Importing Test Questions via File to Ultra Course View

This article is for instructors looking to import questions via a file to their Blackboard Ultra course.

Overview

  • A tab-delimited TXT file can be imported to a test in Ultra. It can be created in Microsoft Excel or in a text editor.
  • The questions in the file should follow proper formatting described below. Questions that have errors will not be successfully uploaded.
  • Each Excel file should not exceed 250 records.

Question TypeStructure
Multiple Choice

MC TAB question text TAB answer text TAB correct|incorrect TAB answer two text TAB correct|incorrect

Text within ( ) may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Multiple Choice question. The maximum number of answers is 100

Multiple Answer

MA TAB question text TAB answer text TAB correct|incorrect TAB answer two text TAB correct|incorrect

Text within ( ) may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Multiple Answer question. The maximum number of answers is 100.

True/FalseTF TAB question text TAB true|false
Essay

ESS TAB question text TAB [example]

Text within [ ] is optional. You may choose to add a sample or leave this blank.

Matching

MAT TAB question text TAB answer text TAB matching text TAB answer two text TAB matching two text

Text within ( ) may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Matching question. The maximum number of answers is 100. The system will randomly order the answers and their question. When uploading a matching question, you must have a one-to-one relationship between questions and answers. If not, correct answers may be marked incorrect if more than one answer has the same value.

Fill in the Blank

FIB TAB question text TAB answer text TAB answer two text

Text within ( ) may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Fill in the Blank question. The maximum number of answers is 100.

Fill in Multiple Blanks

FIB_PLUS TAB question text TAB variable1 TAB answer1 TAB answer2 TAB TAB variable2 TAB answer3

The format consists of a list of variable-answers where each variable-answer is composed of the variable name and a list of correct answers for that variable. Variable-answers are delimited by an empty field.
The maximum number of variables is 10.

Numeric ResponseNUM TAB question text TAB answer TAB [optional]tolerance

For more information about Uploading Questions, visit the Blackboard Support Center page.

For more information about Question Types, visit the Blackboard Support Center page.

View Screenshot

Download a Sample Test file

  1. In Excel, click File on the top menu. [view screenshot]
  2. Click Save As on the left column. [view screenshot]
  3. Name the file as you wish.
  4. Click the dropdown arrow for the file type options.
  5. Choose Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt).
  6. Click Save. [view screenshot]

  1. Navigate to your Ultra course.
  2. Click the plus sign on the top left of the page. [view screenshot]
  3. From the dropdown menu, click Create. [view screenshot]
  4. Under Assessment, click Test. [view screenshot]
  5. Click the plus sign in the middle. [view screenshot]
  6. From the dropdown menu, choose Upload questions from file. [view screenshot]
  7. Select your .txt file to upload.
  8. Once it is processed, the questions will show up in the test page.
  9. As default, the point would be set as 1. Adjust the point as you wish. [view screenshot}

You can import a bank if you have one from a required textbook that shares question banks with you, or for importing exported banks from previous or other courses. Learn more in the video or in the steps that are after the video.

  1. When in the ‘Manage Banks’ menu, select the ‘Import’ option.
  2. You will be prompted to select the Question Bank from your computer; this file should be a .zip file.
  3. As the file imports, you can view the supported question types. You’ll receive a success message when the file imports successfully. You’ll also receive a message if the file or some question types weren’t uploaded.
    • You may need to refresh the page to see these messages if they don’t appear after a longer period of time (a minute or two).
  4. The most recently imported bank appears first on the list. An exclamation icon appears in banks where one or more unsupported questions were removed.
  5. Please note that these are the supported question types appear in a question bank after import:
    • Calculated Formula
    • Calculated numeric
    • Essay
    • Fill in the Blank
    • Fill in Multiple Blanks
    • Hot Spot
    • Likert
    • Matching
    • Multiple Choice
    • Multiple Answer
    • True/False
  6. You may receive some messages after an import, and these are what they mean:
    • Unsupported question types were removed: Only supported questions in this file appear in the Question Banks section on the Reuse Questions page.
    • The bank wasn’t imported as no compatible questions were found: No questions in this file appear in the Question Banks section on the Reuse Questions page. The question bank isn’t added to the Question Banks page.