I'm not being successful getting things out of examview into moodle. Maybe too much summer vacation or something. I tried the examview bank export then import. It said no questions found. I tried the blackboard 6.0+ with the zip files and kept getting zip file errors then i tried webCt and got another zip file error (different one)? Can anyone help with this problem?
The "native" Examview import is Examview XML. However, this seems to have been dropped in recent versions and was never available in all versions.
The fallback seems to be Blackboard format. The best thing is probably to post your BB export file here (or send it to me privately if you prefer) and I'll see if I can advise better.
BB import is a bit of a dog and confuses everybody. I'll fix it one day soon
The fallback seems to be Blackboard format. The best thing is probably to post your BB export file here (or send it to me privately if you prefer) and I'll see if I can advise better.
BB import is a bit of a dog and confuses everybody. I'll fix it one day soon
I have been trying to import test questions & banks from ExamView v5.2.0 via Blackboard v6.0+ (in zip format) with no success. The error message returned is "Could not find question data file in zip." ExamView 5.2.0 still offers only an HTML export. I am e-mailing the zipped export in hopes that it may provide a clue as to the issue. The file is too large to post here.
Now I see how the BlackBoard file is assembled. That's greate. Thanks.
We are getting closer. Following your instructions with a test consisting of multiple choice questions with graphics, most of the questions appear, though the multiple choice selections are missing as well as the graphics (math notation and geometric figures). Basically, the text is coming through.
Also, an ExamView XML export with ExamView import gives a data type error. Type "bi" (bimodal) is rejected as unrecognized. Bimodal is a question type which is used to switch questions between multiple choice and short answer. This bimodal functionality appears to be embedded in each question.
I should be able to get around the bimodal thing by altering question types. What about the graphics?
Again, thanks for your assistance.
Dana
Graphics are included in a folder in the zip file and as such are not handled by the importer I'm afraid. To make this work as been on the to-do list for a long time.
You either need to import them manually or perhaps use the TeX filter.
You are quite right, not all the question types are handled. They don't all easily map to Moodle question types.
You either need to import them manually or perhaps use the TeX filter.
You are quite right, not all the question types are handled. They don't all easily map to Moodle question types.
To import them manually (as Howard suggested), you can use the following procedure. Note: this is very labor intensive. If you must do this often, it would pay to automate some of the steps.
First upload the images:
Before you start, determine your course id. Do this by returning to the main page of your course and looking in the address bar. You will see something like (in this example, your course id is 4. Your course number may be different).
For each question in the quiz that has a broken image link, do the following:
First upload the images:
- Unzip the Blackboard export file you got from ExamView
- navigate down into the folder containing the images (let's say the folder is ppg\dallen0907061259)
- re-zip the images into images.zip
- In your Moodle course files area, create a directory called ppg
- within the ppg directory, create a directory dallen0907061259
- within the dallen0907061259 directory, Upload images.zip
- after the upload is complete, click the unzip link to the right of the filename. You now have all the images in the directory (you can delete the zip file).
- course Administration -> Questions -> Import tab
- select a category for the imported questions, specify blackboard format, and check "stop on error"
- browse to the .dat file and upload it
- create a new quiz, then select the newly-imported questions from the category into which they were imported, and add them to the quiz
Before you start, determine your course id. Do this by returning to the main page of your course and looking in the address bar. You will see something like (in this example, your course id is 4. Your course number may be different).
For each question in the quiz that has a broken image link, do the following:
- Edit the question
- Toggle the editor into html mode (by pressing the <> button)
- Look for strings like src="ppg/dallen0907061259/f1q8g1.gif"
- Change this to src="http://yoursite/file.php?file=/4/ ppg/dallen0907061259/f1q8g1.gif"
- to check that the repair worked, toggle back into normal mode (press the < > button again). You should now see the images.
Hmm, I wonder how that happened. The HTML editor was fairly uncooperative when I was entering the instructions. Now I can see why :-)
I'm posting again using plain text:
In the example below, the images are in folder ppg/dallen9999999999 within the Blackboard file. You need to substitute the actual folder name.
First upload the images to your course:
1. Unzip the Blackboard file you got from ExamView
2. navigate down into the folder containing the images (let's say ppg/dallen9999999999) and re-zip the images into images.zip
3. In your course Administration block, click the yellow Files icon. Create a directory called ppg.
4. within the ppg directory, create a directory dallen9999999999
5. within the dallen9999999999 directory, Upload images.zip
6. click the unzip link to the right of the filename. You now have all the images.
Next import the .dat file (you have probably already done this)
1. course Administration -> Questions -> Import tab
2. select (or create) a category for the imported questions, specify Blackboard format, and check "stop on error"
3. browse to the .dat file and upload it
4. create a new quiz, then select the newly-imported questions from the category into which they were imported, and add them to the quiz
When you preview the quiz, you will see broken image links in all of the questions that have images. These links must be repaired manually. Below is the procedure which you must use for each question.
