Moodle XML to IMS QTI Assessment Test Portability on Learning Management System
Authors: Irwan Alnarus Kautsar¹, Shin-Ichiro Kubota, Yasuo Musashi, Kenichi Sugitani
Center for Multimedia and Information Technologies Laboratory, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Japan
Published in: 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Systems (ICTS) 2013, pp. 209–214. Bali, Indonesia, May 15-16, 2013
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290061705_MOODLE_XML_TO_IMS_QTI_ASSESSMENT_TEST_PORTABILITY_ON_LEARNING_MANAGEMENT_SYSTEM
Abstract
Learning Management Systems (LMS) is one of the most popular solutions towards the e-Learning objective in different universities all around the world, used not only to deliver content but to perform assessments, tests, and other learning tasks. Although there are popular LMS such as Moodle, and more developed ones such as Chamilo, there is no assessment/test portability among them. Each assessment export format makes it difficult to transfer well-done Moodle-based online courses into younger platforms such as Chamilo.
The purpose of this paper is to address this portability issue and to show the possibility of exporting Moodle assessment data (i.e. Moodle XML) into a more standardized format, which is IMS Question & Test Interoperability (IMS QTI). That can be used not only in Chamilo, but also other LMSs globally. The present paper shows the first approach towards a more global portability tool in which not only assessments but the whole structure of the course could be easily exported to other platforms. The contribution of this work is providing data exchange between LMSs.
Keywords: LMS, Moodle XML, IMS-QTI, Portability
1. Introduction
In Indonesia, many universities implement Moodle as their LMS, with over 1500 sites registered [1, 2]. Sharing content with other universities is not a problem even when using a different LMS, because Moodle already supports SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) format for exporting and importing learning content.
Besides the learning content itself, questions or assessments are the main component for some LMS [3]. While Moodle's own XML format enables sharing assessments among Moodle instances, sharing assessments to other LMS becomes a problem [4].
Chamilo, a user-friendly LMS with built-in social network features, offers richer learning resources and is already implemented in primary schools (e.g. the OLPC per-child project) [5, 6, 7, 8]. Chamilo can already import SCORM content and IMS QTI type assessments. IMS QTI standardization is organized by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, with the goal of enabling the exchange of question components (item, test, and results data) between authoring tools, item banks, test construction tools, learning systems, and assessment delivery systems on other LMS [9].
If the Moodle XML format is translated to the IMS QTI format, more question components could be shared. This is why LMS should be collaborative and interactive, to improve the quality of content and assessments in the learning process using any LMS.
2. Analysis, Design and Implementation
2.1 Analysis of IMS QTI (Chamilo) and Moodle XML Format
We analyze Moodle 2.4, whose Moodle XML format is not supported in IMS QTI [4]. We analyze the format difference based on the question/assessment component. For the sake of simplicity, our target question is the multiple-choice type.
Problems found after analyzing Moodle XML and IMS QTI:
a. The multiple-choice type question is not clearly defined in IMS QTI as it is in Moodle XML. In Moodle XML, the question type is defined as:
<question type="multichoice">
b. When creating an example question in Moodle, there is a "question 0" section that is not used in IMS QTI:
<!-- question: 0 -->
<question type="category">
<category>
<text>$system$/Default for System</text>
</category>
</question>
Example Question
For analysis, we describe the main keys of a question: type, text, answer, correct answer, correct answer value, and other options.
Table 1. Question Component and Value
| # | Question Component | Value |
|---|---|---|
| a | Text | Is AED Important? |
| b | Type | Multiple-choice |
| c | Answer | Yes / No Really / Less Important / No Need To Know |
| d | Correct Answer | Yes |
| e | Correct Answer Value/Score | 10 |
| f | Other Option | Random |
Format Comparison
a. Question Text
Moodle XML:
<questiontext format="html">
<text><![CDATA[<p>Is AED Important?</p>]]></text>
</questiontext>
IMS QTI:
<prompt>Is AED Important?</prompt>
b. Question Type
Moodle XML:
<question type="multichoice">
IMS QTI: Not defined
c. Question Answer
Moodle XML (answer options stored in answer element with a fraction attribute for scoring):
<answer fraction="100"><![CDATA[Yes]]></answer>
<answer fraction="0"><![CDATA[No Really]]></answer>
2.2 Bridge.xml — The Intermediate Format
To solve the format difference, we designed Bridge.xml, an intermediate format that captures the essential question components in a neutral structure, which can then generate either Moodle XML or IMS QTI.
The Bridge.xml elements:
<questiontext>— the sentence that defines the question<questiontype>— the type of question (multiple choice, True/False)<questionanswer>— options that should be chosen by the learner
Table 2. Attributes of Question Answer Element
| # | Attribute | Example Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Id | 1 |
| 2 | Score | 100 |
| 3 | Text | Yes |
The Score attribute contains the correct answer score or a penalty score for an incorrect answer.
<correctanswer>— information about the correct answer<randomoption>— other options for the question
2.3 Implementation
To get an example question from Moodle, we export it through the question bank menu in Moodle LMS. We then import the question components from Moodle XML to Bridge.xml, and use this contained information as a source for the IMS QTI file. As a result, we succeeded in showing the quiz in the Chamilo LMS.
3. Result
Having achieved portability between Moodle XML and IMS QTI, we can use both Moodle and Chamilo LMS to present assessments. Bridge.xml is used to solve the format difference from Moodle XML to IMS QTI.
The workflow: 1. Export a multiple-choice question from Moodle as Moodle XML 2. Convert Moodle XML into the neutral Bridge.xml format 3. Generate IMS QTI from Bridge.xml 4. Import the IMS QTI file into Chamilo, where the quiz displays correctly
This demonstrates that assessment content — not just learning materials — can be shared across different LMS platforms, enabling universities on different systems to exchange question banks.
4. Conclusion
This paper addressed the assessment portability issue between LMS platforms. By introducing Bridge.xml as an intermediate format, we successfully converted Moodle XML multiple-choice questions into the standardized IMS QTI format, which was then imported and displayed correctly in Chamilo LMS.
This is a first approach towards a more global portability tool where not only assessments but the whole structure of a course could be exported to other platforms. Future work includes supporting more question types beyond multiple-choice and expanding to the full course structure.
References
[1], [2] Moodle registered sites in Indonesia statistics.
[3] Assessment as main LMS component references.
[4] Moodle XML and IMS QTI incompatibility references.
[5]–[8] Chamilo LMS and OLPC project references.
[9] IMS Global Learning Consortium, IMS Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) specification.
[10]–[13] LMS collaboration, interoperability, and question component analysis references.
This is a preprint (author self-archived) version. The version of record is available at ResearchGate.