Hey everyone, I'm seeking advice on the most effective method for uploading questions to our question bank. If you could kindly share your process and methods, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm aware of the GIFT import option, but I'm uncertain about the optimal approach to take.
Answer
Optimal Methods for Uploading Questions to the Question Bank
Best answer by elamast
The info below assumes that you’re using the built-in test module and not a SCORM or xAPI module created elsewhere and uploded:
If the questions are just text, and you have a lot of them, then uploading them through the API is probably your best bet, but you would need some familiarity with using the API and uploading/processing files using Postman.
If you’re going to use GIFT (a Moodle LMS format), then you won’t find many tools for formatting out there. I have in the past imported questions into Moodle for reviewers to look at and then exported them out as GIFT to import into Docebo. For a while I kept a Moodle LMS running on a very cheap shared server just for this purpose. (You may have security constraints that won’t allow this)
I can also recommend something we created a workaround for regarding exam integrity. If you expect your exams to change at any point in the future, and your course scoring is set up for averaging multiple scorable items, you may want consider setting up your exam with at least two question pools (AKA Categories in Docebo-speak) so that you preserve exam integrity and not run into a scoring problem of having multiple exams (old and new) into the same course (one of which will have zero points).
We create one pool for active questions and another for retired questions. That will allow you to move questions in and out of the exam without changing the question for past takers of the exam. (You’ll notice that if you edit a question, it also edits what is shown in the reporting information for that question for people who took the test previously).
Hope this helps!
+7The info below assumes that you’re using the built-in test module and not a SCORM or xAPI module created elsewhere and uploded:
If the questions are just text, and you have a lot of them, then uploading them through the API is probably your best bet, but you would need some familiarity with using the API and uploading/processing files using Postman.
If you’re going to use GIFT (a Moodle LMS format), then you won’t find many tools for formatting out there. I have in the past imported questions into Moodle for reviewers to look at and then exported them out as GIFT to import into Docebo. For a while I kept a Moodle LMS running on a very cheap shared server just for this purpose. (You may have security constraints that won’t allow this)
I can also recommend something we created a workaround for regarding exam integrity. If you expect your exams to change at any point in the future, and your course scoring is set up for averaging multiple scorable items, you may want consider setting up your exam with at least two question pools (AKA Categories in Docebo-speak) so that you preserve exam integrity and not run into a scoring problem of having multiple exams (old and new) into the same course (one of which will have zero points).
We create one pool for active questions and another for retired questions. That will allow you to move questions in and out of the exam without changing the question for past takers of the exam. (You’ll notice that if you edit a question, it also edits what is shown in the reporting information for that question for people who took the test previously).
Hope this helps!
Wow, thank you a ton for such a thorough response! Your insights are seriously going to be a game-changer for us. It's awesome to hear from someone who's dealt with similar challenges and found clever workarounds. Your tip about maintaining exam integrity is pure gold! Thanks a bunch for taking the time to share your wisdom with us. We really appreciate it!
Hi
I haven’t yet found an API request to manage the question bank (e.g. upload, update questions) in docs or the /api-browser page, could you point to a resource please?
+7I haven’t yet found an API request to manage the question bank (e.g. upload, update questions) in docs or the /api-browser page, could you point to a resource please?
Individual question management for CLOR LO’s is a definite shortcoming of what’s available through the API. If I had to manage exam questions there I would likely do some scripting to simulate what an Admin would be doing manually. I did this once with an RPI tool where I needed to create a bunch of identical course evaluations (very similar to exams), but as I remember it was pretty painful.
For our purposes we have largely stayed away from using the central repository since it creates problems for us. We typically don’t share tests among multiple courses, and don’t want to mark a test as complete across multiple courses. For us it works best to manage exams at the course level.
Perhaps someone knows of a secret way to use the batch insert API call against the central repository, but I haven’t stumbled on it either.
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