Which version of BB? I think they changed the format - there has been some discussion of this in the past I am sure. Can you attach an example exported file?
We have version 6.3.1. I am also attaching an export file. I do not know which one you would like to see. I am sending the .dat file.
The .dat file is what you want to import.
when I do that, nothing happens. It seems that moodle gets stuck midway through. The process starts but then hangs.
I tried your file on our instance, and I got an error message also. But when I looked at the file, I thought that the problem might lie in the question types.
Were these true/false, multiple choice type questions? I found references to "shuffle", things that looked like calculated questions, etc. But it was pretty hard to read.
Maybe the problem is that you are trying to import question types that Moodle can't read? I have been successful importing multiple choice and true/false. I haven't tried anything more exotic!
If you can, try a simpler question pool. Then at least you will know more about where the problem lies.
Were these true/false, multiple choice type questions? I found references to "shuffle", things that looked like calculated questions, etc. But it was pretty hard to read.
Maybe the problem is that you are trying to import question types that Moodle can't read? I have been successful importing multiple choice and true/false. I haven't tried anything more exotic!
If you can, try a simpler question pool. Then at least you will know more about where the problem lies.
Also, if you will post the full pool in the zip file that is generated from BB, I will play with it some more. I have some things I would like to test! But I need the whole archive.
Thanks,
atw
Thanks,
atw
Are you sure this is the right file. The .dat file you posted, has IMS QTI type structure which is what I would expect. The zip file is full of ..... type xml structures. I can't find the original .dat file in the .zip file. Am I missing something.
The upshot is that I tried to test the blackboard_6 import, but it chokes on that zip file.
The upshot is that I tried to test the blackboard_6 import, but it chokes on that zip file.
Greetings Howard!
Well, that was some zip file! I imported it into BB 7 just to see what it contained, and it contains a lot!! 13 chapters worth of questions, each chapter with a lot of questions (80 some odd?) including essay, matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true/false.
I took a single chapter pool (chapter 1) and deleted essay and matching questions, exported that and tried importing the .dat file into Moodle. Still wouldn't work. I am sure that is because we never used BB6.x, having gone straight from BB5.5 to BB7. We did not install the additional Moodle code to handle BB6 imports.
So I think two things!
1) That is not a very representative zip file, since it contains 13 different pools and
2) I think it would be good to include BB 6 import and BB 5 import in the new version of Moodle. Blackboard forced everyone off of BB5.0 as of September 2005, so most folks that you find converting from this date on will probably be using BB6.x or BB7 quiz archives.
I am giving up! But it was an interesting exercise.
atw
Well, that was some zip file! I imported it into BB 7 just to see what it contained, and it contains a lot!! 13 chapters worth of questions, each chapter with a lot of questions (80 some odd?) including essay, matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true/false.
I took a single chapter pool (chapter 1) and deleted essay and matching questions, exported that and tried importing the .dat file into Moodle. Still wouldn't work. I am sure that is because we never used BB6.x, having gone straight from BB5.5 to BB7. We did not install the additional Moodle code to handle BB6 imports.
So I think two things!
1) That is not a very representative zip file, since it contains 13 different pools and
2) I think it would be good to include BB 6 import and BB 5 import in the new version of Moodle. Blackboard forced everyone off of BB5.0 as of September 2005, so most folks that you find converting from this date on will probably be using BB6.x or BB7 quiz archives.
I am giving up! But it was an interesting exercise.
atw
Can you post the 'simplified' zip file? I would like to sort this one out if at all possible, but I don't have access to BB of any flavour.
Here you go! This one should have 70 questions, T/F and Multiple choice, and fill in the blank. If the fill in the blank causes a problem, let me know and I will take those out also. In the past, when I have uploaded a non-supported question type, the whole thing would fail.
Remember, this is a BB7 pool. I don't know how much it has changed from BB6.
atw
Remember, this is a BB7 pool. I don't know how much it has changed from BB6.
atw
The fill in the blank didn't take, but here's a Moodle XML with the other 60 questions. I used the blackboard_6_pool_import from Humboldt State University (thanks Michael Penney!).
Take the res00001.dat and the imsmanifest.xml files and zip them. Take that file and use the pool importer - Humboldt also has a the files to handle the matching questions, so you may get more questions if you install that, also.
This gives you 71 questions, the questions for the 'short answer' items came through but the answers didn't, so you'll need to figure out the answers for those ten questions and add them in.
This gives you 71 questions, the questions for the 'short answer' items came through but the answers didn't, so you'll need to figure out the answers for those ten questions and add them in.
The import routine only works for pre-blackboard 6. There is a development in the contrib area that has been developed for blackboard 6+. See...
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/moodle/contrib/blackboard_6_pool_import/
check out the README, you probably need to add another questiontype too.
I may have a look at adding this to the main distribution for v1.6 as it seems to come up quite a bit.
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/moodle/contrib/blackboard_6_pool_import/
check out the README, you probably need to add another questiontype too.
I may have a look at adding this to the main distribution for v1.6 as it seems to come up quite a bit.
Yes please! 
I'm working on integrating the BB6 importer from /contrib into V1.6. It needs a few changes, but it's not bad.
I'm a bit confused about this pool converter thing. Can somebody explain this (slowly) so that I can put something relevant in the help?
I'm a bit confused about this pool converter thing. Can somebody explain this (slowly) so that I can put something relevant in the help?
From having extracted a number of these, I can give you my routine for importing BB6 quizzes. It'd be nice if it was easier, but this does work.
