Aiken format: Difference between revisions

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The Aiken format is a very simple way of creating multiple choice questions using a clear human-readable format. (The GIFT format has many more options and perhaps is less prone to errors, but doesn't look as straight-forward as AIKEN. ) The question must be all on one line.  Each answer must start with a single uppercase letter, followed by a period '.' or a bracket ')', then a space.  The answer line must immediately follow, starting with "ANSWER: " (NOTE the space after the colon) and then giving the appropriate letter.  
The Aiken format is a very simple way of creating multiple choice questions using a clear human-readable format in a text file. (The [[GIFT format|GIFT format]] has many more options and perhaps is less prone to errors, but doesn't look as straight-forward as AIKEN. ) The question must be all on one line.  Each answer must start with a single uppercase letter, followed by a period '.' or a bracket ')', then a space.  The answer line must immediately follow, starting with "ANSWER: " (NOTE the space after the colon) and then giving the appropriate letter.  


NOTE: The answer letters (A,B,C etc.) and the word "ANSWER" '''must''' be capitalised as shown, otherwise the import will fail.  
IMPORTANT NOTES:  
* You have to save the file in a '''text format'''.  Don't save it as a Word document or anything like that.
* Non-ASCII characters like 'quotes' can cause import errors.  To avoid this always save your text file in [[UTF-8|UTF-8 format]] (most text editors, even Word, will ask you).
* The answer letters (A,B,C etc.) and the word "ANSWER" '''must''' be capitalised as shown below, otherwise the import will fail.  


Here is an example of the format:
Here is an example of the format:
Line 22: Line 25:


Both these examples imported into Moodle gave questions looking like:
Both these examples imported into Moodle gave questions looking like:
Which LMS has the most quiz import formats?
 
Choose one answer.
<div class="note">
* a. Blackboard
Which LMS has the most quiz import formats?
* b. WebCT
Choose one answer.
* c. ATutor
* a. Blackboard
* d. Moodle
* b. WebCT
* e. Claroline
* c. ATutor
* f. Ilias   
* d. Moodle
* e. Claroline
* f. Ilias   
</div>


=== Importing ===
=== Importing ===
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* Match grades [Error if grade not listed/Nearest grade if not listed]
* Match grades [Error if grade not listed/Nearest grade if not listed]
* Stop on error [Yes/No]  
* Stop on error [Yes/No]  
===Exporting===
Moodle does not have an Aiken format export. See MDL-21904. Jean-Michel Vedrine committed on 9 Oct 2014 [https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle/commit/ed6bf151da57e52a4f6fd4526d85d35b763fb8bf some code in GitHub].


===Hints and Tips===
===Hints and Tips===


* Use a text editor, like PSPad, (Windows "notepad" may not save with right encoding) to write the file with questions and save as a TXT file in UTF-8 format. Use only simple '  not slant ones ´ ` ! Avoid other exotic characters like … HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2026/index.htm, three dots as a single character).
* Use a text editor, like PSPad, (Windows "notepad" may not save with right encoding) to write the file with questions and save as a TXT file in [[UTF-8|UTF-8 format]]. Use only simple '  not slant ones ´ ` ! Avoid other exotic characters like … HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2026/index.htm, three dots as a single character).


*[http://moodle.heroku.com Moodle XML Converter] - more extensive version of AIKEN format. Supports almost all Moodle questions types - multichoice, shortanswer, cloze, essay, order, matching, numeric, truefalse
*[http://moodle.heroku.com Moodle XML Converter] - more extensive version of AIKEN format. Supports almost all Moodle questions types - multichoice, shortanswer, cloze, essay, order, matching, numeric, truefalse

Latest revision as of 18:27, 22 September 2016

The Aiken format is a very simple way of creating multiple choice questions using a clear human-readable format in a text file. (The GIFT format has many more options and perhaps is less prone to errors, but doesn't look as straight-forward as AIKEN. ) The question must be all on one line. Each answer must start with a single uppercase letter, followed by a period '.' or a bracket ')', then a space. The answer line must immediately follow, starting with "ANSWER: " (NOTE the space after the colon) and then giving the appropriate letter.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • You have to save the file in a text format. Don't save it as a Word document or anything like that.
  • Non-ASCII characters like 'quotes' can cause import errors. To avoid this always save your text file in UTF-8 format (most text editors, even Word, will ask you).
  • The answer letters (A,B,C etc.) and the word "ANSWER" must be capitalised as shown below, otherwise the import will fail.

Here is an example of the format:

What is the correct answer to this question?
A. Is it this one?
B. Maybe this answer?
C. Possibly this one?
D. Must be this one!
ANSWER: D

Which LMS has the most quiz import formats?
A) Moodle
B) ATutor
C) Claroline
D) Blackboard
E) WebCT
F) Ilias
ANSWER: A

Both these examples imported into Moodle gave questions looking like:

Which LMS has the most quiz import formats? Choose one answer.

  • a. Blackboard
  • b. WebCT
  • c. ATutor
  • d. Moodle
  • e. Claroline
  • f. Ilias

Importing

When importing there are many options, but these do not influence Aiken Format import:

  • Get category from file [_]
  • Get context from file [_]
  • Match grades [Error if grade not listed/Nearest grade if not listed]
  • Stop on error [Yes/No]

Exporting

Moodle does not have an Aiken format export. See MDL-21904. Jean-Michel Vedrine committed on 9 Oct 2014 some code in GitHub.

Hints and Tips

  • Moodle XML Converter - more extensive version of AIKEN format. Supports almost all Moodle questions types - multichoice, shortanswer, cloze, essay, order, matching, numeric, truefalse

See also