The test question bank

After you create a test question, you can find it in the course question bank, which is located in the main Tests view under Questions. The view shows you all of the questions associated with the course.

• The questions in this view include:
  • Those you've created for tests in this course
  • Questions attached to this course from past terms
  • Imported questions and those created from existing questions
  • Questions shared with other courses in the catalog
• Click a category to see only the questions in that category. (Remember that questions can have multiple categories.)
• Check individual questions (or select groups of questions with ) and then click Actions to add/remove categories, delete, or export questions.
• Click Add a Question to create a new test question. These questions will be available for use on your tests whenever you use an add-question option that relies on an existing question.
• See below to learn about your options for importing questions.
• To edit a question, click .
  • When you edit the question, it will change everywhere it is used, including in past tests (it will not change what appears on past student test attempts).
  • If you do not want the above to happen, you could try adding a new question and using the Create a new question based on an existing question option.

Importing questions

The Import Questions button lets you add questions to the course's bank in bulk, either from other courses or via a QTI import. (QTI files can be exported from most systems that export Common Cartridge files).

Start by clicking Import Questions and select the option you'd like to use:

To Import from another course:

1. Choose the course from the drop-down. These are courses that you have taught or which an admin has permitted to share questions with this course.
2. Check the questions you'd like to import.
3. Choose whether to import the categories for these questions or create new ones.
4. Click Save when you're done.

To Import a QTI question bank:

1. Upload a QTI file. These usually have the .zip extension, but Populi also accepts files with .imscc and .qti extensions.
2. After Populi sifts through the file, it presents what it has found. (Invalid entries are listed at the bottom of the page and will not be imported). Check next to the records you'd like to import and click Import records. Any tests that are imported will be added to the course Assignments list and will be in Draft mode; imported questions will be added to your question bank.
3. When you're done, click Go back to what you were doing to return to the Questions view.

GIFT and AIKEN Question Imports

GIFT and AIKEN are plain text (.txt) files that you can use to import or upload questions into Populi; you can also export certain question types from Populi into these formats. These formats have certain limitations—AIKEN only supports multiple choice questions, and GIFT supports multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and a few others. Learn about the GIFT format and the AIKEN format, and pay attention to how your questions must appear in the .txt file in order to be usable in Populi. You can export GIFT/AIKEN questions from another LMS or compose them directly in the .txt file; as long as they're properly-formatted, they'll import into Populi.

To import:

1. Select either the GIFT or AIKEN option from the Import menu.
2. After uploading your file, Populi presents the results. Valid entries will be imported; invalid entries won't. Review the uploaded materials and click Import Records when you're ready.
   • Populi doesn't check for duplicate questions, so try to catch any duplicates in your review!
3. When you're done, click Go back to what you were doing to return to the Questions view.