Publishing Tests from Respondus to Blackboard Ultra

Respondus is a licensed test conversion tool used at Humber to prepare test questions for Blackboard. It is a PC only tool. If you are a Mac user, please refer to other online Test Building Tools.

You can use Respondus in two ways:

1. Build your test questions directly in Respondus and publish them to a Blackboard-compatible file.
2. Import a specifically formatted file (typically Microsoft Word or a text file) and publish them to a Blackboard-compatible file. For help with formatting a file that you can import into Respondus, refer to

Step 1: Create the Respondus File

1. Run Respondus on your computer. Note: Respondus works on PC only. 
2. In the Respondus window, in the Start tab, select Import Questions.
   
   
3. In the Import Questions dialogue box, under the Select Type of File section, go to Type of file, then select the drop-down arrow > Microsoft Word 2007 (DOCX). 
4. To upload your Miscrosoft Word file, go to File Name, then select Browse and select the file you want to import.
   
   
5. Go to the Choose where to add the new Questions section, then select Create a new document and enter the new document name.
   
   
6. To preview your questions and detect any possible issues, select Preview.
   
   
7. Select Finish to complete the process. A dialogue box will appear noting that the file was saved.
   
8. Select OK.
   
   

Step 2: Publish the Respondus File

1. In the Respondus widow, go to the Preview & Publish tab.
   
   
2. In the left-hand menu, go to Publish to Blackboard, then select the Publish Wizard button.
   
   
3. Under Type of Publish, select Save Pool to local file for manual uploading, then select Next.
   
   
4. To save the file to your computer, select Save As, then choose a location on your computer.  
5. Under Choose Whether to Include Points, select Test with Points, then select Finish.
   
6.  A prompt will pop-up indicating that the file was successfully created. Select OK.
   
   

Step 3: Import the File into the Blackboard Course

1. Open a Blackboard Ultra course. On the Course Content page, under the Details and Actions section, select Manage Banks.
   
   
2. On the Question Banks page, select the plus sign icon (top-right corner).
   
3. Browse for ZIP files to import.
   NOTE: View the Supported question types. Unsupported question types are removed.
4. Return to the Course Content page, locate where in your Course Content you would like to add a test and select the plus sign > Create. The Create Item panel will open on the right.
   
5. On the Create Item panel, select Test. The New Test page will open.
   
6. On the test page, locate where you want to add a question pool and select the plus sign > Add question pool. The Add Question Pool page will open.
   
7. On the Filter Criteria panel, scroll down to the Question Banks header and select the checkbox for the imported Respondus test.
   
   
8. On the Add Question Pool page, select Select all. When you’ve added all your questions, select Add Questions.
   
   
9. Enter the point value and the number of questions to display to students. Select Save to add the question pool to your assessment.
   NOTE: the point value is assigned to each question in the pool. You can’t assign a separate point value for individual questions in the same pool.
   

Additional Resource

• Downloading and Installing Respondus
• Creating a Respondus Compatible Multiple-Choice Test
• Using Respondus to Create Test Questions
• Retrieving Tests from Blackboard Using Respondus