Importing and Exporting

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One of the entity types that may be imported and exported out of Accelerus, using CSV files, is assessment items

This is a very useful feature that could be used to update assessment items in bulk.

For example, you could export all of the assessment items set up and used in one academic cycle, open the file in Microsoft Excel and make any changes required, and then reimport the items into the next academic cycle. This would be particularly handy where the Rollover window was used to copy items from semester 1 subjects to semester 2 but all of the tags need to be changed for the new academic cycle. Excel's fill up and down features could be used to easily update the records, rather than having to open hundreds of subjects in Accelerus and make the changes manually.

In addition, even within the same academic cycle, this may make the bulk updating of assessment items easier. For example, your school may have a series of outcome assessment items set up generically in Accelerus. Individual subject coordinators may be responsible for inserting the actual outcome descriptions in the assessment items. Rather than having to work in the Accelerus database, they could be given a CSV file to update, using Excel, which would then be imported back into Accelerus.

 

minusImporting assessment items

The procedure for import assessment item CSV files is the same as for all types of entities, carried out from the Import CSV Files window, accessed via File > Import > CSV Files.

The assessment item CSV file must have a specific format, with the fields therein conforming to the field specifications for assessment items.

Below is an example of an assessment item CSV file.

AI ImportingCSV

However, it is important to note the following:

Only the Subject Code, Assessment Item Code, Description, and Marking Scheme code are mandatory.
It is not necessary to have columns for any of the other fields, unless you wish to do so.
Where the Lock State and Restricted columns are blank or missing, the items will be imported as unlocked and unrestricted, respectively.
If you are importing CSV files to update existing assessment items in bulk, you must include the Subject Code and Assessment Item Code, as they uniquely identify each assessment item, plus the fields you wish to change.
If an assessment item already exists in the database for the particular subject, it will be updated with the data that is in the CSV file. This means that any fields that are included in the CSV file but left blank, will be blanked out in the database.
You cannot update the assessment item codes of assessment items using CSV files. You must use the Bulk Code Change window for this.

Changing the code in the CSV file will simply add an another assessment item with the new code, or update any assessment items already using the code in the specified subject.

 

Warning

Always make a backup of your database before updating assessment items in bulk using CSV files.

 

minusExporting assessment items

Exporting of assessment items often goes hand in hand with importing, ie the items are exported out of Accelerus into a CSV file in order to modify them in Excel, and the modified CSV file is then imported back into Accelerus.

The steps to follow to export CSV files of assessment items are the same as when exporting other entities in Accelerus. The Export CSV Files window is used, via File > Export > CSV Files.

AI ExportAssItems

The assessment items are exported to a CSV file in a location and with a file name that you specify.

Important aspects of exporting CSV files that should be noted, however, are:

If you have more than one academic cycle active currently, eg Sem1 and 2012, you will need to select the academic cycle of the subjects to which the assessment items belong from the available dropdown list in the Export CSV Files window, or select <All>.

It is recommended that if you are using the export process as a means of updating existing assessment items, you export a separate CSV file of each cycle's assessment items. Otherwise, you may be adding assessment items to subjects in the wrong cycle when you import.

You may choose to include assessment items for closed subjects and/or, for schools in the Victorian Government and Catholic systems, the AusVELS system subjects.

However, if you are reimporting back into the same academic cycle and the subjects are still closed, the import will not be able to proceed for these subjects. Closed subjects are not available for any modification, by any users. You must reopen them in order to import into them. This is done via the Subject Explorer.