UMass Boston licenses Respondus 4.0 to help faculty upload MS-Word or text-based question/answer files to Blackboard without needing to retype all of that information into the Blackboard test interface. Respondus 4.0 can only be run on the Windows platform. Is there any alternative to Respondus 4.0 for Mac users?

Yes. There is a free Blackboard Test Generator which is browser-based so Mac compatibility is not an issue. It was created by the North Institute for Teaching and Learning at Oklahoma Christian University. You can find it at https://ed.oc.edu/blackboardquizgenerator/. The coding of questions is very similar, and in some cases simpler than that used by Respondus. There are six question types supported:

1. Multiple Choice
2. Multiple Answer
3. True/False
4. Fill in the Blank
5. Matching
6. Essay/Short Answer

The format for each question is self-documenting. There is a drop-down box where you can pick a question type. Then click OK and you will see a sample of the question format. But none are very different from the way you would have created your Word/Text test to begin with so the first step is to paste your test into the large text box provided then format according to the examples provided.

The rest of the instructions are on the web page. When you've finished your initial formatting of questions, click Generate Test Questions All questions that are formatted correctly will show a green background, ones with errors will have a red background. If you hold your mouse over the red boxes, you will get a clue as to the problem. Try editing the problem questions and then click Generate Test Questions again. If there are ones you absolutely cannot fix, you can always remove these for manual entry in Blackboard.

Once the background of your test is solid green, click Download Test Questions. Make sure you can locate the downloaded file (it will have a .txt extension). 

Now in Blackboard, you need to create a test. At a minimum, a new test requires you to provide a test name and click submit. But you can add your question file to any test, even one that already has other questions. With the test open, click Upload Questions, browse for your .txt file, set the number of points per question, and click Submit. You've finished adding the questions from your document to a Blackboard test.

Original Blackboard Test Generator: https://ed.oc.edu/blackboardquizgenerator

Permission granted to use both the Test Generator and source code by the North Institute, Oklahoma Christian University.