Import a WebQ quiz to Canvas

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The WebQ quiz import feature makes it easy to re-use WebQ quizzes in your Canvas courses. This feature takes advantage of Respondus quiz authoring software (available only for a Windows operating system). Importing quizzes by using this method is especially useful if your course uses many quizzes or if your quizzes include many (e.g., hundreds or thousands of) questions. If your quiz is short, or if you administer few quizzes, it may be easier to re-create the quizzes manually in Canvas.

The automated transfer process uses Respondus as a bridge between Catalyst WebQ and Canvas. You download WebQ content to your computer, then import the content into Respondus, then export it out of Respondus. In this process you are using Respondus only to extract the content into a zipped folder. You do not have to be familiar with Respondus to use it for exporting a WebQ quiz.

Note: These tools--WebQ, Respondus, and Canvas--do not share the same question types. Therefore, some types of questions do not easily translate to the format of the other tools. Once you have added the quiz content to Canvas, you will be able to edit or revise the content and change question types, if necessary.

Download Respondus software (Windows only)

  1. Review the information on the IT Connect Respondus page: https://uw.edu/itconnect/wares/uware/respondus/.
  2. Under Get Software, click Download Respondus software.
  3. Review the license agreement page, then click I Agree.
  4. Follow the instructions on the Download Respondus page.

Export Quiz Content from WebQ

  1. Navigate to the WebQ quiz that you want to import into your Canvas course. Under About this Quiz, click Export. The Export to Respondus dialog box appears. 
  2. In the bottom right corner of the dialog box, click Export.
  3. When prompted, save the file. 
  4. Download the file as instructed by your Web browser. The zipped folder contains the text file, which contains the quiz content. If your quiz contains pictures, the folder will also contain a subfolder called Images. Note: If your quiz contains special characters (UTF-encoded), such as Japanese, Cyrillic, etc., open the text file in Word. Verify that the characters display properly, then save the file as a .docx file. 

Convert Quiz Content by Using Respondus

  1. Open Respondus.
  2. On the Start screen, next to Current personality, select IMS QTI 1.1+. (Do not choose Instructure Canvas.)
  3. Click Import Questions.
  4. On the Import Questions dialog box, under Select the file to Import, select Plain Text for the Type of file. Click Browse to navigate to the text file (or .docx file, if your quiz contains special characters) that contains the quiz questions. If your quiz contains images, to the right of Image Folder, click Browse to navigate to the Images subfolder.
  5. Under Choose where to add the new Questions, choose Create a new document, named, and enter a name for the new quiz file.
  6. Click Preview, and then click Finish. 
  7. In the File Saved dialog box, click OK. (Although it is technically possible to edit the quiz content at this point in Respondus, we strongly recommend that you save the editing for later in Canvas.)
  8. At the top of Respondus, click the Preview & Publish tab. In the left navigation, click Save QTI XML File.
  9. In the dialog box, select Points as decimal numbers. For file format, select QTI XML zip file using IMS Content Packaging 1.1.3.
  10. Click Save As, and note where you choose to save the file. You will need to navigate to it when you import the file to Canvas. For File type, use the default: Zipped IMS pkg.

Import Quiz Content to Canvas

  1. Navigate to the Canvas course into which you want to import the quiz.
  2. In the course navigation, click Settings.
  3. In the sidebar, click Import content into this course.
  4. In the Import Wizard, click Import Quizzes. 
  5. Click Browse, and navigate to the zip folder you saved earlier. In the Choose File to Upload dialog box, click Open. (You may safely ignore the How do I save a quiz using Respondus link.)
  6. In Canvas, click Import Quiz. You will see a message indicating that the import process has begun, and that you will receive an email confirmation message when the process is complete. 
  7. When the import is complete, click I'm Done Importing, back to the Course.
  8. In the course navigation, click Quizzes. Navigate to the quiz you want, and click it. Then, following the instructions on the screen, on the right, click Edit This Quiz. Scroll down the Edit Quiz page, and click Publish Quiz. 
  9. In the course navigation, click Quizzes again. Find your quiz, and then click the pencil icon to review and edit questions and answers. 
  10. On the Edit Quiz page, scroll down to see the quiz questions. To edit a question, hover over it to reveal the pencil icon. To delete a question, click the X.
  11. Click the pencil icon to open the questions and answers. At this point, you can change the question type, revise the point value, add more answers, and edit the existing answer text. The Canvas Instructor Guides provide instruction about creating and editing quizzes.

 

 

 
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