Before you start, determine your course id. Do this by returning to the main page of your course and looking in the address bar. You will see something like
http://yoursite/course/view.php?id=4
The id=4 means your course id is 4. Replace 4 in the example below by your actual course id.
For each question with a broken image link
1. Edit the question
2. Toggle the editor into html mode (press the <> button)
3. Look for strings like this: src="ppg/dallen9999999999/fig1.gif"
4. Change these by pre-pending http://yoursite/file.php?file=/4/, so that it becomes src="http://yoursite/file.php?file=/4/ ppg/dallen9999999999/fig1.gif"
5. to check that the repair worked, toggle back into normal mode (press the < > button again). The image should appear.
The last set of steps, which is certainly the most time-consuming if you have a lot of questions and a lot of images, could be automated by writing an SQL command to update the image links in the database, rather than using the Moodle interface.
I'm posting again using plain text:
In the example below, the images are in folder ppg/dallen9999999999 within the Blackboard file. You need to substitute the actual folder name.
First upload the images to your course:
1. Unzip the Blackboard file you got from ExamView
2. navigate down into the folder containing the images (let's say ppg/dallen9999999999) and re-zip the images into images.zip
3. In your course Administration block, click the yellow Files icon. Create a directory called ppg.
4. within the ppg directory, create a directory dallen9999999999
5. within the dallen9999999999 directory, Upload images.zip
6. click the unzip link to the right of the filename. You now have all the images.
Next import the .dat file (you have probably already done this)
1. course Administration -> Questions -> Import tab
2. select (or create) a category for the imported questions, specify Blackboard format, and check "stop on error"
3. browse to the .dat file and upload it
4. create a new quiz, then select the newly-imported questions from the category into which they were imported, and add them to the quiz
When you preview the quiz, you will see broken image links in all of the questions that have images. These links must be repaired manually. Below is the procedure which you must use for each question.
Before you start, determine your course id. Do this by returning to the main page of your course and looking in the address bar. You will see something like
http://yoursite/course/view.php?id=4
The id=4 means your course id is 4. Replace 4 in the example below by your actual course id.
For each question with a broken image link
1. Edit the question
2. Toggle the editor into html mode (press the <> button)
3. Look for strings like this: src="ppg/dallen9999999999/fig1.gif"
4. Change these by pre-pending http://yoursite/file.php?file=/4/, so that it becomes src="http://yoursite/file.php?file=/4/ ppg/dallen9999999999/fig1.gif"
5. to check that the repair worked, toggle back into normal mode (press the < > button again). The image should appear.
The last set of steps, which is certainly the most time-consuming if you have a lot of questions and a lot of images, could be automated by writing an SQL command to update the image links in the database, rather than using the Moodle interface.
John,
Finally got around to trying your fix. It works, though it is tedious. Using Search & Replace speeds things up a bit.
I ran into an additioinal issue with answers field - which also have imbedded images. Unfortunately these fields aren't accessible to Search and Replace.
Thanks for your assistance.
Dana
I have recently needed to import a large number of Math questions from Examview into Moodle. I used this step-by-step guide to get started, so thanks for the help John. It was very beneficial.
However, when importing so many questions, it takes too much time to have to edit each individual question with broken image links. Most of these Math questions contained several image links in each question.
I am sure that I am not the only one with this problem, so I am posting this for others to use.
I followed John's steps until I got to the step about uploading images.
After uploading the image file and unzipping it, I right clicked on one of the images and copied the location of the file.
I then opened the .dat file in an editor like Dreamweaver before importing it into Moodle and used the Find and Replace feature to update all the links.
Each image link begins with src= followed by the location of the appropriate image file. Here is an example: src="ppg/examview/09-01-images/mc004-5.jpg" In this case I searched for src="ppg/examview/09-01-images/ and replaced each instance with src="http://mysite.org/taks/file.php/18/Images/ This process leaves the original name of the file in place and only appends the absolute URL.
I saved the new .dat file and then imported it into Moodle using the Blackboard option.
The vast majority of the time, this worked without any major problems when I imported Multiple choice questions and a few short answer questions. I have not been able to figure out how to import essay questions containing images like this.
After importing the questions, I always scroll down the list and look for the Multiple Choice icon in the right hand column. If that icon does not show up, I simply open the question for editing and save it without doing anything to the question. That has fixed the problem every time.
Sometimes I also have a problem because the import will stop on an error and only import some of the questions in the file. When this happens I locate the question that caused the problem in the .dat file and delete it. I then upload the new file. Sometimes I have to repeat this several times to upload all the questions. I am not sure why this happens with certain questions, but this is the only way I have found to work around it. If I knew more about the code, I might be able to discover why that question would cause an error.
This method has served me well over the last couple of months in which I have imported hundreds of multiple choice and some short answer questions into my Moodle for our Math teachers.
However, if you plan to use the questions again in another course you may have to repeat the process of uploading images, copying the image location. Export the in questions in Moodle XML format and then use find and replace to update the links for that course.