I export the course and the quizzes, I then open up the zip file and read the imsmanifest.xml file. I'll scroll through until I find the refence I'm looking for - it will either be a pool or test, like this:
<resource bb:file="res00005.dat" bb:title="Chapter 1" identifier="res00005" type="assessment/x-bb-qti-pool" xml:base="res00005" />
or
<resource bb:file="res00029.dat" bb:title="Final Exam" identifier="res00029" type="assessment/x-bb-qti-test" xml:base="res00029" />
This tells me that 'res00005.dat' is the pool file for my Chapter 1 quiz, and that 'res00029.dat' is the test file for my Final exam.
Since I can export pools by themselves, I do that. These upload just fine. For tests, I took an imsmanifest.xml from a pool and stripped it of eveything it didn't need, and changed the reference from pool to test. I use this as my template for all my BB6 quizzes and have attached a copy.
I will then extract all the relevant .dat files and put them in a folder with my custom imsmanifest.xml. I will rename each .dat to 'res00001.dat' (one at a time!) and then zip it with imsmanifest.xml and name the zip file something relevant (chapter01.zip, chapter02.zip, etc.). I then delete the 'res00001.dat' file I just created and move to the next .dat file until I have all of that course's tests individually zipped. I can then import the zip files into Moodle as a BB6 pool.
What would be nice is if the BB6 import process could read the course's imsmanifest.xml file and figure out the pool and test .dat files, instead of assuming that there is only one file called 'res00001.dat'. It could then create an array, fill the array with all the proper filenames, and process the entire course (Putting each pool or test into a seperate category). The biggest problem I see with this is that all of my instructors have multiple courses on one BB6 account, so if I export a course, I get ALL their quizzes, instead of just the quizzes for that course. We'd also need an easy way to dump any unwanted test - perhaps a preview of the quizzes to be imported with checkboxes to delete the ones we don't want, therefore preventing them from being imported?
Whew!
Thanks,
Matt
I export the course and the quizzes, I then open up the zip file and read the imsmanifest.xml file. I'll scroll through until I find the refence I'm looking for - it will either be a pool or test, like this:
<resource bb:file="res00005.dat" bb:title="Chapter 1" identifier="res00005" type="assessment/x-bb-qti-pool" xml:base="res00005" />
or
<resource bb:file="res00029.dat" bb:title="Final Exam" identifier="res00029" type="assessment/x-bb-qti-test" xml:base="res00029" />
This tells me that 'res00005.dat' is the pool file for my Chapter 1 quiz, and that 'res00029.dat' is the test file for my Final exam.
Since I can export pools by themselves, I do that. These upload just fine. For tests, I took an imsmanifest.xml from a pool and stripped it of eveything it didn't need, and changed the reference from pool to test. I use this as my template for all my BB6 quizzes and have attached a copy.
I will then extract all the relevant .dat files and put them in a folder with my custom imsmanifest.xml. I will rename each .dat to 'res00001.dat' (one at a time!) and then zip it with imsmanifest.xml and name the zip file something relevant (chapter01.zip, chapter02.zip, etc.). I then delete the 'res00001.dat' file I just created and move to the next .dat file until I have all of that course's tests individually zipped. I can then import the zip files into Moodle as a BB6 pool.
What would be nice is if the BB6 import process could read the course's imsmanifest.xml file and figure out the pool and test .dat files, instead of assuming that there is only one file called 'res00001.dat'. It could then create an array, fill the array with all the proper filenames, and process the entire course (Putting each pool or test into a seperate category). The biggest problem I see with this is that all of my instructors have multiple courses on one BB6 account, so if I export a course, I get ALL their quizzes, instead of just the quizzes for that course. We'd also need an easy way to dump any unwanted test - perhaps a preview of the quizzes to be imported with checkboxes to delete the ones we don't want, therefore preventing them from being imported?
Whew!
Thanks,
Matt
I've been working with this Blackboard import issue as well and I've had problems dealing with newer quiz files. I'm not sure exactly what version Blackboard quiz files they are, as the example files I've gotten from faculty have been generated from EZ Test. I've been playing with the Blackboard 6+ importer mentioned in this thread but haven't been able to get it to work.
First, it assumes that the .dat file within the zip is named res00001.dat which is not the case for the sample quiz files I've got. They are always a .dat file, but the filename appears to be freeform. However, even if I change the .dat filename to match, the import still fails saying that there are no questions in the file. Does anyone know if these issues are being addressed with the merge of the importer into 1.6? I haven't had time to look at the code myself to determine how far off it really is.
Any information regarding this would be appreciated. If a sample quiz .zip file would be helpful, I'd be more than happy to post one.
First, it assumes that the .dat file within the zip is named res00001.dat which is not the case for the sample quiz files I've got. They are always a .dat file, but the filename appears to be freeform. However, even if I change the .dat filename to match, the import still fails saying that there are no questions in the file. Does anyone know if these issues are being addressed with the merge of the importer into 1.6? I haven't had time to look at the code myself to determine how far off it really is.
Any information regarding this would be appreciated. If a sample quiz .zip file would be helpful, I'd be more than happy to post one.
The main problems I have had with BB imports to Moodle are the unsupported question types. Particularly with BB7, there are a whole BUNCH of new question types that I am sure would not import. In my experience, if you find even one of those in the pool, the whole thing fails.
So I would ask you if you have anything besides multiple choice and T/F in there, and if you have more than one pool. Complex files seem to fail.
Good luck with it. I am anxious over BB7 imports. I don't think anyone has been working on those, but maybe they are not that much different.
atw
So I would ask you if you have anything besides multiple choice and T/F in there, and if you have more than one pool. Complex files seem to fail.
Good luck with it. I am anxious over BB7 imports. I don't think anyone has been working on those, but maybe they are not that much different.
atw