The Aiken format lets you create multiple-choice or true-false questions using a simple, human-readable format that you can save as a plain text file and import into a LMS course.

Write Questions in the Aiken Format

Step 1 :

Write your questions in a word-processing application (e.g., MS Word) or a text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or Text Edit (Mac OS X), and format as follows:

• The question must be all on one line.
• Each answer must start with a single uppercase letter, followed by a period "." or a right parenthesis ")", then a space.
• The answer line must immediately follow, starting with "ANSWER: " (with a space after the colon) and then give the letter for the correct answer.
  Note: The word "ANSWER" and the answer letters (A,B,C etc.) must be capitalized as shown, otherwise the import will fail.

Step 2 :

Use Save As and save your questions as a .txt (plain text) file in UTF-8 format.

Example:

The Loch Ness Monster is a type of?
A. Homonid
B. Lizard
C. Ape
D. Plesiosauria
ANSWER: D

The Coelacanth was considered a cryptid until 1938.
A) True
B) False
ANSWER: A



Import Questions into the LMS Question Bank

Once you have saved your text file, you can import your questions into the LMS Question Bank:

Step 1:

Log into LMS and open the course where you would like to add questions.

Step 2:

On your course page, select Administration Panel in your left side.

Step 3:

On the Administration panel, under Course Administration, click Question bank. The Question bank page opens to the Default category for the course you are in. On this page, you will also see Questions, Categories, Import and Export tabs.

Step 4:

To import questions, select Import tab. The Import questions from file page will open.

For File format, select Aiken Format.

Step 5:

Click the General heading to expand the settings and for Import category, select a Category (or use Default for course) .

Note: To create a new category, return to the Categories tab.

Step 6:

Under Import questions from file, drag and drop your .txt file onto the blue arrow in the Import box, or alternately, click Choose a file.... to browse for the .txt file on your computer.
Step 7:

Click Import. You will see a page with the message "importing (# of) question(s) from file," with a list of the questions.
Step 8:

Click Continue. Your Question Bank will open. You can now further edit the questions or include the questions in a quiz.