However, when importing so many questions, it takes too much time to have to edit each individual question with broken image links. Most of these Math questions contained several image links in each question.
I am sure that I am not the only one with this problem, so I am posting this for others to use.
I followed John's steps until I got to the step about uploading images.
After uploading the image file and unzipping it, I right clicked on one of the images and copied the location of the file.
I then opened the .dat file in an editor like Dreamweaver before importing it into Moodle and used the Find and Replace feature to update all the links.
Each image link begins with src= followed by the location of the appropriate image file. Here is an example: src="ppg/examview/09-01-images/mc004-5.jpg" In this case I searched for src="ppg/examview/09-01-images/ and replaced each instance with src="http://mysite.org/taks/file.php/18/Images/ This process leaves the original name of the file in place and only appends the absolute URL.
I saved the new .dat file and then imported it into Moodle using the Blackboard option.
The vast majority of the time, this worked without any major problems when I imported Multiple choice questions and a few short answer questions. I have not been able to figure out how to import essay questions containing images like this.
After importing the questions, I always scroll down the list and look for the Multiple Choice icon in the right hand column. If that icon does not show up, I simply open the question for editing and save it without doing anything to the question. That has fixed the problem every time.
Sometimes I also have a problem because the import will stop on an error and only import some of the questions in the file. When this happens I locate the question that caused the problem in the .dat file and delete it. I then upload the new file. Sometimes I have to repeat this several times to upload all the questions. I am not sure why this happens with certain questions, but this is the only way I have found to work around it. If I knew more about the code, I might be able to discover why that question would cause an error.
This method has served me well over the last couple of months in which I have imported hundreds of multiple choice and some short answer questions into my Moodle for our Math teachers.
However, if you plan to use the questions again in another course you may have to repeat the process of uploading images, copying the image location. Export the in questions in Moodle XML format and then use find and replace to update the links for that course.
Several people have asked me for more precise instructions so I have created a video tutorial which shows an actual conversion and upload. The video also has audio and text.
It is a large file, so it may take some time to download. The video should begin playing while it is downloading. You will need to click the small arrow under the display to start the video. It does not start automatically.
If you have any feedback or questions please contact me via email or post your questions to this forum if you think others will benefit.
The presentation is in English. I used Examview version 5+ on a Windows computer.
http://web.mac.com/ptlahache/iWeb/Moodlestuff/Importing-ExamView.html
It is a large file, so it may take some time to download. The video should begin playing while it is downloading. You will need to click the small arrow under the display to start the video. It does not start automatically.
If you have any feedback or questions please contact me via email or post your questions to this forum if you think others will benefit.
The presentation is in English. I used Examview version 5+ on a Windows computer.
http://web.mac.com/ptlahache/iWeb/Moodlestuff/Importing-ExamView.html
HI there,
Thanks for all the useful information and the video as well - nice!
You mention, "Sometimes I also have a problem because the import will stop on an error and only import some of the questions in the file. When this happens I locate the question that caused the problem in the .dat file and delete it. I then upload the new file"
I was wondering how you determine which question is giving you grief. The error does not specify which question. I have tried deleting on both sides of the question number hoping that it corresponded with the question id but that did not work. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Thanks for all the useful information and the video as well - nice!
You mention, "Sometimes I also have a problem because the import will stop on an error and only import some of the questions in the file. When this happens I locate the question that caused the problem in the .dat file and delete it. I then upload the new file"
I was wondering how you determine which question is giving you grief. The error does not specify which question. I have tried deleting on both sides of the question number hoping that it corresponded with the question id but that did not work. Any ideas?
Thanks,
the entire path, from examview to moodle quiz (without images) goes like this:
- Generate your quiz in examview test builder.
- Choose File > Export > Blackboard 6.0-7.0 and follow the instructions. Make sure that you remember the name and location of the zip file.
- Find the zip file and right-click on it. Choose extract all.
- When you are done extracting, you will have a file that looks similar to: res00000.dat This is what we will be importing.
- Go into moodle and start a quiz. You will have to at least name the quiz. Then choose save and display.
- On the next screen, click the edit tab and then choose import.
- Select the Blackboard format (NOT Blackboard V6+)
- Make sure your category is correct, and unclick the ‘Get Category from file’ box
- In the ‘Import from file upload…’ section, browse to your res00000.dat file and upload it.
- You should see a list of questions. Roll to the bottom and click Continue.
- The questions should now be in the question bank.
I can't seem to see how to get this to work for me. I am using Examview on a Mac and I do not have "File > Export > Blackboard 6.0-7.0". My export options are "rich-text", "XML", and "Test Bank".
Has anyone been able to export from the Mac version to Moodle?
screenie.png
Examview 6.2 should work with this plugin, but only with Moodle 1.9. It has yet to be updated for Moodle 2. I use Examview 6.2 for imports every day.
Are you seeing an error message or anything else that would help diagnose the issue? Are you trying to import as Moodle xml?
