On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Jon Streeter發表於
Number of replies: 7

Hi all,

GIT logoseeing the different ways people have tried to bring questions into GIFT format made me think that what I have created for one of my projects could be of benefit to some of you.

I am currently working on converting a great many old questions in word document into GIFT format for import. I created GIT (GIFT Input Tool) as a way of making this task easier.

I have found it to be a great time saver and would like to share it with the rest of you. 

The application was created in Filemaker Pro - however is self-contained and only requires a windows operating system.

here is the link:

http://www.beamstat.com/GIT/Install%20GIT%201.0.exe

if you care to give it a spin i would appreciate feedback and suggestions for improving the GIT.

glad to finally be able to contribute something ...

Jon Streeter

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In reply to Jon Streeter

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Timothy Takemoto發表於

Dear Jon Streeter,

This is very nice. Thank you.

As a hard core command line GIFT writer, I may not become a complete GiT user soon, but I think that it will be useful for a lot of colleagues that are less happy with writing in GIFT code. The ability to see the GIFT being written as one writes means that GiT can also function as an educational tool.

The benchmark for a client side program like this is that it be quicker and easier to use than the Moodle GUI itself. That is quite a difficult thing to acheive (especially when it comes to Moodle + Easyphp on the desktop). But I hope that you can make use of client side processing power to make the moodle equivalent of Respondus/Lersus, and FREE too.

Humble Suggestions

GiT does not seem to be possible to add sounds or images. There are options in the insert menu but they are greyed out. I am not sure how this might be acheived since a client side application does not knwo what is in the course files.

When using the tab key to go down through multiple choice answers the select field jumps to the right hand column. E.g. after Answer B in the multile choice column the cursor jumps to the feedback of a true false question. I guess it should go all the way down the left hand column.

Relatedly it is difficult to tell where the cursor is.

The input screen as a whole seems to refresh with each enter. It would be nice if it could refresh less of the input field to make it faster.

I guess people are going to want partially write answers and negative grades.

Skinning GiT other languages is also going to be a priority for some.

But in any case, it is great development. Thank you.

Timothy

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In reply to Timothy Takemoto

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Jon Streeter發表於

Created a moodle section for posting updates to GiT:

http://www.radmoodle.com/course/view.php?id=9

Just posted 1.1 with the following changes

  • fixed tab order in main question entry page
  • save/load category and document settings
  • backup database feature

Feature set is currently tailored to my current task of having several people, none of which are currently moodlers, convert exams offline.  I will take that data, then and moodle-ify it.

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In reply to Jon Streeter

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Rudy Scott發表於

Is this tool still available anywhere?

--Rudy

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In reply to Jon Streeter

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Dawn Wright發表於

Jon

Thanks for developing this tool. I have a lot of quiizzes output from Respondus that I need to pull into Moodle but we also are continuing to write new question sets as well.

thanks

dawn wright

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In reply to Jon Streeter

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Michael Nelson發表於
Jon,

I am always looking for ways to make my life simpler.  Your program looks easy enough to use but I would like to "put it to work" with as little effort as possible on my part 微笑 .  I found the import, and I browse to a word formatted question bank to import,  it brings "records" across but I can't see them and there are 4 to 5 times as many records as number of questions in original word file.  I am missing something here.  Is there documentation (help) available to work through this.  I am a novice when it comes to programming etc. so if it entails anything like that I need to move on!  I am excited at the possiblity of moving my Word format type questions to Gift and then into Moodle.  Thanks for any help that you can offer.

Mike Nelson
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In reply to Michael Nelson

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Jon Streeter發表於

Mike,

The tool was developed using Filemaker pro - so there are several features in the menu (such as import and insert picture and movie) that arent actually implemented in the useful part of the application.  GiT was created so that i could easily "drag and drop" questions and answers and feedback from an open word document into the correct fields (hence i paid no attention to the tab order (see Timothy's post above).

There is a help page which is viewable from the question entry screen. also - i made a 10min tutorial on using the thing which can be viewed here:

http://www.radmoodle.com/file.php/1/GIT%20Tutorial.html

The functionality of importing a word document and then automatically parsing it into the appropriate GIFT format is the holy grail - but the documents that i am converting were authored by many people with no standard format and i dont have the "natural language processing skillz" neccessary for a tool that kewl.

So my workflow consists of opening up GIT on the left and the word doc on the right (best with a widescreen monitor) and then drag and drop the questions from one document to another.  sigh. i know it is not the most elegant solution, but it is all i could do.

On a side note, i will try to implement some of the suggestions from Timothy's post, however things (like it nor being clear which field you are in, and the refresh everytime you switch fields) are a "feature" of Filemaker Pro.

I did not know of the existense of Respondus, after a brief review it seems that GiT is in the same vein, yet infantile in it's current state. I made GiT specifically tailored to the kinds of questions I am importing and did not add the functionality for all 7 question types.  I may get a chance to add this, but i think i will have to go to a different screen layout - tailored for each question type.

Also, filemaker supports unicode, and the GIFT file it exports is unicode as well.

-jon

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In reply to Jon Streeter

Re: On that note: Introducing GIT 1.0 a tool for easily formatting GIFT questions

由Michael Nelson發表於
Thanks Jon,

I already drag and drop from Word or RTF files directly into Moodle Quiz Module without difficulty but as you mentioned I was searching for the "holy grail".  I am always interested in looking new ideas over and will try your tutorial and the drag and drop into GIT just to "check things out".  I appreciate you abilities and willingness to share.  I want to check out the Filemaker software as well.

Mike
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