One of my instructors has been using EZ Test to create quizzes (erm, assessments) for use in WebCT. The software exports the right kind of IMS package for WebCT, but it doesn't identify a category for each as quiz, so if you import multiple quizzes, all the questions get lumped in to the same "All Questions" category.

This won't do. It makes working with the questions very difficult, especially when you want to reuse those questions come midterm or finals time.

Luckily, the IMS package is just a collection of XML files, so we can unzip the package, modify the category, and repackage the file so that WebCT imports the quiz with a proper category. It's a lengthy process, and I was doing this just for the instructor, so I've relied on Camtasia.

Here's a video of the process.

Here's a synopsis.

1. export a quiz from EZ Test
   
2. unzip the quiz file that EZ Test creates
3. open the Q1231232 (or whatever number) folder, then open the data folder
4. open the QuestionDB.xml file with a text editor and locate the
   element at the top
5. change the title attribute for that element to something similar to the quiz title, such as "Chapter 4"
6. save the file
7. open the imsmanifest.xml file (at the folder root) with the RELOAD editor
8. choose "Package as Zip file" from the File menu
9. Import that zip file in WebCT.

Viola! Small amount of work up front that will pay huge dividends later.

Labels: EZ Test, import, IMS, RELOAD, webct, XML, zip