{0|1} (Optional)

    Specify whether or not units are required in the answer (line 20), whether or not spaces should be ignored in the answer (line 21), and whether or not the answer should be case sensitive (line 22). In lines 20, 21, and 22, 0 means no and 1 means yes.

  23. :UNITVAL:value %

    Specify the percentage weight that will be applied to an answer with the correct units.

  24. :ANSTYPE:{dec|sig}

    Specify whether the answer is in decimals (DEC) or in significant figures (SIG).

  25. :FEEDBACK (Optional)
  26. text

    Specify any feedback you want your students to receive after this question has been graded . Replace text with your feedback. Note: Multiple lines of text are permitted.

  27. :CAT:text

    Specify the category name. Replace text with the category name. Note: Ensure that the category name matches a category name already specified in the Question Database.

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